Recipee: Caffe Borgia

This is a little gem I discovered when travelling. According to legend, the Borgia family used poisoned orange zest to murder their enemies, thus resulting in everyone nicknaming this the "caffe borgia"

we need 4 ingredients for this one.
1. 10cl coffee
2. 10cl hot chocolate
3. whipped cream, preferably sugared cream.
4. orange zest

There are only 3 easy steps to make this one.

• pour the coffee and hot chocolate in a glass, gently stirring them together
  
• whipped cream on top of the drink
• finish with the orange zest

Enjoy, this is a real easy and yummy recipee!

Antigua

Antigua, my nemesis.
Antigua, the coffee I love to hate.
Antigua, the one that I really couldnt like.

I am being a little poetical, but this is how I really feel about this strange coffee. It was a cold winter day, 2 years ago now, my fiancee was visiting me for christmas and we went to the Christmas market in Brussels. My fiancee is from Hong Kong and she actually does not like coffee, we are a perfect couple haha.
When strolling through Brussels, we came by a coffee shop called "Corica", which became one of my favourite sources to buy freshly roasted beans. This is a really nice place, very friendly too. One of their best assets is that you can actually taste the coffees before taking home a kilo of something you might dislike. They are not expensive either, I drank my first Kopi Luwak in their shop, cost me a mere 7€.
I had never set foot in their shop before, as I mostly used my Nespresso at the time, I did have a French press, but still used the Nespresso the most.
I didnt want to inconvenience my fiancee too much, so I only drank one cup, bought 2 kinds of beans and we continued our shopping spree. We had some great pancakes later that day too :)

About two days later, I finally got around to trying the Antigua. Put the beans in the grinder, started the water kettle and took out the french press.
Everything ready and it was time to taste.

I was told this Guatemalan coffee was supposed to be full-bodied and a little spicy with traces of cocoa.
A coffee made to drink and enjoy.

First off, I loved how this smelled. It smelled great, like pure coffee should. Then I took a nip and my face changed, even my fiancee noticed that I obviously didnt like this one.
I am at a loss for words here, I describe the flavour as "too much of a wood flavour".
The flavour really disturbed me, so I asked my fiancee to try it too. I have to admit it was a relief that she agreed with me, this was bad coffee.
I thought I maybe did something wrong, so I restarted my process of making coffee with the french press. Everything cleaned, water heated, beans and everything ready.

Back to the smell test... Again this really great sensation in my nose. This coffee has a excellent smell.
Then I picked up the cup, took it to my lips and took my first sip from this new batch.
Disappointment struck, I had done nothing wrong in brewing the first cup, again this same nasty sensation came to my taste buds. This was NOT good.

Cinnamon syrup to the rescue! Or so I thought... It couldnt cover up the wooden bark-like flavour this coffee had. This was the first coffee I actually disliked!

When I originally rated this coffee, I gave it a 3 out of 10 points, mostly due to the great smell. I am now however dropping its score down to a 2. Sorry to any Antigua lovers, I do not share your love for this coffee.


Rating: 2/10
Sold By: Corica, Brussels
Website: www.corica.be

Ranting is an art, so is making coffee.

Time to rant a little, because some things need to be said. I am a coffee snob, I know this, but what most people do not know, I only really started to drink coffee about approximately 5 years ago. We had just moved into our previous house, we got ourselves a Senseo coffee maker, my first step to coffee loving.
While I have some issues with the easy coffee makers, they provide for the easy cup, are generally cheap machines and do the trick for just about most of us. Not for me, but that is another rant, one I will write up later.
At first, all I did, was experiment with the Senseo blends. Some good, some not so good, a few very bad ones, I still occasionaly taste them, when i am visiting friends, not everyone is crazy enough to have a full-automatic espresso machine.
Once I had tried all the blends, I got more creative, buying a few syrups, cinnamon, vanilla, chocolat, ... From Routin and after all that, I went to the internet for more information. Learning a lot about coffee, I also got familiar with some coffee terminology and this is where my rant will start off.

Oh dearest coffeshop owners and baristas...

When I order a cappuccino, please give me a real cappuccino.

A mistake made by too many places, the typical whipped cream on top of a black coffee, sorry peeps, this is actually another coffee, the one called "caffe con panna" or "Franziskaner".
sigh... Same for "Latte", another typical mistake is to just call it a "latte", it is "caffe latte".
Latte is italian for milk, asking for a latte is basically asking for a glass of milk.
Oh and Caffe Latte doesnt have any whipped cream either... just a little milk foam.

A real cappuccino is made up of 3 equal parts.
First of all, the coffee, usually 1 espresso shot.
Secondly, the HOT milk, preferably whole milk too, though half and half milk will add a creamier texture
Third, milk foam

That is a real cappuccino, not the whipped cream solution.
I hate it when those places are boasting about serving great coffee, but can't even get the basics right.


For the record, the coffee in the picture was a home made Franziskaner using Yellow Bourbon beans, hailing from Brazil. One of the softer coffees I have had, a true delight.

Bali, Starbucks Blend.

My first Starbucks review on the new blog, will definetely not be the last. I bought this coffee in Aachen, Germany, when I was there 2 weeks ago. It was the new coffee they were selling, so instead of drinking one locally, I got some beans and took them home.

Starbucks describes these beans as "This single-origin coffee from Bali is full-bodied with subtle herbal and dark chocolate flavours."

The local barista offered to grind them, but my plans included drinking them from my Espresso machine, my beloved Saeco, so I declined their kind offer. Very friendly too, I also bought one of the new "Coffee Series" mugs, the Kenya one, they wrapped it up perfectly, have had some bad experiences there, mugs breaking before even getting home...

Ok, so I finally get to tasting this Bali coffee. Two cups down the drain after changing the beans, like always, some of my friends have witnessed this protocol, they call me crazy :)
What can I say... I just dont like the coffee contamination from mixing beans or melanges that were not meant to be together or I havent found one that was drinkable. Not kidding, most times you do this, you end up with a horrid taste. I suggest you try this at your own risk!

Now, let us describe the initial flavour, I used whole Joyvalle milk and 1 sugar for the first cup. I entered a new dimension in coffee drinking with this one. Bali has a very special flavour, some sort of dark fondant chocolate seems to be vaguely present. Also special about this one, very little bitterness when it is still hot, but as it cools down, I seem to be experiencing more, mind you the sensation is not disturbing at all, just that it is distinctively better when very hot.
I guess that is why it is one of my favourites to drink as a Caffe Latte, but a real Caffe latte, 1 shot of espresso in 3 times the milk. In some coffee shops, the baristas tend to give you a Macchiato when ordering a Caffe Latte.

The bottomline, it wasnt really cheap, I did pay 6,90 for 250 grams, which is the higher price range, this coffee is worth it. It makes for a great Caffe Latte!


Price: 6,90€ for 250 grams, Starbucks Aachen
Rating: 7,8 / 10
Remark: best served with hot milk, for a better experience.

Jamaican Blue Mountain

This is a coffee with mixed experiences, a very bad one and a very good one. First the one in Belgium, which was bad, then the one in Shenzhen, China, which was truly a top experience.

Blue Mountain, hailing from the "Blue Mountain region" just north of the Jamaican capital "Kingston", is a relatively mild and not so bitter coffee, at least, that is what everyone says.
Three quality ratings exist, but most roasters do not offer proper traceability. I can not say which Blue Mountain I tried in the past.
Enter "Koffie Onan" in Leuven, Belgium, this is my hometown, so I was excited to go visit a local coffeeshop. Located right next to the "oude markt", it was a sunny wednesday when I entered their shop.

Originally I had planned to drink a Kopi Luwak, after checking their website, it was priced at 7 euro, but when I arrived, they told me it was 17... This was my first impression of them, a rather bad one. Kopi Luwak may be great coffee, I didnt intend to spend 17 on a single cup of espresso, so I opted for the Blue Mountain instead. I paid 7 euro for a lungo, not so bad after all, I thought. I got my cup, picked up a milk and sugar from the self service counter and left.

Outside, sat down on a terrace, took off the lid and smelled the goods. I couldnt really grasp the smell, so I decided to take a nip. My face changed, this was a stale and horrible coffee, it tasted like it had been roasted more than a year before I drank it. I added the milk and sugar but to my own disappointment, they only made things worse. This coffee was stale and extremely bitter, clear signs of being "past its prime".

My first review at the time, I think I gave it a incomplete number, I think it was a 3 out of 10, not intending to drink it again. The decision not to drink it a second time, mostly based on the price and the horrible aftertaste that was stuck in my mouth for a little more than a day... I said to a friend at the time: "if this was supposed to be a Grand-cru, I would rather drink Senseo!"

Ok, so now, let us jump 1 year into the future, I am visiting my future inlaws for the first time and my fiancee takes me to Shenzhen, HuaQiangbei to be precise.

I love gadgets of all kinds, so I ended up buying my first tablet there, the Epad, long before I got my ipads, even before they were out on the market, but that is another story. Next to South Gate, you have a big street filled with snack merchants, my fiancee said this was the place for us to have a snack, because it would never disappoint. I got 2 bapao, 3 chicken sticks, ... and after I was done, I was longing for a coffee. On to a little street vendor, where I asked for her best coffee. This is not my habit, I just couldnt read the pricelist. She replied I was going to be getting a Blue Mountain and I immediately stopped her, asking if she was going to be getting a Jamaican, a Kenyan or a Indonesian Blue Mountain, there are 3 types of Blue Mountain and I had already disliked the Jamaican one. I was getting the Jamaican one, to my dismay. I ended up taking it after all, because she only charged 1 euro for it, which was expensive for China, but not for me.

I was sceptical and was expecting the same horrible taste again, but hoped a little that the Chinese water would prove a better ground for making this coffee. I smelled it, I think I recalled a different scent, might have been my imagination too. Then on to the tasting itself.

Surprisingly, this was great coffee, a little bitterness resided in the aftertaste, but nothing like what I remembered from the bad experience back home. It was like a completely different coffee, soft and mild, I enjoyed this one. I actually enjoyed it a lot, even my fiancee noticed how much I was liking this one. I let her try too, keeping in mind that she usually hates coffee. She called it a little bitter, but with a sweet aftertaste, which must have been the cane sugar I used to sweeten it up for her. Then it was time for a second nip for myself, turns out the cane sugar really added a sweet lingering feeling in the mouth, something I would remember for future referencing with the Blue Mountain beans.

I decided to ask the lady if I could buy some beans to take home with me, She let me buy a pound worth of beans, she took out the typical wooden crates these beans are sold in, weighed the coffee carefully and I had a pound worth of Blue Mountain for home. Upon my arrival back in belgium, I took the coffee, divided it over 3 plastic bags, kept them in the freezer for a while. I did purposely leave out around 50 grams, to verify my assumptions. I put these in an airtight container for 12 months, to check if this coffee got more bitter over time (like most coffees do), approximately 1 year later, I used my french press to make the old coffee.

I still hate myself for trying this, it tasted absolutely horrible, like the one I had in Koffie Onan...

While I am not calling them bad Baristas, I had a bad experience with them, hoping you will not :)

Costprice: 7€ for 1 espresso (Koffie Onan, Leuven in Belgium)

Costprice: 12€ for 500 grams (Shenzhen, China)

Rating: 8/10

Origin: Jamaican Blue Mountain is considered a Grand-Cru, Single bean coffee.

Yirgacheffe

I first bought these in Leuven, Belgium, in a chocolate shop close to my old job. The brand name was Javana, at the time, it was my first experience with these roasters.
First off, let us give credit to this coffee, Yirgacheffe comes from Ethiopia and is considered the origin of coffee by the province of Kaffa, another famous coffee from this region is called "Sidamo", more on this one later on :) Yirgacheffe is also considered a "Grand-Cru", one of the best single bean coffees, by the industry. This means they dont mix it with other beans to create a blend or melange, this is purely made out of 1 type of bean.

When I first opened this package, I was very surprised by the small sized beans, though i was aware these were the smallest beans, these are tiny, not kidding! In comparison, they are about half the size compared to the elephant beans "Maragogype", which is the biggest size I encountered so far, most Yirgacheffe beans would average a mere 5 to 6 millimeter, to put it all in perspective.

Now, time to prepare it! For this one, I decided to use my French Press, took out my ceramic grinder, took out my scale and started out. My personal preference is 8 grams per cup, 150ml worth of water at 97 degrees Celsius. I am a freak, I know! Beans ground, water poured, 1 minute wait and the room started filling with a fresh and strong coffee smell, I think i might have been drooling when I was smelling this cup of goodness.

On to the taste, this was a big surprise :) This small bean packs quite a punch, it had a nice bergamot/lime flavour, while not destroying the strong coffee flavour itself. Another thing I noticed, the aftertaste was also very good, most stronger coffees have a tendency to leave a bitter aftertaste, but not this one.

Over the next few weeks, I kept drinking this nice coffee, but then I noticed something, this coffee gets bland over time pretty fast, so next time, I will do my best to drink it more quickly!


Price: 4.50€ / 250g
Sold by: Javana, originally from Bruges, Belgium
Rating: 9/10
Origin: Single Bean

Vulkan Kaffee

Tchibo: Vulkan Kaffee

Or what I like to call, horrible coffee with a beyond normal bitter aftertaste..
I got these from my mom when we were shopping in Aachen, together with one of their other house melanges, the one called "Wiener Melange". Originally, I would have gotten a pound of this one, but I decided to get 2 different coffees instead of a big bag of "unknown" coffee.
That was a very good choice!

So first, like usual, I let 2 espressos pass through the Saeco machine, this is always done to allow the grinders to adapt to the new type of bean, it also clears most of the previous bean-residu, while this is not needed persé, I do it to prevent taste corruption in my mouth,aside from rinsing the infuser with some water, but more on that process later on.

First cup is ready, time for the smell test! I had to say at the time, it smelled strong like a "Blue Mountain" from Jamaica. I am not a big fan of the intensively strong coffees, because most of these tend to be overly bitter. First sip, I was instantly disappointed, there it was, the bitterness I dislike.
So I decided to try some sweeteners, hopefully ridding this cup of the bitter flavour. First, the usual, regular sugar, but that just added a sweet layer on top of the horrid flavour. Add some milk, no success.
Second cup, I go for the big guns, Chocolat syrop from Routin, again a failure in taste, I was fighting a battle against a bitter coffee and the coffee was leading 2 against my 0.
Third cup, the artifical sweeteners. First adding some milk, then added a "Canderel Vanilla", this is vanilla flavoured sweetener, I have a non-stop supply of these at home, because they add that extra punch to coffee, a layer of non-intrusive vanilla and sweetness at the same time. To no avail, sadly, the coffee was still horrible.

Sorry Tchibo, this coffee was nothing for my taste buds, I am certain that lovers of dark strong coffee will adore this one, but sadly for me, this is a 1 out of 10 score, just didnt do it for me.






Price: 3.80€ / 250g
Sold by: Tchibo (Aachen (Germany))
Website: www.tchibo-kaffee.de
Rating: 1/10
Origin: Melange

Kopi Luwak

Let us start the coffee reviews with the mother of all coffees... the one, the only, Kopi Luwak.

This is the most expensive coffee in the world, hailing from the indonesian Archipelago, this coffee is also one of the lowest production coffees that exist.

I first tried it in Brussels, Belgium. The place was called Corica, they roast their own beans. They carry around 12 types of beans. Good overall service and the quality never disappoints. The barista was very professional, serving the espresso the right way. I paid 7 euro for my very first Kopi Luwak!

Now on to the taste, I have tasted a little over 80 different kinds, small beans like the Yirgacheffe and big elephant beans like Maragogype, but none tasted anything like Kopi Luwak... Where do I begin, my very first taste was bitter, but that disappeared almost completely, it made place for the best coffee experience I have ever had, after the initial bitterness, I experienced a pure coffee flavour, full bodied, almost free of any bitterness at all, which I like more than anything else. Also something I noticed, the lack of a bitter aftertaste, found in most coffees. They call this one a “Grand-Cru” for a reason!

This was the best coffee I have ever had.

Now for the million dollar question... Was it worth it?

To be frank, the coffee is amazing... but the price is very high.

Great coffee, but not for everyday use, the occasional pleasure is more like it. I occasionally buy it, just for the pleasure it brings to my taste buds. To be honest, if it was priced like all other coffees, this would be my first pick for my espresso machine.

Costprice: 7€ for 1 espresso (Corica, Brussels in Belgium)

Costprice: 20€ for 100 grams (Simon Levelt (Maastricht, The Netherlands))

Rating: maybe i am biased, I give it a 10/10

Origin: Kopi Luwak is not considered a single bean coffee as it can not be controlled wether the civet cat will eat Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa or Liberica beans.

wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopi_Luwak

Introduction.

Hi, everyone!

so yeah, I pretty much decided to become a blogger long ago. Though not in search for any kind of fame, but to share my information and knowledge with the world. Coffee-making is a often ignored art, the beans can be pure delight or truly horrid.

I always base my writings on my own experiences, my smell and my taste buds. Please keep in mind that I am giving my personal opinion, many can disagree and we wil both be right :)

I am a coffee snob, am addicted to gadgets and apple, I simply adore Asian culture and all it stands for.

Hopefully, you will like my blog!