5
votes
What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
I thought I'd report from the front lines on some coffee I bought:
Roastybuds Coffee who make pepper-flavored coffee. I bought all their flavors because I thought chili flavored coffee would be interesting. I brewed it all with a Hario v60, same coffee and water by weight with the same temperature and grind to try to get a clean comparison of all the flavors.
The regular coffee is surprisingly meh, a flat-tasting medium roast that doesn't seem stale but doesn't have a lot going on. I'd almost think this is intentional, for the coffee to act as a platform for the peppers, but I usually want a bean that's got a bit of spice and brightness to it.
In order from hot to mild:
Carolina Reaper: the heat is there, but it's not the full force this pepper can provide. I know because I could take it with no problem, and I'm not a hard dude when it comes to spicy stuff. The flavor was a bit more dry from the pepper, and the overall flavor was a bit lacking, but never unpleasant. I think I, got a little bit of a capsaicin buzz going near the end, but was never even remotely uncomfortable.
Ghost Pepper: I've had one of these and they smack you really hard, really fast, and slowly let go. Same with the coffee, but like being kicked by a mule with a pillow on its hoof, rather than a horseshoe. Less burn on the esophagus, a fuller, less sour berry flavor. It felt worse than the Carolina simply because it's like holding a hot spoon to your tongue when you sip instead of a swell, but the fire goes outbreally fast, like before the next natural sip of a normal cup of coffee.
Hatch Chili: they all smelled like peppers, dont get me wrong, but hoo boy did this one have an aroma. I ground it, and it got more berry-like. The heat was more mild, and the flavor much more present, and a bit sweeter than the ghost pepper. I would recommend this for the flavor, as it simply tasted great.
My brother added some milk and sugar his cup of the Hatch Chili as an experiment and we found it brought the pepper out, which was really good. I tend to find black flavored coffee doesn't taste as good anyway, so I'll be doing that for the rest of my brews with these.
I seem to hear a lot about flavored coffees roasted in Texas. I’m not personally a flavored coffee fan, but I’m always tempted when I hear something unusual — like spicy coffee! I did try Lola Savannah’s Texas Pecan after a grab-you-by-the-shoulders-and-shake-you kind of recommendation from a friend. Unfortunately the aroma was so overpowering that I couldn’t even fairly appreciate the coffee taste. I’ll definitely look into spicy coffee though.