Coriander Espresso

Most expectations of coriander seeds stem from Indian food or grandma's pickles. Adding it to espresso doesn't match either of those, but as in the above examples, balance is the key to great taste. It doesn't take much to completely change the shot.

Today, Brian of The Mad Bean and I are fine tuning our recipe. We've settled on a delivery method to standardize how much of what spice goes into the holder for a consistent cup: salt/pepper shakers. Cheap and effective.

Just a few shakes brings a lemon freshness to the cup without overwhelming the subtleties of the Steampunk blend. It is more than just citrus notes though, coriander washes over the palate toying with the coffee's natural nuttiness. The balance is there; another recipe completed.

Spice Mix Round 2

This time around I measured the spices to make a recipe. It is really good, but the cinnamon didn't quite come through except in the aroma. I will amend the recipe to include 1/2 teaspoon more cinnamon to balance it out, maybe a 1/4 teaspoon more coriander too. 

This drink is warm, complex, nuanced, light and heavy all at the same time. First, the warm smell of cinnamon and cardamom hits your nose. Then, you taste complicated, hard to work out, but quite good coffee with citrus notes from the coriander. The cardamom cascades over your palate leaving you with an aftertaste  that constantly changes in your mouth for minutes. 

I love this spice mix with Sidamo because all the flavours work so well with the natural blueberry flavour. It is an entirely different beast than Steampunk. 

Chai inspired spice mix

After yesterday's chai disappointment left a quite literal bitter taste in my mouth, I refused to give up on what I thought chai should have been able to do to the coffee. So, I created my own spice mix to mimic the good qualities of chai and remove those elements we already know don't work.

The result was a mix of cardamom, coriander, and cinnamon. I'm hoping for the crisp, almost spicy bits of the cardamom; fresh, lemony notes of coriander; and warm complexity from the cinnamon. Just a little goes a long way with spices this assertive.

It worked like a charm. The first sip was clean and fresh, then "something weird" happened as Brian put it, and finished with citrus. Wonderful! The complexity was there. Citrus built throughout the shot and lingered a good five minutes in the aftertaste. I'd describe the "weird" bit as a swirl of complexity. All the flavours mixed in new and interesting ways on your tongue that takes a little while to sort out.

This is a shot you will enjoy for a while. It changes in your mouth like a good wine. An intense wine aged in a nutty espresso grave. The spices didn't take any of the nutty qualities of the espresso away, just added multiple levels to it. I really loved the way the three spices interacted with the coffee and each other. It reminds me of turbulent fluid motion, a pipe of some sort with a liquid swirling and rushing through it, spinning around in a flurry of activity. Top five, easily.

Coriander Seeds

I was hoping this spice would impart a lemony taste without actually being lemon, similar to yesterday's Rooibos with vanilla. Another patron of The Mad Bean enlightened me, saying Turkish coffee often has coriander seed added to it. A dark, harsh roast, I can imagine how a lighter flavour could brighten up the brew to make it easier to drink.

A generous thumb-forefinger pinch softened the shot significantly. It didn't take anything away from the taste of the coffee, rather mixed it up a bit, and added another layer of complexity. It had similar effects as nutmeg, but I liked this one much better. The lemony flavour I was expecting poked its head up for a look around, but didn't fully present itself. 

Normally a great shot of espresso on its own, Steampunk has distinctive nutty, floral and bitter coffee notes to it. Coriander seemed to flip them around so it seemed as if I was drinking a completely different blend of coffee. It tasted great, but the transformation was nothing short of remarkable. This is a flavour definitely worth pursuing. It has cracked my top five, stealing in at the fourth spot!