As I travel the world on my Global Beer Quest, I have to pay for my beers somehow. To do this I have been freelance writing articles online for beer money. Usually it’s about weird things like best vacuum cleaners, or outlet shopping. Recently though I had to write about coffee and its various new trends. In the research process, I was shocked to discover that baristas are stealing craft beer techniques.
Water
Ok bear with me, this is the most tenuous link to craft beer.
Any good brewer knows that the water you start with can transform your beer completely. Different styles need different mineral compositions to achieve particular flavours.
Apparently, baristas have come up with the same idea, realising that water can change the flavour of their coffee. They are customising the water they use to the extent that they use different mineral profiles with different beans and roasts.
I know, it seems like they might have come up with it on their own. I can accept that, but there’s more.
Nitro Coffee
This is absolutely idea theft from the craft beer world. Stout (and often other styles now) drinkers are familiar with a nitro tap. The nitro tap dispenses with a mix of carbon dioxide and nitrogen instead of just carbon dioxide. The inclusion of the nitrogen produces much smaller gas bubbles. These eventually coalesce into a creamy and velvety head.
Espresso coffee is known for the golden crema forming on top of the coffee. The pressure of the espresso machine emulsifies the coffee oils to form this crema. Cold press coffees don’t get this as there is no extra pressure in the process. The solution has been to use a nitro tap which produces a crema, of sorts in cold press coffee.
Blatant idea theft?
It gets worse.
Hopped Coffee
I guess this could be considered payback for all the breweries making stouts, porters and other dark beers that have incorporated coffee into their brew. Some coffee roasters have started incorporating hop flavours into cold press coffee and bottling it. The dried hop flowers are added when the cold press is steeped. This gives hop flavour and aroma, without of the bitterness (dry hopping, right?). Corvus Coffee have favoured cascade hops for the citrus and floral notes they impart.
I guess if I crave a beer in the morning (Don’t worry. It doesn’t happen often) I have some coffee options to fool myself and wake up a bit in the process.
Overall it’s unsurprising that baristas would see what’s working in craft beer and apply it to coffee. It doesn’t mean I should like it. But honestly, I love stuff like this. I think this kind of innovation is exciting.
What do you think? Would you drink a hopped coffee?
Stealing or cross-contamination? I think you’ve made a fair point about the surge of brews incorporating coffee.
I’m far more satisfied drinking an ‘interesting’ beer, even if it doesn’t do it for me, than a safe but average beer, and I think the massive innovation in the sector is fantastic for everyone: those that prefer the fringes get to try things like Mismatch’s Spontaneous Pomegranate Sour, Nøgne Ø’s Chaga Stout (with chaga mushrooms from Alaskan birch trees), or Yeastie Boys’ Gunnamatta Tea Leaf IPA (infused with Earl Grey) … while those wanting to play it a bit safer get a whole breed of emerging (in Australia, at least) but well-refined styles like saisons, coffee porters, double IPAs, trappists and hefeweizens. Four or five years ago there were only a few Australian-brewed hefes and having been raised (beer-wise) on Weizenbiere in Germany, was pretty disappointed at what the local scene offered. But the innovation and creativity in the sector has made it – I think – almost a safe place to try an American Pale Ale or Belgian Witbier or a Scotch Ale, ‘cos at least you’re not brewing with the yeast from your own beard (thanks, Rogue Ale) or with bull testicles (Wynkoop Brewing’s Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout).
But yeah, I’d totally try a hopped coffee. I don’t know if I’d like it, but who knows until you’ve tried, eh. Nitro ccold brew actually sounds like a great evolution. I’m really not sure about how much difference the composition of water would make in coffee; it’s not a particularly subtle flavour. I’m sure there might be /some/ difference, but not I think most people would pay extra for. It’s hard work getting people to pay for different blends, let alone different water.
All said, though, I’d seriously have a tipple of 8 Wired’s Flat White (a coffee milk stout) for morning tea if I could get away with it; it’s that damn milk coffeeish!