has anyone else noticed that whilst plenty of merchants are now offering speciality coffee, coupled with quite detailed educational pushes to show customers how it needs to be prepared to ensure it is enjoyed at its optimum, that there is no mention of one significant compromising factor: milk.
could that be because there are just too many customers who only ingest coffee if it is presented to them as a coffee flavoured milkshake, i.e. milk heavy, and the merchants have decided that in educating their customers they will omit this thorny issue from their curriculum?
so we see no hesitation in educating people in the impact that water has on the taste of a cup of coffee, but i dont think ive yet read a single sentence on the peril of adding milk to speciality coffee
i think it needs to be said; if you add milk to speciality coffee you are defeating the purpose. i dont see why this statement is especially controversial, after all it is exactly the same for speciality tea; you don’t add milk, its just a given. but in the speciality coffee world we seem very hesitant to tackle the elephant in the room, which without a doubt is the consumer’s addiction to coffee flavoured milkshakes, aka latte, flat white, cappuccino
so, if you want to experience speciality coffee, drop the milk. and anything else you might be spiking it with
its a common denominator to any high quality goods – they are traded at a premium because the less expensive bulking additives have been removed. it is no different with speciality coffee
so if you are in anyway serious about experiencing some of the nuanced tastes that you have seen on the coffee taste wheels that are popping up more frequently the very first step in educating your palete is to ditch the milk. grimace with the change for 6 weeks, after which time your taste buds will have adjusted and you will then be in a position to start your journey into speciality coffee, having successfully lifted the smothering milk duvet out of your coffee first
if you are not prepared to ditch the milk i wouldnt give speciality coffee a second thought – the journey will simply be a disappointing waste of time and money
this is an especially difficult discussion in regions like the UK and New Zealand where dairy is deeply engrained in the culture; it is heavily represented in rural lifestyles, as an industry and income earner, and in a vast array of food items and beverages, both prepared and in home baked goods. recipes from celebrity chefs and cooking programmes push dairy at every turn – its ubiquitous. notwithstanding, speciality coffee is incompatiable with additives, the most common one being milk
hoist the cow from your cup today if you are serious about speciality coffee