How come there is no real “wacky experimentation” side of the coffee community? The only one I can identify is the “snobby” coffee community (you know the one), and the rest being mostly just a refrained version of that.
Compare that to the homebrewing community, you have the snobbs (the mead community is infamous), but then there are the “prison hoochers”, turning anything containing sugar into alcohol.
Where are the mavericks who perform the important societal task of discerning if “is coffee and cheeto-spice a good combo?” and “what happens if you brew coffee with red bull?”
On a more serious note it would be great so more people try different ways to spice coffee, instead of just trying to brew the flatest, “perfect” brew. I’ve found adding some fruity black tea to my coffee in a French press to work really well.
The coffee nerd community already went full circle with this, so now if it tastes good to you then it is good.
Lots of experimentation going on on the production side with wacky processing techniques like co-ferments and all sorts.
My cube neighbor did that at work today: she thought her tea was overwhelmingly coffee, but I thought her coffee was completely ruined
You basically described some of the folks on the Specialty Coffee Enthusiasts Discord group.
Try adding a cinnamon stick into your french press sometime.
Just because you arent aware of it doesnt mean it doesnt exist.
I follow a baristfluencer who makes all kind of wacky things and does events and competitions.
China’s Luckin’ Coffee keeps doing goofy trends like Maotai Baijiu coffee and spring onion coffee
Coffee snobs are the worst! I’ve never heard of mead snobs but that’s quite hilarious as mead really sucks, at least what I have locally
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Most of my mixes are coffee + milk + (something). Blend them with a banana for a nice vitamin, add powdered chocolate for a chococcino of sorts, add a cup or two to your typical brownie recipe for a nice extra flavor, make all the water cups coffee cups when doing a cake
Haven’t found anything on the salty side that tastes good with coffee, I’m afraid.
There was a Starbucks trend where they added olive oil to their coffees and it was giving customers the mega liqui-shits. Does that count?
Coffee mixology is also becoming a thing now. I imagine some crazy combos have or might come out of that.
I mean there definitely is, people have deep fried coffee, or plenty of other things. Like, people have for sure fucked around, just most drink coffee to wake up in the morning so most ain’t trying to do crazy bullshit for their coffee.
Not sure if this is what you mean, but there’s a locally famous coffee shop in Boone, NC that makes seasonal specialty drinks that pairs coffee with all sorts of things. Some of the more interesting ones I’ve seen over the years:
- Campfire - nitro coffee, milk, burnt sugar, homemade toasted marshmallow
- Coffee paired with matcha
- Espresso with grapefruit and burnt sugar
- Espresso, lime, local honey, ice, garnished with a candied lime and a piece of honeycomb
Then of course you have your random places that mix chicory into coffee, which I enjoy from time to time. Cafe du monde in New Orleans is the famous one. A local shop in Carrboro, NC has it as cold brew.
So it’s out there in the world, I’m not sure where these folks talk online though.
I started experimenting with brewing coffee by tea rules to make it silkier without adding milk (mostly lower temp / longer brew), and that worked so well I kept importing more and more practices from the tea side of the caffbev world.
Anyway, nowadays I drink my coffee with cheap orange pekoe blended with no coffee, brewed for 5 minutes. Oat milk optional.
I believe this to be the far bold horizon of coffee drinking.
I was halt expecting this to end in cold-brewing the coffee, but importing the best of the two major hot nature juice worlds is quite wholesome and thus an acceptable substitute!
I recently drank some bland black coffee and ate some grapes while/after that. Tasted kinda awesome and I don’t know why. Give it a try
I could see the bitter mixing well with the sweetness/freshness of the grapes
It exists, but probably more in the east.
I was once treated to a coffee that was brewed in a moka pot, using vodka instead of water.
They called the drink “Death in Stalingrad”.Websearch for “the bripe”.
This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever bought 7am
