Hello! My name's Phil, I'm also Head of Coffee at Pablo & Rusty's. I want to give you a little background on our latest seasonal coffee blend, Choc-Berry Milkshake.
Why is it called Choc-Berry Milkshake?
We wanted to have a little fun with this blend while presenting a delicious coffee that will make you want to return for more. After countless tasting sessions and meetings about names, the result is the “Choc-Berry Milkshake”, a super tasty blend designed to work perfectly with milk (it tastes great as espresso, too).
The background
We have so many tasty coffees coming through the Roastery that it’s not funny. Some of them won't make the program for many reasons. One of them is that sometimes a coffee can be too polarising, as coffee can have an excessive amount of a characteristic or flavour that some people don’t find appealing while others may love it. Sometimes, we come across a coffee that is so impressive and interesting that we need to find a way to share it with as many people as possible. In this case, it's a co-fermented coffee from Colombia from our friends at Cofinet.
Co-fermentation
Co-fermentation is the process of fermenting coffee (which happens in all coffee processing, one way or another) with fruit. This coffee, in particular, uses dehydrated red fruits (cherries, raspberries etc). Along with the fruit, specific wine yeast encourages a particular formation of esters and acids in the coffee that create a specific flavour profile. To add to the complexity and intensity of the profile, this lot is processed as a ‘honey’, meaning the coffee fruit is first removed, but the layer of mucilage that covers the green beans remains intact. This is then placed in an anaerobic environment (minimal oxygen present) to encourage specific bacteria and yeast essential to the fermentation process to aid in the development of flavours.
This combination, paired with the high-quality coffee from Quindio in Colombia, meticulous experimentation, and development of process protocols, results in an intense flavour of red fruits in the coffee.
The challenge
How do we showcase this coffee in a way that is accessible to our current market?
You don’t have to look too hard into it to understand that we love our coffee with warm textured milk (or alternate dairy) in Australia. Lattes and flat whites are the most popular coffees sold, and they are widely sold in Sydney, at least.
The co-fermented coffee is pretty intense, so we didn’t want to overdo the flavour intensity. To achieve this, a blend was created to balance it out with other flavours and characteristics and make a product that not only we would love to drink but also share with as many people as possible. After all, we are not just about making people drink coffee that we think is great. We also like to create an approachable coffee experience that allows people to try coffee they usually wouldn’t. What works in a blend designed for milk? Chocolate! And what better way to add this flavour than another Colombian (washed this time) and a coffee from Papua New Guinea (also washed!)? These coffees add different layers of chocolate and balance out the anaerobic acidity of the co-fermented coffee that pairs with milk perfectly.
What’s in a name?
Now that we have our product, what do we call it? Do we name it after a season? Or do we give it a more specific and descriptive name? There are obvious benefits to either approach. After many conversations and debates, we decided to go with a more descriptive name that will immediately conjure up a memory or, at the very least, help you understand the experience you are getting.
When drinking this coffee, especially as a milky, you get the mouthfeel and flavours of melted ice cream. So what better name to associate with the blend than Choc-Berry Milkshake? This name evokes fun vibes and nostalgic memories, helps describe the flavour profile and gives you insight into the textural experience you're about to embark on.
It won’t last long!
Let's make things clear, though. This is a seasonal blend, which means it’s only around for a limited time. Make sure you drop into somewhere serving it or jump online to secure your Choc-Berry experience before it’s all gone.
