Autumn Seasonal Drinks
By Dale Harris & Mubarek Daha
Our tasting bar is built on the idea that we don't have to be trapped by the coffee purist ideal, we are free to experiment with different flavours pairings and techniques that can open up fun new drinks for our cafe menu. As autumn approached we set about developing our new seasonal offerings, looking for appropriate flavours for the shortening days that don’t involve pumpkin spice.
The second part of the brief is to avoid the kind of drinks that are trending; if we do something that is already popular, what are we adding to the conversation? It’s a tricky part of the brief when your looking around for inspiration, but pushes us to seek ideas outside of cafes, into different culinary traditions.
Pear and Cinnamon Matcha
One of our dearest customers, came to the tasting bar one day with some pears from his uncles pear tree and asked if we would find it useful in a drink. We went with Matcha as it compliments the delicate fruit flavour that can so easily get lost, with the classic autumnal favourite of cinnamon for a little extra warmth.
The pear and cinnamon reduction is made in house and our Ceremonial Grade Matcha comes from our partners Waterloo Tea, coming together for a cosy seasonal sip.
Brown Butter Latte
All year round, we have a “4oz milk drink” on our menu, because there is so much regional variation on the name for an espresso with a little steamed milk: cortado, Gibraltar, macchiato. In France this is called a “noisette”, referring to the hazelnut colour of the resultant drink. We can offer these, but we also deeply believe in consilience (bringing together knowledge and skills from different disciplines) and puns.
Beurre onisette is a classic sauce of French cuisine, creating the core flavours of madeleine and financiers, through the same Maillard and caramelization reactions that we see in roasting coffee. It’s also just tasty as hell. So we wanted to create our take on a noisette for autumn, bringing together those warming, rich aromas with sweetness and balance.
We steam the brown butter together with the milk, before pouring over an espresso base, creating a latte with rich toasty flavours, a little umami, reminiscent of popcorn.
Both drinks are available at our tasting bar all through the autumn. Come in and try them, let us know what you think of them.
