During the period of August 2013 to February 2014, we visited 11 cafés across Singapore to try out their flat whites, piccolo lattes, white double ristrettos, mochas, iced coffees, pour overs and one Prosecco. Guess how many are still in operation today?
Continue readingCategory: Drink
What goes well with yuzu sake? Why, yuzu pan of course
The Wife pointed to a dozen or so bottles that had the words ゆず written prominently on the label, with the brewer’s name 梅乃宿 in smaller font in the top right corner.
Apparently this was the seasonal 2021 Aragoshi Nama Yuzushu produced by Umenoyado, an unpasteurised and roughly-crushed version of her favourite yuzu sake.
The Look appeared in her eyes as she lovingly picked up a bottle.
No prizes for guessing what happened next.
Continue readingIf one is good, maybe more is better?
Bet you never thought that making coffee would involve the use of factorials!
Continue readingStarting the search for smooth sakes in Singapore
Our preference seems to skewed towards smooth-tasting sakes with prominent fruity notes. But smooth isn’t quite an industry term, and sake brewers use the Sake Meter Value system plus an acidity value to differentiate their product.
If I had to map what we like onto this framework, my best guess is that it would be in the “Sweet-Rich” region, with an SMV of -5 to -10 and Acidity of 1.5 to 1.7. But, as always, we’ll only know if we like any particular bottle after we actually taste it.
Continue readingSampling eight different beans from The Caffeine Peddler
It was coincidental that Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) restrictions were kicking in on 16 May, and I received my delivery just before the lockdown-lite started. I had ordered the Sensory XL Box and chose eight different beans, each packed in small 100gm bags, allowing me to sample and compare flavours from various coffee origins over the course of a month.
Continue readingWhat exactly is the font used in the 1Zpresso JX-Pro grind setting dial?
The number “5” looks particularly interesting, with its prominent angles and truncated top line. Unfortunately, it looks quite similar to “6” and regularly confuses me, especially when I’ve not yet consumed my morning dose of caffeine.
The number “7” appears almost boomerang-like and given that the numbers are probably machine-milled, I’d imagine that carving its shape out of the hunk of metal would have been especially efficient.
Continue readingBlind taste test of single-origin beans from Mt Whitney Coffee Roasters
Over the past few months, as I was experimenting with new equipment and different brewing variables, I’ve been asking her to score the coffee on a scale of 1 to 10. But now that the scores have been consistently 8 or more, it was time to run a new experiment on her — a blind taste test to see if she could differentiate coffee brewed from beans grown in different countries.
Continue readingTetsu Kasuya vs Tetsu Kasuya
The Tetsu 4-6 is the go-to recipe that I use to brew my V60 pour over coffee every morning. But since Tetsu is now experimenting with a drastically different technique than the one he perfected in 2016, I thought it’d be interesting to conduct a head-to-head comparison between the two.
What will be the result of the Tetsu vs Tetsu competition?
Will Tetsu beat Tetsu?
Or will Tetsu beat Tetsu?
Continue readingWhen you can’t fly to Japan, head to Tanoke for good food and lots of sake
The six bottles of sake on display were only a small sample, because once you turn around, you’re greeted with a wall of chillers packed with sake from all over Japan. It’s not a terribly large collection, but it is impressive and not a common sight in Singapore.
Continue readingBrewing freshly roasted beans from Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee
I’d read about how good Ethiopian beans resulted in coffee with a prominent blueberry note, but I’ve always been skeptical. How can coffee taste like blueberry? But I finally understood after tasting it for myself. It had good balance and body, with a wonderfully floral scent and that amazingly addictive blueberry flavour.
Continue reading