Coffee Ball

                                            Coffee Ball

During the last days of June, while thinking about July’s pairing, Luis shared an interesting idea that had some potential, which was to freeze a shot of espresso and use it instead of regular ice in a pairing.  Let’s see how this works out.

Hopefully you’ll have an ice cube tray around.  In my case I had a silicone mold to make ice spheres, but you can use a traditional tray/shape if that is all you have available.

I made my ice sphere with Costa Rican coffee, using a coffee maker I have at home.  It was strong and I didn’t add any sugar, which turned out to be a mistake, as you’ll find out soon.  As you recreate this at home, I suggest that you add a tablespoon of sugar and dissolve it well, prior to freezing.  This will balance the pairing later.

I was thinking about an elegant pairing, one that would showcase the true character of the rum, but also one that would change along as the pairing progressed (as the intensity of the espresso increased).  I selected a Rhum from Martinique with a very special character, Clement 10 years old, but at the beginning of the pairing, the opposite occurred.  The first few sips were interesting, but the coffee very quickly dominated the color, aroma and the taste.  It could be related to how the ice ball melted, possibly releasing more intense coffee elements first, leaving more water than coffee behind.  I learned the lesson and decided to change the rum for one that had a high concentration of sugar per liter.  My options included Ron Hechicera, Diplomático and Zacapa 23.  I selected this last one, to turn the pairing around, since I still had time to save it.

As far as the cigar, while smoking the first third there really was no pairing.  The first attempt (with the Clement) was disproportionately intense, with the coffee notes dominating everything.  Now with the second rum, the pairing was acceptable, the coffee moved away from the spotlight and into the background, the sweetness of the rum was well integrated in the pairing and I was also able to detect the tobacco notes from the cigar.  For this pairing I had selected a Cohiba Toro (54 x 6) from the Blue line, which is Dominican tobacco with Honduran wrapper.  This cigar is supposed to have a high intensity, which was not noticeable during the first third.  My cigar started to burn unevenly, perhaps for the frequency of my puffs while fighting with the first rum, but after changing to the second rum, the cigar’s character was more aligned with my expectations, offering a better experience.

In summary, it is a good experiment to conduct at home, but keeping in mind my comments about adding sugar to the espresso and using a sweet rum.  I hope that you can recreate this at home, personalizing it to your liking, if you follow my advice, your results will be better than my first attempt.

Cheers!

Philip Ili Barake

#GRCigarPairing