Coffee brewed from beans aged in wine barrels and served cold.
In a first of its kind process innovation, Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters have introduced in the Indian market a ‘cold coffee brew’ in association with Sula Vineyards. The promoters of the brew claim that it is a heavy body rich brew, with low acidity, and pronounced winey red fruit sweetness.
Namrata Asthana, co-founder of Blue Tokai Coffee Roasters told FE that selected beans were poured into barrels used for fermenting Sula’s red wine, and left for a few months to absorb the remnants of last year’s batch.
She added that her company is is quite experimental and tries to find new ways of highlighting the potential of specialty coffee.
On being asked why wine, Asthana replied that some of the experimental barrel processed coffees can be overpowering with heavy rum flavours. “A few coffee farms in other countries have experimented with ageing their raw green beans in rum or whiskey barrels, but we have never heard of wine barrels being done before, so we thought that wine is a perfect match.”
Coffee and wine have similarities between their processing, they both require a fermentation, and selective picking of the cherries or grapes to ensure a clean ripe cup.
“Using a blend of two coffees chosen for their heavy chocolate and red fruit notes, one being Attikan Estate and the other being Bibi Estate, the fully washed processed beans were poured into barrels used for fermenting Sula’s red wine, and left for a few months to absorb the remnants of last year’s batch. They were monitored closely for moisture retention and rotated weekly to ensure the beans had even contact with the wine soaked wooden barrels,” she said.
To make the cold brew, Blue Tokai roasted the beans to a medium-dark profile, and placed in a 16 hour cold water brew technique called ‘cold brew’. Using cold water, and brewing for a long period of time, means a heavy body, rich brew, with low acidity, and pronounced winey red fruit sweetness.
“We found the flavours in this experimental process to be very exciting, particularly nice as a cold coffee as the intensely sweet, bright red cherry and chocolate notes which Attikan is known for, really stood out when chilled,” she said.
