Travel Coffee 5: Familiar coffee in Poland

I'm a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to travelling. Part of me loves the adventure of going to a new culture and trying new foods and drinks, and then part of me loves - needs - my home comforts or routines.

So finding myself in Warsaw for one weekend the question I was going out for breakfast. There was a Starbucks near the hotel...but this was a city, so surely there would be alternatives (skipping the hotel itself as overpriced)?

Well, I don't like compromising on my quality and love the idea of certain things being consistent across the world. And the fact that I start around 50% of my days at home with a Starbucks filter coffee means that I really wanted to see how a filter would be in Poland.

I have previously found that they are pretty consistent, likely because of the same beans (and roasting methods?) being used. In fact, walking into the shop was like walking into any identical shop back home (well-seasoned travellers are groaning a bit here at my lack of adventure). I was initially dismayed at the lack of a filter coffee option and was ready to go down the americano route, when I spotted that they do have a filter option - then saw the machine behind the counter.

So I ordered a large filter and they told me it would take around 5 minutes to make, which was no surprise to me as this is often true in the UK when they run out. But in fact I was mistaken; they hadn't run out, but they didn't have the machine on at all (and possibly didn't expect to). It was a Sunday morning in a Roman Catholic country, which means that the city centre is pretty deserted. And perhaps filter coffee isn't that popular in Poland (it took me a while to convince myself to try it in the UK).

To add to my suspicion that it wouldn't be a particularly popular order, they didn't switch it on, but got out a cup-top filter and proceeded to make me a filter coffee the old fashioned way, right down to grinding the beans (in a machine, not by hand. It wasn't that old-fashioned).

It really did take 5 minutes, and I was reminded of some of the upmarket, hipster coffee places in London that I'd visited with their filters optimised for fluid flow. I was looking forward to it, even as my egg bagel got cold in my hand.

Well, it came out dark and rich (to be honest, though I don't often look at my coffee, and not in a white mug). But it looked really dark, and it was. My suspicion is that they used too much ground coffee in the filter; though it was certainly drinkable, and good-tasting, it was a bit richer than I was used to. And a bit stronger, which for a large made me worry about my jitteriness on the plane I was about to go and get.

So the moral is, I guess, that even though the beans, the machinery and the environs may be similar, the culture can play a big part even when you're looking for an identical experience.

Travel Coffee 4: Kirin Fire Quality Brew

Well, it's only been an hour or so since my last coffee but I felt the need to try and up the number of coffee reviews on this trip. So the next review is Kirin's Fire 'Quality Roast'. This time, I managed to remember to get the hot coffee rather than the cold. This time it came in a flashy blue can with a fun pattern on the side. It's another ring pull (which I still find odd for a coffee).

Opening up I got an unusual aroma - it was rather sweeter than expected. Then it hit me - I think I'd picked a sugared coffee (not being able to read Japanese, this can happen...). Well, the flavour of the coffee is completely masked by the sweetness of the sugar, which is a real shame. There is some nuttiness, and next to no bitter flavour - it's really not like coffee at all. Shame!

I checked the can for signs of anything about the coffee, but there wasn't anything I could decipher (except that it has 35kcal - another clue that it contains sugar).

So another coffee disappointment - of my own making.

Travel coffee 3: Georgia European Black (iced) coffee

Another day, another coffee from a coffee machine. Once again the place where we stayed didn't have coffee at breakfast (except Nescafe...), so I made the most of a brief stop at a station to try a different vending machine coffee.

I made a bit of a mistake when buying the 140 yen coffee - I forgot to check that it was hot, and it turned out that it wasn't. Oh well, never mind - I'd had iced coffee before, and I'd even tried cold brew recently.

Although I've had iced coffee before, I've not had it black - and in my memory, iced coffee is often rather creamy and quite sweet. As a black coffee, I was interested to see how this would be.

Opening the screw top, I was surprised to note that it had an aroma like iced coffee. I almost assumed that it was, and that I'd made a mistake, but looking in it was definitely black. The initial aroma was sweetish, with a bit of dark chocolate.

On first taste, it was slightly sweeter than expected. Now it struck me that the label says "European" (and as I understand it, there are other options - so European is a type), so I wondered if this was meant to be descriptive. Perhaps this was their interpretation of European coffee - as opposed to, say, American. With that in mind, it made a little more sense to me - the European coffee that I know (Northern European, at least!) is smooth, balanced, and not too bitter, just like this can of coffee was.

No sooner had I thought that then I suddenly felt like I was drinking a cold cup of coffee at a hotel somewhere in Europe, which was then a bit mentally disappointing. I often find coffee in France and Germany to be a bit poor, and to have it cold...

But this was primarily mental. The coffee was pretty good for the £1 it cost, and I could be pretty happy that it was better than many I would get in the UK. And, to boot, I bought it from a vending machine; or, as they sometimes say here in Japan, a 'bending' machine.

Additional footnote

I was trying to find the caffeine content of the coffee in the can by looking at the label. Now, I don't read Japanese (or speak it) but certain foreign words I can get. And although I couldn't find the caffeine (I was looking for 'mg' somewhere other than in the nutrition information), I saw some percentages.

It turns out that this blend is 26% Colombian, 25% Brasilian, and 25% Guatemalan. I'm not sure what the remaining 24% is, but that's encouraging. There was also no sign of whether it was Arabica or Robusta beans, but it was more than I thought I'd get!

Travel coffee 2: Fresh Japanese coffee from a shop

So today's issue was that there wasn't coffee at breakfast. This is fairly serious!

I was going to buy a vending machine coffee like the one I reviewed on the previous post, but then felt that actually, I might like to have something a bit different. I was idling away some time waiting for a boat to take me across Ashi Lake in Hakone, and in the shop they did have some bottles of coffee in a hot cupboard (I wish I'd taken a photo - they have a drinks fridge, but the top level is hot).

However, I'd passed a cafe in the same shop, and I'd seen that they were selling fresh coffee. Great! I was interested to see how fresh coffee really tasted in Japan - whether their cafe culture would like up to the one I'm used to. Moreover, the coffee was 300 Yen, which was more than twice the price of the canned coffee in the 'fridge'.

The coffee came in rather a small cup, which was a bit disappointing for the price (300 Yen is about £2.20). No clue to the quality of the coffee from the look of it, or the way that it was served - it was dispensed from an anonymous machine behind the serving counter.

The aroma didn't give much away in terms of clues either. It barely smelled of anything, except heat.

The first taste confirmed my suspicions: this was a rather high-margin product served at a tourist cafe. The coffee was watery, with not a great deal of flavour, and only a mild caffeine kick. It was really hot, actually, which to me is sometimes an indicator of poor quality coffee; it could be because it's kept at a high hot temperature in an urn somewhere.

I can't really say much more about it. It had a bit of bitterness, not much in the way of actual flavour, and I was trying to get it down quickly so I wouldn't have to carry the cup - so I ended up slightly burning my mouth.

So from now on I'm sticking to vending machine coffee.

Travel Coffee 1: DyDo Black blended vending machine coffee

Posted a month after the actual trip.

So,  I'm in Japan, and one of the things you can do in Japan is get drinks from vending machines. And not only that, but you can get drinks which are hot!

Today I had a traditional Japanese breakfast, which in this case didn't include coffee. I was feeling a bit tired and wanted my coffee, so I decided to get this coffee from the vending machine at the coach stop in Norikura's visitors centre. 

The can came out hot (it was 140 yen, which is £1). It opened just like a soft drink can, which is weird.

The nose was a bit floral and light, even though it was from a can. I had imagined it would be a lot stronger than usual, but then again, this is Japan, where strong flavours aren't very common.

I wasn't sure what it would be like to taste, but actually it was quite reasonable. It wasn't the punchy oily flavour of an espresso-based drink (not sure how well that would work in a can) but it had a good, average coffee taste, with a decent balance to it. The flavour was not that weak either, which it easily could have been.

Most impressive was that it was heated - the temperature of the drink was really good (though I'd say that the design of the can isn't great - you can't really hold it very comfortably). The only thing is that it felt like it just wasn't that fresh - I'm not sure what it was, but I could just tell that it wasn't freshly brewed. That's not at all surprising, and it still wouldn't put me off getting another one, but it does make me thing that there is probably an aroma or some sort of flavour that comes from a coffee being freshly brewed.

It was definitely a satisfying drink, and for about a pound, which represents very good value.

Review 15: Sertao natural, Brazil

Source: José Isidro Pereira, Carmo de Minas
Date: 18th May 2016
Country: Brazil
Beans: Arabica (Yellow Bourbon)
Preparation: Cafetiere

Nose of grounds: Nutty and smooth
Colour of brew: Orange/yellow brown
Nose of brew: Very light, chocolatey, a bit sweet
Early flavours: Chocolate, a bit of caramel
Finish: Very light and unobtrusive

Tasting notes: A colleague in the office opened up a bag of coffee and I couldn't resist. He was making a cafetiere and although it was after lunch and against my rules (to ensure I got to sleep okay), I asked for a small amount to taste.

It is a really drinkable coffee. It has very delicate flavours, although it fills the mouth in a very satisfying way without being watery or thin. The taste is like a lighter chocolate dessert of some sort - thinking more like a mousse than a brownie. There are some robust hints there, with only a slight bitterness. Overall, a really excellent coffee probably helped a lot by the fact that it is very fresh.

Coffee maker's notes:

Review 14: Kaweh Ijen, Indonesia

Source: Waitrose
Date: 24 December 2015
Country: Indonesia
Beans: Arabica
Preparation: Cafetiere

Nose of grounds: roast meat
Colour of brew: very dark amber
Nose of brew: earthy, herbs
Early flavours: dark chocolate
Finish: spices