A Guide to Delicious Coffee Accompaniments!

The winters are approaching and the coffee shops in Lahore are starting to look like the most welcoming places in town. Drinking coffee is one of the easiest hangout options among friends and loved ones. Making coffee and making it taste good is definitely an art. At home, we don’t have aeration machines and the best that could be done is by hand. Black coffee is often for the daring while whipped coffee is for the hardworking. Instant coffee is just your chance at procrastinating and going to a good coffee shop is your escape.

Once you’re inside the coffee shop, the challenge is quite different. When you’re at home, you have two to three options. You’re looking down the menu at a coffee shop, you’re spoiled for choice. There are just so many coffee choices that you often are confused and often rely on the choice of others to order yours. This season, try and be more daring. Every time that you are in a coffee shop, order something new. Order an espresso, a spiced latte the next time and a cappuccino in your next trip. Be bold to finish the whole cup because only then will you know which one you want to order every time next season and not to even look towards the others.

The beauty of coffee is in its taste of course. You would often hear experts say that bitterness is an acquired taste. Coffee is perhaps the most frequently consumed bitter ingredient in the world. Most consume it for its caffeinating properties. Coffee shops bring you close to having a great coffee experience but everyone doesn’t have Starbucks and our coffees aren’t always made to order. While you are on an exploration expedition to find out your favorite preparation of coffee, the one thing which will help you choose is a suitable accompaniment.

The trick is to make the distinction between water based and milk based. The water based base of any good coffee is espresso. A perfectly brewed espresso is a strong black coffee made by forcing steam through dark-roast aromatic coffee beans at high pressure and it will have a thick, golden-brown crema on the surface. If the crema is good, the sugar you add will float on the surface for a couple of seconds before slowly sinking to the bottom. It might also be commonly known as ‘Black Coffee’. Since there is no milk in the coffee, you can accompany this hot cup with a nice chocolate pudding or if you’re feeling adventurous, a banoffee pie. The cream and the sweetness will help cut through the sharpness of the bitter taste of the coffee. It will engage the entire palate and you will definitely enjoy the enhanced bitterness with the sweet stickiness of the toffee in the pie.

A cappuccino is essentially an espresso with milk froth and steamed milk. It has a creamy taste and texture. The bitterness is definitely cut by the presence of milk. The creamy, frothy coffee will taste extra special with an accompaniment which is fresh, tart and crunchy like a good Caesar’s Salad if you are watching your weight or a club sandwich. Eating something sweet is not an essential while consuming coffee.

Taste develops as more taste buds are engaged. If you drink the coffee solo, you’re probably just engaging the tip of your tongue and the back side tastes the bitterness. For a more detailed tasting profile, you might just need the extra kick to identify what coffee preparation you like. Happy exploration!