I used to be a barista. And when you make hundreds of a coffees a day, you quickly get a sense of why people order what they order. I’d say eight times out of ten, when someone orders a mocha at a café, it’s because they want the caffeine hit but want to smother the bitterness of the coffee beneath sweet chocolate.
But that’s not what Slipstream have done with this Mocha Stout. For a start, they’ve kept the coffee flavour dominant, steeping ten kilos of whole coffee beans – a specially roasted organic blend from Brisbane micro roaster Almanac Coffee – and using just enough chocolate powder to join forces with the two types of chocolate malt.
And they haven’t shied away from the bitterness: both the coffee and the dark chocolate flavours carry their bitterness proudly, with just a subtle caramel in the background as golden oats and toffee malt provide a balancing sweetness.
From the voluminous dark head that almost has you questioning whether this stout’s on nitro (it’s not – it’s just got lovely foam), to the air of Arnott’s Choc Ripple biscuits and freeze-dried coffee that arise from the popping bubbles, to the aforementioned roasted coffee and dark chocolate and soft caramel flavour, all the way to the slow accumulation of espresso-esque oils on the tongue, this isn’t your standard cafe mocha.
This is: “I’ll have a mocha - but with an extra shot, and with the dark chocolate powder, please.”
Mick Wüst
Published June 4, 2024 2024-06-04 00:00:00
