“Coffee is a way of life!”
Sunalini Menon, India’s coffee ambassador
Regular readers of my blog need no introduction to my all time favourite flavour … COFFEE! It’s my first love in food that shows up in layered cakes, cookies, biscotti, panna cotta, ice cream and so much more. Coffee makes the beginning of my every morning bright, so you can imagine my excitement when I got an invite to meet India’s Coffee Baroness, Sunalini Menon.She was in Delhi to conduct an exclusive coffee cupping and food pairing session to unveil Café Coffee Days {CCD} latest premium coffee, Mysore Royal, that she had created for India’s leading coffee café chain. Walking into CCD that morning transported me into a space I love best. Give me a quite café any day, filled with lilting coffee aromas, the buzz of experienced baristas perfecting the much needed cuppa, the ambiance.
Mysore Royale is an aromatic Arabica coffee grown on the ancient slopes of the Bababudan Mountains near Bangalore, the historic mountain which has seen the journey of the elixir of life, coffee. Bringing this unique majestic brew to life is credited to Ms Menon, the connoisseur, the artist. Speaking on this new blend, India’s coffee ambassador says, “With flavours of bittersweet chocolate, caramel and the whisper of rich, ripe fruits, with flecks of sweetness, Mysore Royal is a full bodied wholesome rounded cup with lilting brightness to make you feel like royalty.
The experience was mesmerising, nothing short of magical. Just the name transported you into smooth luxury, a blend that announced its class. What else would you expect from a label that entices you with bittersweet chocolate, caramel and hints of rich, ripe fruit owed to the enthralling diversity of the Rajgiri plantation. I don’t consider my self a ‘coffee literate’ person by any standards and hence my intrigue into the coffee cupping session that morning.The super talented, soft spoken, warm lady is a virtual coffee encyclopedia. She knows the coffee bean inside out {each layer of ‘the fruit’ it comes from}, each strain by the name or number, is well versed with coffees from Ethiopia, Uganda, Vietnam, Brazil, Columbia, knows leaf viruses that attack plants and equally well the inventors of different coffee making machines. Her journey into the coffee cup covered all that and more – the viscosity and the texture, blends, origins, plantations in India, fair trade representation, barista coffee competitions … and so much more!She demonstrated five different techniques of brewing Mysore Royal – Indian Filter {dabba filter}, French Press, Stove Top Espresso, Siphon and Electric Drip Coffee Maker, each altering the taste of the coffee, giving the taste buds a different treat. She’s been in this line for over 30 years and is responsible for putting Indian coffee on the global map.Talk tea and you think India. That seems to be about to change with the energy the lady has unleashed on the coffee front. Our greatest strength seems to lie in ‘gourmet‘ or ‘premium’ coffee. Sunalini also treated us to pairings with the coffee, spoiling us with crisp oatmeal honey cookies, light cheesecake, deep divine warm brownies, hummus surprise sandwiches among others … all from the café.I think this robust coffee will pair well with food like Lime Buttermilk Pound Cake, New York Style Bagels, Espresso Coffee Cream Cake, Chocolate Almond Olive Oil & Whole Wheat Biscotti, Whole Wheat & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies, Ulyana’s Almond Cake {fat free}, Stone Fruit Tea Cake and of course macarons! You could tell the magic worked on me. I was back home and brewing Mysore Royal for Mr PAB {a true coffee lover too} thanks to the goodie bag with tins of Mysore Royal and the French Press from Cafe Coffee Day.Six ‘brewing’ minutes later, the aromas of the coffee awakened our senses, then the kids asked for their share. I brewed some more with hot milk, then chilled it for them for the next morning. Slurp, slurp! ‘This is really good Mama‘, could be heard for long. “Is there more? Please???” A step further, change of season and coffee drinking days are here, so of course I had to pack in some coffee for Mactweets, as this month, we celebrate the equinox with Macarons de la Saison! What heralds this season for you? For me, the nip in the air signals for that cup of coffee. I made a quick batch of Mysore Royal coffee macarons, picked the lilting flavours of bittersweet chocolate and coffee for the butter-cream within. NICE!!Paired beautifully with a well brewed cup of Mysore Royal. Coffee days are here again. With a blend that entices the palette with flavours of bittersweet chocolate, caramel and the whisper of rich, ripe fruits, would you be tempted to try some? I think we can tempt the firmest of tea drinkers to cross over and feel the magic that coffee has to offer!
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for the challenge. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
