Branding creation POSM vndangkhoa May 22, 2018

#mycraftcoffee Le Méridien 1st coffee workshop

Craft coffee trend becoming a phenomenon during late 2017 around the world and it hits Vietnam in the first 2018. Many small coffee shops and big organization company want to join this trend.

Le Méridien Saigon is one of the very first 5 stars hotels brings craft coffee to life. Le Méridien Saigon represents a stay-of-the-art coffee shop to compare with Shin, The workshop, The coffee house signature to bring craft coffee within traditional coffee bean plus with a special cake from Chef Frederic.

I run this project for a month from scratch. The very first idea is about having a special craft coffee menu within 6 different coffee bean around the world – including Vietnamese once – Khe Sanh and Cau Dat farm.

All of the coffee beans are Arabica – 59% of the coffee bean in the world. It originated in what is known as modern-day Ethiopia and has been growing in its population ever since it was first consumed over 3000 years ago. Arabica coffee is touted as the best coffee, and this fact is used by coffee roasters and companies as a selling point, saying that their coffee is “100% Arabica,” and it works wonderfully.

First, the flavor profile is much smoother and less bitter, with typical flavors including dark chocolate, citrus, and other fruity flavors. The more subtle flavors of Arabica coffee are more noticeable because there is less caffeine in Arabica beans, which cuts down on the bitterness quite a lot. Because the complex flavor nature of Arabica, it can easily be used in single origin blends to highlight the specific growing region, so for example, a bag of coffee that was entirely grown in Guatemala will still contain all the nuances that a bag of coffee grown in different parts of the world will have. Sadly, Arabica coffee is not perfect. It is much more susceptible to diseases, such as coffee leaf rust, and the yield of coffee berries is far less compared to Robusta, but hey, quality over quantity. Growing Arabica plants is also more expensive than Robusta, including the additional costs of products meant to keep them disease free. Despite how amazing Arabica coffee is, the most important part is that you enjoy coffee. There is nothing wrong with not liking Arabica coffee, so go ahead and exercise coffee freedom, and brew whatever makes your taste buds happy.

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There are 5 steps of making of coffee, “from plan to cup” process. Farming, Milling – Grading – Decaffeination, Grinding, Roasting and Brewing. In this particular process, Brewing is the technique that enhances the taste of the coffee bean itself.

We have the Cold drip, Pourover, Chemex, Syphon, French Press and Traditional filter – Vietnamese style. Each brewing technique can apply to any coffee bean, however, in which brewing technique can change enhance or reduce its taste.

Pourover:

Leonardo da Vinci didn’t create the Mona Lisa in an instant – it was a flavor of love. Therefore, the finer things in life take a little longer to achieve. You may have been used to having your coffee made and delivered in a matter of seconds, but with the pour-over coffee, you get to experience true art of coffee making which results to probably one of the best and smoothest coffees you have ever tasted. Pour over coffee is simply made by grinding fresh coffee beans and using a brewing (cone-like) system to pour hot water over the ground coffee to produce a fresh cup. It is the preferred choice of coffee for many coffee lovers as it allows them to control many factors involved in the process such as the overall strength and taste of the coffee.

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French Press:

The French press is usually touted as one of the best ways to drink coffee, mainly because the steel filter that is plunged through the steeping grounds allows just about all of the natural oils to pass through as well, giving the resulting coffee a ton of flavor. One of the advantages of a French press is it’s almost set in stone brewing method; add your desired ratio of water and coarsely ground coffee, steep for 4 minutes, and then plunge. The easy brewing process makes it pretty simple for just about anyone to make great tasting coffee. Another advantage is how easy it is to clean, with most presses being dishwasher safe. French presses are also quite versatile, with the user being able to not only make hot coffee, but cold brew, as well as hot or iced tea. A disadvantage of the French press is one of the things that makes the coffee so good; the amount of oil in the brewed coffee. While steel mesh filter allows the bulk of natural oils and fats in coffee beans to go into the cup and contribute to the overall flavor profile, for individuals who have high cholesterol, they are not as good.

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Chemex:

The Chemex, being invented in the mid-1900’s, a very different from a French press, and mostly resembles a pour-over-style brewer. This durable glass brewer uses large proprietary pointed paper filters, and like the French press, is more than capable of brewing fantastic coffee. A difference though is that the quality of coffee brewed relies heavily on the user. Once the Chemex has been preheated, the filter rinsed, and the coffee grounds placed inside, the user must use a gooseneck style kettle to slowly and carefully pour the hot water over the bed of grounds. There are a ton of different ways this can be done, with some users pouring all the water in one continuous pour, or adding it in stages to help add complexity to the flavor. While this does give the user a lot of freedom when it comes to the overall flavor of their coffee, it adds complexity to the overall brewing process, making it difficult for people unfamiliar with the brewing method to struggle in making great coffee. Another disadvantage is having to buy the special paper filters, and while they aren’t really expensive, you can’t just go to your local supermarket or dollar store and buy some. Overall, both have their pros and cons. A French press is very easy to use, can brew coffee rather consistently, and there is no need to go out and buy paper filters. The Chemex is more expensive to get into, as a gooseneck kettle and the papers are needed as well, but the resulting coffee has hardly any oils in it and still tastes fantastic.