Hi.
How are you?
Recently I took a break from competing. While it used to light a fire in me, I started to burn out. I had to step away from the stage and find ways to use the same fire that was burning me as fuel to get me back to coffee. Through walking away, I found mindfulness-the practice of being fully present in the moment, harmonising the mind, the body with the soul to achieve a state of balance. Today, we will discover how mindfulness can enhance our personal experience with not only coffee but life itself.
Please walk with me along this path. Now, let’s stop here for a few minutes. When we go for a walk, it is useful to stop and smell the flowers to be inspired.
Today we will use the same coffee for the first 2 courses. We will start with your milk course to get in touch with our mind, followed by the signature course to get in touch with our body. We will then conclude with your espresso course using a different coffee to get in touch with our soul. Our mind allows us to take a simple coffee and elevate it into an incredible tasting experience.
Our first coffee is a product of the mind. It is an Ethiopian Landrace from Finca El Diviso, called Aji. As a varietal, it is sweet and herbaceous. To elevate it, this coffee was mindfully processed through a microbial cleansing stage, before being yeast inoculated & thermal shock to bring out tropical & stone fruit flavours.
We just finished pulling your signature beverage shots. We will put them aside for now and move on to prepare your milk course. For these 2 courses, we are using the same recipe of 20g in, 30g out, in 26s. This shorter brew ratio concentrates the fruit flavours into peach. This coffee inspired my mind to approach the milk course as if it was the signature course, using different milk options as ingredients to find synergy & balance transforming the final product.
So today, I blended 3 different types of milk. First, 60% dairy to provide a sweetness base for our drink. Then 20% cashew milk - together with our coffee it will give peach liqueur. Lastly, 20% oat milk, giving us maltiness that when combined with the nuttiness of cashew milk, give savoury note like marzipan balancing the acidity from our coffee. After blending, I went further to elevate the milk, using the food processor in front of you to evaporate 20% of the water content, concentrating the sweetness, bringing out ginger candy from our Aji.
Now I will show you the visual evaluation for your milk beverage but we will drink it together. The concentration of flavours in our Aji & milk, allow us to make a smaller dessert-like milk beverage. So today we are using only 50g of the milk with 1 shot of the espresso. This will create flavours of: Peach liqueur, Marzipan, Ginger candy, Creamy mouthfeel. It has a lingering chocolate truffle finish with coating texture.
We will be walking around today between courses to clear our mind. Each of you will have a personal colour code, symbolising your personal journey towards mindfulness. There’s a menu card for each course with taste notes so you don’t have to worry too much about catching up with notes. So please, starting from you, take this beverage and come over to find your personal colour on this side. The rest of you, please follow. As you arrive, you can put down your milk beverage. I will also stir your milk beverage to harmonise the flavours.
One of the mindfulness techniques that I found useful when dealing with burnout was to simply close my eyes for a mental reset. So, let’s close our eyes together. Take your mind to a peaceful place. Prepare it for the experience you’re about to enjoy. You may now open your eyes. Now please take 2 sips of your milk beverage.
— Welcome back.
We will take another walk to clear our mind & refresh the body for the next course. So, starting from you again, please walk around to the end of that table where you can find your personal colour. I will join you from this side.
The signature course is designed to harmonise the mind that ideates, with the body that executes. Our eyes, our arms, our legs all synergise to build something, like a signature beverage course. Our body parts work in balance, adding ingredients to manifest our thoughts into a drink.
First, we have 60gr of Colombian Aji Espresso. This provides tropical fruit base in our drink. Next, we transformed our milk blend further, clarifying it with 10% lemon juice. Previously, the combination of Aji & milk blend gave us peach & ginger. With lemon juice, those flavours transformed into lychee and watermelon. Today we use 40gr of this. Next, as the processing highlights fruity flavours, I still want to bring out the Aji’s sweet, herbaceous character. For that, I use Palo Santo in 2 ways.
The tree, native to Central America, has aromatic properties beneficial to clear the mind. The first method is to infuse the aromatics into the cup. Secondly, we made a Palo Santo Syrup using 1:1 ratio of sugar to water and 2% Vanilla & Palo Santo. 25gr of this to put forward Sage flavour from our Aji.
Now, being mindful of the presence of acidity & sweetness, we need pleasant bitterness. So, we incorporate 8gr of cacao nibs with fruity acidity from Indonesia. The earth where my body is grounded to, no matter where my mind goes. Lastly 125gr of boiling hot water, this transforms our cacao & other ingredients from stone fruit to Black Forest & bringing the temperature to 50c, I’m also blending this to give a fluffy mouthfeel.
As you can see on the menu board, you will find flavours of: Lychee & Watermelon, Black Forest cake, Sage, Fluffy texture, Long black forest finish with silky mouthfeel. As I serve you this drink, please pick it up with your free hand and hold on to it for now. We will build on our mindfulness practice by adding intentional breathing.
So, let’s close our eyes together. Take your mind to a peaceful place. Prepare it for the experience you’re about to enjoy. Now, take one deep breath & slowly exhale through your mouth. Feel the texture of the cup to ground you. It has a rough surface at the bottom and a smoother one around the rim. It is a reminder that smoothness is appreciated only after experiencing roughness. You may now open your eyes. Please enjoy your drink in 2 sips.
— Now, we will take one final walk.
This time, starting from you please walk to the end of that table where you can find your colour. As you arrive, please stand on the side of the table, assess the crema in the cup closest to you and when you are done, please slide in your clipboards underneath the table set. There is a menu card that you can take back with all the tasting notes, so you don’t have to write anything down for the espresso course.
We want to be fully present right here, right at this moment. Now, please take a sip of water. The espresso course is where we dial down the noise of the mind and the body to listen to our soul. As you practice mindfulness one last time, I will come closer to stir your espresso, so you won’t have to, later.
Let’s close our eyes together. This time, take your mind to walk around a lush green coffee farm. Take a moment in your mind to stop and smell the flowers there. In coffee, the soul reminds me of a classic Panamanian Geisha. Today, yours was mindfully washed with minimum intervention from the mind & body, to really showcase its soul: the florals & the citrus that can only come from Finca Deborah.
Today, we used 1 : 2.6 brew ratio to open up flavours of: Jasmine, Orange, Muscat Grapes. It has a medium weight, with silky texture and a lingering finish of orange zest and coating mouthfeel.
Now, take one deep breath and exhale slowly to let your body relax & feet grounded to earth. You may now open your eyes.
Friends, tough times in life forged our soul to lead with a clear mind and a strong body. I am thankful to have gone through the fire and share my story, so that others can also see the light.
Today, coffee reminds us to stop and smell the flowers, but mindfulness can be applied in anything in life, from drinking coffee to dealing with burnout. Now, please reconnect with your soul and enjoy your espresso.
Thank you.