Our luscious Iced Mocha is ready for you now.
Few things in the world evoke as much passion as chocolate. When paired with coffee and milk, the mocha is a lasting miracle. The flavors of the coffee, milk and chocolate are beyond complimentary. They are in unison.
When we first started out oh, so many years ago, our mocha was one of simplicity. We learned mocha making at the old Hines Public Market Coffee in Seattle, Washington. Their mochas were classic: espresso, milk and Hershey's Dark Syrup. You'd think that one should use the regular Hershey's Syrup, but the milk chocolate nature of that syrup meant that the chocolate-y-ness would be diluted when you added milk. By utilizing Hershey's Dark, the familiar Hershey's chocolate character would remain when you mixed everything together. It was familiar. Comfortable, even.
As time went by and we learned more about chocolate, we started experimenting more, looking for something beyond the typical chocolate milk of our youth. Maybe something a little more refined and less sweet - to reflect our different tastes as we got a little older. This isn't to say that we look down upon milk chocolate. No, in fact, it will always be our sweetheart - just as we still secretly love the creamy goodness of Kraft Mac N Cheese, despite our taste for Quattroformaggio Bechamel-based Penne and Cheese.
During our exploration of chocolate, we came across this wonderful chocolate produced from cacao in the Cordilleras of Colombia. This 70% dark chocolate offered deep cacao notes with lovely fruit tones and notes of dark cherries. Even as coverture, it was compelling. We knew that it was the chocolate we had been looking for.
We take this chocolate and make it into a simple ganache with cream and sugar. Once formed, we could just as easily roll it into little balls, coat it with powdered cacao and we'd have truffles. It's that luscious and luxuriant.
To make your mocha, it's really quite simple. A little of the ganache, a double shot of espresso and steamed milk. Beautiful.
But when you want to get a little crazy, it's super good on ice. Then our process is a little different. We start by steaming the milk a little. This has a couple of important effects on the milk. First, it thins the milk fats. Next, it breaks up the lactose (sugar) into smaller and simpler sugars and increases the perceived sweetness. Finally, it loosens the proteins allowing bubbles to form that gives the milk improved texture.
It is this milk with improved sweetness and texture that we think makes the difference. Many places will just pour cold milk into your cup. That's not our way. We want to highlight the natural sweetness of the ingredients without adding additional sweeteners.
From there, we mix the double-shot of espresso with the ganache and stir it into the chilled milk. This not only combines all the ingredients but also leaves textured milk foam on top for improved mouthfeel and looks great too!
Next time you come by for a visit, give our mocha a try. We think you'll enjoy it!
Want to read a little more about milk steaming?