Spotlight on the rich one... Darkside
Welcome back to our Spotlight series, where we are taking the time to introduce you more closely to our range of independently roasted coffees, all of which are small-batch roasted in Yorkshire to ensure ultimate freshness and a truly unique drinking experience. Today, we are going over to the Darkside, to tell you all about our most intense coffee...
The Darkside is what we like to call a multi-origin coffee; this varied blend includes beans from Brazil, El Salvador, Ethiopia and Vietnam. It is one of only two Divine coffee blends which includes Vietnamese beans, this being a dark roast, which results in an intense flavour.
Unknown to many, Vietnam is the second largest exporter of coffee beans in the world after Brazil. Grown in the Central Highlands region of the country, coffee was originally introduced in Vietnam by the French in 1857. Due to Vietnam’s tricky growing conditions, they mostly produce Robusta beans which really pack a punch, but some can find bitter. However, the Vietnamese found the perfect addition to this bitter coffee when fresh milk was hard to come by during the Vietnam War. They turned to egg whites to soften the taste; the origin of Hanoi's famous egg white coffees which people travel far and wide to taste to this day. When eggs became a rarity during the war, they tried condensed milk. Known for its sugary sweetness, it was much easier to source and balanced out the intense bitterness perfectly; so much so, it is still how many Vietnamese prefer to drink their coffee today.
For our Darkside, we blend these more bitter beans with Ethiopian, Brazilian and El Salvordian origins to smooth out the flavour whilst keeping the unique intensity of Vietnamese beans. We pre-mix the different origin beans before roasting. Why, you might ask? Well, you wouldn’t eat the apple without the crumble or the chip without the sauce. Pre-mixing our beans means their individual flavours combine beautifully together right from the start of the roasting process, resulting in a really integrated blend.
The Darkside is the ultimate coffee for someone who likes a bold, intense dark roast- you have been warned! Come into our shop on Micklegate, York to try it out for yourself, or order it online here. Welcome to the Darkside!