Hits: 11
Bean: Bourbon, San Ignacio, Peru.
Shop: Sudden Coffee, roasted by Intelligentsia Coffee, San Francisco, USA.
Sudden Coffee – Peru Rayos Del Sol: Background information.
When we think of instant coffee, we think of a murky liquid that we only drink when our lives depend on it. This was exactly what Kalle Freese, ranked 9th best barista in the world in 2015, and Josh Zloof thought when tasting instant coffee. Together they set out on a mission to improve the quality of instant coffee. After years of research and testing they managed to come up with a secret recipe that would make instant coffee taste great. In order to reach that goal, they decided to use high quality coffee that is chosen by Sudden Coffee and roasted by the famous Intelligentsia Coffee. The freeze drying process is done in small batches and everything is aimed to preserve as much flavours and aromas as possible.
Kalle Freese mentioned in earlier interviews that Sudden Coffee is not made out of the cheapest and crappiest coffee, but from high quality coffee. Kalle Freese also tells that the production process is about quality and not about cutting corners to lower the costs. He is also quoted saying that it will not be as good as a Geisha on the V60, but still a very good cup of coffee.
This story peaked my interest and I decided to approach Sudden Coffee for a review. They sent me eight vials of the Sudden Coffee: Peru Rayos Del Sol to review. Are you ready to read on?
Sudden Coffee – Peru Rayos Del Sol: Opening the package.
The package of Sudden Coffee is a bright red carton box that contains the vials and a card with some information about the product. The vials give the coffee a laboratory like appearance which is nice for a change. The instructions are clear: Add hot (or ice-cold) water to the coffee and stir. I opened a vial and dipped my finger in the coffee to taste what its like. It is super concentrated so I only did it once; a sourness that quickly transforms into sweetness and then a flavour of coffee kicks in. The intense concentrated coffee hits home so fast that I could not distinguish any flavours yet. But let’s brew!
Sudden Coffee – Peru Rayos Del Sol: The Tasting.
I open up the vial and pour the coffee in a glass. It does not look like much but I can tell you it is definitely enough! I pour the water (that has a temperature of 92 degrees Celsius) into the glass and see the coffee dissolve right away. Just as stated on the package I stir and see how the water turns into a dark murky liquid. The fun thing however is that the scent is nowhere near the scent that you would expect. A sweet sugary scent of apricot comes off of the brew and is pretty nice to smell. When taking a sip I immediately get all the flavours in my mouth: brown sugar syrup, sweet apricot and lime are the flavours that I can detect. I am pleasantly surprised I must say!
After finishing the coffee I feel ‘full’ in my stomach, it is the same feeling I had when drinking instant coffee when I was still a teenager. The aftertaste is gone quite quickly and is not very notable.
Sudden Coffee can also be brewed with cold water. I preferred using Ice Cold water and so creating a cold brew. The flavours of the cold brew are great and once more the Lime and Apricot come across vividly. The nice thing about drinking it cold, is that the “full stomach” feeling is much less than when drinking it warm. The downside is that the aromas do not come across as vividly as with a warm brew. Even so, this is a very nice alternative when you don’t have warm water at hand.
Sudden Coffee – Peru Rayos Del Sol: The Verdict
Sudden Coffee has made a product that tastes and smells quite good; the flavours and aromas are clearly noticeable on the palette and the nose. I do want to emphasize that this is instant coffee and not a cup of freshly ground coffee that was brewed only seconds ago. That being said I do think that Sudden Coffee has managed to create an instant coffee that is a million times better than any instant coffee out there. You can clearly make out the single origin coffee that has been used to create Sudden Coffee and for that I tip my hat in salute. The biggest downside is that after drinking I got a ‘full’ stomach feeling that lasted for a quite some time. As a cold brew, Sudden Coffee does great! You will miss out on the aroma’s but the taste makes up for that, especially during sunny weather. Just try it out. If you are curious as to what Sudden Coffee tastes like, you can click on the link below and get a nice discount on your first purchase:
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