The fourteenth drink of my thirty day book as a bev series is an iced salted caramel latte with a vanilla honey cold foam based on my hardback edition of Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.
Considering the premise of the story, I felt I had to go with a coffee based drink, haha. This was the first non-light novel or manga translated from Japanese that I read, and it was a quick read!
This beverage’s name is:
‘karamel kōhī’
Name Explained: Considering the flavor profile, I kept the name simple: I decided to go with the Japanese spelling/pronunciation of coffee since it is a Japanese novel. Spelling caramel with a ‘c’ didn’t sit right with me to keep my alliteration going, and I figured in some languages it’s spelt with a ‘k’, so that’s what I went with.
Butterfly Honey Cold Foam: Because I like a challenge, I tried to get the color match by soaking butterfly pea tea and turmeric and it surprisingly worked out. Took a few iterations though, because I wasn’t satisfied with the first shade of blue. I’ve found the longer you soak the butterfly pea, the deeper the hue! I also initially topped it with a Mount Fuji Kit Kat that I got when I went to Japan last year, but I ended up scrapping that idea because it had such a strong blueberry aroma and flavor that messed with the drink, lol.
Salted Caramel Coffee: After making most of my syrups so far, I was lazy and used a pre-made syrup this time around, but I plan on making my own salted caramel next time! I pulled the coffee shots after grinding some medium roast high altitude coffee beans and putting it into my espresso machine.
Chocolate Frosting: I recently baked a chocolate cake so I had some extra homemade frosting lying around and used that to line the cup only to match more of the novel’s cover. The flavor did pop up in the drink and was a nice addition. If you have any cocoa powder, mixing that with some sweetener and using that results in a similar look.
RATING: Overall I’d give the final drink a 4.45.
Flavor Combination: I loved how the final drink tasted. It was fairly sweet and I think it’s because of the salted caramel I used, which sort of overpowered the honey cold foam. There weren’t many flavors in this to harmonize so that’s why I didn’t score it too highly. If I’d added more of the chocolate used for decor, I think that could’ve added to a more unique flavor profile overall.
Ease: The was super quick and easy to make considering I took the easy way out and used available resources, haha. The only thing that took time was waiting for the soaked milk to cool so the foam would froth up and not stay flat.
Appearance: This was the final attempt (#3) after a few tries of making the foam to get that color match, and I feel it’s nearly exactly the same shade as the novel’s cover! The only thing I wasn’t happy with was the split between the milk and coffee, I feel as though I could’ve had cleaner layers, but perhaps that’s the perfectionist in me talking. I normally like using milk alternatives in my lattes, but it was imperative to use whole milk so that the hue of the milk matched the book.
Ways to Improve: This drink was a little sweet, and I felt the syrup stood out even though the drink itself was very good. I think going forward making my own sauce and adding some chocolate will make this have a deeper flavor.
Links to all items used:
Glass Cups (exact): https://amzn.to/4t3bOCz
Glass Cups (exact): https://amzn.to/4btRFzB
Butterfly Pea Flower Tea (exact): https://amzn.to/3Nm79N1
Turmeric Powder (exact): https://amzn.to/47lVaWq
Whole Milk (exact): https://tgleedairy.com/products/whole-milk-plastic-quart/
Heavy Whipping Cream (exact): https://www.publix.com/pd/publix-whipping-cream-heavy/RIO-PCI-112684
Vanilla Syrup (exact): https://amzn.to/3P4sET1
Salted Caramel Syrup (exact): https://amzn.to/4t6yvWu
Coffee (exact): Emporium Coffee – High Altitude, Medium Roast
Coffee (alternative): https://amzn.to/47muPrn
Honey (exact): Mostly Mesquite Honey – Trader Joe’s
Cocoa Powder (used for homemade frosting): https://amzn.to/4t71xFA
Chocolate Frosting (close alternative): https://amzn.to/4d2jVKW
Frother (exact): https://amzn.to/41mrmp5
This post contains some affiliate links which means a commission may be received, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.
A video showing the process should be up soon~
Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!
~ C.C.
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