By Olga Hernández.
Daniel Rivera, award-winning Puerto Rican barista.
On October 6, the award-winning Puerto Rican barista, Daniel Rivera, (@barista07) graced us with an afternoon filled with autumn aromas. Daniel created a special recipe to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month with autumn flavors. What better way to celebrate our month than with a cup of 100% Puerto Rican arabica coffee which has the wonderful mission of empowering children through entrepreneurship programs on the island.
Daniel crafted this beautiful recipe using seasonal natural ingredients with the addition of an aroma glass chamber which deliciously enhanced our cafecito. He shares his autumn coffee experience with us, step by step, so our followers can savor it at home.
Chemex equipment setup courtesy of Daniel Rivera
Recipe: Mountain’s Aroma (Aroma de la Montaña)
Café Ama Love Profile: Ethically produced in Puerto Rico; medium dark roast.
Flavor notes: You can enjoy cloves, cinnamon, dark caramel and cacao.
Brewing method: Chemex method with paper filter.
Ingredients for Puerto Rican Café Cola’o:
25 grams of Café Ama Love ground
420 grams of filtered water (190 degrees Fahrenheit)
Steps:
Pre-brewing:
- Moisten the filter with water to eliminate unwanted flavors from the paper filter and pre-heat the Chemex crystal vase.
- Discard the water.
- Grind the coffee (medium fine grind) the size should be similar to brown sugar grain size.
- Place the ground coffee in the filter, level the coffee evenly for uniform extraction.
Homemade dates syrup courtesy of Daniel Rivera
Brewing Café Ama Love:
Estimated brewing time is 4:30 minutes.
- Start saturating the coffee with water covering 60 grams and wait 45 seconds so the water infiltrates the coffee. This phase is known as “bloom.”
- For the second phase, add water until reaching the 250 grams in circular motion for 2 minutes. The weight of the water along with the gravity will make the compression; thus, filtering the coffee in a continuous fluid motion.
- Continue pouring water until reaching 420 grams, this time maintain pouring the water slowly and centered in a steady position until reaching 3 minutes.
- Lastly, wait for the water to fully drain until 4:30 minutes. Discard the filter and serve.
- While the coffee is still draining, prep the pumpkin puree and dates simple syrup:
- Add 10ml (1/3 oz) of dates simple syrup.
Process to make the dates simple syrup:
In a blender, add dehydrated dates and water in equal parts (½ cup of dates and ½ cup of water). Filter to remove the skin. The dates will be the natural sweetener in this beverage.
- Add 20ml (2/3 oz) of filtered ripe pumpkin puree.
Boil 1 cup of peeled pumpkin squares in water, drain and place in blender. Add 1 cup of pumpkin with ¼ cup of cold water to the blender. Blend and filter through a strainer to separate the fibers from the liquid. Discard the fibers. Add the remaining puree liquid to the beverage.
Besides the pumpkin being in season, it is a perfect ingredient for great contrast in a harmonious way to the coffee. It brings character and body to this beverage.
- Add 30ml (1oz) of brewed Café Ama Love.
Once all three ingredients are combined in the Glencairn whiskey glass, the most exciting part of this recipe begins.
Homemade pumpkin puree steps courtesy of Daniel Rivera
The aroma’s glass chamber experience:
The beautiful glass chamber artifact used in this recipe was created by Daniel to allow room for the flavor steams that evoke all the sensations of autumn in this beverage. This process also alludes to what happens in our mountains during the fall when the temperatures drop, and the weather becomes cooler. During the fall, we experience shorter days and longer nights with more rainfall.
- Place the glass with beverage in the aroma glass chamber (if you do not have this glass artifact, a pot is a good substation). The chamber will already have water with 2 grams of fresh rosemary, 1 cinnamon stick and 2 grams of a mandarin peel.
- Add heat to the water until it starts to boil. The boil will release the aromas in the steam. This steam technique creates the harmony between the cinnamon, rosemary, and mandarin peels’ aromas.
- Once you place the glass with the beverage inside the artifact, the steams will adhere to the glass in a delicious and very subtle way.
- Remove the glass, stir the beverage until all ingredients have mixed homogeneously.
Aroma Chamber and Serving courtesy of Daniel Rivera
Enjoy the autumn aroma of our lovely mountains in a glass!
To view this award deserving presentation, click here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CGBL66CnmPj/?igshid=1of4tbggrshsv