Over the past year, my love of coffee has escalated to unforeseeable heights. Coffee, for reasons likely connected to my family's Central American origins, has been around me since my earliest of memories. There's something just wonderful about the lush aroma that fills a space whenever coffee is brewing, especially when coffee is good. For the most part, my coffee experience at home was never all that special. Then again, coffee culture really hadn't taken off during those unknowingly deprived years. However, that is all history, a good cup of coffee or two throughout the day is a part of my life that I enjoy significantly.
I ran out of coffee a few days ago, and usually pick up the most full-bodied offering from Intelligentsia Coffee available at Elysian Coffee, but today decided to finally try beans from Stumptown Coffee Roasters for the first time. I went in to Mr. Lee's General Store & Haberdashery, one of the the few locations in the Greater Vancouver Area that carries the brand. Sitting on the shelves next to the bags of Stumptown Coffee were brilliantly packaged bars of Mast Brothers Chocolate. I've seen the Mast Brothers product featured on a few sites, and while they look divine, they are even better to the touch. The dense, rich feel of their wrapping paper cannot be fully appreciated until you hold a bar yourself. After a brief conversation about the coffee and the chocolate with Molly, a member of staff at Mr. Lee's, I was convinced to purchase both. I took home a bag of Stumptown's Guatemala Finca El Injerto Bourbon beans and a bar of Mast Brothers' Fleur de Sel.
Deciding to educate myself on both brands on the commute home, I ended up watching a well-produced and informative film on the Mast Brothers Chocolate (visit link on the left) that added to the anticipation of trying their product. I should be honest here, I'm not really a chocolate person. If it's around, I'm happy to have it, but it's not something I desperately seek out. Nonetheless, after watching the dedication and passion the brothers Mast bring to their craft, I felt I was about to have a better and possibly taste-altering experience with chocolate.
While water heated up for the coffee extraction process, I had my first bite of the Fleur de Sel. The beautiful hand-harvested sea salt sprinkled directly on the back of the bar hits the palate sharply. As the chocolate melts on your tongue and incorporates with the salt, the fruity flavour of the cacoa begins to articulate itself. The salt may be a turnoff or found to be distracting for some, but it serves its purpose. You have to allow time to let your palate become accustomed to the combination of flavours offered here. The Guatemala Finca El Injerto Bourbon by Stumptown has its own chocolate and light citrus notes, which is why I thought they would work together. But tread lightly here. I would definitely allow for the salt and chocolate of the bar to fully infuse together before you take a sip of your coffee, as the combination of salt and coffee is typically unorthodox (although, not so uncommon in some countries as organometallic chemist and food enthusiast Dr. Martin Lersch explains). Still, if you take your time, you will enjoy a complex amalgamation of flavours.
In the end, the Mast Brothers have instilled with me a completely new appreciation for dark chocolate, which I never thought possible, and the earthy, full-bodied Stumptown coffee was splendid. I sat on my patio this afternoon and enjoyed both along with Monocle Magazine's October 2011 issue- perfection.
