Salty Coffee?
This coffee doesn't contain salt, but it might be better if it did.
If I had a nickel for every time I saw a salt shaker at Starbucks. Wait, no. Then I'd be broke. Even as a salt enthusiast, my mind hasn't stretched as far as considering salty coffee. Apparently it's big in Taiwan. According to the China Daily:
It gives you three tastes. First, you get the slightly salty taste from the cold cream foam, second, the mixed taste of the salty cream foam and hot coffee, third, the aroma of coffee.
Salt reduces the bitterness in coffee, but only in moderation of course. That second pinch might turn it into a salt lick. Jacob Grier of the blog Liquidity Preference gave it a try and while he doesn't actually recommend doing it on a regular basis, "if you’re stuck drinking acrid brew at the airport at 5 a.m., then maybe this salt trick could come in handy." Perhaps french fries should start doubling as coffee stirrers?
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7 Comments:
I spent my junior year in college in Germany, and every German I knew added a pinch of salt to the grounds on their filtered coffee pots. I liked the coffee and suppose salt does enhance flavor.
jsharpell at 7:59AM on 08/14/09
My mother who made the "world's worst" of any culinary attempt always added salt to her coffee percolator basket. It was bad, bad, bad!
BostonZest at 9:19AM on 08/14/09
I wish I had it with me, but i remember Edna Lewis's recipe for coffee in "A Taste of Country Cooking" having salt in it. It is also boiled on the stovetop. It was delicious (and maybe the strongest coffee I can remember tasting).
allenb at 9:59AM on 08/14/09
Salted iced coffee is one of the best selling drinks at 85C, a huge Taiwanese bakery cafe chain (there's on 2 in southern California). It's surprisingly good - the creamy foam with sweet hot coffee, everything melds together to an odd deliciousness.
inomthings at 11:39AM on 08/14/09
I have experimented with throwing a pinch or two in the grounds, but I've also tried cinnamon. When it comes down to it, I'd rather just have coffee.
I have used it to take the edge off of very bad, burnt, bitter coffee, and I've found that trick works. I learned it from my dad when I was 18, and have been using it for years ever since.
My worst coffee ever? At a 5-star spa and resort in Arizona. Pinch of salt didn't do the trick. Another pinch, no luck. One more pinch, and I was drinking hot salty coffee that tasted gross. That's the only bad bitter coffee I've ever encountered that was impervious to the powers of salt.
kevster at 7:22PM on 08/14/09
What I want to know is what suddenly made you cite an article that's 8 months old.
August is a slow news month, we know. But did you really sit on this story for 8 months?
swagv at 7:45PM on 08/15/09
When I worked at IHOP in college, we would add a pinch of salt to the carafes to those who complained the coffee was stale and told them it was fresh!
Bridget at 2:21AM on 09/03/09