Review | Coffee master tells you: the difference between stout and soy sauce

The biggest difference between Stout and soy sauce is that you can practice latte art with soy sauce, but not with Stout.

In the past few years after the coffee boom, independent coffee shops have evolved from literary spaces to a standard of refined life, and coffee has also evolved from a simple beverage attribute to people's lifestyle and attitude. From this perspective alone, craft beer is following the same path, but a little slower.

Apart from the shackles of beer culture, from the perspective of flavor alone, many entry-level players dislike the " heavy taste" and "too bitter" . Take the most controversial "stout" as an example: many enthusiasts love stout madly and want to try all stouts; but a large number of people treat stout like durian and coriander - they resist the rumor that stout has a "soy sauce taste" and have never tried it themselves.

How many psychological hints did you have to make the distinction between the bitterness of the two so clear?

Like beer and coffee, different flavors can be derived depending on the processing details, and not all stouts are "bitter".

In order to tell you what stout tastes like, we visited the most hardworking coffee taster in the world besides the pharmacist and asked him to taste several of our best-selling stouts.

Tasting person: Gao Xiaojun

A professional barista/coffee roaster/trainer, he has been engaged in the coffee industry for 10 years and has truly witnessed and participated in the entire process of coffee going down from the altar to becoming popular in daily life. He is called the conscience of the industry by his peers, but modestly calls himself a professional bricklayer.

This introduction is still too low-key, so I will put it another way: Do you know " Café of Memory "? He is a pioneer in the coffee industry in Hangzhou. Most of the outstanding coffee shop owners and baristas active in Hangzhou are Gao Xiaojun's direct disciples. At the same time, he is also a craft beer lover. Due to his professional background, he has an understanding of flavor that is beyond ordinary people's strict standards.

Before I met him in person, I heard that Mr. Gao had a very sharp reputation in the circle. People who knew him well complained that he was a "big troll" who was always trolling everyone and friends. If you were not thick-skinned enough, you would not be able to survive more than two rounds. I also prepared myself many times before I dared to go to him to "seek trolling".

We didn't exchange too many pleasantries. We just drank a cup of "the best latte in Hangzhou" and then started the battle of wits and courage.

The scene of the knife attack

(This was an interview scene with a lot of inner drama. Almost every time I asked a question, there was a voice roaring in my heart...)

Q: What was the opportunity that made you fall into the coffee industry and stay in it for ten years?

G: (starts to lie with open eyes) There’s nothing special about it, it’s just a business move.

Q: Stop joking. How can you maintain your enthusiasm for so long without any reason?

G: This is purely for business. I must always stay sober and free of any subjective emotions in order to accurately judge the coffee bean products that are suitable for the market.

(But according to an informant: Mr. Gao’s coffee business started with a sour love story. We won’t disclose it to protect privacy, but you can imagine the most romantic and dramatic domineering plot in your mind. This is a typical extreme case of loving someone and loving his dog too.)

Q: How many types of beans have you tasted?

G: I have tasted all the beans that are in circulation. I am addicted to coffee, and once new beans come out, I will not be happy until I try them.

(Hehe, exposed? This is not true love?)

Q: What do you think of local growing areas, such as Yunnan?

G: …

(That was it. Teacher Gao fell silent. I knew he was enduring.)

G: Currently, coffee cultivation in the country is just starting and has not yet reached qualified standards.

Q: What is your favorite style of coffee?

G: I want to be objective and not biased. Once I have a selfish motive, it will be difficult to be objective in my tasting.

(The implication is that I should stop fantasizing, he won’t tell. However, under the constant bombardment, Mr. Gao still revealed his preference. If you want to know, please raise your hand and I will reply to you secretly in the background.)

Q: You must have unique insights into coffee tasting. What is your standard for “good coffee”?

G: Customers like it. The market needs it. The taste experience varies from person to person. I think it tastes good, but the market may not buy it. So I have to objectively judge the market demand from a business standpoint. This is also the biggest reason why I always emphasize staying sober.

(Teacher Gao, I am asking about your appreciation of coffee, not its commercial value... How persistent are you in your own personality? Ok, maybe my Chinese is not good, I will ask again...)

Q: I understand. Let’s put aside the business, what are your personal requirements for coffee?

G: The characteristics of good beans are fragrance, mellowness, and non-astringency. The standard of a good cup of coffee is clear, diversified, and balanced flavor.

Q: What do you think is the biggest difference between coffee tasting and beer tasting?

G: Beer tasting is more similar to red wine tasting, but the standard of beer tasting is far less perfect than that of red wine. I think there must be an objective and rigorous tasting standard to make sense, otherwise it is meaningless to hold different opinions.

(Teacher Gao is really a "rigorous and sober person". The words most recorded during the interview were "stay sober", "rigorous" and "standard".)

Q: How should this “standard” be defined?

G: First of all, you have to drink all the wines. After you have a relatively comprehensive understanding, you can rely on your knowledge and experience to judge the "goodness" of a wine. Of course, this "standard" must be objective and not subjective.

Q: You repeatedly emphasize "flavor" and "balance". Do they have specific "standards"?

G: Take this stout for example. It has a very clear coffee flavor, so it succeeds in expressing the coffee flavor. However, the chocolate flavor it should have (listed on the label) is masked and not obvious, so it fails in terms of flavor balance.

Q: Yes, yes, yes. What else?

G: There is one standard that everyone ignores - the quality of the raw materials. Take this cup of stout as an example. Maybe its "coffee flavor" is very strong, but it is the result of adding spices, not the real coffee beans. There are also some wines that do use real coffee beans in the brewing process, but the essence of the coffee beans themselves is not up to standard, so this wine is not up to standard.

Q: Can you recommend some snacks to go with wine?

G: The key to pairing: The food used to accompany the beer should have a flavor similar to the beer so that they can enhance each other's flavors. Take the beer you brought as an example:

Spicy girl + pepper sausage/hot pot

The above picture comes from the Internet

Bird Brown Mugwort + Beef/BBQ

The above picture comes from the Internet

Stout (not sweet) +... Thinking carefully, he took out the French dark chocolate from the store for us to eat on the spot. He said that this kind of high bitterness (70%-90%) chocolate suitable for baking is very suitable for enhancing the bitterness of stout.

The above picture comes from the Internet

Light wine + meat

The above picture comes from the Internet

An interview with the theme of "relaxed and joyful" was made unusually "rigorous" by Teacher Gao, and I felt that I had wasted my time in the flavor training class. So after interviewing this material, I naturally wanted to call out "Teacher Gao".

I originally wanted to earn some sales by appearing on camera, so I specially selected models with great ratings, big awards, and even models personally picked by the great god Christophe Gillard . But now I have given up on myself, so you can just take a look at it casually. Here is Mr. Gao's full-powered "Evaluation Report":

Evaluation Report

1

Hitachino Espresso Stout

Produced by Kiuchi Brewery, Japan

Craft beer master Christophe Gillard is also a fan of them

Taobao password: ￥FRtlbroveJj￥

Mr. Gao took only one sip of this stout and put it down. The first thing he said was, " This is indeed a Japanese product. It has the common characteristics of Japanese drinks: light and elegant. But at the same time, this is also its disadvantage, it is too monotonous and lacks layering."

The above is his official statement, but he actually said: "It's bland and boring . "

The editor could see his strong "disinterest", so we quickly opened the second bottle.

2

House Sparrow Brown Ale

parameter

2018 World Beer Awards-Winner

2018 Dutch Beer Challenge - Gold Medal

2017 World Beer Awards-Winner

Taobao password: ￥cA7jbro4N8l￥

This little bird's brown ale has won unanimous recognition from entry-level enthusiasts and audiophiles. Fortunately, this "sharp tongue" is not so anti-human. He also said, " It tastes good. But the flavor levels are not clear enough, and the flavors cannot be clearly distinguished. But it's a delicious mix, that's all ."

3

Evil Twin Italian Imperial Stout

High-scoring star beer from two authoritative beer rating systems

Taobao password: ￥AcAnbro4S48￥

"Delicious. Good balance of bitterness and sweetness. High-grade bitterness. Sweet aftertaste."

After receiving Mr. Gao's evaluation, the editor can praise it without any worries: One of the reasons why this "Evil Twin Italian Imperial Stout" was selected for the evaluation list is that it has excellent coffee flavor. It is called "Iced Americano in the alcohol world" and is far better than other brands in terms of flavor expression and balance. It is safe to use it to challenge Mr. Gao's "poisonous tongue".

Facts have proved that the strength of the "evil twins" is still good, because this is the first time that Teacher Gao "urged" his friend sitting next to him to drink, and recommended his friend to have a taste .

4

Three tips for the new generation of hot girls

Reason for selection: Treat the master with hot pepper flavor

Taobao password: ￥0Z7Ybrofbhb￥

This is the "peppercorn flavor enhancer" that we deliberately saved for last. During the process, Mr. Gao stretched out his claws several times, but the editor tried his best to stop him.

First, I wanted to give the master a taste bomb at the end to stimulate his taste buds; second, because the addition of peppercorns really makes the taste strong, I wanted to prevent the master from "losing his taste buds" and feeling that the following wines were bland, so I kept this bottle of wine until the end. Facts have proved that my persistence was not wrong.

Teacher Gao finally took a sip with great anticipation:

"It's so unpalatable!" (This is the first time my character has failed. I can't keep calm anymore.)

Then he took another sip:

" The pepper and coriander flavors are too strong! They completely overwhelm the other flavors. The balance is totally off, the pepper flavor is too prominent and not diverse enough."

He took another sip (this was the time he drank it with the most concentration): " Huh? It really tastes like Chongqing hotpot. Interesting! "

Around the sixth sip, Mr. Gao returned to his business persona:

" This wine is addictive! It's poisonous! Give me two boxes. It will definitely sell well. "

The editor silently looked back at his freezer, which was quite "balanced" . Adding peppercorns? What was his "standard" ?

5

Water Street Coffee Stout

parameter

RateBeer 98/100

2015 US Beer Open - Gold Medal

2015 Best Craft Beer Award - Silver Medal

2014 World Beer Championship - Silver Medal

2016 World Beer Championship - Silver Medal

2016 American Beer Awards Midwest Bean Beer Category - Silver Medal

Taobao password: ￥TOTLbro4JmD￥

An irreparable accident occurred and this bottle did not participate in the competition.

Well, due to the car crash, this review ends here. Goodbye.