Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
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NINE BARS BY DAVID LAMARTINA Salted coffee actually makes sense ream, sugar… salt? Though it may not be a staple of your condiment area, salt is a culinary powerhouse that can unleash complex tastes and textures in many foods and drinks—even coffee. Yep, you read that right. Salt and coffee can work well together. In addition to a pleasant, subtle salinity, a tiny pinch can add depth to the cup. And for customers who enjoy sweetened drinks, the interplay between salt, dairy and sugar can take cappuccinos and iced coffees into another direction. "THE SUPERHERO OF TASTE" Here's how Barb Stuckey, author of food science book "Taste What You're Missing," refers to the flavor-transforming proper- ties of salt: "It thwarts the bad guys and lets the good guys run free." As any chef will tell you, sodium doesn't simply make foods saltier; it enlivens them, allowing their best attributes to shine. It's essential for bringing out the unique flavors of butter, eggs 62 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com and other fatty foods, and it can transform even garden-variety produce into gastronomic delights. It can even be used to brighten the flavors of baked goods—try, for example, adding a pinch of salt to coffeehouse biscotti. Salt accomplishes these feats in a dual process Stuckey calls "mutual suppression." First, sodium downplays "negative" fla- vors, especially bitterness. Whereas sugar simply masks bitter compounds, salt actually reduces their effects. At the same time, sodium further activates sweetness-detecting taste buds. This is why fruit, caramel and chocolate all taste "more like themselves" when lightly sprinkled with salt. COFFEE'S HIDDEN FLAVORS These effects can apply to coffee in similar ways. "In a food like coffee, where you have a pronounced bitterness, the bitterness is held in check," says Stuckey. Although some bitter notes are continued on page 64 NICOLE O'BANION