Something a bit different. Made with roasted Robusta beans. I received a sample of a few pounds of Vietnamese Robusta Coffee Beans a little while back and decided to give them a try. We roasted them at 2 different levels, a medium/dark roast, and a dark roast. Then I brewed them using various methods. My drip coffee maker, as espresso, in my Bodum French Press and as a cold brew. Pretty much no matter how you cut it, the Robusta bean is more bitter than the Arabica bean.
The espresso was the most bitter and not really enjoyable at either roast, even with cream and sugar. Drip coffee was a bit better and with the french press I could control the extraction time better, so it was even a bit less bitter. Maybe not so surprising, but as cold brew it was quite nice without any cream or sugar. I only made cold brew from the med/dark roast.
Having recently read an article about Vietnamese coffee, I looked around online and found several stories and a recipe for Vietnamese Iced Coffee. It is very trendy these days in Vietnam, so thought I would give it a try. I don’t have one of the little Vietnamese coffee makers pictured above, but you can get them on Amazon for about $10. I brewed it in my drip coffee maker. The sweetened condensed milk and the bitter coffee was liked by all. Although, no one has asked me to make it again. It was a bit different from anything we are used to. The next night I made some of my Colombian Popayán coffee and used the sweetened condensed milk, it was like dessert!
Once the cold brew had soaked long enough, we gave it a try. It was actually not at all bitter. Add a little ice and some sweetened condensed milk and it was down right tasty.
So there you have it. Vietnamese (almost) coffee from the Robusta bean. Not my everyday bean, but it shows how the roast and brewing can make a tremendous difference in the flavor of almost any bean.