My last coffee from my visit to Albuquerque was this bag from Prismatic Coffee. Prismatic’s cafe is a thoroughly modern space with lovely touches spread throughout – it felt very Instagrammable, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Two things of note:
- They create stroopwafels by hand, in both salted caramel and fruit flavors (seasonally). If you’re not familiar with stroopwafels, basically it’s a waffle cookie pressed thin on a specialty iron, split open to put a gooey filling inside, and sandwiched back up again. Get one of these delights and place it over a steaming mug of coffee, tea, or other hot beverage of your choice. The steam and heat from your mug will soften the caramel filling and create an amazing melty texture when you finally bite into the cookie (it’ll be the longest few minutes of your life but it’ll be worth it)! I visited with Shutterbug and I jealously watched as he enjoyed every crumb of his… no more stroopwafels for me until they create a gluten-free version or modern medicine creates a way that I can eat this sort of stuff without suffering.
- They serve oat milk. Oat milk is something that I’ve been seeing on more and more cafe menus lately, and the barista graciously took the time to explain to me why he thought that oat milk was a superior milk alternative to the more standard ones like soy and almond milk (steams better, great flavor, more environmentally friendly than almond milk). They sell cartons of Oatly brand oat milk, which the guy I spoke with said was the best. I ended up buying some Oatly from my local Whole Foods once I got home, and in time I will write a post about milk alternatives.
Whole bean: In the weeks prior to this tasting, I had been drinking a lot of medium to medium-dark coffee, so it was really refreshing to taste a light-roasted coffee again! The beans smelled vibrant and delicious like tropical fruit and citrus.
V60: This coffee, brewed at 3:40, had a light mouthfeel and color to it, and it smelled and tasted of peaches.
Chemex: Nutty (almond) flavors dominated on the front and gave way on the finish to peach and blood orange. Delicate!
French press: Lovely rich texture to this cup. The flavor was a bit more muted than in the pourover methods but I found it to have a great balance between the fruity flavors and the almost creamy texture.
AeroPress: Tangy flavors of mango as a concentrate. Adding a little extra water really muted it and I think it tasted better undiluted.
Summary: Lovely light-roasted coffee that really shined in all methods but had the best balance of flavor and texture in the French press, in my opinion.
From the roaster: stone fruit, tart pomegranate, plum, blood orange
This coffee is no longer available through Prismatic’s website, but here’s a link to their online shop below.
Review conducted 7 days post-roast.