insideKENT Magazine Issue 35 - February 2015 | Page 91
FOOD+DRINK
Some coffee makers and producers go one step
further than purchasing and blending coffees,
choosing the strangest ingredients to add to their
beans, ensuring a unique taste and a high price
tag. There is a coffee producer called Sweet
Maria’s that offers beans that have already been
consumed, for example. The Brazilian Jacu bird
is particularly fond of eating coffee berries, but
is unable to digest them properly…so they are
passed whole. The bird poo is then searched,
the beans are found, and the coffee which results
from them is said to have no bitterness at all!
If you don’t like the idea of drinking already
ingested coffee, what about trying some that has
already been tasted? Formosan rock monkeys
don’t eat coffee. But they do like to suck the
beans. After they are done, they spit them out,
and the remains are collected. Apparently, the
coffee made from these discarded beans tastes
like vanilla…
If you enjoy drinking coffee but don’t like the
stimulating effect it has, you could try the
decaffeinated version. Or you could try Counting
Sheep Coffee which, despite the caffeine content,
promises to get you a good night’s sleep. That’s
because it is blended with valerian root, which
is a natural sedative.
Kent has its fair share of artisan coffee producers,
with many turning out some delicious blends that
put most instant jars of coffee to shame.
Bean Smitten
www.beansmitten.co.uk
Located in Lamberhurst on the Kent/East Sussex
border, Bean Smitten is all about the taste, and
works on using only ethically traded beans to
get it. It produces a number of different blends
including the Contemporary Blend (notes of
caramel and chocolate combined with a strong
espresso) and the Classic Blend, which is fullbodied and sweet.
origin and blended coffees, there are flavoured
coffees (including vanilla, brandy, chocolate
orange, and Amaretto!), and chocolate-flavoured
coffee beans too, which make a delicious (and
utterly moreish) treat. Ther e are 55 different
varieties of coffee in stock, and if you can’t choose
your favourite that’s fine – just join the Coffee
Club, and a new taste will be delivered to your
door every month!about coffee, learn about it,
and taste it too.
If you want to sample a cup of Bean Smitten’s
coffee, Daily Bread Café in Tunbridge Wells serves
it exclusively.
The Coffee Bean Shop
www.coffeebeanshop.co.uk
If you want to try something completely different
when it comes to coffee, this could well be your
cup of…coffee. As they themselves proclaim,
these beans are “for serious coffee drinkers” so
expect something that the coffee connoisseur
would love. The Coffee Bean Shop offers a weekly
promo, so you can sample all sorts of different
varieties including beans from the Tarrazu Valley
in Costa Rica, Indian Tiger Stripes espresso
blend, and the world’s most expensive coffee,
Kopi Luwak (otherwise known as civet coffee),
which has passed through the digestive tract of
the Asian palm civet.
Real Deal Roasters
www.realdealroasters.co.uk
Real Deal Roasters (located, as you may have
guessed, in Deal) understands just how popular
coffee has become in recent years, calling the
change from wanting a simple jar of instant coffee
to demanding something a little more delicate
and delicious a ‘revolution’. All of its beans are
hand roasted in small batches to ensure freshness
and the ultimate taste sensation.
Real Deal Roasters offers a number of superb
blends, including their own invention called
Morning Glory, which has a high caffeine content.
This, and all the other blends, can be found at
Deal market every Saturday or ordered online.
The Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Company
www.tea-and-coffee.com
Once two companies (The Kent Tea & Trading
Company and the Sussex Tea Company), the
Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Company is now a
force to be reckoned with. In addition to its single
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Micro Roastery
www.microroastery.co.uk
If you want an espresso that will really do the
job, this artisan coffee shop in Canterbury will
give it to you – its standard espresso shot contains
90 coffee beans, rather than the 42 beans that
are found in most other coffee shops. Try the
Finca el Triangulo from Guatemala with its banana
after tones, or maybe the honey sweetness of
the Kenya AA variety.