It’s National Coffee Day!  So of course I had to share this little amazing thing that happened for my birthday.  I wanted to do something different this year.  An adult alternative to a bowling party.  Not a dinner at one of Phnom Penh’s fine but finite number of restos.  But definitely still food related.  So I invited a small group of friends who have the most discerning of palates and appreciations and asked our coffee Yoda if she could host a coffee cupping in her own personal laboratory of magic.

No. Not Michael Phelps.  Or what they have been doing all over Asia for centuries.

A proper coffee tasting is what a traditional cupping is. But what we got instead (after I told Jen to go nuts) was a taste explosion.  It was epic.  Some are still talking about a certain menage á trois that happened. Taste pairings? More like illicit taste orgies.  I’m serious.

Our coffee magician gathered us first to get our palates ready with a bunch of opinion generating tiny things. The bitterest of chocolates.  Three teas with the tiniest of differences.  The fun of bacon fused with chocolate and a mystery ingredient.  All the pink drinks.

And then came the coffee.  There was a lot of slurping.  It’s an industry standard, you know.  Jen walked us through the entire brewing process. You could totally tell all the minds being blown, knowing that they’d been brewing their beans a little to hot, too long, or not enough.  Bitter, sour, sweet, extraction, pow.

Oh right, there was also birthday cake.  But that naked and so lovely espresso red velvet wasn’t what my pals are now trying to recreate at home.  Instead, Jen invited us to put the following in our mouths, at the same time: blue cheese, pineapple and her spherified cold brew coffee jelly.

And then we fought over the last pieces.  As if raised by wolves.  Because that was how good it was.

Future taste explosions are being planned in Phnom Penh!  Keep an eye out on your social media because I hear a bunch of culinary collaborations are in the making!

Thank you Jen for the bestest way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon in Phnom Penh!  I can’t wait to see what you concoct next!!!

Footnote: While we all agreed that everything was delicious. There was something clearly missing: Cait.

---

All photos by Tiffany Tsang. Please request permission for use. We are not liable for any mishaps with production of spherified cold brew coffee jelly.