Coffee Quest #22: Ozone Coffee Roasters
My partner ordered their El Yalcon Cold Brew (Columbia).
It's a fully washed bean. And I have to say it's quite nice! The texture clings. Like it's just a little bit more oily than usual. You can order (and we did) a oat milk and hazelnut infusion on the side, and when you pour it in, it mellows out the brightness that dominated most of the drink. I quite enjoyed the brightness and the acidity, but my partner liked having the infusion poured in because it enhanced the chocolate notes. The oat and hazelnut infusion reminds me a lot of nutella (without the sweetness, of course), and my partner kept saying how much she enjoyed the 'nutella coffee'.
This is their single origin Kercha Sharo (Ethiopia).
Extremely full bodied. Whoa, it was so strong even with milk. It's a bit crazy and I love it. Has a dryness that comes over your tongue when you let it linger (the minute astringency isn't unwelcome). This one really stays with you so when the menu said 'subtle aftertaste', I'm wondering if it was pulled wrong. Or maybe I have weird tastebuds. But I really liked the fruit notes, mostly apricot and berries.
With their food, we had the handcut Cavatelli with last seasons mushrooms, umami butter, and cured egg yolk.
So cavatelli is a type of pasta, and it was my first time having it. The mushrooms are dried from last season, then soaked in water, and I'm pretty sure it's cooked with vegetable/mushroom stock too. Umami butter is likely soy sauce and worcestershire.
At first, we really enjoyed it. The collared greens added a nice texture (some sort of kale like leaf). The cured egg yolks were shaved with a microplane. There's a crumbliness to it while also making the dish creamier. It's an interesting pairing and it made me want to cook it myself...and yet, with every bite, we wanted to eat it less and less. All the flavours are strong on strong on strong. Would you believe our complaint is that it tastes too much of mushroom, even if it had a very nice mix and variety? It's just too repetitive.
Maybe it would work better as an appetizer, but as a dish onto itself, there's just way too much.
Here's their braised Awatoru venison mince on focaccia with piccalilli. Very finely ground mince, possibly to compensate for the cut. The venison adds another layer you don't usually get but there's a spice here I can't really pick out. There's also a lot of anise here and that's going to make or break the dish for a lot of people. The pickled vegetables act as palette cleansers, but it's harsh as well.
Both dishes are extremely heavy. While we were pleasantly surprised at the start, it soon became middling. We were chugging a lot of water given how strong and salty everything was. Best to share the food, I think.
Overall, I'd recommend this place if you want to try some nice and different coffees, but the food is going to be very hit and miss for people.