Nordic Coffee Roasting Style and Coffee Sales

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If deep (bitter) and shallow (sour) are used as the poles of the coffee flavor spectrum, traditional Italian coffee (Italian Roast) will undoubtedly occupy one side. (note: charred French French Roast and Viennese Vienna Roast are no longer common). As for the other end of the "very shallow baking", the author will think of Taiwan. A few years ago in Hong Kong, most coffee shops only served deep-fried beans with low acidity. If enthusiasts want to taste sour and bitter coffee, they often have to import it from Taiwan.

Roast shows the original flavor of coffee beans

I thought Nordic coffee had a broad flavor spectrum, but this trip made me find that there are more "choices" in Hong Kong today, whether it's low-temperature and shallow stir-frying as soft as scented tea with a delicate level of siphon brewing, or deep-fried beans with blackened oil with a strong French press will always be found in local coffee shops. The impression of Norwegian coffee on me is very simple. There are only two kinds of coffee: "to those who understand coffee" and "to those who do not know fine coffee". Because of the high cost of living, "any" coffee shop also has COE prize beans. They are not particular about the cooking method, but the baking style is mainly to express the original flavor of the beans.

Award-winning beans, coffee, small profits and quick sales

It takes about thirty minutes from the capital airport Gardermoen to the downtown Oslo S station by train. The author's coffee trip in Oslo mainly focused on the city center with an area the size of Yau Tsim Mong. Except for the headquarters of the well-known baker Solberg & Hansen, which needs to be reached by bus, the rest are within walking distance. Eystein, an old friend, is the general manager and Kaffebrenneriet, the largest chain in Oslo, is a regular visitor to COE auctions. In a short period of 11 years, the number of branches has grown from four to 28 this year. The secret is small profits and quick turnover: when the 7-Eleven convenience store charges 22 Norwegian kroner (about HK $28) for espresso, the coffee concocted with COE winning beans is only 25 Norwegian kroner. Eystein said bluntly that this is "subsidy when publicity" (subsidized coffee). He knows that Norwegian people in Chongyou will not go back to commercial grade after drinking high-quality coffee.

Another restaurant strongly recommended by local enthusiasts is the newly opened Supreme Roastworks. Like us, they are also in the middle (fried beans) and downstream (opening a shop to make coffee). I hit it off with his owner, Magnus, not only because his store also uses a variable pressure Strada EP espresso machine, but also admires his idea of stir-fried beans-he thinks that to express the original flavor of beans, it is not cooking but baking. So he will not prepare two versions, one shallow and the other deep, according to the cooking style of the guests. At his store I drank the most delicious espresso in Norway, an easy-to-taste, sweet coffee made from lightly fried Brazilian garden beans.

In terms of star coffee shops, there are two shops opened by the winner of the World Barista Competition in Oslo. The two rooms opened by the champion in 2000 were named Mocha and Java. Unfortunately, on the day of my visit, the shop assistant said that the owner Robert had gone skiing! Fortunately, I ran into the same doornail, the last Danish champion Rasmus from Copenhagen. It can be compensated to communicate with him. As for the coffee bar opened by the 2004 champion Tim Wendelboe in his own name, it has long been known that he is now focused on shuttling through the farm. The chances of meeting him in Central America may be higher than those in Norway. When the shop assistants knew that the author had brought several packs of their own beans, they happily took the beans from the shelves for exchange. It confirms the saying that "those who know are not as good as those who are good, and those who are good are not as good as those who are happy."

Photo: Patrick Tam (owner of the boutique coffee shop Knockbox, approved barista of the American Fine Coffee Association and European Fine Coffee Association, American CQI recognition Cup tester, Cup of Excellence's first Hong Kong judge, www.facebook.com/Knockboxcoffee)