Coffee philosophy of international chefs: coffee is an expression of attitude towards life

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The famous international chef has five restaurants in France, Singapore and Taiwan, but even so, what does Jiang Zhencheng have to do with coffee? If you have the opportunity to visit Jiang Zhencheng's "RAW" in Taiwan, what comes into view is not the dining table or the meal bar, but the coffee bar. As Jiang Zhencheng said, coffee is not a necessity for him, but it is an expression of his attitude towards life.

For Jiang Zhencheng, coffee is not a necessity of life, but it is an expression of life attitude. (provided by Restaurant ANDRE)

Interviewing Jiang Zhencheng is very interesting, although he is not face-to-face directly, but he also feels Jiang Zhencheng's seriousness through the overseas phone call from Taiwan to Singapore. For each word, he pauses, thinks, and then slowly and accurately expresses his thoughts. Like his people, the food he cooks, the coffee he likes, is simple and pure on the outside, and the inside is actually a tempered philosophy.

Five years ago, Jiang Zhencheng was in fact a complete layman of coffee. He knew how to drink coffee, but what was good about it? It's just a drink that needs to be seasoned with a lot of sugar and milk! Until five years ago, he and his friends came to a coffee shop in Copenhagen, Denmark, and tasted a mouthful of Ethiopian black coffee that surprised him. At this point, his impression of coffee has completely changed. Coffee without any seasoning is just like tea with a charming level.

RAW offers premium hand-brewed coffee. (photo by Su Guohui)

When he returned to Taiwan to set up RAW, Jiang Zhencheng tried nearly 30 kinds of coffee, and finally chose the coffee beans roasted by the Nordic style Fika Fika Cafe. For Jiang Zhencheng, coffee beans are actually ingredients. With good ingredients, there is no need for complicated techniques or showing off skills. Good coffee can talk by itself, while the Nordic style of shallow roasting can best show the essence of coffee beans.

When he founded RAW, Jiang Zhencheng tried nearly 30 kinds of coffee. (photo by Liu Xiejia)

Can you imagine what the first thing this international chef does when he enters his restaurant? Instead of trying the dish, he will try a cup of hand-made coffee first to make sure that the flavor of the coffee is correct before he can start other work today. "Coffee is not a necessity for me, but like perfume and cologne, it is an expression of attitude towards life. This is how Jiang Zhencheng describes the role of coffee in his life.

Of course, you may not really know much about coffee. Jiang Zhencheng thinks that coffee is like food. As long as you can comfortably taste a cup of black coffee and feel the natural flavor of coffee, it is a good cup of coffee for you. However, when it comes to good coffee in Jiang Zhencheng's mind, just like his sense of balance in cuisine, sour, bitter and sweet need to be perfectly balanced. Too strong, too bitter, too sour, and too exciting are not the performance of a good cup of coffee!