Last Sunday, I waited eagerly for the 2nd episode of Coffee Confidential.

In case you do not know what I am talking, you can read my previous post.

There are several sections in this episode.

First, Moses Chan went to Cafe Europa in Copenhagen, Denmark where he met ¹Martin Hildebrant, the 2001 WBC champion.

During his interview with Martin, he was introduced to specialty coffee and Martin made him a signature drink that is popular with Cafe Europa’s customers.The steps of making are as below:

1. Get a martini cocktail glass and pour simple sugar syrup as base.

2. Pour in a shot of espresso.

3. Shake the whipping cream in a shaker till achieve a consistent creamy & silkiness. Pour the cream into the glass.

4. Scoop sugar with a spoon and sprinkle on top of the drink.

5. Get a burner to heat the top just like chefs do on their creme brulee.

6. Use a lemongrass that is cut like a straw to drink this signature drink.

7. Enjoy!

It is not hard to make and I am going to try replicate when I have an espresso machine again.

For more information on Cafe Europa and how good this cafe is, read this post.

Next up in the episode, Moses was at last year’s WBC where he met the national barista champions from China & Singapore.

He asked them on their experiences in competing in the WBC. In the upcoming episode, there will be more glimpses of the WBC and more baristas since the programme is only airing for half an hour each episode.

²Italy is famous for its coffee. But there’s one Italian town that particularly prides itself on its long coffee tradition.

Trieste is widely acknowledged as the Mediterranean capital city of coffee as it is the main coffee port & hub of the coffee industry.

³Today, 42% of the entire amount of imported product passes through the Trieste Customs before reaching the various Italian roasting companies.

And you know what? A very famous Italian coffee company is based here. Try to make an educated guess.

Yes, you are right. Illy is located here and so do Università Del Caffè.

During his shooting at Illy’s roasting plant, he was shown the technological advances of Illy in packaging the premium coffee blend that is synomous with Illy and that is globally marketed to the world.

FYI, the coffee beans roasted in Illy’s plant have to be rested for at least 1 month before packing (Ernesto Illy told KF Chan when he was at Espressamente-Illy recently).

This is probably due to the coffee beans need to de-gas properly first before it can be vacuum-packed into the Illy tins as to avoid too much CO2 building up and cause an explosion when opened.

After the trip to Illy’s HQ, Moses was in Espressamente-Illy to try the signature coffees by Illy’s concept cafe. We are very proud that in Malaysia, we do have the branches of Espressamente-Illy at Pavillion & Bangsar Village.

And lastly in the episode, Moses went to another city in Italy (couldn’t recall the name) to try more signature drinks. Yum, yum!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the next episode!

Further resources that you may of interest:
1. Cafe Europa, Copenhagen, Denmark by lifestylogger.com
2. Copenhagen Coffee Academy by Barista Magazine
3. The World Of Coffee, according to Illy
4. Universita Del Caffe by Illy
5. Illy Launches University Of Coffee

“WBC Champions”, http://www.worldbaristachampionship.com/about_wbc.htm
“Italy, Visiting The Country’s Coffee Capital”, http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2676807,00.html
“Trieste For Geeks?”, http://trieste.linux.it/it/node/48