Salty Coffee?

I bloody love coffee. I have never been a big tea drinker, coffee has always been my go to hot drink. My dad’s old friend Barry was the person who got me hooked and taught me to make coffee in the correct way. I can remember looking like a right twat at university, walking around the halls with a coffee plonger, heading to my mate Eric’s for what we called a “proper coffee” rather than the instant shite that the mere mortals drank. 

I started to realise in my twenties that all the activities and hobbies that I took up were just an excuse to justify having a coffee. Skiing meant getting up for the first lift but popping in for a coffee to wait for them to open, surfing meant coming out of the water and having a Portuguese Pastel de Nata with a coffee and well cycling of course is a perfect ruse to have plenty of coffees - one before you leave, one at the top of each climb, one at the bottom of each climb and maybe one to break up the flats! 

Someone say coffee stop?

You should now have the picture, I like a good coffee. I thought that I knew a lot about coffee culture but that was before I discovered Lapland. Two years ago, on a road trip from the Alps to the Northern tip of Norway, I passed through Swedish Lapland. Well into the Artic Circle, I stopped off in a sleepy village with a cool outdoor shop. 

There was this awesome looking coffee brand, the guy called it camping coffee. The idea was to make the coffee in an open pot on a fire. Let the coffee settle to the bottom and then drink the liquid. A bit like a Turkish coffee or how the cowboys on the prairies do it. Sellotaped to the coffee was a little sachet of “kaffesalt” which, with my linguistic skills, I translated to coffee salt. I thought nothing of it apart from realising that it was a bit weird. 

Why did it have a sachet of salt stuck to the bag?

Then, 2 years later, during Lockdown, I came across a YouTube channel all about coffee and one video saying, “should I put salt in my coffee?”. With nothing better to do, I watched it. Accordingly to this, putting salt into coffee will remove the bitterness and acidity and as long as it is no more than a pinch, will not replace it with saltiness. Perhaps better for you than putting sugar into your coffee? 

Perhaps it is the long, winter evenings? Where did they get the idea to put salt in coffee?

I thought that I would give it a go, I made an espresso and put a couple of turns of salt in from the grinder. 

Wow! It works! You still had all the flavours of a nice cup of coffee but the salt removed the sharp edge. I got on the blower to Baz! I told him about the discovery, and he (being in Lockdown with nothing better to do aswell) gave it a go. A text confirmation that it does work meant that now, if a coffee is a bit too bitter, then, I will be asking for a pinch of salt rather than some sugar. 

Try it out!