Continuing series of espresso joints in Singapore. The third wave espresso places are sprouting out everywhere, and often helmed by baristas who cut their teeth elsewhere...many of them with 10 years of pulling coffee under their belt. Maison Ikkoku is one such place.
With an interesting French/Japanese inspired name...I am presuming...Mr. Google pointed out that this was Japanese manga. The location of the cafe, in the middle of the Malay/Arab enclave of Kandahar is also interesting. Surrounding shops are more likely to offer Middle Eastern cuisine or Nasi Padang (indeed two of our island's most famous nasi padang stores are on the same street...Minang and Sabar Menanti).
Some 10 qualified baristas serve this maison. They don't roast in the facilities, but they roast off site. Interesting to me that some of the beans are quite old...the oldest bearing a roasting date of 20 December 2011...it was 4 January 2012 when I visited.
But the proof of the pudding is in the tasting...so here is my macchiato:
I was not sure of the age of the beans, so I shyed away from ordering my usual double ristretto and went for something with a touch of milk. Turned out I didn't have to worry about the espresso. It was thick, viscous. The marking by the foamed milk was perfect. The concoction held a teaspoon of sugar afloat for nearly 20s.
The mouthfeel was near perfect. The viscousity, the body of the espresso was apparant. There was an inherent sweetness of the coffee and this was apparent. I will venture to order a double ristretto next time.
Lionel's picollo latte looked just as excellent. The latte art was nice, finely drawn...I didn't taste it, but if my macchiato had anything to make reference to, it would be great.
Nice homey feel at the cafe...Relaxing. With free wifi (need a password from the barista though). Nice place. Throughly enjoyable.
Maiso Ikkoku
20 Kandahar St
3 comments:
Hi Peter! Thanks for dropping by Maison Ikkoku and we are glad you & your friend enjoyed your coffee.
On a side note, coffee beans are at their freshest and peak within a month from the day they are roasted.So the ones you saw roasted on 20th Dec isn't old at all, they were roughly bout 2 weeks old when you saw them on 4th Jan.
Anything older than a month goes straight into our training box.
Do drop by soon again!
-Maison Ikkoku Team.
Thanks Maison Ikkoku team.
In my experience, and I have been roasting for more than 10 years, the beans lose their vitality and go stale after 8 to 10 days. How do you keep the bean suchthat they last a month?
Hmm, usually we don't touch the beans right after they are roasted. We allow coffee beans right after roasting to go through a curing stage for up to 5-7 days to let their full flavours unfurl and develop.
It is only after then we would serve the beans as the coffee beans would be at their peak. To store beans, keep them in a cool, dry & dark place either in an air tight container or those paper/foil bags with a one-way valve.
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