Happy Anniversary!

monday.08.august.2011

Today is Husband’s and my 2nd anniversary. Quite different from last year’s celebrations, when we spent an entire weekend away- we only managed a two-hour sojourn away from home and the Coffee Bean this time around. Grandparents and Great Grandparents are such lovely inventions! Great Grandma P kept the Bean for us while we had dinner at Chaud Café (different from the full Chaud restaurant).

Dinner was lovely… we had a tapas style meal so we got to sample a variety of dishes: Divine mango margaritas, Marinated olives; Pesto breadsticks, Chicken Paillard with Pico de Gallo, a Spanish chorizo & potato tortilla and French fries with arugula mayo. Every dish was absolutely delicious. The staff and service were just as fantastic as in the full restaurant. The air-conditioned indoor ambience was a very trendy rustic meets zen type of affair- with glass doors, a brick wall façade, open kitchen, wide mirror and dark wood wine bar all coming together to create a comfortable and welcoming dinner setting. (The outdoor patio looked alright too; although for the life of me I can’t figure out why most of the other patrons chose to sit outdoors on a hot, humid night with the smell of citronella and city corporation mosquito spray assaulting the senses! People it’s hot in Trinidad all year through. No need to sacrifice comfort for “summer outdoor dining”!!!) Moving on...

We finished up our dinner with a scrumptious, melt-in-your-mouth Apple Crumble pie topped with Dulce de Leche ice-cream. Husband also sampled of their coffee. All of Chaud Café’s coffee drinks are made with Britt Café coffees (which we had previously sampled at Hyatt). Not bad… but nowhere near as good as a fresh roasted Social!

Verdict:  Lovely anniversary and great cafe... Maybe I'll send them some fabulous fresh coffee to make it even better ;o)

The Chorreador

friday.24.september.2010

Happy Republic Day Trinidad and Tobago. Yet another public holiday! I love it. Three holidays over the last four weeks but none in October :o( I’m sure we’ll find a way to survive.

Anyway, on to the coffee. Yesterday I mentioned Café Britt, which specializes in gourmet Costa Rican and Peruvian coffees. Today I figured I’d share with you a picture of an authentic Costa Rican coffee maker- The Costa Rican Chorreador. It’s essentially a wooden hanger and a sock-like cloth filter. I first came across the Chorreador on a website/ blog called “the kitchn”, which is where the first picture is taken from. The second picture is from a website called Travel Muse. 
Finely ground coffee is placed in the sack and hot water is poured in to mix with the grounds and gradually filter out. I imagine clean up is quite a pain! However, this traditional set up is still widely used in Costa Rica and in the homes of Costa Ricans globally.
 
 

Cafe Britt

thursday.23.september.2010

What an evening yesterday! Just as I thought I could start packing up to go home, the heavens opened up and torrential rains came flooding down. I’d love to say that that’s an exaggeration but between the lightening, thunder and flash flooding, it certainly is an accurate description. Faced with a very delayed commute home, Husband and I decided to kill some time at the Hyatt coffee shop/ bar while we waited for the traffic to ease up a bit.

Our barista was a lovely young lady who expertly handled the immaculately kept espresso machine. I couldn’t quite catch the name of the machine, though. Coffee beans were ground on demand, milk was professionally foamed and the machine wiped spotless at the end. Café Britt seems to be the coffee of choice at the Hyatt. Café Britt specializes in gourmet Costa Rican and Peruvian coffees. I had a latte so I didn’t get the true taste of the coffee. However, my latte was absolutely delicious. The crisp notes of the coffee cut right through the creamy milk indicating that the coffee was fresh and well prepared. I guess I’ll just have to go back again to try a regular brew!