Monday, February 7, 2011

KA-POW! Bar



















KA-POW! Bar

Coffee and cacao have so much in common--they're both the pungent, oily seeds of exotic plants, both luxuries that have become part of our everyday lives. The quality of either finished product is the result of a long chain of variables such as varietal, roast, and terroir. And of course they're great tastes that taste great together: we melt chocolate into coffee drinks and smother coffee beans in chocolate.

Now Portland confectioner Elizabeth Montes has taken the coffee-chocolate parallel one delicious step further with KA-POW!, a bar that's not merely flavored with coffee, but actually made from it. The only ingredients are cocoa butter, coffee, and sugar. The cocoa butter binds the whole thing together, giving KA-POW! the "physicality of chocolate" and amplifying the heady scent and robust flavor of the coffee. Sugar is added to the mix at just the right moment, seeding the creamy matrix with contrastingly crunchy crystals.

Each bar features a single-origin coffee from Portland area small-batch roasters such as Water Avenue Coffee, Extracto, Ristretto, and Stumptown. A KA-POW! bar made from Extracto's Sumatra Permati has all the tangy gaminess of a strong shot--but in a more portable format.


Speaking of portable, check out other travel-appropriate treats at WanderFood Wednesday.

5 comments:

Kris the Educated Vagabond said...

This is the greatest thing I have ever heard. I can't believe there is an awesome new delivery system for my coffee addiction - here's hoping it ships throughout the US!

Katie said...

How do I get some of this amazingness?!

Bylandersea said...

Sounds something like Pocket Coffee that I tasted in Italy a few years ago.

Wanderluster said...

Wow, there's some serious science to this sweetness! I'd love to try it.

Julia said...

While I love Pocket Coffee, I adore KA-POW! for tasting more like coffee and less like candy--plus, there's no chance of it leaking all over your purse.

You can oder KA-POW! by clicking though to Shagun through the hotlink at the top of the post.