Here at Cartel, we like to deal in drinks that make you feel good. Coffee gives you energy for the day, wine gives you the confidence to deal with the day. When pairing coffee and wine though, we like to note a few things.
1. Always drink coffee first
Coffee has more complex sugars than wine. The general subtleties of coffee are covered up after drinking Natural wine, which has more simple sugars.
2. Some are paired on flavour, some on history, some on Philosophy
Some coffees and wines are paired together for obvious fruit or floral flavours. Others are together due to their relationships in farming. For example, the Houillon Family and La Palma El Tucan are both dynasties in their respective fields (Both profession and farms). Their Natural Wine, and Coffees are emblematic of Biodynamic farming, multi-cropping, new varietals like Sidra and Gesha, as well as excellent processing and wine-making techniques.
3. It’s not a contest, drink to enjoy
The goal of having the pairing is to come to appreciate flavour, but we’ve always got to remember that someone farmed them for you to enjoy. We think of it more like sticker or stamp collecting. Each coffee and each wine has a back story that brought it to you, and each one is hopefully a great memory of a bit of happiness.
We are incredibly passionate about the producers that we feature. Some are up and coming such as Six Parallels South, Owen Latta, and Kerri Greens, just as some of our Coffee origins are like Honduras, and the Parainema guys like Edwin Sabillion and Ronnie Gabriel. Or the Natural Fermentation trail blazers in India’s Riverdale Estate. The coffee industry has learned a lot from the Wine industry, and we hope to see more and more of a convergence as time goes on.
Drink well and Drink Smart