Jen Green has one of the world’s greatest-sounding jobs. The former lawyer from the US swapped law for caffeine when she moved to Southeast Asia and started work as a coffee consultant. Among her projects are work with indigenous Cambodian coffee growers, helping boost revenues in underdeveloped communities, and linking specialty coffee producers in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam with roasters and markets.
This Saturday she is bringing her coffee tasting pop up project, Disappearing Brew Bar, to Yangon with a brew bar and brunch at Port Autonomy. They’ve crafted a coffee-food menu featuring dishes by chef Kevin Ching paired with coffee blends from Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar.
We talked to Jen about the secrets to good coffee, how to match it with food, and what she thinks about Myanmar’s brew.
Talk us through your day as a coffee consultant.
My day starts with a cup of coffee, usually. When I have some fresh beans, I love the ritual of weighing, grinding, putting on the kettle, getting my equipment set up, pouring the water evenly over the grounds and waiting for all of the water to drip through so I can smell and taste that first sip. Some people need coffee quickly in the morning to wake up, but I’m a morning person, so sometimes my first cup won’t be until 11am, or even after lunch. My housemates are also really into coffee, although not as much into the brewing, so I also make a bottle of cold brewed concentrated coffee every week or so, which lives in our fridge so they can pour it over ice with a bit of milk or water to make a quick and delicious iced coffee. I check my email, facebook, instagram, Sprudge and some of my favourite coffee blogs (Dear Coffee, I love you and Barista Hustle are top of the list) and make a list of things to tackle that day. Because I am working on the whole specialty coffee supply chain, there are lots of mini-projects and things to stay on top of, from farm to cup, literally! You begin to realise how one small development, like starting monthly barista and latte art competitions in a city, can change how people perceive coffee and the quality of the product, and it really motivates me to get more people interested in making and buying the most delicious coffees possible!
What makes a great cup of coffee?
Great coffee, for me, is one that tells a story. And I mean that in two senses – one, that it exhibits flavours that are unique to the place it is grown and the conditions there; and two, that there is care taken at every stage to preserve the quality and uniqueness of that coffee, and respect for everyone that is part of that process – the farmer, the roaster, the barista and the consumer. I often get asked what coffee or origin is my favourite, and the truth is, I love the variety of flavours that you can get from drinking specialty coffee from different parts of the world that is fresh roasted, ground just before serving, and made with care to bring out the best in the coffee beans. No favourites! It takes a lot of hands to make a really good cup of coffee, and at any point in the supply chain something could go wrong so I always try to remember what an amazing thing it is to get to drink really good coffee. There are lots of places doing this really well, both in the big “coffee cities” like Melbourne and Seattle, but also in the region, in Singapore and Bangkok, Chiang Mai, KL, Saigon and even little Phnom Penh.
You do coffee and food pairings. What is the secret?
Yes, I love teaching people how to enhance their connection with their palate, because the complexity of good coffee is really enhanced when you can start to recognise all of the interesting flavours going on in your cup! Each coffee is unique, some really floral and light, some quite punchy and acidic, others mellow and nutty, or bold and chocolately, or sometimes a combination. And each person tastes really differently: some people are very sensitive to acidic foods, some really need a lot of sweetness, some have a higher tolerance for bitter, some have their own idea of what coffee should taste like, and have culturally rooted ideas about what goes together or does not. I am quite a playful cook, so often I will try to bring out flavours in unexpected ways, and challenge those preconceptions without people realising it straight away: countering the bitterness of a coffee with a salty bagel makes the coffee taste sweeter, for example, or a really bright coffee can be refreshing and cleanse your palate when served with a crispy piece of bacon. And I am still learning a lot about how we perceive flavour and how to help people expand their palates, so keep experimenting on myself to see how things taste! In the Nordic countries, people often eat a piece of black liquorice with their black coffee. Really interesting!
How do you rate Myanmar coffee?
Myanmar is growing some really excellent coffees; we rate coffee on a scale of 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest), with anything over an 80 being considered “specialty”, and there are coffees growing in Myanmar that are scoring above 80 and have some wonderful unique flavours and good growing conditions. Good agricultural practices for coffee and technical knowledge about varieties and processing have only come to Myanmar in the past few years, but farmers seem interested in cultivating good quality products, which is good news for the industry. The other part of the equation is valuing these coffees and harnessing sufficient demand. A lot of the coffee that people are used to drinking here is 3-in-1, so there is the hurdle of exposing people to specialty coffee, getting good fresh milk (which is a necessity for making good cappuccinos and lattes), and the fact that Myanmar has an established tea culture and very good quality tea. There is something about coffee that is catching on, even in China where tea drinking has been the custom for centuries and coffee is a very new product. And every year there are new cafes, and many of them offer Myanmar coffee in addition to international brands like Illy, which is great for the farmers and roasters. And as cafe culture grows and local roasters and baristas become more skilled, the quality will only increase. I love coming back to Yangon a few times each year to see what is changing in the cafe scene!
Tell us more about what to expect on Saturday.
This is my first pop-up outside of Cambodia and definitely the first in Myanmar. The event is a pop-up coffee brew bar and brunch, which I am collaborating on with the incredible team at Port Autonomy. They have a very fresh and accessible but creative spin on classic dishes, which really complements the high quality local coffees that I am going to be brewing and serving and their unexpected pops of flavour. We are both really focused on the craft of food and coffee, and things that are locally made with attention to detail. On the menu, we are focusing on really high quality regional coffees: Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and of course Myanmar. I think people will be surprised at the differences between them, and the range of flavours compliments the brunch spread that chef extraordinaire Kevin Ching is putting together. Coffee can compliment a meal the same way wine can (and we may be serving a few coffee cocktails as well to bridge the gap!).
Disappearing Brew Bar will pop-up at 11am and run through 5pm at Port Autonomy, on Kabar Aye Pagoda Road.
Jen Green (right) at a recent pop-up event in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Photos (apart from header image): Courtesy of Jen Green.
