Espresso Cold (by invitation), by Bureaucrat

A few weeks ago we ran a competition where 10 lucky readers won a six-pack of Espresso Cold. 

Espresso Cold is a Melbourne based company that specialises in artisan-made coffee that has been traditionally slow hot-brewed over 24 hours, then drip cooled, sweetened and bottled. 

Since our competition, we've heard lovely feedback from the winners enjoying their Espresso Cold. The favourite way seems to be pouring the dark, aromatic brew over several scoops of ice cream and topped with milk for an easy iced coffee; while others simply enjoy it straight for a strong pick-me-up.

Front row: a big espresso and latte. Back left: mocha chocolate ripple log cake.

So we were stoked to get given a six-pack of Espresso Cold for ourselves to try.  Each bottle contains eight shots of espresso - so this is potent stuff!  For our taste test, the Lawyer had his neat as a cup of espresso (which we gently warmed up on the stove top first), while I opted to have it as a latte by adding warmed milk.  No sugar is required as Espresso Cold comes sweetened.

The Lawyer really enjoyed the espresso.  In particular, he loved the smooth flavour and the strong caffeine kick.  He also tried it as a coffee milkshake and couldn't get past how easy it was to make it - just pour and mix!  

I can definitely attest that the espresso is strong, and I mean really strong!  But what is good is that you can control how strong your cup of Joe is. I definitely think Espresso Cold tastes better with the addition of full cream milk.  I reckon full cream milk is better than skim or soy/nut milk as you need the heft of the cream to counter the strength of the coffee.  

To savour the coffee, we had dark chocolates and as you can cook with Espresso Cold, I had made a chocolate ripple log cake (remember those?).  Just follow the standard recipe for chocolate ripple cake (do a Google and you'll find it) but make sure to dunk the chocolate biscuits in some Espresso Cold before you spread the whipped cream in between each biscuit.  It was a great pairing of classic flavours - chocolate, coffee and cream.  Yum!

Check out Espresso Cold to place your order for a six-pack or individual bottles.