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- Espresso x Wildebeest bone
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- Cortado x Turmoline stone
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- Ice Latte x Turkish ring
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- Cappuccino x Nepal ring
In a world where there is October, there are rings, who hunt to be on the hands that sip beautiful things.
So often, when I enter a cafe, its sensibility and my own personal style for the day determines what kind of coffee I’ll choose to enjoy. To explore coffee and style in the month of October, I teamed up with AP Café in Bushwick to photograph this editorial plating these two concepts. Using Forty Weight Coffee Roasters, AP Cafe says of their relationship with them, “We get to play with new blends, new single origins and the detail is never compromised. They are available, accessible and excited to see us succeed and I can identify with that first hand,” says Tanya Landeta, an owner and operator for the cafe.
As each coffee carries its own signature, in proportion and pull, so does the things with which one sips with. “We like to bring out the coffee notes, coffee is very personal, “said barista Mian Hicker who poured for this feature. What more than a set of rings to help the sipping along, thus this, ‘The Hunt for Ring October.’
“Since ancient times coffee is something that brings people together, it’s a community builder.”
Espresso
The espresso profile style is a condensed coffee bean, carrying notes of cherry, caramel originating from a few Latin American countries. “We pull a Classic Italian ristretto, fifteen ounces.”
Its strength, monochromatic cherry brown tones and pleasant wild chocolate flavor reminded me of how wondrous something so small can be.
Plated with: Wildebeest bone, thrifted on the streets of Harlem, New York.
The cortado style here is American, arriving a litter bigger with 1.5 ounce of espresso in a Gibraltar glass. As its designed for witnessing the coupling of milk and foam, theirs not only cut the milk appropriately but went straight to my heart because of its pleasant acidic punch tempered with silky micro foam.
“It’s aesthetically pleasing allowing you to see the layers of milk and foam because of the glass.”
Plated with: Tourmaline stone, a semi-precious refractive stone, known for mixing well with color, sourced from Pearl Drop Boutique.
Currently, it’s a Costa rican, steeped for 12-14 hours allowing lower acidity for the drink which holds the most caffeine of all the drinks served here. I had it sans milk, I felt its chocolatey strength upfront – it was like a tall drink of handsome mellowing towards the middle with touches of feminine charm.
“Flavors of chocolate, fruit and vanilla dominate and tastes great with milk.”
Using their own espresso blend, created to pair well with milk, is expressed in an iced latte drink in mason jug.
Consider this drink doing double duty, its as cool as it looks.
Bigger than a cortado and more foam than a latte, lightly floating on top is the traditional cappuccino.
I felt like I was sipping apple pie, a la mode with hints of cinnamon in announcing itself as the foam traveled with me to the end of the drink.
“It’s supposed to knock back, like a classic velvety cocktail.”
Special gratitude to the AP Creative Team for hosting all the coffees for this feature and to barista, Mian Hicker for her artisty.