Until I went to QiShan I didn't know coffee was grown in Taiwan. Like most Asian countries, tea is number 1. I suppose anyplace that can grow coffee can also grow tea, so it makes sense to grow the more popular crop. But in QiShan they had a small area selling coffee. It comes in plastic envelopes, enough for one serving.
Inside the envelope is a filter paper packet of coffee. You tear off the top of the envelope and put it on top of a cup.
The packet is both brewing vessel and filter the ingenious paper wings lets it sit on top of a cup.
The paper wings are strong enough to support the coffee and the hot water added.
Nice engineering.
Most Taiwanese places have a boiling hot water dispenser(usually for making tea) but this water works for this coffee making setup as well.
It's a one cup alternative to expensive Starbucks but I doubt it will catch on. First off, tea bags are looked down on in Taiwan. Rightly so, because a tea bag usually contains the leaves and stems that would be unsellable as tea. The paper tea bag conceals what an inferior product it is compared to "loose leaf" tea. Second, the cache of drinking coffee in a cafe would be missing if you just took you caffeine fix at home.
I'm not fussy about tea or coffee, just as long as it is strong(Seattle strong). It doesn't even have to be hot, just warm is fine for me. When I finish the packets from QiShan, I switch back to Nescafe coffee crystals, now that's convenience.
Does the coffee from Taiwan taste good? That packet for one cup is nifty! I haven't seen anything like that in the US. I like our pod coffee machine.
ReplyDeleteThe cup is nifty, but the coffee was just soso. I think I used too much water and the coffee turned out weak. Also the hot water for brewing wasn't boiling so that could also be why I didn't get the full flavor out.
ReplyDeleteThat looks awesome! Can you bring some home with you??
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