Kyoto Black - Distinct Bourbon Flavour

Posted on: 2016-05-06 10:17 AM

The South Side native’s current foray: a version of Kyoto-style cold brew that he calls Kyoto Black. It's thick and rich, he says, with flavors like cognac, stout beer and shaved dark chocolate from a blend of two dark roasted beans. It's strong, too: He estimates the concentrate has three times the caffeine found in regular drip coffee.
 
Kyoto-style cold brew is made with a contraption that looks like it would be more at home in a lab. Water drips one drop at a time from a top container onto the coffee grounds in a middle cylinder. The finished product passes through a tiny filter to a beaker at the bottom.
 
Doggett sells 1.5-liter bags of his Kyoto Black for $40, which includes shipping. He wouldn’t disclose revenue.
 
Chicago's Alinea, one of the world's top restaurants, served Kyoto Black at the preview of its new space on Monday, the same day it won the James Beard award for outstanding restaurant.
 
Greenline Coffee opens at CIE, offering jolt to S. Side entrepreneurs
Greenline Coffee opens at CIE, offering jolt to S. Side entrepreneurs
Kyoto Black is sold at a couple of area coffee shops, including Cafe Chien in Albany Park. High-end South Loop restaurant Acadia used it as an ingredient in a dessert.
 
The first time Doggett tried the stuff in 2011, he wanted to know more.
 
"I could see where this would be really interesting. It's something completely different," he said. "It's different enough that I want to go ahead and play around with it."
 
Most cold brews are made by steeping grounds in vats of water, which leaves them full of sediment, Doggett said. Kyoto-style coffee is made in smaller batches and has a clearer flavor, since water is constantly dripping on the grounds.
 
Doggett’s version goes deeper.
 
He homes in on extraction, which is the process of dissolving flavors from grounds. There’s a range he likes to reach for an ideal flavor, and he uses an app to help track that.
 
For a couple of years, he used an instrument called a refractometer as well, but says he doesn’t need it anymore — his palate does the trick.
 
He recommends drinking a 4-ounce serving straight, tasting the chocolate flavors.
 
As with fine bourbon, cutting Kyoto-style coffee with water can bring out the flavor, said Chloe Langham, retail coffee trainer at Metropolis Coffee Co., where Doggett used to work. Metropolis goes through about a gallon of Kyoto-style brew each day, Langham said.
 
“The brew method really manipulates the flavor of the coffee,” she said. “It’s a nice alternative to the very heavy, ashy, roasty cold brews a lot of companies tend to use.”
 
People are increasingly viewing coffee as an artisan product, like they would cheese or wine, Langham said.
 
“Coffee’s evolving out of being just a method of fuel,” she said. “People are more willing to wait longer or pay more to get more interesting flavor experiences.”
 
Doggett said his Kyoto fascination started in 2011. He was fresh out of college, laying his technical coffee foundation at now-closed Istria Cafe in Hyde Park.
 
Kyoto-style coffee machines typically come in two sizes, a tabletop version or a larger standing version. Both cost hundreds of dollars, on average, so Doggett originally built his own with an AeroPress coffee maker and a mason jar. (He works out of a test kitchen and isn't accepting orders for several weeks while he switches locations.)
 
Now he has his own machine, but that original prototype hasn’t been forgotten.
 
“It was a way for me to make Kyoto-style at home,” Doggett said. “I got exactly what I wanted — it was just small.”
 
Doggett worked his way up through the Chicago coffee ranks. Before branching off on his own, he was the retail barista trainer at Metropolis, where he says he honed its Kyoto brewing process. (It serves a different Kyoto-style brew.) He quit in October.
 
He had been giving his own Kyoto Black to his friends at jiujitsu, and they told him he had something that could gain some real traction.
 
“He was bringing in bottles of it,” said Maxine Chaikouang, owner of Cafe Chien. “We eventually started giving him money for it.”
 
When Chaikouang launched Cafe Chien in December, she knew she wanted it on her menu, where a small Kyoto Black costs $3.50.
 
Customers notice the difference, she said. Which is exactly what Doggett wants.
 
“To an extent, I do want to ruin coffee for them,” he said. “If I do that, maybe I’ll raise the standard across the board.”