When introducing specialty coffees from different places, Front Street rarely mentions the country Russia, because it gives us the impression of more of a love for strong vodka than a dark refreshing drink. In fact, coffee not only has a long history of development in Russia, but also a unique coffee drink - Raf coffee - was born based on local conditions.
Russian coffee
The appearance of coffee in Russia can be traced back to the end of the 17th century, when Peter the Great returned from the Netherlands and brought this magical drink to Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the beginning, coffee was only sold in pharmacies, mainly as a specific medicine for certain diseases.
As time went by, this fragrant drink gradually penetrated from the private enjoyment of the palace nobles to all classes of society. By the 19th century, coffeehouses were springing up in Russian metropolitan areas and became a gathering place for artists, writers and thinkers.
In the late 1990s, when the third wave of coffee had not yet been introduced to Russia, the story of Raf Coffee took place in a shop called "Coffee Bean" in Moscow. This cafe has three clerks, Gleb Nevekin (Глеб Невейкин), Artem Berestov (Артем Берестов) and Galina Samokina (Галина Самохина).
Raf coffee and other Italian coffees on the menu
According to one of the baristas, Gleb, the birth of Raf Coffee began with an accidental request: Rafael Timorbayev (Рафаэль Тимербаев) is a regular customer of this coffee shop since it opened. One day he expressed that he was tired of drinking traditional drinks and wanted the barista to provide him with a new cup of soft but rich taste. So the three baristas started debugging and finally successfully invented a creative coffee that satisfied him.
Soon Raphael began to recommend this drink to his friends, and customers also asked the barista to make coffee "just like Raphael" (кофе как Рафу). Over time, the name was simplified toRaf coffee (как Рафу) or Raf (Раф), translated into Chinese is ""Raff coffee" or "Raff coffee".
Later, as these baristas left the original shop, the recipe was brought to the new coffee shop, and Raf coffee was promoted, making it quickly popular in the Russian coffee circle. Until 2018, this specialty drink had broken through national borders and began to appear on cafe menus in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, and was loved by local consumers.
What is Raf coffee?
According to reports, to make traditional Raf coffee, the raw materials need to include espresso, cream, vanilla-flavored sugar and white sugar. Compared with other common coffee drinks, the uniqueness of Raf is that all the raw materials must be mixed and then heated to make coffee with a smooth texture and a sweet taste.
In modern cafes, people are pursuing low-sugar, healthy drinks. In order to avoid excessive sweetness, Raf usually only retains vanilla-flavored sugar or vanilla syrup, and replaces part of the cream with milk to compensate for and balance the flavor between the concentrate and other ingredients. In addition, you can find various modified versions of Raf coffee, such as adding lavender syrup, caramel, spices, chocolate, and even coconut milk. The rich selection of ingredients allows you to adjust it to your personal taste while retaining its iconic characteristics.
How to make authentic Raff coffee?
Because it needs to be paired with flavored syrup, Front Street will give priority to using low-acid, mellow coffee beans with chocolate or caramel aroma to extract espresso. Front Street Black Cocoa Basic Blend, Front Street Boutique Blend, and Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling are the preferred beans with burnt aroma, weak acidity and high concentration. Today, we will use Front Street Commercial Blend, which is used both at home and in stores. The espresso will exude the aroma of butter, maple sugar, roasted chestnuts, and nuts.
Preparation materials: Front Street Commercial blended coffee beans, vanilla syrup, light cream, fresh milk
The first step is to use Front Street Commercial Blend 18g coffee powder to extract 36g coffee liquid for 25 to 35 seconds, first pour it into the latte art tank;
In the second step, add 100ml fresh milk, then 30ml whipping cream and 15ml vanilla syrup into the latte art jar;
The third step is to use a steam wand to beat the above ingredients together. Although there is no need to draw flowers, the milk foam should still be delicate and the thickness should be controlled below 0.5ml (similar to Australian white). Stop whipping when it reaches a palatable temperature (50-65°C);
The fourth step is to prepare a cup of 180~200ml, pour the hot coffee directly into it, and a cup of Russian specialty coffee is completed.
Compared with the regular vanilla latte, the first sip of Raf coffee is not concentrated, but dense milk foam, just like warm ice cream. The sweet taste and the glycol brought by the front street commercial blend form a tacit match, and the taste is rich without losing the strong coffee aroma.
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
