There have been a lot of, let’s say interesting coffee combinations over the last few years. Coffee and Wendy’s Frosty was a no-brainer of deliciousness. Some, like the combination of orange juice and espresso or watermelon juice and iced coffee, have been shocking in how good they are. Others, like the avocado latte, have theoretical merit but the jury is still out.
And the latest coffee concoction stretches the tensile strength of credulity to its absolute max. But if I’m being honest, with a little tinkering, I think it could be good? The latest viral coffee trend coming out of China is the scallion ice latte.
As reported by Must Share News, it’s part of China’s dark cuisine, a food trend making unlikely pairings that “challenge conventional notions of what is considered appealing.” Other such coffee-related dark cuisine include oyster coffee, beef broth latte, coffee-infused rice, a soy sauce latte, and century eggs added to coffee.
An iced latte made with scallion, otherwise known as a spring onion, certainly fits the bill. The drink is made by putting scallions at the bottom of a cup, then layering it with ice cubes, milk, and espresso and finishing it off with more scallions.
Reactions thus far have ranged from enjoying the “unique taste” to losing their appetite.
The most egregious part of this dark cuisine IMHO is the inclusion of milk. The crisp greenness of the scallions seems like it wouldn’t pair with the creaminess of the milk. But a nice, light-roasted pour-over on the other hand, well that might be something. (Though, if you want a brew that tastes a little vegetal, I know of a few roasters who under-develop their coffees that I could recommend to you. Zing) I mean, coffee and hot sauce is already a thing that more or less works, surprisingly, and this just seems like that turned down a few notches.
All I’m saying is, of all the batshit ways you can mix coffee with some left field ingredient, the humble scallion may be one of the more sane. It’s at least worth a shot.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
