Another year and another day to get to experience some fine coffee, great company, beautiful Sydney weather and a snacking field day! This is The Rocks Aroma Festival where the air is surrounded by the smell of roasted beans. A day where even the non-coffee drinkers surrender themselves to a addictive cup of joe.
We started by hitting The Chilli Factory stand where we did a quick sample of Scorpion Strike chilli sauce. We only took a drop each on a cracker. It was decent burn but didn't feel like the one million plus scoville unit sensation it claimed to be.
By midday the amount of people was worse than Boxing Day sales at Myer. Navigating through crowds of over-caffeinated coffee lovers can be dangerous.
Every year my fiancee always gets suckered into trying the teas. This year was no different. I personally don't like tea as much as the next guy, but this I had to try: chocolate tea. The sweet aroma of chocolate intrigued my sense of smell and the light chocolate aftertaste put a smile on my palate. This was apparently a weak tea flavour so it was the perfect fit for the I-Wanna-Fit-In-As-A-Tea-Drinker in me. At $35 a jar it makes around 100 cups.
So the next stop was my biggest mistake of the day. When you see a long line like this waiting for coffee, you think to yourself this must be better than Kopi Luwak.
So my friend and I started our wait......
....two hours later we reached the front of the line.
The long wait had it's perks, we were able to enjoy the beautiful sunny Sydney weather: cold enough to keep my jacket on without sweating. The highlight of waiting in line is meeting weird characters like this lady who walked up to my friend and mocked us for waiting so long in line and then walked away.
As we approached the front, I could hear people whispering the words chilli and coffee together. Suddenly a gust of chilli powder crept into the air. It left me and about 10 others coughing spontaneously. He laughs "This is all part of the experience".
So Mayan coffee time has arrived! I ended up being convinced that I must try a Chai Latte with chilli, honey, chocolate, cinnamon and caramel. I'm sure there were a few more ingredients but it was really hard understanding his english.
Honestly... it was nothing to write home about. I'm no coffee fanatic so I couldn't tell you how bold, (italic or underline) the coffee beans was but the time we wasted waiting was not overcome by how normal this beverage tasted.
It seems like a trend now to make buns in this style. Soft white Ippudo-like bun, marinated pork belly and pickled cucumber. The marinated pork belly was a bit of a let down as they stewed this with the skin and the crackling aka "The Best Bit" was softened and we sadly mourned the loss of the crunch factor.
The best parts of the day were the freebies.
Small cookies that tasted like Danish Butter Cookies dusted in icing sugar.
Oak and Pauls with their Ice Coffee for the fake Coffee lovers *Shyly raises hand*
While waiting in line for that Mayan coffee, I watched the Asian guy and his friends devour this concoction which I named Egg-Dog. Chorizzo with two poached eggs, smothered in chimmichurri all held in a bread roll.
My highlight was when this prize was actually in my hands and tasted just as good as it looked. The slight spice of the chorizzo worked so well and that chimmichurri was the shooting star. And as for the egg... it was poached well and I'm glad Humpty took one for the team.
I don't really have the issue where I need a drink every time I eat but it seems I'll be marrying someone who does. So we made a pit stop for good ol' pink lemonade.
It tasted sour and sweet at the same time and was definitely a refreshing change to all the milk based drinks we've been consuming all day.
And the day just isn't complete without dessert...
These mini cupcakes tasted quite great, mainly due to their size which created the perfect balance of icing to cupcake body ratio. That being said, the cupcake itself would have tasted dry and bland without the super sweet and creamy icing on top.
But the day wasn't all about eating and drinking coffee.
Coffee related Monet-art was brewing.
The best part of this was not seeing them finish this masterpiece but enjoying overhearing something think this was a picture of Marilyn Monroe. (For the non Australian readers, this is a picture of Dame Edna)
And the fun continues with people posing with a giant cup. I could sit here and ridicule how easily people are entertained by giant props... but I too have photo evidence that would label me a hypocrite.
The day just left me drained. Not even exceeding my daily dose on sugars and caffeine could save me.
