October 3, 2013

Coffee Jelly/コーヒーゼリー

Coffee jelly is very popular in Japan. Shukan Flavor 3 is about coffee jelly.
日本ではコーヒーゼリーはとても一般的です。週間フレーバー3はコーヒーゼリーについてです。
 
 
I have made coffee jelly using instant coffee once, and it wasn't good at all, so when I watched this video, I decided to give Nakagawa-san's recipe a try.
 
Brief description of the recipe:
50 g dark roast coffee beans suitable for iced coffee or Mocha coffee beans
(Nakagawa-san says that he doesn't know why, but Mocha coffee tastes good when made into coffee jelly.)
13 g gelatin
 
Directions:
1. In one server, dissolve gelatin in 200 ml cold water.
2. In another server, make 300 ml coffee with the Matsuya method.
3. Add coffee to the server in 1.
4. Add cold water to obtain 650 ml solution.
 
At 29:45, Nakagawa-san shows what he calls a "revolutionary gadget". It's just a Japanese teapot with a strainer in it. He claims that by using it, you can make bubble-less coffee jelly.
 
インスタントコーヒーを使ってコーヒーゼリーを作ったことが一回ありますが、全然美味しくなかったので、このビデオを見て、中川さんのレシピを試すことにしました。
 
レシピの簡単な説明:
アイスコーヒー用の深煎りのコーヒー豆またはモカのコーヒー豆 50 g
(中川さんによると、なぜか分からないが、モカのコーヒーはコーヒーゼリーにすると美味しいそうです。)
ゼラチン 13 g
 
作り方:
1. サーバーで、ゼラチンを水200 mlに溶かします。
2. 別のサーバーで松屋式でコーヒーを300 ml作ります。
3. コーヒーを1.のサーバーに入れます。
4. 水を足して、液を650 mlにします。
 
29:45、中川さんは「画期的な装置」と呼ぶものを見せます。茶こし付きのただの急須です。これを使えば、泡のないコーヒーゼリーができるそうです。
 
One day, I made coffee jelly by following Nakagawa-san's recipe, except that I used 10 g gelatin and made 500 ml solution (same gelatin-to-liquid ratio as Nakagawa-san's) and I skipped the teapot technique.
ある日、中川さんのレシピに従ってコーヒーゼリーを作りました。ただし、ゼラチンは10 g、液は500 ml(ゼラチンと液の割合は中川さんのレシピと同じ)にし、急須を使ったテクニックは省略しました。
 
I divided the solution into four sake glasses, so my family of four could have one each.
液を日本酒の入っていたコップに分け、四人家族が全員食べれるようにしました。 
 
I had one glass with some cream and home-made sugar syrup, and found it wasn't good enough. I thought it was no different from cheap store-bought coffee jelly or the coffee jelly I made previously using instant coffee. I was really disappointed. I wanted to figure out why it wasn't good.
一つ、クリームと自家製のガムシロップで食べて、あまり美味しくないと思いました。安い市販のコーヒーゼリーや以前インスタントコーヒーで作ったコーヒーゼリーと変わらないと思いました。ホントに残念でした。なぜ美味しくないか知りたいと思いました。

First, I asked my family not to have the coffee jelly because it wasn't good. Then, I decided to have the coffee jelly with undiluted, very strong iced coffee, made with the Matsuya method.
まず、家族にコーヒーゼリーは美味しくないので、食べないよう頼みました。それから、このコーヒーゼリーを、薄めてない、とても濃いアイスコーヒー(松屋式で淹れた)と一緒に食べることにしました。

Top left: Home-made sugar syrup
Top right: Undiluted, very strong iced coffee
Bottom left: Cream
Bottom right: One glass of coffee jelly
左上: 自家製のガムシロップ
右上: 薄めてない、とても濃いアイスコーヒー
左下: クリーム
右下: コーヒーゼリーの入ったコップ 
I mixed them all together and had them.
全部混ぜて、食べてみました。 
The iced coffee tasted great, while the coffee jelly was like jelly made with barley tea...
アイスコーヒーは美味しかったですが、コーヒーゼリーは麦茶で作ったゼリーのようでした...。

I realized that coffee made with the Matsuya method wouldn't be suitable for making coffee jelly. So, I made coffee jelly with coffee brewed in a normal way. I changed the gelatin-to-liquid ratio: 10 g gelatin and more than 600 ml liquid. (My son said that the jelly shown above was too hard, and I thought he was right.)
松屋式で作ったコーヒーはコーヒーゼリーを作るのには適していないと気付きました。
普通の方法で淹れたコーヒーでコーヒーゼリーを作りました。ゼラチンと液の割合も変えました。ゼラチン10 gに液が600 ml以上(息子によれば、上記のゼリーは硬すぎるとのこと。私もそう思いました)。 
The jelly was better than the first.
最初のより美味しかったです。

Yesterday, I made another attempt, using home-made dark roast coffee beans.
昨日は、自家製の深煎りのコーヒー豆で、また試しました。
I sprinkled some sugar and "Bright" (cream powder).
砂糖と「ブライト」(クリームパウダー)を振り掛けました。 
The best coffee jelly I've ever had!
今までで一番美味しいコーヒーゼリーです!

14 comments:

Dan said...

Thanks for sharing Hiroyuki ! ...Appreciate your time and efforts !.
I am going to try my luck with coffee jelly this weekend !

Hiroyuki said...

Dan: For the coffee jelly to be flavorful, the coffee must be very bitter, in my opinion. Coffee made with the Matsuya method may not be bitter enough.

Anyway, good luck!

Dan said...

Thanks for the important tip hiroyuki....Appreciate your help as always !

Sissi said...

This is one more Japanese recipe I have never heard about! I must try it!
I prepare quite often coffee and coconut milk jelly-like dessert (though not very hard) with kanten and love it.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Haven't heard about or seen it before? Go to any supermarket in Japan, and you will see packs of coffee jelly sold there, together with packs of purin (Japanese custard pudding)!

Some recipes say to put sugar in the jelly, but I prefer Nakagawa-san's recipe, where the coffee jelly is not sweetened.

Almost all store-bought coffee jelly contains sugar.

Sissi said...

Hiroyuki, I feel I will never discover everything that is sold in supermarkets in Japan. Unless I go there every week for one whole day! OK, so it's one more thing to taste next time!

Dan said...

Hiroyuki,

Did you get my emails ...not sure if my yahoo account is acting up again ...But if you are busy that's fine and sorry to bother you...Just wanted to let you know that my 1/2 pound batch of Papa new guinea turned out really good....It tastes like store bought coffee...:-)..I am happy now !

Hiroyuki said...

Dan: Got your email alright. Too busy to respond right now.

Dan said...

I figured you were busy hiroyuki ..first things first ...Catch you later !

Fräulein Trude said...

I do know coffee jelly. Not to japanese tastes I suppose: recipe calls for coffee, gelatin, sugar syrup and Tia Maria (coffee liqueur made of rum, blue mountain coffee and vanilla). But depending on the amount of Tia Maria it is really something heavenly (laugh).
Other jellies are even more strange: some like to mix coffee with fruit juices, apple juice, elderberry juice to prepare coffee jelly, served with creme anglaise or just whipped cream. And there is coffee jam (jelly).

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Thanks! Now I know that the Germans also do some strange things to coffee.
Here in Japan, there are things called "coffee jelly sando (sandwich)", and there is also "natto coffee jelly sando"!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqYEo3dVd5A

Fräulein Trude said...

"Sweet" Natto-Coffee-Jelly and cream sando: In another video a japanese woman said it is sweet - this is a combination I don't quite get. The natto pulled snotty strings too... There is a TV show about an english guy travelling the world testing the local food - literally: the man who will eat almost everything exotic. We should recommend this sandwich to him.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Believe it or not, some people, both Japanese and non-Japanese, say that coffee tastes like natto (laugh).

Hiroyuki said...

Here's an old thread on natto:
http://forums.egullet.org/topic/10215-natto/?p=1158441
where jeniac42 says natto tastes like coffee, and other members agree.