This one’s an easy one.
black cardamom
Black cardamom is a delicious spice; always dried over an open fire. It can add a really nice smoky+campfire effect to your drinks. If you want to see its creation, check out this very cool video and learn more about the spice here.
I’d say it’s better in coffee drinks than matcha, but you do you.
Also, as a side note, it’s a similar effect to lapsang souchong, a tea that’s smoked. I wonder if you’d live through putting smoky syrup in a smoky tea.
For the syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3–5 black cardamom pods, smacked to open
Add your sugar to the water and bring to a simmer while frequently stirring. Add your cardamom pods, and stir infrequently for about 25 minutes. Taste it every time you stir [about every 5 minutes] to make sure it doesn’t get too minty. It’ll be up to your spice quality, freshness, and vendor how this comes out, as black cardamom is a rare spice. It’s crazy smoky, and carries a slight menthol flavor in the seeds.
In that vein, I’d recommend testing your cardamom before making this recipe. Eat a few of the seeds; and then chew a half-pod shell. Adjust your seed-to-pod ratio to get maximum smoky with minimum menthol flavor.
I get my black cardamom from Duals Naturals in midtown2, but you can get a lot of spices online nowadays. It’s a lot cheaper in person though.
I can say that regardless of your smoky-to-mint ratio, if you leave the cardamom in longer than 35 minutes you’re going to taste a lot of menthol.
For the drink
make latte
put syrup
freepour a pegasus
nice!
In the lab, we made a matcha drink with cardamom+cherry+rosemary+fig and a grate of nutmeg on top. If you’re experimenting, smoky/fruity flavors with herbs are great with this syrup.