How to Make the Healing and Delicious Amber Queen Coffee? What is the Amber Queen, One of Tokyo's Four Coffee Kings?

Introduction to Amber Café

Many seasoned coffee enthusiasts are likely familiar with the name "Amber Café." It's a coffee shop located in the Ginza district of Tokyo, Japan, established in 1948 (the 23rd year of the Showa era), making it one of Japan's first premium coffee houses. The café gained fame for its strict quality standards, driven by its founder Ichiro Sekiguchi, who was revered as the "God of Coffee" for his exceptional pursuit and passion for coffee. This attracted many coffee aficionados to visit specifically, making it a veteran "internet-famous coffee shop."

Queen Amber: The Iconic Creation

However, compared to the coffee shop itself or Mr. Ichiro Sekiguchi, one of the café's original creations enjoys even greater recognition. Even if you're not a seasoned coffee enthusiast, FrontStreet Coffee believes you've likely seen videos of its preparation and been captivated by its incredibly soothing brewing process. And that creation is—Queen Amber.

The image above shows Queen Amber, which we can see is divided into two layers. The lower layer is sweetened, chilled black coffee, while the upper layer floats unsweetened condensed milk. With one large sip, we can experience the dual surprise delivered by both coffee and condensed milk. Does this sound somewhat familiar? That's right! It's somewhat similar to today's star coffee product, Dirty, except that the positions of the dairy product and coffee are reversed.

The Challenge of Recreating Queen Amber

Coffee, unsweetened condensed milk/cream, and sugar are the three main ingredients needed to make Queen Amber. These ingredients aren't difficult to obtain, so many friends have tried recreating this beverage at home. However, they discovered that no matter how they adjusted their approach, they could never achieve the layered effect. The unsweetened condensed milk/cream, which should have floated on the coffee surface, would often sink and mix with the coffee, significantly diminishing the drink's layering and visual appeal. Consequently, some friends reached out to FrontStreet Coffee in the background, asking FrontStreet Coffee to share the preparation method for this coffee!

The Science Behind Perfect Layering

Actually, this coffee isn't that difficult to make. The principle is similar to making Dirty: simply enable the lower liquid to have the capacity to support the upper substance! Coffee itself doesn't have high density, making it difficult to support high-density substances like condensed milk/light cream. However, we can enhance coffee's density through special techniques, giving it greater "supporting power." So how exactly do we do this? It's simple: increase the coffee's concentration and cool it down! Increasing concentration needs no further explanation, so FrontStreet Coffee will briefly explain the latter. The reason Dirty preparation requires iced milk isn't just because iced milk can create a temperature contrast with hot espresso, but also because liquids at lower temperatures have higher density—something FrontStreet Coffee often mentions in posts about Dirty preparation. Therefore, by lowering the coffee's temperature, we can increase the coffee's own density (note: don't go below 4°C). For freshly brewed coffee, cooling it in an ice bath is an excellent cooling method. It preserves concentration while achieving rapid cooling—a win-win solution!

In addition to the two methods above, this Queen Amber also includes sugar added to the coffee during preparation. This not only balances the bitterness of the concentrated coffee but also further enhances the coffee's density, enabling it to support the condensed milk/cream.

Step-by-Step Queen Amber Preparation

Right, it doesn't seem too difficult, does it? Don't worry, FrontStreet Coffee will now demonstrate how to make a perfectly layered Queen Amber.

Preparation

Since this is a Japanese-style coffee beverage, we'll naturally use classic dark roast coffee beans—Golden Mandheling—for the coffee preparation. To give the coffee more outstanding aroma and aftertaste, FrontStreet Coffee will use flannel as the filter for brewing. Before officially starting the preparation, we can place the serving container in the refrigerator to chill it, which will enhance the layering effect (this applies to the condensed milk/cream as well).

Since coffee needs time to cool after brewing, we can brew the coffee first, then prepare the other ingredients. As for the choice of sugar and condensed milk/cream, everyone can select according to their preferences. Here, FrontStreet Coffee has chosen honey and light cream. The coffee extraction parameters are as follows:

• Coffee dosage: 20g
• Grind size: Setting 9 on Ek43, with 90% pass-through rate on #20 sieve
• Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:8
• Brewing temperature: 90°C
• Brewing method: Multi-stage pouring

Brewing Process

Before officially starting the brew, we first add 5ml of honey to the lower chamber of the coffee maker, so it can directly blend with the coffee as it drips through. Then we can begin the coffee brewing process. First, we use twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds for a 30-second bloom.

After the bloom ends, we divide the remaining water into three portions for pouring! Each portion is 40ml, poured with a small water stream. Wait for each poured hot water to fully penetrate before pouring the next portion, with a total time of 2 minutes.

Assembly and Layering

When the coffee brewing is complete, we shake it well and pour it into a shaker (preferably made of a material with good thermal conductivity). Then place the shaker containing coffee in ice water for rapid cooling (placing it directly in the refrigerator also works).

Once the coffee has completely cooled, we can take out the pre-chilled glass from the refrigerator and pour all the coffee into it. FrontStreet Coffee would like to offer a gentle reminder here: it's best not to use too large a glass, otherwise you'll need more coffee and cream, which can become overwhelming to drink.

Then slowly pour the condensed milk or cream along the edge. The action must be very gentle, otherwise the cream and condensed milk will easily sink to the bottom.

When the condensed milk/cream covers the surface, a soothing and delicious Queen Amber is complete!

Serving and Enjoyment

When drinking, be sure to take large sips like with Dirty. This ensures you can consume both the cream and coffee simultaneously. Then you can experience the rich layers and silky texture brought by the cream and coffee—it's truly wonderful! (FrontStreet Coffee stores don't serve this, really they don't!)

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473