Since moving to Changzhou in 2009 I've found that coffee drinking has become very popular among the young generation. But what coffee!! It is either instant coffee with sugar and creamer; Nestle's and Maxwell House are big sellers. Or it is espresso. I drank espresso regularly when I lived in Germany, and discovered that though there are many brands, only espresso fresh from Italy has the great subtle flavors that make for a delicious coffee. All else is just bitter.
You will not find a Chinese person asking for a shot of espresso. All coffee they drink is gooped up with milks and sugar and syrups.
I have thought for a couple years now that I'd love to buy a coffee roaster, and green coffee beans, and begin to experiment. I considered that I might be able to produce delicious flavors with simply the choice of bean and roasting, and slowly educate the Chinese pallet, one student at a time.
As for baking bread, during the years I spent in Sichuan I made my own bread weekly, sharing it as best I could with my ex-pat neighbors on campus. I did the same during my year in Somalia, so that by now I take bread-making for granted. It's a snap.
It was no surprise, then, when I started having these conversatons with Blake, a young Guatemalan-American from California who arrived here in September. We talked, as dreaming people do, about opening a place where we could share these American tastes. With his contacts in Central America, he thought he could access good coffee. I lamented the lack of hard and whole wheats, which are essential to making good breads.
He shared this conversation with a mutual Chinese friend, and she grabbed the bit and took off running. She contacted a cousin who is a businessman and also interested in founding a successful chain of food suited to ex-pat tastes. These quickly become trendy here in China.
Suddenly Blake and I were swept into their whirlwind. They wanted to know what help we needed to get this idea transformed into reality; and they wanted it NOW.
Gulp. We had just been day dreaming. Now the pressure is on to produce produce produce. I had my year laid out until December, and it did not include doing a lot of baking. I have no oven in Changzhou, and so I haven't been baking at all.
This year Lantern Festival landed around my birthday. The Chinese woman, Sophia, invited me to her home to meet Mike. Was this a romantic liaison? Setting me up for a blind date? I was sick as a dog, with bronchitis. I couldn't venture out. So she brought him to me, in my pajamas and robe I entertained them.
Turns out, Mike wanted to go partners with Blake and me. He wanted to know my strategy. I laid it out for him. He nodded, he liked what he heard.
Then I get an email from him, translated by Sophia, asking me what samples I wanted from wheat country. Huh? I had told him I wouldn't have time for this until the very earliest, summer. Even then, I wouldn't have much time to give it. No matter, the pressure was on. Sophia had a conversation with Blake in which she told him, if Satina isn't ready, let's find another baker.
Sophia is a real go-getter.
I fumed for a few days, playing all different scenarios in my head about this. In the end, I decided to play the game, string them along, keep the dream alive. I sent my request.
It took a month, but at last Mike came to Changzhou for a meeting with us four, and loaded with sample flours, wheat germ, bran and gluten.
It was a strange meeting. The more we talked, the more Blake got cut out. He and I had envisioned a small cafe with tables, bookshelves with English paperbacks for trade, and a small assortment of breads to take away.
They wanted a bakery starting with 12 types of breads, with plans to expand the line in time. Coffee would be offered over the counter.
I kept trying to draw Blake into the conversation, asking concrete questions to add weight to his end. But he could only pipe dream, about maybe this and maybe that, add churros and funnel cakes, pastries. He still had not researched what his Central American relatives could offer him. He had no vision that centered around American coffee culture.
After the meeting, the three Chinese and me jumped into Mike's car. Sophia had invited me to a concert that evening, and Mike had insisted on driving us. Blake wandered off, with a bummed look on his face.
I called Blake the next day. I reminded him that our 'partners' had tried to cut me out of the picture earlier, and now it seemed like they were doing it to him. I wanted to commiserate, to make him feel better, to rally our strength and take back our creative property. But he said he was teaching at the moment, and couldn't talk.
I wrote him offering some suggestions of concrete steps he could take to make the dream take form. The written reply was full of observations he had made in the brief six months he'd been here. Some of them were accurate, others were naive. Still talking about what he will do in the future. He did give me one concrete answer to a question I'd included. When was he thinking to go full-time into this business? His reply, never. That is, he'd dabble in getting it set up, but someone else would have to run it. He is not investing himself in it.
Wednesday, April 4. Went to Metro to buy baking pans. Looked at their ovens. They offered one that was cheaper and better than the ones at Suning. I had wanted a professional oven, but the one I found during a round of restaurant equipment stores was so large. It seemed criminal to bake fewer than four loaves. The one I had in Sichuan was smaller. I was in a quandary what to do until I found this one at Metro, for a mere 428 rmb. I bought it, and a bread loaf with lid.
I should have made a loaf as soon as I brought it home, but the cleaning lady was here. And I was tired; I just wanted to kick back. Soon, the adventure will begin in earnest.
No comments:
Post a Comment