What the heck is coffee paste?

On occasion I have considered different recopies for my coffee paint. When I first started out painting with coffee I knew it would stain permanently from experiences just before marketing meetings. I tried using acrylic mediums and linseed oil. What I eventually concluded is that coffee makes a fine medium on its own not so different than watercolor.

I take large amounts of coffee 10 – 20 pots at a time and condense it down until the oils and suspension reach a viscosity that I like to work with. The final result is quite close to very used motor oil. This process takes a solid 8 hours to boil down the coffee to a quick past like paint. The reason I take this long is I don’t want the coffee to caramelize. Heating it too fast will do that especially near the end of the process.

In the near future I plan to try Turkish coffee. If I understand it well enough, its ground so fine you just mix the powder into your hot water and drink it. The powder dissolves. I tried grinding my own coffee this fine with a mortar and pestle but couldn’t get it fine enough. I just need to find someone with a Turkish grinder or buy it that fine. This experiment is for another day.

What prompted this entry was the mention of coffee past in a recent entry, 3/15/2006 about Art Knowledge News Web site article about Amita & Mira Chudasama. In the article it quotes Chudasama “During final stage of an odyssey of coffee painting, fat coffee paste is to be used in the areas to be marked out with dark tone.” It was the fat coffee paste that caught my attention. What the heck is coffee past?

Google to the rescue! I find that it is a culinary paste that can be purchased sweet or unsweetened or even with hazelnut added.

“This paste offers a rich coffee flavor and deep coffee color. It blends homogeneously with all types of dessert creams and can be used as a liquid flavoring. Add to buttercreams, whipped cream, ganaches, batters, sauces, shakes, parfaits, ice creams, praline fillings and pastry cream.”

Quote taken from Albert Uster Imports where you can buy coffee paste at $31.51 for 2.1 lbs / 0.9 kg.

“Very fine coffee paste from Agrimontana. Strong flavor of coffee beans. A very fine coffee paste with none of the chemical flavors of coffee extracts. A great product for coffee ice cream with a longing aroma. Used as a filler for chocolates truffles and in cake recipes.”

Ingredients: coffee, sugar, hazelnuts.

Quote taken from L’Epicerie where you can get an 8 oz container for $11.75. I don’t know if I’d use this one with the sugar and hazelnuts but maybe . . . I’ve recently discovered someone who uses chocolate to paint with so why not hazelnuts in my coffee paint? That will be another entry . . .