If you live in Calgary then you understand that every July the Calgary Stampede rolls into town. For 10 days & nights you can expect way too much country music, lots of over-priced stuffies that your kids are begging you to win for them at the midway, and of course the excuse to deep-fry pretty much anything!
It’s the latter that I have been fascinated with over the past four years that we’ve been coming to the Stampede since moving to Calgary. I’ve had deep-fried Oreos, deep-fried pickles, and many other Stampede oddities. One of the things I had always wondered about and had never experienced was the deep-fried coffee. Even just saying those words conjures up thoughts like “how in the world do they deep-fry a liquid?” So this year I set out to finally put an end to my curiosity and to taste this “thing” called Deep-Fried Coffee.
After the buzz of my traditional cappuccino wore off from being up so early this morning to get to the Stampede I set out to find it. Not too far into my search I saw the sign and made my way over. I really had no idea what to expect. I have had SO MANY people ask me over the years if I had tried it and what I thought about it.
To be honest, it wasn’t terrible. It’s basically coffee-soaked cake batter, that then gets deep-fried before you get to choose what “topping” you put on it. As the sign says it’s coffee & doughnuts all rolled into one. In as much as the toppings are a bit over-kill (I went with the vanilla bean, figuring it would be the least offensive), you do get the coffee taste coming through. It wasn’t overly bitter or roasty. The batter wasn’t over-fried. And for the $8 bucks I paid it felt like a decent portion.
Now, for the record, I’ll never order these again…but I am glad that I can at least say I have tried it. So if you’re heading down to the Calgary Stampede this week let me know if you give these a try. Yeehaw!
-Tyler
commonly coffee 