Foodbeast sent intrepid reporter Elie Ayrouth to the San Diego Fair, where he hit gold—well, deep-fried golden brown, at least—at the Bacon-A-Fair booth.
This booth travels to fairs up and down the West Coast all summer long, and its new flagship product is Deep-Fried Starbucks Coffee.
Yup. DEEP FRIED STARBUCKS is a real thing at the fair this year. #sdfair #ocfair #foodbeast
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You might recall that someone deep-fried a Pumpkin Spice Latte back in October. Recipe blog Oh, Bite It! instructed us to cube up some pound cake or angel food cake, dunk it thoroughly in a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and then introduce it to a pool of sizzling oil. Top your deep-fried PSL creation with whipped cream and dust with cinnamon and nutmeg, and you’re good to go.
So how is Deep-Fried Starbucks Coffee different? Deep-Fried Starbucks Coffee is apparently ground coffee wrapped inside dough (looks like doughnut from the photo), deep-fried, and served with whipped cream.
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That means you’re eating coffee grounds. Not only that, but you just paid to eat deep-fried coffee grounds.
Before you get grossed out, keep in mind that many baked goods made with espresso or coffee often call for finely ground coffee to be used in their recipes. It’s not coarse, so you don’t feel that grit get stuck in your teeth, or find yourself sucking on a big chunk of unexpected bitterness halfway through your treat.
But look at how big that chunk of ground coffee is, and think about how strong Starbucks coffee tastes. Whipped cream is a start to help balance it out, but we think you really need some kind of dark chocolate sauce in the mix as well.
More than the taste though, we’re confused about what this item says about our nation in 2015. State fairs are the ultimate expression of rural pride and all-American gluttony. Starbucks is the ultimate symbol of new-American yuppiness. Conflating the two is rife with subtext.
Between now and July 4th, we’ll be spending a lot of time wondering what all of this means for the state of American identity, and whether going from deep-fried Kool-Aid to deep-fried Starbucks is a mark of progress, or an erosion of the very ideals this nation is founded upon.
[via Foodbeast]