"I’ll just make a big note in my journal. And it will say, ‘Thank Naminé.’" - Jiminy Cricket in Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories
Inspiration
Naminé is a unique character who we first saw in the beginning of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. She’s revealed to be able to manipulate the memories of Sora and friends as they dwell within Castle Oblivion where Naminé is kept captive. As one who can change memories, I had a sneaky idea for another name-based drink inspiration. For Naminé’s namesake cocktail, we’ve transformed a mind eraser drink that typically includes coffee liqueur, vodka, and club soda. This drink turns the typical recipe into a layer of blonde coffee foam and a vodka soda beneath.
Workshopping
One Who Can Erase Minds
As we learn in Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories, Naminé has the unique ability to alter the memories of those she wishes to. Sora in particular is subject to her mental manipulations. Seeing as she has the ability to alter and remove memories, I based Naminé’s inspired drink recipe on a mind eraser cocktail. Mind erasers are pretty simple, combine vodka and coffee liqueur and top with bubbly soda, and there ya have it!
I workshopped a bit with a few concepts attempting to more intentionally layer the ingredients in a typical mind eraser. The inclusion of club soda limits layering order due to its relatively low density (it tends to float because of the bubbles). Also, since the coffee liqueur is the only colored ingredient, it’s the only ingredient that really makes sense to play with. I mean, I decided to play around with them anyway and found that typically vodka floats on club soda which floats on coffee liqueur (Mr Black in this case). Picture for reference (the yellow layer is club soda with food dye).
Having decided on moving the coffee layer around, two main options popped into my head. Either make it a latte (add milk or cream) or foam it up (make a coffee foam).
Blonde Coffee
In making the step between the mind eraser drink and Naminé, I wanted to make one of the layers in her namesake drink a blond color in reference to her hair. Blonde coffee isn’t a new concept, so “perhaps”, I thought “I could just layer some blonde espresso!” A Google search informed me that blonde espresso, as it turns out, is still a dark brown like most coffees. Oof. I considered for a little bit using the crema that forms when an espresso shot is pulled, but truth be told, the XBar doesn’t have an espresso machine fit for the job. Ugh.
First I tried playing with milk and cream. I determined that the optimal recipe for an instant coffee and milk combo that matches Naminé’s blonde hair color is ½ tsp (0.73 g) of instant coffee dissolved in 2 oz (59 ml) of water, and then combined with 2 oz (59 ml) whole milk. Unfortunately for me, the milk combo sinks below the club soda and everything gets all cloudy. Whoops. A simple experiment with heavy cream in place of the milk proved to be an even weirder implementation with the fats of the cream stretching like tendrils within the club soda. I didn’t bother to find an “optimal” recipe for color on this one.
While searching for other combos of vodka, coffee, and soda, I came across the Smith and Wesson drink which is a mind eraser with cream and Pepsi instead of club soda. Interesting!
The other option that remained was to play around with using a coffee foam which would have enough air whipped into it to float atop the club soda and/or vodka. Have you ever heard of dalgona coffee? Well, I whipped up a bit of it using equal volumes of granulated sugar, instant coffee, and water. The layering worked great! The coffee foam floated distinctly on top of the club soda and vodka layer beneath it. One problem though, after a bit, the remaining pieces of instant coffee fell to the bottom of the foam layer and mixed in with the clear layer turning it a dark shade of brown. Getting closer, but not quite my Naminé. Yet.
Coffee Foam
I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve and that’s my trusty whipped cream maker. This apparatus can pressurize up with gas canisters (typically carbon dioxide CO₂ and nitrous oxide N₂O). I’ve done some work in the past with egg white foams, but I’ve been wanting to experiment with egg white alternatives for a while. Aquafaba is simply chickpea juice, and you can either buy it by the bottle or separate it from the chickpeas in a can of, well, canned chickpeas.
I searched a bit for a reference on how to ratio aquafaba in foams, and it appeared that matching it 1:1 to the volume of an egg white would work for the most part. In addition to the chickpea juice for this foam I’d be trying, I added some xanthum gum, a stabilizer. If the issue I was having with the dalgona coffee was the coffee part seeping into the layer below, perhaps if I added this stabilizer, then it’d fix my issue.
I took a shot in the guesstimated dark and tried this recipe for my first attempt at an aquafaba-based foam:
Coffee Foam Recipe
2 oz (59 ml) Coffee Liqueur (Mr. Black)
2 oz (59 ml) Water
1 oz (30 ml) Aquafaba
1 oz (30 ml) 2:1 Simple Syrup
0.5 g Xanthum Gum
Method: Combine whipped cream maker, and charge with N₂O. Dispense from the canister.
It worked for what I was using it for! It is sweet with prominent notes of coffee and it keeps separated from the soda and vodka layer below it. It does degrade a bit over time, slowly letting the sweet flavor of coffee drip into the vodka soda below. Although I’m inclined to say that the foam needs to be improved so it keeps its form, it actually works a bit since the drink now has a significant evolution of flavor.
I also used aquafaba in place of an egg white in the recipe for Riku Replica if you’re curious about how it goes in sour-type drinks!
Non-Alcoholic Version
If you’re looking for a sober variation of Naminé, I would suggest the following modifications. Completely remove the vodka from the recipe and instead add 0.5 oz (15 ml) of the rich 2:1 simple syrup. This is the first layer that is built over ice. Make sure to stir enough for the syrup to incorporate into the soda water!
When making the foam, swap out the coffee liqueur for plain coffee (your choice of bean or brand). To make up for the loss of sweetness since originally we used a liqueur, you could also add more simple syrup to the whipped cream maker, however, I’ll leave that up to you.
Flavor Analysis
When still separated into layers, the drink tastes of sweet and fluffy coffee before shifting to a cool and clean vodka soda beneath. Mixed together, it’s a boozy coffee soda.
Naminé
Naminé
- 2 oz (59 ml) Vodka
- 4-5 oz (118-147 ml) Soda Water
Method: Build over Ice
Garnish: Coffee Foam
More drinks inspired by: Kingdom Hearts
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