My task this morning was to sample local brew innovation by an upcoming entrepreneur and a good drinking buddy, Ms Violetta Wilfred, but we just called her Beth. The items came in a medically disguised bag for a reason only Beth knows, but somehow it add the effect of hygiene products inside 😁.
I was having breakfast when Beth message me insisting I try those local brews right at that moment. The items were sent the night before.
I took out the items inside and tadaaaaa...let the picture speaks for itself.
I was given two bottles of Anchor beer, one bottle of Carlberg and a weird looking cookies???? 🤔🤔 
Well, fellow Steemians, let me introduce you the fermenting Tapai (fermented rice, and it’s still in fermentation), in a cookie plastic jar. And the other three beer bottles are Bambangan (wild mango) wine, Tea wine and Kupi (coffee) wine. So now we know Beth is a green person and applies the concept of Reuse-Reduce-Recycle. The blue KPJ Specialists Hospital bag added the effects on hygiene and safe to consume 😁
Since I was having breakfast, I thought it was most appropriate to start with the coffee wine.
It nice brownish colour just like weak coffee with a faint aroma that lets you know coffee is involved in the making. A sip of it confirms the origin. A combination taste of a good wine and a coffee. Little sweetness is there but not overpowering as it balanced with pleasant bitterness. It’s love at first sip kind of wine.
Tea wine? This is first time for me to try one. The taste like a faint green tea with cloudy bitterness hanging on to your tongue and sprinkled with sourness of life- depends on drinkers’ mood that day 😁. Hard for me to fall in love with this one. Perhaps a bit more flirting would nail it.
Bambangan is a wild mango of Borneo with thick brownish skin and high fibre content flesh. Even if it’s ripe the taste is still sour. Normally we turn it into pickles. Recently, an innovative entrepreneur makes juice out of it sweetened with lots of sugar, but it does taste good. This Bambangan wine however, failed to meet my expectation of a strong flavoured fruit. The distinguished smell and taste of Bambangan were not present. It may have been overwhelmed by the chalky bitter and fruity sourness which possibly altered my taste buds temporarily.
The Verdict
I honestly like the coffee. Not just because I’m a coffee lover but the distinctive taste makes you want to discover more. I shall name it Kupie derived from local dialect of kupi or kopi which means coffee. There’s a lot more to be explored about Kupi wine and it has big potential commercially.
Kupie is a wine that keeps you awake
