Singapore Latte by Guerilla Coffee - Quirky Salt and Pepper Latte with Condensed Milk

I decided to check out a local cafe with its own in-house micro-roastery called Guerilla Cafe, which opened not too long ago in 2021. I was intrigued by some items on their menu, especially by a latte which they call "Singapore Latte". Looking at the ingredients listed on their menu, it is a standard latte with condensed milk, salt and pepper added to it. 
Singapore Latte by Guerilla Coffee
I can understand why condensed milk might be a Singapore thing, although it is also regional and countries as far away as Vietnam regularly use it in their coffee. So perhaps the main difference might be the salt and pepper, although I'm not sure how that is related to Singapore. Perhaps it is reminiscent of bak kut teh, a pork bone soup well known for its use of pepper, or our iconic black pepper sauce used in dishes we are famous for and also commonly eaten by locals, such as black pepper crab, black pepper beef and black pepper chicken chop. Our black peppercorns are sourced from the region, however, such as Sarawak, and black pepper sauce is also used in cuisines of Malaysia, Thailand and southern Chinese cultures.

In any case, it was interesting, so I was down for it. The cashier recommended that I try the iced version, as it was her personal preference over the hot version. 
Singapore Latte by Guerilla Coffee - milk foam
Visually, there was nothing obviously different about the coffee, and nothing different about the top layer of milk foam. But when I looked underneath, I could see all these black flecks which were probably the pepper (see photo below). So they seem to have used at least some black pepper. I'm not sure about white pepper. 
Singapore Latte by Guerilla Coffee - peppercorn bits at bottom
Some of the pepper bits were even reddish, so they probably included pink peppercorns (from Schinus molle or Schinus terebinthifolia trees). (Assuming they only used pepper and no other ingredient not listed on the menu, the only way I could explain these red bits would be pink peppercorns.) These red or pink peppercorns apparently have a milder, sweeter and even slightly bright fruity flavour compared to the usual black or green peppercorns. They are also milder in their spice. In contrast, black peppercorns come from the Piper nigrum plant and tend to have a more intense spice. Their flavour profile is also known to be smoky and more intense. 

As for the taste, at first, since all the peppercorn bits sank to the bottom like in the picture, I didn't really notice much of a unique flavour except for a very mild and barely noticeable bite around the top of my tongue over the typical dark roast latte taste.

The coffee itself was smooth and with very low acidity. It seems to be a Brazil blend or something similar, like possibly Vietnam, but I'm leaning more towards a Brazilian profile because of how smooth it was and how low the acidity level was. There were also clear nutty, dark chocolate and even some faint earthy notes. It reminded me of the type of profile that is very popular in Japan, such as Tokyo, which tends to be very good for milk coffees and latte. The downside is that it wasn't as complex since it was very smooth. 

I asked for them to use 50% of the condensed milk they normally used as I wanted it to be less sweet, and I felt like it was the perfect level. It was perhaps like a 1-2% added sugar level in terms of grams per 100ml.

The salt was actually very subtle, but you can tell it is there in small quantities, and I thought it matched the 50% level of sugar I requested very well, resulting in a good balance.

Now the interesting part came as I started reaching the bottom of the cup, where the pepper notes became more intense. I started noticing that the back of my palate started feeling warm as well from the pepper spice. Probably the black pepper.

I also started noticing a prominent earthy notes, which complemented the dark roast coffee notes very well by filling out the palate with more complexity.

Then I also noticed prominent bright herby notes reminiscent of Japanese sanshou pepper (from the prickly ash tree Zanthoxylum piperitum), which was very delicate and leaned a bit citrusy. This was probably the contribution of the pink peppercorns, although I only noticed the pink bits from the picture after I had finished the drink. This was my favourite part of the drink as it added such an interesting and delicate complexity.

The good thing is that these peppercorns do not have that numbing or tingling sensation the way the Japanese sansho has, or which mala has in heaps. That would have overwhelmed the delicate flavours of the natural peppercorns.

Overall, it was a very intriguing innovation which I appreciated. It is like a completely different type of spiced latte, adding to the list of the American pumpkin spice latte and the Indian masala chai spice mix. While it is nothing like local Singaporean coffee or Nanyang kopi, it is like a Singaporean or at least Southeast Asian interpretation of spice mix for an American-style latte. So I'm quite happy for it to be claimed for Singapore.

Guerilla Coffee Menu

Finally, here is their menu from their Suntec City branch (click to enlarge), which lists the composition of the Singapore Latte. The other drinks I hope to eventually try are the Straits Latte (which interestingly contains both gula melaka and coconut oil) and their Dirty Matcha, which seems to be the matcha version of dirty coffee, so perhaps more accurately called Matcha Dirty.
Guerilla Coffee Suntec City Menu
Discover other interesting spice or pepper-inspired treats and drinks

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