Both are from the Pern series. Bubbly pies are just hand pies, basically. Fruit filled and yummy.
Klah is a fictional thing though. It’s the bark of a tree native to Pern, so (unlike pies) you can’t really have it.
Luckily, Anne McCaffrey allowed the making of a guide to Pern! It’s the usual bits of world building of course, but there are several recipes in it, including bubbly pies and a kinda klah. The pies are standard pies of course.
But, klah in the books is described as being similar to coffee, cinnamon and cocoa. The guide book gives a nice recipe for an instant version that’s super yummy. But, you can extrapolate from that and brew it instead.
Overall, the best version I’ve come up with is brewing the coffee with cinnamon and adding cocoa afterward. I tried doing cocoa nibs in the brewing, and it works, but it doesn’t really taste right because there’s a limit to how much you can add to the grounds, which limits the proportion of chocolate flavor too much.
I use what’s called sipping chocolate. It’s basically just cocoa powder, some ground chocolate, and sugar. But it’s thick and sinful when made by itself. Done as klah, you only use a tablespoon for a full mug of the cinnamon coffe, so it isn’t thick at all, it’s barely detectable as thicker than regular coffee. But it is a flavor and scent bomb.
There’s synergy between those three ingredients anyway, it isn’t some kind of new thing. But doing it as a beverage, the scents are so powerful, which makes the experience so much better. You get all the floral notes delivered in the nose as well as across the tongue. The lingering bite of cinnamon and the earthy goodness of the cocoa are amazing of course.
I came here to say klah, and was kinda shocked to find someone else already had, ha. Pern’s been such a moribund fandom and hasn’t aged well so it feels rare to encounter someone these days. Although I suppose Lemmy is the place for whatever holdouts exist.
But yeah. Klah!
I admit I don’t like coffee, so I’d probably want to make a “cultivar” of klah that had less of that, and more chocolate/cinnamon/tea flavor. Like a chai, I guess?
I kind of also want Benden wine…but the thing is, I don’t drink and don’t much like alcohol, so I imagine I want what I think Robinton experiences when he drinks Benden wine, instead of actual wine.
A good chai with the added cocoa isn’t bad at all! You have to go lighter on it, but it is yummy.
I’m not much of a drinker myself, and I’m very particular about wine. But there are grape juices that aren’t sweetened. In my head canon, benden would have been similar to a zinfandel, only slightly sweet, but very low tannin, and those unsweetened grape juices are as close to that as you can get to what I’ve imagined the experience would be.
I’m curious though, why hasn’t Pern aged well? I’ve always found it to be a fun series for the most part. No weird commentary, well balanced characters, solid plot development, and a consistent “vibe”. It was one of the better series for female main characters as well, which was very unusual in sci-fi or fantasy when it was started.
Klah and bubbly pies!
Both are from the Pern series. Bubbly pies are just hand pies, basically. Fruit filled and yummy.
Klah is a fictional thing though. It’s the bark of a tree native to Pern, so (unlike pies) you can’t really have it.
Luckily, Anne McCaffrey allowed the making of a guide to Pern! It’s the usual bits of world building of course, but there are several recipes in it, including bubbly pies and a kinda klah. The pies are standard pies of course.
But, klah in the books is described as being similar to coffee, cinnamon and cocoa. The guide book gives a nice recipe for an instant version that’s super yummy. But, you can extrapolate from that and brew it instead.
Overall, the best version I’ve come up with is brewing the coffee with cinnamon and adding cocoa afterward. I tried doing cocoa nibs in the brewing, and it works, but it doesn’t really taste right because there’s a limit to how much you can add to the grounds, which limits the proportion of chocolate flavor too much.
I use what’s called sipping chocolate. It’s basically just cocoa powder, some ground chocolate, and sugar. But it’s thick and sinful when made by itself. Done as klah, you only use a tablespoon for a full mug of the cinnamon coffe, so it isn’t thick at all, it’s barely detectable as thicker than regular coffee. But it is a flavor and scent bomb.
There’s synergy between those three ingredients anyway, it isn’t some kind of new thing. But doing it as a beverage, the scents are so powerful, which makes the experience so much better. You get all the floral notes delivered in the nose as well as across the tongue. The lingering bite of cinnamon and the earthy goodness of the cocoa are amazing of course.
Highly recommend it
I came here to say klah, and was kinda shocked to find someone else already had, ha. Pern’s been such a moribund fandom and hasn’t aged well so it feels rare to encounter someone these days. Although I suppose Lemmy is the place for whatever holdouts exist.
But yeah. Klah!
I admit I don’t like coffee, so I’d probably want to make a “cultivar” of klah that had less of that, and more chocolate/cinnamon/tea flavor. Like a chai, I guess?
I kind of also want Benden wine…but the thing is, I don’t drink and don’t much like alcohol, so I imagine I want what I think Robinton experiences when he drinks Benden wine, instead of actual wine.
A good chai with the added cocoa isn’t bad at all! You have to go lighter on it, but it is yummy.
I’m not much of a drinker myself, and I’m very particular about wine. But there are grape juices that aren’t sweetened. In my head canon, benden would have been similar to a zinfandel, only slightly sweet, but very low tannin, and those unsweetened grape juices are as close to that as you can get to what I’ve imagined the experience would be.
I’m curious though, why hasn’t Pern aged well? I’ve always found it to be a fun series for the most part. No weird commentary, well balanced characters, solid plot development, and a consistent “vibe”. It was one of the better series for female main characters as well, which was very unusual in sci-fi or fantasy when it was started.