This past weekend saw the new Terra Cafe in Bethlehem, the replacement for hippie-stronghold Wildflower Cafe, packed to the gills for a brownie tasting. Gail Lehman, baker of all things Back Door Bake Shop, served up 11 different types of brownies for free while music played and coffee flowed. Larger brownies were on sale for $2.50 each. The types served were:
Cayenne
Vegan Black Bean
Brew Works Insidious Stout
Port Wine
Pineapple, Yes Pineapple
Cappuccino
Sea Salt & Hazelnut
Peanut Butter Swirl
Raspberry White Chocolate
Orange
Bacon Caramel
Cayenne is always a favorite of mine…even in regular cake and chocolate dishes adding a tiny bit of cayenne can add extra depth, but here is plays the lead role. Vegan black bean was the only one I really, really didn’t like. It tastes too odd for my buds. Insidious stout was much better this time around than last time we had it. It was moister and much more palatable. The port wine is always my favorite and this batch seemed especially boozy and soft. We bought a big one of these. The sea salt and hazelnut was particularly interesting, with the sea salt really coming through and playing on the chocolate. Raspberry white chocolate seemed like more of a rich fudge or cake because it was so damn rich. A small bite of this was definitely enough. The orange was, well, orange. A brownie version of those Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, if you will. The bacon caramel was good, but I couldn’t extract any bacon flavor from it. Perhaps next time we’ll bring along our own bacon bits for toppings?
This was also our first time ever in the cafe since it repoened. It’s a hell of a lot nicer and a lot more accessible to regular crowds. Dina Hall played music while I sipped on my seriously, awesomely strong 4-shot Americano. Since it was jammed wall to wall it was a short visit, but a welcome one. There were brownies involved, after all.
