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Milwaukee-based mixologist makes bold recipes with coffee in new book

Ryan Castelaz (left) founder of Discourse Coffee in Milwaukee and The New Art of Coffee: From Morning Cup to Caffeine Cocktail
Lily Shea
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Ryan Castelaz
Ryan Castelaz (left) founder of Discourse Coffee in Milwaukee and author of The New Art of Coffee: From Morning Cup to Caffeine Cocktail is pictured with the book's photographer Kevin Miyazaki (right).
Discourse coffee cup
Kevin Miyazaki
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Ryan Castalez
One of the recipes, "Flora", that is featured in The New Art of Coffee: From Morning Cup to Caffeine Cocktail and is available at Discourse Coffee Workshop.

Coffee can be made a lot of different ways. A lot of us just add a little milk or sugar, but at Discourse Coffee Workshop in Milwaukee, they’re experimenting with adding things like black pepper or brie milk. Discourse founder, Ryan Castelaz, recently released a book called The New Art of Coffee: From Morning Cup to Caffeine Cocktailto share some of these unique recipes.

A former opera singer and musician, Castelaz turned to mixology to channel his creative drive and soon began to convey moods and powerful thoughts through beverages. The process resulted in about 300 hundred recipes that are used by Discourse, while 50 are featured in the book.

"Something that I'm a huge believer in is that we we drink for very emotional purposes and oftentimes these emotions are subconscious, but almost always present," says Castelaz. "And so we wanted to reflect that in the book. And so we've divided the recipes into four different mood states: adventurous, celebratory, rejuvenating and comforting in hopes that when you seek to use this book, we have made it easier for you to match the drink to your mood state."

Castelaz believes that coffee should be able to tell a story too, similar to ones told by mixologists through traditional cocktails. The New Art of Coffee: From Morning Cup to Caffeine Cocktail is available now.

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Mallory Cheng was a Lake Effect producer from 2021 to 2023.
Rob is All Things Considered Host and Digital Producer.
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