|Lumumba|
It’s hot, it’s creamy, and it gets you where you need to go. No, I’m not talking about Tuna Helper. I’m talking about Lumumba, the strangely festive-titled drink that’s really just hot chocolate with a shot of rum in it. You drink Lumumba when you want the reminiscence of childhood but the aggressive intoxication of adulthood. You drink Lumumba when you want to experience what Christmas tastes like. You give Lumumba to your kids when they’re being too loud and you want them to go to sleep now. It’s the drink that brightens any day and brings a smile to any frown. I was excited to see how the Weihnachtsmarkt would pull it off.
Before going into the experience of Lumumba, I want to take a detour into the frenzied world of German milks. For a long time, I hadn’t had a good experience with milk in Deutschland. The “fresh” milk (equivalent to any gallon you would pick up in the US) tasted a little watery and the storage milk was even worse. “What is storage milk” you ask? It is milk that has been pasteurized to such an insane level that you can now store it in a cool dry place for weeks on end. I will tell you now, pulling a carton of milk out of a cupboard that also has your cereal in it will never become normal. But there was hope. Just last week, I was recommended a specific type of whole milk, a brand that cost 1.25 Euro instead of 0.65. It was at this point I learned, when a happy cow is milked, you get a happy taste. The milk was extraordinary, as though I were drinking straight from the udder. It became apparent that there was convenience milk, that you could pick up for a convenient price, and there was real milk, ready and waiting for when you decided to take it up a notch. The Germans take their dairy seriously, I just wasn’t paying attention.
All of this of course leads to my first sips of Lumumba. I don’t know what type of milk or cream they used, but when that thick, steamy hot chocolate hit my lips, I knew I could never go back. I never thought I would say a hot chocolate tasted “fresh,” but the cream in this drink had such a rich fullness and body to it, I am left with no choice. The chocolate was not overpowering either, just sweet enough to bring all the flavors together. And as for the alcohol, its detection was found only in a little zing at the end of each sip, and the accompanying alteration of my state of mind shortly thereafter. Like many items at the Weihnachtsmarkt, the Lumumba was a simple one, but the right ingredients and care elevated it to a level beyond its humble roots.
Lumumba Scores
Taste 🎄🎄🎄🎄
Price 🎄🎄🎄
Fullness 🎄🎄
Nick Denardi 