updates: Be a Goldfish WEEK 4
Jan. 25th, 2026 08:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marcicatBe A Goldfish WEEK 4: An Oldie But a Goodie
aka MY RAKTAJINO ADVENTURES
PREPARATION:
Once I decided on Star Trek as my fandom for Week 4, I waffled about what to do. At first I was thinking a rec list, but I wasn't feeling that spark of fun I was looking for. And then I thought, 'ooooh, what about FOOD?' Because I love food, and then I thought 'ooooh, what about a BEVERAGE???' (Because I thought a beverage would be easier. I'm not in my chef era right now.)
My first thought was 'wouldn't it be funny to do earl gray tea' (hot, of course), and then my brain was like NO WAIT, RAKTAJINO! Because it's basically coffee, right? I mean, I thought coffee could probably be used as the base, at least.
So then I did a BUNCH of internet searching for things like 'raktajino recipe' and 'do Klingons have iron-based blood' and 'can I put [x] in coffee' and found the following answers:
1. recipes vary, but definitely a coffee base
2. yes (probably)
3. yes, and also: Putting Weird Things In Coffee gave me the courage to really embrace this adventure
BACKGROUND
Raktajino shows up a lot in some versions of Star Trek, especially Deep Space 9. (Memory Alpha has a list) In true Star Trek fashion, the details tend to be vague and sometimes contradictory. The following seem to be some generally agreed-upon statements regarding raktajino:
1. it's Klingon coffee
2. sometimes it has alcohol in it, but as it is often shown being consumed on-duty, it probably doesn't always have alcohol in it
3. it's strong, in the 'highly caffeinated' sense and also in the 'strongly flavored' sense
IMPORTANT POINTS I CONSIDERED
*A lot of online recipes include what I would consider to be a fairly basic set of coffee-friendly spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice. Which is cool! (And delicious!) But that's already an Earth drink -- I literally have that in the cupboard in a bag labeled 'Autumn Spice Coffee.' I wanted more! I wanted weirder!
*My headcanon is that, like coffee, raktajino has an infinite number of variations. (To cross the fandom streams, I'd liken it to Star Wars' tiingilar -- every family has their own personal recipe.)
*But all the recipes have some commonalities: it's basically coffee, it's strong, and it's got a flavor. So I thought to myself 'okay, so I want ingredients I'm willing to ingest that taste like my coffee was forged in battle and sweetened with the blood of my enemies.'
INGREDIENTS I'M WILLING TO INGEST IN THIS ADVENTURE THAT I ALREADY OWNED
*A free sample of minced ginger that I'm probably never going to use otherwise.
*Roasted garlic. (I put it on everything else???)
INGREDIENTS I PURCHASED SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS ADVENTURE
*Liquid smoke. This is for the 'forged in battle' part of the flavor. I'm sure 'real raktajino fans' would object, but for the purposes of this 'kitchen raktajino' adventure, I'm not going to buy a smoker and/or start roasting my own coffee beans.
*Molasses. Look, I'm not going to put blood in my coffee. But blood's distinctive flavor is mostly the iron, right? And molasses also has iron!
(*NOTE: Both these ingredients often have a warning label for potentially health-harming compounds, though as with everything, there's controversy. Liquid smoke for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and molasses for lead and acrylamide. Personally, I feel like Klingons would really appreciate that.)
DAY 1:
*added a pinch of minced ginger to the coffee grounds before brewing
*added a very small amount of liquid smoke after brewing (the directions say 'only use 1-2 drops,' but it has a pour top -- HOW am I supposed to get one drop???)
*added some molasses after brewing (maybe a teaspoon? idk I didn't want to wash any measuring spoons)
I also added my usual sweetener and half & half, because I wanted to actually enjoy the experience.
Conclusion: it was pretty good! A flavor for sure! I could definitely taste the molasses, and maybe the ginger. Not sure on the liquid smoke -- I'm going to look for a dropper for Day 2. Also still to come: garlic powder.
aka MY RAKTAJINO ADVENTURES
PREPARATION:
Once I decided on Star Trek as my fandom for Week 4, I waffled about what to do. At first I was thinking a rec list, but I wasn't feeling that spark of fun I was looking for. And then I thought, 'ooooh, what about FOOD?' Because I love food, and then I thought 'ooooh, what about a BEVERAGE???' (Because I thought a beverage would be easier. I'm not in my chef era right now.)
My first thought was 'wouldn't it be funny to do earl gray tea' (hot, of course), and then my brain was like NO WAIT, RAKTAJINO! Because it's basically coffee, right? I mean, I thought coffee could probably be used as the base, at least.
So then I did a BUNCH of internet searching for things like 'raktajino recipe' and 'do Klingons have iron-based blood' and 'can I put [x] in coffee' and found the following answers:
1. recipes vary, but definitely a coffee base
2. yes (probably)
3. yes, and also: Putting Weird Things In Coffee gave me the courage to really embrace this adventure
BACKGROUND
Raktajino shows up a lot in some versions of Star Trek, especially Deep Space 9. (Memory Alpha has a list) In true Star Trek fashion, the details tend to be vague and sometimes contradictory. The following seem to be some generally agreed-upon statements regarding raktajino:
1. it's Klingon coffee
2. sometimes it has alcohol in it, but as it is often shown being consumed on-duty, it probably doesn't always have alcohol in it
3. it's strong, in the 'highly caffeinated' sense and also in the 'strongly flavored' sense
IMPORTANT POINTS I CONSIDERED
*A lot of online recipes include what I would consider to be a fairly basic set of coffee-friendly spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice. Which is cool! (And delicious!) But that's already an Earth drink -- I literally have that in the cupboard in a bag labeled 'Autumn Spice Coffee.' I wanted more! I wanted weirder!
*My headcanon is that, like coffee, raktajino has an infinite number of variations. (To cross the fandom streams, I'd liken it to Star Wars' tiingilar -- every family has their own personal recipe.)
*But all the recipes have some commonalities: it's basically coffee, it's strong, and it's got a flavor. So I thought to myself 'okay, so I want ingredients I'm willing to ingest that taste like my coffee was forged in battle and sweetened with the blood of my enemies.'
INGREDIENTS I'M WILLING TO INGEST IN THIS ADVENTURE THAT I ALREADY OWNED
*A free sample of minced ginger that I'm probably never going to use otherwise.
*Roasted garlic. (I put it on everything else???)
INGREDIENTS I PURCHASED SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS ADVENTURE
*Liquid smoke. This is for the 'forged in battle' part of the flavor. I'm sure 'real raktajino fans' would object, but for the purposes of this 'kitchen raktajino' adventure, I'm not going to buy a smoker and/or start roasting my own coffee beans.
*Molasses. Look, I'm not going to put blood in my coffee. But blood's distinctive flavor is mostly the iron, right? And molasses also has iron!
(*NOTE: Both these ingredients often have a warning label for potentially health-harming compounds, though as with everything, there's controversy. Liquid smoke for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), and molasses for lead and acrylamide. Personally, I feel like Klingons would really appreciate that.)
DAY 1:
*added a pinch of minced ginger to the coffee grounds before brewing
*added a very small amount of liquid smoke after brewing (the directions say 'only use 1-2 drops,' but it has a pour top -- HOW am I supposed to get one drop???)
*added some molasses after brewing (maybe a teaspoon? idk I didn't want to wash any measuring spoons)
I also added my usual sweetener and half & half, because I wanted to actually enjoy the experience.
Conclusion: it was pretty good! A flavor for sure! I could definitely taste the molasses, and maybe the ginger. Not sure on the liquid smoke -- I'm going to look for a dropper for Day 2. Also still to come: garlic powder.
