A sip of Sichuan pepper latte, a bite of croissant — Nespresso comes to Sofitel

A sip of Sichuan pepper latte followed by a bite of dark chocolate croissant — an unusual pairing, unlike anything tasted before, yet the two came together in a surprisingly harmonious combination.

Nespresso recently held a tasting event at Gourmet Café Jardin d'Hiver inside the Sofitel Ambassador Seoul Hotel in Songpa-gu, Seoul, to showcase its "Please Disturb" campaign developed in collaboration with the hotel. The gastronomic campaign pairs Nespresso coffee recipes with Sofitel croissants, reimagining the classic French café combination of coffee and croissant as a new culinary experience.

Nespresso has consistently partnered with hotels over the years. Hotels offer a stable source of demand while also serving as a marketing channel that reinforces brand value. The company has been particularly focused on strengthening its image as a premium capsule coffee brand through five-star hotel partnerships, and events like this one allow it to set trends through new hotel coffee menus.

Coffee and croissants are a staple of French dining culture, but Sofitel's croissants are far from ordinary. Since launching its global "Haute Croissanterie" project in 2024 — a concept dedicated to elevated, artisanal croissants — the hotel group has been presenting the pastry as a special dessert in its own right.

Three coffee-and-croissant pairings were presented at the event. The first, "Le Brûlé," combined a Cappuccino Mousse Brûlée with a Crispy Honey Cream Croissant. The Cappuccino Mousse Brûlée was built on Nespresso's Amaretti Decaffeinato coffee topped with a brûlée — a preparation in which sugar is sprinkled over cream or custard and caramelized with a torch, yielding a crisp shell that gives way to smooth cappuccino beneath. The Crispy Honey Cream Croissant was finished with honey cream and a dusting of orange zest.

The second pairing, "L'Épicé," brought together an Oat Spicy Chocolate Coffee and a Coffee-Choco Exotic Croissant — and proved to be the most intriguing of the three. Both the coffee and the croissant had strong individual characters, yet they blended naturally, offering a genuinely new gastronomic pairing.

The Oat Spicy Chocolate Coffee is an oat milk coffee dusted with Sichuan pepper, whose sharp, tingling heat added an unexpected dimension to the smooth drink. The idea that a spicy spice could complement coffee came as a revelation. Sichuan pepper is the Chinese prickly ash used in mala cuisine — a relative of the Korean sancho pepper found in dishes like chueo-tang, though the two differ in origin and variety.

The accompanying Coffee-Choco Exotic Croissant was equally surprising. A bittersweet chocolate cream was brightened by the flavor of tropical fruit. "We spread a high-cacao dark chocolate cream and topped it with a purée of tropical fruits — mango and passion fruit," said Im Hyeon-ho, chef at Sofitel Seoul. "When eaten with the coffee, the sweetness stays balanced and nothing becomes overpowering."

The final pairing, "Le Tonique," featured an Iced Orange Espresso Tonic alongside a Paris-Brest Croissant. The coffee combined Nespresso's vanilla-scented blend with orange tonic, delivering a refreshing effervescence followed by a gentle acidity — an iced coffee that called to mind an orange cocktail.

A Nespresso representative said the company's business-to-business arm, Nespresso Professional, has been rolling out a range of partnerships and chef collaborations. "The menu developed with Sofitel was designed so that not only hotel guests but also the general public can enjoy French café gastronomy at Café Jardin," the representative said.