Jen’s been running a Shadowrun tabletop game for the past 18 months with help from Brian (it’s her first time running a tabletop game). When she first started the game, almost none of her players had played Shadowrun, and she wanted to really introduce the players to the feel of the universe, so she made tofu treats, glow-in-the-dark Jell-o, and soyburgers. Over the weekend, Jen was working on her cyberpunk jacket, and she realized she had neglected the most important part of Shadowrun cuisine of all – soykaf! And she found some other fans who had this thought too. So she thought she’d give it a try!

Here’s what we did –

What you’ll need:

• 1 baking sheet, lined with aluminum foil
• Yellow, dried soybeans (we got ours here, but you should be able to find them at any health food store or local Asian grocery store)
• Blender
• Oven

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (177 Celsius).
2. Lay out dried soybeans on lined baking sheet flat so no beans are on top of other beans.

3. Put them in the for 15 minutes.
4. Pull out soybeans and mix around on sheet. Ensure the beans are flat (not on top of each other) and put back in the oven for 15 additional minutes.
5. Raise the oven temperature to 400 Fahrenheit (204 Celsius) and bake for 5 minutes.
6. Raise the oven temperature to 450 Fahrenheit (232 Celsius) and bake for 5 minutes.
7. Raise the oven temperature to 500 Fahrenheit (260 Celsius) and bake for 5 minutes. The beans will start to smoke (but not burn). This is when it’s time to pull the beans out of the oven.
8. Let the beans cool completely.

9. Grind the beans one cup at a time in the blender. This makes the perfect consistency for an automatic drip coffee maker. We added an extra filter just to be safe when we ran it through our coffee maker (we have a reusable filter with a larger mesh than paper filters provide), so you may be fine with a single paper filter.
10. Drink it black, or add your favorite cream and sugar combo. We found the taste to be reminiscent of chicory with some coffee afternotes.

Enjoy! And don’t make deals with dragons chummers.