Hawaiian Prime is smooth and mellow. It has a full bodied fruity flavor reminiscent of a good red wine…it teases you with a hint of cloves and finishes with hazelnut. I am still sitting here sipping in disbelief that it is tagged medium roast. It almost hurts me to say it but this the type of sultry coffee I love…so it can’t be a medium roast.

The beans are tiny. I have never seen beans that were that small. In this case great things come in small packages..because they are full of flavor.

This is a coffee to be committed to; gulp it with breakfast, sip it on a contemplative afternoon, or savor it with dessert…it won’t matter. For Kohana Hawaiian Prime it is all about the relationship, and this one won’t  let you down.

On the Marye Coffee Scale it gets a 4.25

image:marye audet

Post from: Kettle and Cup

I just read an article this evening about a small Utah Creamery that is creating a cheddar cheese with a coffee rind.

No, not grind…RIND.

Doesn’t that sound amazing?

The cheesemakers, Utah Beehive Cheese Company uses milk from a local herd of Jersey cows.  When the cheese is ready for the rind to be added the cheese makers pat on a combination of coffee grounds, lavender, and canola oil.

Apparently the cheese that results is amazingly good.  It is said to have coffee, Kahlua, Mexican chocolate and smoke.  The idea of it is completley intriguing to me, so if you guys happen to read this…I would love to review it!

The cheese is aptly named Barely Buzzed.

image:marye audet (c)2009

Post from: Kettle and Cup

…But it is still a very good coffee. Sulawesi Toraja is an Indonesian coffee bean with an unusual brightness for a coffee from that region.  It isn’t especially fragrant when you open the bag…In fact I was sort of disappointed because I like when that good coffee aroma fills the kitchen.

But the beans looked plump and nice and it made up for it’s lack of a first impression as soon as the hot water hit it.  You know, some coffees, like some people, just don’t come into their own until they are in a little hot water..then they rise to the challenge.  There, there’s your philosophical thought for today.

The aroma was good.  Nice color in the cup.

I tasted black pepper, black currant, and an earthy flavor that was awesome.  In fact, I like the combo so much that I am working on a black currant and black pepper jelly.  Anyway, this is a surprisingly light coffee for the flavors it contains.  It did no hit me as being a primarily after dinner cup but more of an afternoon pick-me-up.

Definitely try it.  If you are roasting your own, go for a full city roast.

image:(c) maryeaudet 2008

Post from: Kettle and Cup

I have heard everywhere that burr ground coffee is so much better than blade ground that I decided to take a deep breath and get a burr grinder.  Actually it wasn’t that deep of a breath because I found it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a reasonable price.

AS I have said before Marc is the designated coffee maker here.  He read all the instructions and made the coffee this morning and it tasted ….pretty darn good.

You have more control over the grind of your coffee and the burrs do not burn the edges of the bean fragments as with the blade grinders.  Supposedly this is what gives coffee a bad flavor.

It seems to be a good value and all in all I am pleased.

I read the reviews on Amazon..some people loved it and some hated it.  Apparently some of these die within a few months.  If that happens, folks, you will hear it here first!

image:amazon

Post from: Kettle and Cup

You know the rest right?

Remember I told you about Kopi Luwak which is basically coffee that travels through the entire digestive system of a wild cat and then is ..uh excreted and cleaned and roasted…Hopefully cleaned well.

Then there was the Monkey spit coffee. A bean that a type of monkey spits out after he eats the berry. Yum!

(O.k..I am adding this note to say I have NOT posted about those coffees but I did write and article on them you can read, Unusual Coffees . I really thought I had posted here but I can’t find it.)

Now there is the newest gourmet coffee… Innocently called, Avian Selected..Bird Processed.

Lest you think that poor birds are being forced to work long hours in South American Coffee plantations I will give you the bottom line. Yep. Bird poop coffee. Yummy.

This is what the farmer that …ummm…collects this coffee says. I got this quote from Sweet Marias, where you can not only read about it you can BUY the bean. You will need to scroll down the page until you find it.

Henrique Sloper : “As a supporter of the natural flora and fauna of the farm, Camocim welcomes the Jacu Bird as a member of the farm’s agro-florestal system. Rather that think of the Jacu Bird as a pest, eating our finest coffee cherries, we saw the opportunity to employ the Jacu Bird as one of our finest manual coffee pickers. Once ingested, the Jacu Bird, eliminates the digested beans which lie on the ground under the coffee trees. Our staff collects these odorless droppings, transports them to the drying areas where they are dried, cleaned and stored in their parchment for up to three months.

So, if you try this coffee please let me know what you think. It is one I will never review. Gag reflex and all.

Seriously. My horses used to poop out whole oats once in awhile..it never occurred to me to clean them and make oatmeal, you know?

IMAGE:Sweet Marias

Post from: Kettle and Cup

The first coffee I brewed when the care package from Green Mountain came in was the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.   The Archer Farms Yirgacheffe I had tried last winter was a big favorite and i was delighted to see another version in the box.

This was a lighter roast than the Archer Farms, the beans were dryer and lighter in color.  The unmistakable aroma of citrus was there though.

The aroma of citrus is more lemon than organge in the Green Mountain coffee.  It is the first thing you smell as you bring the cup to your lips.  The  taste was tart and lemony with a slightly acid aftertaste. Much lighter in body than the Archer Farms.

I liked it but I liked the deep roast of the Archer Farms Yirgacheffe better.  I liked the notes of wine and fig in that were apparent in the darker roast and I don’t like the acidity in the lighter roast.  This is a personal preference, I just do prefer dark roasted coffees.

The Green Mountain was very good.  The lightness of it gave it a sparkly  essence that I found to be unique as I was expecting rich, dark and fruity…I suppose it is a bit like tasting a rose after enjoying a sweet port.

If you like a more acidic coffee, and lighter roast this is perfect.  If you prefer the darker roast then Archer Farms is still the one to try.

Image:Marye Audet 

Post from: Kettle and Cup

I have been putting off this review. Honestly I have.  And I will tell you why.

I have been reading reviews all over the internet and they all seem to say the same thing. Exciting fruity notes.  Chocolate notes.  Notes of tobacco and wood.  Tastes of cherry, blueberry and spice…Exotic, complex.

Scroll back.

Last week Marc and I had to pick up a new flour canister at the restaurant supply house. O.k. I bet you want to know why I am heading off, 45 minutes away, to pick up a flour canister? Gosh, you are nosy. 

It is because I buy organic white flour by the #50 bag. Yes. 50 Pounds of flour. I am able to get it for under $40  and we use that much easily in a month or less.  I also get wheat berries in bulk like that. Anyway.  SO, one cannot just set 50 pounds of flour in a vintage enamelware canister on the counter can one?  My canister set rivals what the Jolly GreenGiant’s wife must surely have in her pantry.  I bet her kids don’t eat more than mine either.

Coffee. Right.

So, since we were up in the wealthy part of town, as opposed to the ghetto part that we live in, we were thoroughly enjoying the landscape.  I said, “Hey! Isn’t there a Whole Foods up here? ”

Marc said, “Yeah, I think so.”

Me, “Can we stop there? ”

Marc, “Sure.”

So we did.

I need to write a whole post in Baking Delights on the joys of Whole Foods, especially the one on Preston/Forest in Dallas. Wowza.  They have a SPA, people, a SPA upstairs, o.k.?

Anyway, you are interested in the coffee, I know.

So all of the areas are set up like an exotic bazaar and the coffee area has loads of bulk coffees. Picking through I saw many that piqued my interest, but the Red Sea blend really seemed to be the coffee I wanted most.  It spoke to me, people, seriously.

I opened the bag as soon as we got home and took a deep sniff of the beans.  The aroma was medium. Not intense, not overpowering, just coffee like.

The beans are a medium roast, a blend of East African and Arabica beans.  They were roasted on the day I got them, very fresh.  I love the fact that it is sustainably grown but I am unsure if it is organic.  On the Allegro Coffee website it is not listed among the organic coffees.  I found that to be kind of a bummer because when I buy something at Whole Foods I sort of expect that it won’t be full of toxins.

So Marc brews the pot, he is the official coffee maker at our house. I don’t know why.  I can make it but it seems so luxurious to have him make the coffee for me and serve it to me in my mug. If only I could get him to wear like a gladiator slave outfit when he was serving it….

O.k.  cupping the coffee.  It has a citrussy smell to me but very faint. The coffee flavor is  mild, with a slightly acidic aftertaste. It did not taste complex or exotic.  It did not remind me of blueberries, tobacco or chocolate.  It tasted like a decent cup of coffee, but not a great one.

The beans were, admittedly, a medium roast and you know I prefer a dark roast but even so this was not a coffee I would buy again.

It is much better than Dunkin Donuts coffee though, and we are drinking it. I think I am going to use the Dunkin Donuts beans as a preschool craft.

Anyway.  Sometimes I feel like a real coffee dufus.  I read what others have said and it sounds so very eloquent …but when I read a review I want a bottom line. Should I try it or not?  In the case of Allegro Red Sea Blend give it a shot, you may like it.  If you do try it let me  know..I am curious if I am a dufus or just more honest than everyone else.

Post from: Kettle and Cup

Have you had chocolate covered espresso beans?

Yeah, me too. Yummy.

I like to think of them as big people’s Raisinettes. They are not too hard to make, and as long as you start with a fantastic espresso bean, and add great chocolate, you are going to have an awesome end product.

Better than anything you have ever tasted. Really.

So, are you ready?

I really suggest a good dark espresso roast in this. A lighter roast will be acidic and somewhat nasty. O.k..really nasty. Don’t do it.

Once you have the perfect espresso bean you need to choose the perfect chocolate to go with it. A 75% /25% mix of good quality bittersweet and milk chocolate is my favorite. Use about one lb of chocolate for one lb of coffee. Chop the chocolate up and microwave on low power, stirring often (every 20 seconds) until melted. Be careful not to overcook.

Now mix in 1/2 of the coffee beans. Stir really well. Here is the tedious part. Take the chocolate covered coffee beans out, one by one with a fork, and lay on a piece of wax paper or silpat. You want them to be individual, chocolate- covered beans, not a huge mass of chocolate and coffee beans. Let them cool, or refrigerate.  Continue to add coffee beans until you have used up all the chocolate.  If you want a thicker chocolate let it set, and then dip them again.  Youc an also use this method to put on two different chocolates, once in dark, once in white..etc.

Once the chocolate has set you can melt white chocolate and drizzle it across the beans.

I bet you are wondering why I posted a picture of chocolate rather than the finished product, aren’t you?

I ate them. All.

Image: (c)Marye Audet 2008. Used by permission. Apron Strings & Simmering Things

Post from: Kettle and Cup