Category: Blog

“In Turkey, husbands were once required during their wedding vows to promise always to provide their wives with coffee and failure to do so could be used as grounds for divorce.” …if only marriage was that easy – all you needed to provide was coffee! Then again, there are ways of using coffee as a gift of love…All that stops you from turning coffee into love is a lack of inspiration, but as we are drinking so much coffee we got really inspired and came up with some nice, loving ideas!

Here are five ideas of how to use coffee as a gift of love:

1)      Make your loved one a body scrub using coffee (recipe can be found in one of our previous blogs) and scrub them down in true Moroccan style. Nothing better than moving the hammam to your own house!

2)      Serve coffee in bed. What’s more romantic than having someone spoil you to breakfast in bed?

3)      Bake a chocolate cake for desert and serve it with a cappuccino, or espresso. This combination has got to be one of the best aphrodisiacs in town. All the feel good chemical released might make you want to stay up all night!

4)      Is your other half a coffee lover? Why not take them to Italy for some real espresso and true romance? Italy has inspired lovers since what seems the dawn of eternity. Why not go to what is said to be Juliet’s old balcony, or Venice?

5)      If someone truly love coffee why not fuse their love for coffee with your love for them? Make them a coffee hamper. Fill it with the finest beans, chocolate and espresso cookies, chocolate covered coffee beans, chocolate bonbons and a book about coffee?

The world sometimes seems to run on coffee, or at least a combination of coffee and tea. But what makes coffee so great? Here are a few things you can tell people who just don’t understand why your cup of Joe is a highly treasured part of your day!

1) Coffee contains caffeine which works as an effective painkiller. Without coffee, there’s be a lot more headaches, especially as it relieves tension headaches particularly well. It also increases the effect of many painkillers. But talk to professionals before you take our word for it.

2) It makes you feel good. According to research it plays with your serotonin levels, or your happy chemical. This was researched in relation to stopping migraines in their tracks, but we presume it might be why it’s a mood enhancer also.

3) It contains antioxidants. Same as in most fruits and vegetables coffee contains those little things that fight free radicals and therefore keeps you healthy. Chocolate contains antioxidants too, so maybe get some real dark chocolate with your coffee next time.

4) It keeps you awake. Imagine what the office would be like in the morning without coffee. Take cover!

5) It smells good. Even the aroma is said to positively affect people’s ability to work faster.

6) It has created a lot of jobs. Where would the world be today without all the coffee plantations, coffee shops and coffee beans that we buy in the supermarket?

7) You enjoy it. Never forget this. The most important factor for why coffee is worth our money is because it makes us feel great and we enjoy the taste. Happiness is after all indulging in what you love. Not just the coffee, but everything.

There’s a new coffee invention out there. The kind that you were always hoping for, but never ever even realized you were hoping for, because you didn’t think as far as to realize it could come to exist. It’s the Coffee Joulies.

If you are anything like most people you have probably burnt your tongue and mouth once or twice when sipping coffee, or tea for that matter. Well, those days are gone. Thanks to two American inventors/entrepreneurs you can now have your cake and eat it. That’s to say they have invented something that will cool down your coffee to a drinkable temperature instantly. Then it will keep the coffee at that temperature for much longer. In other words: it won’t go cold as fast as usual. Magic.

Dave and Dave who invented the Coffee Joulies got all their funding from a Kickstarter, campaign much thanks to writing to the right people about it (like Gizmo), who then tweeted about it. And off they went – they raised 300% of what they needed. So about a year later, you can buy the Coffee Joulies in their online shop (although when we checked they were out of stock).

So if you want something that’s still fairly unusual to sell in your coffee shop, check these guys out. Or buy one for yourself to save your mouth. Brilliant idea!

It’s not Valentine’s, it’s not Christmas and it’s not even Easter yet, but mother’s day is coming up and maybe there’s a birthday, or two looming in the near future, so why not let us inspire you with some gifts for your coffee loving friends and lovers?

There is nothing better than the satisfaction you feel when you’ve found a gift you think stands out a little bit, or that would truly make the perfect gift for someone you love. So we have dug out some gifts for coffee lovers that are rather…unusual. Or at least not a coffee mug.

Java Logs – Ever heard of these logs? They are manmade and consists mainly of (you guessed it) coffee. You already knew you could use coffee for your compost heap (you did know that didn’t you? A lot of coffee shops will give away their old coffee grounds for free if you ask. Way to go!) and now you can use it for your fire too.

The positive aspects? Java Logs divert 12 million pounds of coffee grounds from landfills per year and emits up to 78% less carbon monoxide and up to 66% less creosote than cordwood fires.

The negative aspects of this? You might be craving coffee all night as the lovely aroma is bound to get to you!

Java Logs happen to be manufactured by an American company, so you might want to set up a company and start manufacturing them in the UK if you live this side of the pond, or just simply make some for yourself. We even found a site that teaches you how – if you like a DIY project (and people always appreciate handmade gifts). Otherwise you might just want to throw old coffee grounds on the fire for a nice smell. (We do not recommend giving away old coffee grounds as a gift though. It may be that your friends do not understand the positive environmental effects of this and how nice their fire will smell and simply think you are trying to give them your rubbish. Totally ungrateful of them, we know.)

If you are giving away logs as a present maybe include something more…like make them a basket with coffee related items, or add a romantic touch and have a picnic by the fireplace.

Coffee Art – If you happen to be a bit of an artist it could be nice to paint a painting with…coffee for a change. If you are not an artist you can buy coffee paintings from someone else (there are tea paintings available out there as well if you happen to know a tea lover). Check out one site with coffee art here.

Coffee Plant – If someone happens to be a true coffee lover you could just get them a coffee plant, or three. In three to four years time it will start bearing fruit and they can make their own coffee. It works nice as decoration too, has fragrant white flowers when blooming and will be a nice addition to any household!

Those were just a few ideas…there are so many more out there – from coffee hampers to coffee vacations. As always – your imagination around coffee is the limit!

What would that morning toast be without your normal cup of Joe? That moment of peace when you sit down with your favourite newspaper, or iPad subscription, or blog and get to sip your coffee and eat your toast. Alternatively you are rushing through the streets of London (with more resemblance to the jungle than modern civilization), trying to balance a cup of store bought coffee in one hand without spilling it on the next person who will elbow you as they are rushing past you and carrying the Metro and your toast in the other, potentially trying to read all about what happened in town last night (mulit-tasking on the streets and in the tube is a favourite past time of Londoners because they are so stressed they never have time to do just the one thing). Or there’s the: I’ll save my coffee and toast until I get in front of the computer at work because then at least I can eat something nice whilst doing something boring (or you simply need the caffeine rush the moment you sit down, hungry for a new day).

Whatever way your morning starts, it’s likely to contain coffee and toast, at least a few times a week, or month. Now someone came up with the brilliant idea of simply infusing the toast with coffee. Or rather: bake a break with coffee in it. We were very impressed. Especially for the Londoners this will make life easier as they only have to carry their toast, the Metro, their Oyster card and their bag. They can skip the cup of coffee. Or at least wait till they get to the office.

So here’s a new way to make a perfect morning toast. Enjoy! (The recipe was borrowed from Alexandra’s Kitchen, so Alexandra is the genius here, but we believe she borrowed the recipe from somewhere else.)

Honey Whole Wheat Bread
Yield= 2 traditional loafpan-sized loaves

2 + 2/3 cups coffee (at the most — I used less than 1 cup of coffee in this batch and substituted water for the remainder)
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup honey
1 package active dry yeast
1 T. kosher salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
4 cups all-purpose flour

1. Combine coffee, the 2/3 cup water and the honey in a large bowl or in a large bowl of a stand mixer. Stir yeast into 1/2 cup of lukewarm water. Let stand until dissolved then add to coffee mixture.

2. Whisk together salt, cornmeal and flours. If using a stand mixer, add all of the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Knead for about 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth and wrapped around the dough hook. If kneading by hand, stir in about half of the dry mixture. Add more and more of the mixture until you need to turn the dough out onto a work surface to get it all incorporated. Knead for about 8 minutes or until the dough is smooth.

3. Place dough in a large bowl greased with a light layer of olive oil. Turn dough to coat. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel (run a tea towel under hot water, ring it out, then place on top of bowl) and let rise until doubled in bulk (this may take as long as 2 hours). (Tip: If you are looking for a warm spot to let your dough to rise, turn your oven to its highest setting and let it warm for 1 minute. Turn off the heat, place your tea towel-covered bowl of dough inside and close the oven door.)

4. Once dough has doubled, punch it down. Grease two standard sized loaf pans generously with butter. Divide dough into two equal portions. Quickly shape each portion into a loaf-like mass and plop into prepared pans. Let rise until dough reaches just below the top of the pan. This may take as long as 45 minutes. (I like to place my loaf pans on top of the oven while it preheats. This usually speeds up the second rising.) Preheat oven for 375ºF.

5. Bake loaves for 45 minutes. Turn loaves out onto cooling rack. If you can refrain, let cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting.

So it’s been two months since Christmas, but it feels more like five months. Five months of trying to make up for a sugar induced Christmas. Read: five months of sugar cravings and not a good enough reason to give in to them apart from a few dark moments when the sun set at four and it was absolutely necessary to eat equally dark chocolate.

So after this deprivation we thought it would be nice to give you a reason to indulge – you are here because you love and want to explore coffee, so if there’s coffee in the sweet, isn’t that a good enough reason to indulge in it? We believe so.

We found this brilliant recipe at orangenette.blogspot.com and it takes you right back to the Christmas cheer.

Coffee-Walnut Toffee
Adapted ever-so-slightly from Bon Appétit Christmas (1994)

It may just be me, but anything that requires a candy thermometer seems daunting—and that’s even before taking into consideration the boiling, roiling, burbling sugar, something between molten lava and a swamp in a horror movie. But surprisingly, this toffee is remarkably easy and non-threatening to make, especially if you have your mise en place (your ingredients, prepped and measured) ready and waiting. If you’re like me, you’ll feel a goofy, giddy shiver as you happily dump into the pot little pre-measured bowlfuls of this and that, just like Julia or Martha would do. And remember, the candy thermometer is your friend. Trust it, and you’ll have a long, happy, toffee-filled holiday season.

2 cups walnuts
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed golden brown sugar
2 tsp instant espresso powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup water
1 Tbs dark unsulfured molasses
4 ½ ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used Valhrona 64%)
4 ½ ounces fine-quality white chocolate, finely chopped (I used Callebaut)
1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spread walnuts on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven until fragrant, about 5-10 minutes, making sure they don’t burn. Allow to cool for ten minutes; then coarsely chop. Remove 1 ½ cups to a bowl. Finely chop remaining ½ cup; then place in a separate bowl.

Prepare your mise en place: in a medium bowl, combine sugars, espresso powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine water and molasses. Place chopped chocolates in their own separate bowls.

Butter a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Melt butter in a heavy 2 ½-quart saucepan over low heat. Add sugars, espresso powder, cinnamon, salt, water, and molasses; stir until sugar dissolves. Attach a clip-on candy thermometer to side of pan. Increase heat to medium; cook until thermometer registers 290 degrees (and no less!), stirring slowly but constantly and scraping bottom of pan with a wooden spatula, about 20 minutes.

Remove pan from heat, and quickly stir in 1 ½ cups coarsely chopped nuts. Immediately pour mixture onto prepared pan; do not scrape saucepan. Tilt sheet so that toffee spreads to ¼-inch thickness. Sprinkle chocolates by generous tablespoonfuls atop toffee, alternating bittersweet and white chocolates. Let stand one minute. Using back of spoon, spread chocolates slightly. Using the tip of a knife or the tongs of a fork, swirl chocolates to create a marble pattern. Sprinkle with ½ cup finely chopped nuts. Refrigerate until toffee is firm, about one hour. Break toffee into pieces.

Makes about two pounds. Can be made two weeks ahead and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Not only can you use coffee as a body scrub, you can also use it for your meat (no pun intended). Two great ideas for putting those beans to use!

Coffee Body Scrub

Mix the following:
5 tbsp of coconut butter, or olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 tbsp coarsely ground coffee
2 tbsp sugar
(A little bit of vanilla extract and/or a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg can add a refreshing smell)

Mix the dry ingredients (salt, sugar and coffee) and then add the oil and stir. Apply on wet skin and give it a good rub with a small towel, or sponge then rinse with warm water. If you like you can finish with cold water, which will close your pores. If you do a hot-cold, hot-cold shower it can also help to relax your muscles. Furthermore cold water is said to help your mental state to brighten up. If you don’t want to use it straight away you can keep it in a container in a cool place for quite some time.

You can also double, or triple the recipe and pack it in a nice glass jar and give it away as a gift. Who doesn’t love to get body products to spoil themselves with? And body rubs are excellent for getting rid of dead skin cells and increasing the blood circulation. Not to mention: they feel great.

Coffee Meat Rub

Now, maybe there’s another kind of meat you want to rub to get ready for the BBQ and coffee adds a great taste effect. You can even let the meat soak in a little bit of brewed coffee if you like, as it works as a tenderizer. If you soak it, it will get a stronger coffee taste, whereas just rubbing it will give it some neat undertones. It works well with chicken, duck, beef and lamb.

Ingredients
·    1/2 cup finely ground coffee
·    1/4 cup coarsely ground pepper
·    3 tablespoons kosher salt

Directions
Mix coffee, pepper and salt together in a small bowl. Measure out 2 tablespoons of the rub. Using your hands, rub it evenly onto 1 1/2 pounds (6 servings) of your chosen meat just before grilling. If you don’t use all the coffee rub in one go you can store it in an airtight container for up to one month.

This is the dish of the year that you’ve been waiting for – that creamy to die for cake that all your guests, or customers are going to love you for to eternity. They may eventually come to hate you when they can’t fit into their jeans, but whilst eating it they will love you. And if they know moderation and only come back say once every two weeks, they will continue to love you to eternity.

The great things with recipes is that you can borrow them. You can’t take all of sprinkles cupcakes and replicate them one after another and pass it off as your concept, that’s cheap and people will hate you for it. But you can browse the web and find the best of the best out there. In the form of recipes that is. Then you can try them all out, tweak them to your liking and serve them in your coffee shop, or at your dinner table. And as you tweaked them to your liking adding half a teaspoon of cinnamon, or subtracting half a teaspoon of salt, the recipe is now your secret and customers and friends will be faithful forever thanks to it.

So, we borrowed this recipe from Yammie’s Noshery, who stole it from Betty Crocker. Give it a try. It might just teach you how to make friends and influence people without having to read that famous book about it. Sugar and coffee goes a long way…

Caramel Cappuccino Cheesecake

Crust:
1 1/2 cups crushed oreos (I used about 1 1/2 rows from the box)
1/4 cup melted butter

Filling:
2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup caramel topping
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Topping:
1 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 cup caramel topping

Preheat the oven to 300º. Grease a 10 inch springform pan and line with parchment paper.

Combine the cookie crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of the pan. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

Combine the vanilla and coffee granules in a small dish until dissolved.

In a large mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar. Beat until the sugar is dissolved (5 minutes). Add the coffee and vanilla mixture, caramel, and cinnamon and beat until combined. Add the eggs and beat just until combined. Pour over the crust in the pan.

Put the springform pan on a cookie sheet and wrap it with a wet towel (this keeps the outside of the cheesecake from cooking too fast). Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and open the door about 4 inches, but leave the cheesecake in for about 30 more minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for about 30 more minutes. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

Beat the whipping cream and sugar in a chilled bowl until soft peaks form. Spread over the top of the cheesecake. Drizzle on the rest of the caramel. I like to drizzle it all in lines in one direction and then run the knife in parallel lines through it, alternating directions.

Homemade Caramel Sauce:
1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup heavy cream

In a medium sauce pan, combine the sugar and syrup. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula. Once it is caramel colored, add the butter and stir until the butter is melted. Add the cream and stir until it’s all combined. Bring it back to the heat if you get clumps and stir it until they’re dissolved. Store in the refrigerator if not using right away. Makes about 3/4 cup (I think).