Category: Blog

6 unusual uses for coffee beans

Posted on by Sara Walker

1. Fashion

The fabric manufacturing company, Singtex makes environmentally friendly clothing using old coffee beans. The finished fabrics are soft, breathable and they help to protect you against harmful UV rays, making them ideal for sports, yoga and outdoor activities.

Find out more: Would you wear a top made from coffee beans?

2. Art

In addition to latte art, many artists have also decided to paint, sculpt and make murals using coffee beans. One of the most recent creations was a giant coffee bean mural mosaic made by Russian artist, Arkady Kim. The piece used over one million different shades of roasted coffee beans and took 12 days to make.

Read more about artists who use coffee in their work

3. Environment

If you’re a keen gardener, ground coffee beans will work wonders on your soil. This is the perfect time to start adding your left over beans to your vegetable patch, compost heap or the soil in your greenhouse to help your plants grow.  Coffee beans are rich in potassium, phosphorous, copper and magnesium which is supposed to be great for soil and plant growth.

4. Beauty

Coffee beans can be used to exfoliate rough skin, combat cellulite and when mixed with natural yoghurt and honey, they make a great face mask. You can also use freshly brewed coffee on your hair to get irresistibly silky smooth locks – just let the coffee cool, pour it on dry hair, leave it on your hair for about a minute, and rinse.

Read 5 homemade beauty products using coffee beans

5. Home

Coffee beans help to repel nasty odours – that’s if you like the smell of fresh coffee – and they’re great for scrubbing down your household surfaces. Coffee beans are slightly abrasive and acidic which makes them ideal for cleaning your home.

See more interesting uses for coffee

The comfort of an Irish coffee

Posted on by Sara Walker

I don’t often drink Irish coffee – I love it, but it’s definitely a drink that’s perfect after a particularly good meal or special occasions  It doesn’t even have to be an Irish coffee – a good quality filter coffee served with a liqueur is just as good.

Over the weekend after a delicious meal at Hitchcock’s Restaurant in Hull my friend bought us all filter coffees with amaretto – a traditional Italian after dinner drink. There’s something both refreshing and warming about coffee and a good liqueur.

One of my most memorable Irish coffee moments was in Finland. The weather was minus 20 degrees and the ground was covered in thick, knee high snow.

It’s traditional in Finland to have outdoor fires – there are designated places all over the country with wood stacked to use and burn; so, you can just light a fire and have an outdoor picnic/ BBQ in freezing temperatures by a lake. It might not sound appealing, but having a fire in the snow with sausages cooked on an open fire and cups of Irish coffee is incredibly comforting.

The beauty of a good coffee with liqueur is that not only do they taste delicious when you make them with good quality coffee beans, but you can drink them at any time during the year. Just add ice in the summer and cinnamon in the winter.

Coffee beans and liqueur

  • Irish coffee – coffee with Irish whisky and brown sugar
  • Italian Classico – coffee with amaretto
  • Highland coffee – coffee and scotch whisky
  • French coffee – coffee with Cordon Rouge (orange flavoured brandy liqueur)
  • Russian coffee (Karsk) – coffee with moonshine or vodka
  • Australian coffee – coffee with Bundaberg rum
  • American coffee – coffee with Bourbon whisky

 

And if you don’t drink, fear not – you can always add some flavoured syrups to your coffee. Wholesale coffee Company have flavours in Amaretto, Irish cream, chocolate and many more.

The WorkHouse Coffee Company is a hit in Reading

Posted on by Sara Walker

When it comes to coffee shop competition, it’s not often that an independent coffee shop business will survive when it’s surrounded by Costa, Starbucks, Pret and other global coffee shop chains. But, one local business in Reading – The Workhouse Coffee Company – is doing amazingly well despite being opposite two major coffee shop chains.

The WorkHouse Coffee Company was set up eight years ago by Australian business man, Greg Costello who wanted to bring good quality coffee to Reading.
There are now several WorkHouse Coffee Company cafes in the Reading area, including shops on King Street and Oxford Street.

Managers at the WorkHouse Coffee Company employ people from all over the World and also sample different coffee beans regularly to make sure the coffee served is always top quality. Costello has also started to source and roast his own coffee beans.

On top of this, the shop is renowned for its high quality coffee beans, delicious food and excellent customer service. And, the business has been nominated for a Reading Retail Award.

Amazingly, the WorkHouse Coffee Company does not rely on any marketing or advertising and instead relies purely on word of mouth to spread the word.

If you’re into your coffee you’ll be in for a treat here. According to the Independent, Baristas at the WorkHouse Coffee Company will make people coffee to their exact specifications. Forget flat whites, skinny lattes and medium Americano’s with a drop of milk – this is an independent coffee shop that has made good quality coffee beans and its customers’ preferences a top priority. The café also made it into the Independent’s top 50 best breakfast spots list.

It’s certainly nice to see an independent business flourishing in a time when global corporations are opening up chains of fake independent coffee shops in an attempt to pass them off as unique businesses.

How to make a Thai iced coffee

Posted on by Sara Walker

A couple of years ago I spent a bit of time travelling around Thailand and became a huge fan of iced coffee with condensed milk – in other words the delicious Thai iced coffee that looks as good as it tastes.  You might not think of Thailand as being a place for good coffee beans, but this recipe is certainly one to try (when the weather perks up).

Makes three Thai iced coffees

Thai iced coffee ingredients:

70g ground coffee beans of your choice

700ml boiling water

Sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk

Sugar or coffee syrup (if you have a really sweet tooth)

Six cardamom pods

Thai iced coffee instructions:

1. First, open up the cardamom pods and using a mortar and pestle or some sort of herb grinding device, crush up the cardamom seeds so you’re left with a fine powder.

2. Mix the cardamom seeds with the ground coffee beans, place into a cafetiere, pour the boiling water over the coffee beans and cardamom powder and leave to settle for 10 minutes.

3. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you can add some sugar to the mixture; but condensed milk is already quite sweet so you should be fine without it. By all means add some extra sugar or a flavoured syrup of your choice once you’ve tried the drink with the condensed milk.

4. You can now serve your Thai style iced coffee dividing it equally between the three glasses.

5. Finally, using a table spoon placed over the glass of iced coffee, pour in the condensed milk slowly. This way, the milk will float beautifully into the rest of the coffee creating an interesting and rather sensual pattern.

Serve with ice, drink and enjoy sweet iced coffee, Thai style.

Buy coffee beans from Wholesale Coffee Company

Buy flavoured syrups from Wholesale Coffee Company

Tea vs coffee — what do you prefer?

Posted on by Sara Walker

coffee beans

Does the stereotypical coffee or tea drinker exist? Maybe so with builders having their own brand of tea, but what about coffee? Is it the drink of choice for high powered business people, sleep deprived writers or sophisticated 20 something’s sipping lattes in European cafes?

Perhaps your stereotypical coffee drinker is harder to pin down – coffee drinkers like coffee beans come in a multitude of styles. Perhaps with both tea and coffee it would be best to group people by character rather than vocation.

From observation I’ve noticed that people who are only tea drinkers and don’t enjoy coffee at all tend to be perhaps a bit more laid back, whereas those in favour of coffee beans might be more likely to have more drive. In high powered meetings, the drink of choice is often coffee – whereas tea might well be the drink you would wind down with after a hard day at work.

Going back to the initial question ‘Is coffee the drink of choice for high powered business people, sleep deprived writers or sophisticated 20 something’s sipping lattes in European cafes? I’d have to say now that I think coffee is the drink of choice for people who want to succeed and achieve.

I know this is a sweeping statement, but if research was conducted I think the results would back me up. Coffee beans are stimulants and the caffeine helps to wake us up, improve memory and concentration while we’re drinking it and refresh us for the day ahead.

When you’ve got a lot going on, whether you’re a busy student, a new business owner or you’ve just need a wake up kick, you’re not going to sip chamomile tea throughout the day are you?

Of course, not everyone sticks to just one type of tea of coffee. When you start to observe the drinking patterns of people you spend a lot of time with, you notice all kinds of things. For example, some people might drink coffee throughout the morning and then wind down with a builder’s style tea in the afternoon, finishing with a chamomile tea in the evening before bed.

What are your coffee drinking habits?

Should coffee beans become less of a commodity product?

Posted on by Sara Walker

Gone are the days when you could ask for a simple frothy coffee in a coffee shop. If you asked now, you’d be greeted by a confused barista asking you specifically what kind of coffee you’d like, the size of the drink and even your milk preference.

Starbucks to an extent expanded the world of coffee drink options – from the skinny soy latte and flat white to the size grande frappuccino … And even coffee machines have followed suite. You may still be able to order a simple coffee in a greasy spoon or a hospital waiting room, but with the rise of the pod coffee machines and the sophisticated designs of the more modern coffee machines, coffee has certainly come a long way from the instant freeze dried granules.

In a previous post, I wrote about the rise of third wave coffee – a movement that aims to make coffee more like wine and less of a commodity product. I can certainly see this hitting off. Should coffee beans become less of a commodity product?

Coffee shops and coffee machines may give us a lot of choice, but how much do we really know about the different types of coffee beans, the roasting process and the stories behind how the coffee beans were grown and who grew them?

Perhaps in the future we’ll start to see less of the gimmicky coffee drinks and we’ll develop our taste so rather than there being a ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ coffee, we’ll be able to distinguish between the different roasts and unique flavours of different kinds of coffee beans. This is the case with wine after all. Even if you’re not a wine connoisseur, you can probably tell the difference at least between a sweet and a dry or a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc.

At the moment, however, I think we’re still a long way off from coffee tasting (coffee cupping) sessions becoming as popular as wine tasting, but it’d certainly be nice to see more coffee shops offering the service.

more information about coffee cupping and coffee tasting

Buy wholesale coffee beans online from Wholesale Coffee Company

5 homemade beauty products using coffee beans

Posted on by Sara Walker

Get creative with your skin care routine and start using coffee beans to brighten up your complexion, make your hair more shiny and reduce under eye shadows.

1. Coffee bean hair shine
Before you shampoo your hair, massage in a handful of ground coffee beans to your wet hair, rinse and wash your hair as usual. Surprisingly, the coffee beans work by removing any build up of products and will leave your hair feeling irresistibly smooth, soft and silky. However, if you have bleached or blonde hair, the coffee beans could temporarily darken the tone so be careful.

2. Exfoliating scrub with coffee beans
Forget expensive body scrubs – gather together your coffee bean supplies and make your own skin exfoliator with ground coffee beans, sugar and olive oil (or a base oil of your choice). You can then experiment and use different essential oils if you don’t want your skin to smell of coffee beans.

3. Chocolate coffee face mask
Many skin care products use caffeine as a main ingredient as coffee beans are great for your skin. Use ground coffee beans mixed with cocoa, honey and yoghurt to create a yummy coffee bean face mask. Leave the mixture on your face for 10 minutes, wash and pat dry.

4. Coffee beans for cellulite
Use ground coffee beans mixed with warm water and olive oil, then apply generously to your cellulite and wrap up with cling film. Leave the mixture on your skin for 10-15 minutes and wash off. If this seems too messy, you could just make the coffee exfoliating scrub and use some cellulite cream that contains caffeine.

5. Coffee beans for tired eyes
Mix ground coffee beans, honey, aloe vera gel and vitamin E oil together and then apply the mixture generously to the delicate area around your eyes. When used regularly, you should see the bags under your eyes start to brighten and the puffiness reduced.

Get rid of cellulite with coffee beans

Posted on by Sara Walker

It has been known for some time that beauty products containing coffee beans might help to reduce cellulite. However, a new product called Slimming Coffee Cream, created by Cinq Mondes has brought coffee beans and cellulite to the fore once again.

So, how do coffee beans help to reduce cellulite?

Products such as the Cinq Mondes Slimming Cream work by draining the toxins that cause fatty deposits. The caffeine basically breaks down the fat cells under your skin, helping to reverse the orange peel effect.

Coffee beans also contain xanthines – a substance found naturally in the human body. Xanthines basically help to increase fat breakdown resulting in smoother, healthier looking skin.

The key apparently to using products that contain caffeine is to use the product early in the morning, late at night or at times when you’re not about to eat. These products work best when your insulin levels are low.

What causes cellulite in the first place?

Although the causes of cellulite are not fully understood yet, the most common causes are:

  • Hormones — Some researchers believe that oestrogen, insulin and thyroid hormones can cause cellulite.
  • Diet — Eating food high in fat, carbohydrates and salt could be a contributing factor. Also, not enough fiber in your diet could cause more cellulite to develop.
  • Lifestyle — Smokers, people who don’t exercise enough and people who site down for long periods of time may have an increased risk of developing excess cellulite.
  • Clothes — Tight underwear or clothing that limits your blood flow could also increase your chances of developing cellulite.

 

Other than coffee beans and caffeine, how else can cellulite be removed?

There’s a lot of information out there about coffee beans and caffeine breaking down fat; but there are other methods to reduce the orange peel effect. Birch oil is a common favourite; fake tan will visually make your cellulite look better; and FitFlops are special shoes designed to tone and shape your legs.

Massaging and scrubbing areas where you have cellulite could also make a huge difference. You could even make your own body lotion and exfoliating cellulite busting products with sugar and ground coffee beans mixed in with a base moisturiser or shower gel.

Coffee beans may prevent depression

Posted on by Sara Walker

Coffee beans

A few years ago, scientists from Harvard Medical School researched the relationship between coffee beans and depression in women. You can read the full report published by the Jama Network here.

From 1996 to 2006 50,739 US women who were free from depressive symptoms at baseline recorded the amount of coffee they consumed on a daily basis through regular questionaires.

The results showed that after 2006 when the experiment ended only 2,600 women showed symptoms of depression at some point during the experiment; however, these women tended to be low coffee drinkers or they didn’t drink any coffee at all.

At the other end of the scale, the women who consumed more coffee beans – between two to three cups of coffee a day – decreased their risk of getting depression by as much as 15%. Participants who had as much as four cups or more of coffee a day decreased their risk of getting depression by as much as 20%.

Although researchers aren’t entirely sure why coffee beans might help to prevent depression, it is thought that caffeine enhances your mood by altering the chemical pathways in your brain.

With no solid evidence, the results, however, could just be a coincidence. Perhaps people who are on the verge of getting depression don’t drink much coffee as it can disturb sleep – one of the side effects of depression.

Some researchers, however, believe the results make sense and tie in with previous research that focused on the relationship between caffeine and suicide. It’s thought that caffeine works by blocking adenosine which according to Professor Bertil Fredholm in a BBC report, works by producing a similar efffect to increasing dopamine production.

So, although the results aren’t set in stone, drinking coffee regularly might decrease your chances of developing depression. It would be interesting to see if coffee beans could also help to make depression more bearable in people who have the illness.

3 delicious iced coffee recipes

Posted on by Sara Walker

Today, I had my first iced coffee of the year – a delicious mix of espresso, milk, ice and sugar. However, as I was drinking I found myself feeling a little frustrated that all the sugar had gone straight to the bottom of the cup, so I had to keep stirring with my straw. Next time I think I’ll just abandon sugar completely and get creative with my iced coffees.

If you’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth, try some of these yummy iced coffee recipes.

1. Nutella Iced Coffee

Ingredients: freshly ground coffee beans, Nutella, vanilla essence, milk or condensed milk, cream, and ice

For the Nutella iced coffee you can either use instant coffee or freshly ground coffee beans depending on your preference. The next step is to make a regular cup of coffee, pour it into a blender, add a tablespoon of Nutella, a few drops of vanilla essence and ice. Blend for a while, chill, squirt cream over the top, drink and enjoy.

2. Amaretto Iced Coffee

Ingredients: freshly ground coffee beans, Amaretto flavoured coffee syrup (follow the link to buy from Wholesale Coffee Company), milk, cream and ice.

Follow the above instructions to make yummy amaretto iced coffee. We also sell other coffee flavoured syrups such as Irish Cream, White Chocolate and Ginger. Get creative and start experimenting.

3. Blackcurrant Tea Iced Coffee

Ingredients: brewed blackcurrant tea, one espresso shot made from freshly ground coffee beans, and honey or agave syrup (if you’ve got a sweet tooth).

Pour all the ingredients into a blend and whizz until smooth. This one might sound a bit strange, but freshly brewed coffee beans often have notes of blackcurrant – the blackcurrant tea, therefore, helps to emphasise the natural flavours. You can serve it as an iced coffee cocktail with fresh blackcurrants on top.

Watch this video from delish.com How to make Iced Coffee