Category: Blog

Savoury coffee recipes

Posted on by Sara Walker

Savoury coffee recipes

It’s common knowledge that chocolate and coffee are perfect cooking partners, teaming up to great effect in sweet recipes such as our Chocolate Espresso Brownies. What you may not know, though, is that coffee also goes extremely well with beef in savoury recipes. If you use wholesale coffee, why not use up any leftovers with one of these easy ideas?

Rump steak with coffee marinade

Ingredients
3 tablespoons strong coffee
1 tablespoon Demerara sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 piece rump steak per person

Mix all the marinade ingredients together thoroughly. Place the steaks in a flat dish, and pour the marinade over, working it well into the steaks. Cover the dish, and leave in the fridge for six hours or overnight. Cook the steaks under a hot grill, or on the barbecue.

Fillet steak with coffee and peppercorn crust

Ingredients

1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon coffee beans
Pinch of salt
Olive oil
1 fillet steak per person

Crush and peppercorns and coffee beans together with a pestle and mortar, until they’re
about the consistency of coarse grains of sand. Tip the mixture out onto a plate, and mix in
the salt.

Brush each steak with oil, and press it firmly into the coffee mixture until firmly coated on
both sides. Pan-fry the steaks until cooked to your liking – you may have to add a little extra
oil to the pan to stop the crust from sticking.

Beef casseroles and stews

For a rich, tender beef casserole, pan-fry the beef and a chopped onion until browned. Add
two tablespoons of flour, and stir until the mixture is evenly coated, then add equal quantities of stock, coffee and red wine. Simmer for four – five hours until tender. The coffee adds an extra depth of flavour, and a deep, intense colour to the dish.

The story of decaffination

Posted on by Sara Walker

Decaffeinated coffee now accounts for around 10% of worldwide coffee sales. If you
drink coffee on a regular basis, you may sometimes choose decaffeinated coffee
over standard – but have you ever wondered just how the process works?

Coffee is a natural product, and it contains many substances which all contribute to
the complex flavour and aroma. Caffeine is just one ingredient among many, and the
problem faced by manufacturers is to remove it without compromising all the other
substances and thus affecting the flavour. There are several possible methods, all of
which treat the green coffee beans prior to roasting.

The first commercially successful method was invented in 1903, and involved
steaming the coffee beans then washing the caffeine out with a solvent. A method
still in use today by small local producers is Swiss Water Processing, which involves
soaking the beans in hot water. Once the caffeine has dissolved into the solution,
the beans are thrown away, and the solution is filtered through carbon to remove the
caffeine.

The decaffeinated solution is then used to soak a new batch of green coffee beans.
As the solution already holds the maximum amount of other coffee compounds from
the original beans, but contains no caffeine, only the caffeine from the new batch
filters out. The process is repeated several times using the original solution, which is
continually filtered to remove the caffeine, until the maximum amount of caffeine has
been extracted from the new beans, which are then dried and roasted as usual.

EU standards dictate that coffee sold as ‘decaffeinated’ must be at least 99.9%
caffeine free by mass, so sometimes the beans have to go through the process
ten or twelve times, making decaffeinated coffee expensive to produce. However,
there’s good news for decaff lovers – scientists have discovered a coffee bean that’s
naturally low in caffeine, which could have a big impact on the decaffeinated coffee
industry, making your daily decaff as full of flavour as regular coffee.

Would you wear a top made from coffee beans?

Posted on by Sara Walker

Coffee bean clothing might sound like something from an Alexander McQueen collection, but apparel made from coffee beans doesn’t necessarily have to mean high fashion.

Fabric manufacturers, Singtex, based in Taiwan, were the first company to make clothes out of ground coffee. Instead of the waste coffee grounds being dumped in a landfill, Singtex, saw an opportunity to make environmentally friendly fabric from them.

The finished material is surprisingly soft, breathable and airy, making it ideal for outdoor activities, sports and yoga. However, the benefits don’t just end there – clothes made from coffee beans also absorb horrible smells, protect you against harmful UV rays, and they don’t need to be washed as often as regular clothing. This would obviously depend on your work out style!

As a result, Singtex fabrics have been snapped up by many global sportswear brands such as North Face, Nike and Adidas – in 2011, the company had as many as 70 brands buying its products and since 2009 when the fabric was launched, the company has won international recognition for its eco products; however, it doesn’t end with coffee – there are others.

Singtex and the manufacturing company, Petagonia, also make sportswear from discarded plastic bottles and even stinging nettles. Apparently, nettles were used to make fabric for thousands of years before cotton took over in the 15th century.

However, a few years ago when the cotton industry started to get a bad reputation due to some companies trying to genetically engineer cotton plants and exploit cotton farmers in India and reports of child labour, it seems clothing manufacturers started to look for alternatives.

Due to the massive success of coffee based fabrics, in the future, Singtex plans to create other functional environmentally friendly products out of coffee beans such as shoes and even soap.

The Coffee Pot Shoe

Posted on by Sara Walker

Do you remember the nursery rhyme, ‘There was an old woman who lived in a shoe?’

It might be a far-fetched connection, but that’s exactly what sprung to mind after the discovery of the footwear designer, Kobi Levi. Some of his designs almost look as if tiny people could inhabit the shoes or use them as functional everyday objects. For example, the shoes that resemble miniature red shopping baskets or the high heels sculpted to look like ladders.

Other designs include shoes that look like ducks with the heels sculpted to look like yellow beaks, rocking chair shoes and even pink chewing gum shoes – we’re not so sure about wearing these ones though.

Our favourites out of the Kobi Levi collection are the coffee pot shoes that really do look like coffee pots filled with deliciously brewed coffee beans with the heels of the shoes resembling hot black coffee being poured. So, if you like the idea of wearing coffee pots on your feet, you’ve got two designs to choose from – the sophisticated black coffee pot or the classic white coffee pot resembling fine china.

As a wholesale coffee company we’d love to see a whole collection of shoes dedicated to coffee beans with the shoes perhaps boxed in shoe boxes made to look like miniature coffee machines…the possibilities are endless. The way things are going with companies such as Singtex, designing sportswear out of coffee beans, perhaps we’ll start to see some more functional shoes actually made with coffee beans.

About Kobi Levi

Kobi Levi’s footwear design career began in childhood when he would craft shoes out of cardboard. After completing his degree, Levi went onto become a freelance shoe designer of weird and wonderful shoes. He gained worldwide recognition for his interesting creations through his blog ‘Blog Kobi’ which attracted the attention of Lady Gaga who used one of Kobi’s shoes in her music video ‘Born this Way’.

Cooking savoury dishes with coffee

Posted on by Sara Walker

If you’re a coffee lover and you like your food, why not try cooking with coffee beans – savoury dishes that is.

You’re probably familiar with all the yummy desserts coffee can be added to – coffee and banana cake, chocolate brownies, and coffee based tiramisu, but what about coffee and meat or coffee and black bean soup?

At first it doesn’t sound that appetizing but adding coffee to your cooking could give your food a warm winter kick. Still not convinced? Don’t just take our word for it – try some of these recipes and make your own mind up.

Black Coffee Bean Soup

Ingredients:

Olive oil, one pound of black beans, one large onion, one pepper, two pieces of celery, one jalapeno pepper, two-three cloves of garlic, one tablespoon of cumin, water, two cups of freshly brewed coffee, one bay leaf, a pinch of salt, a good helping of cream and rocket for a garnish.

Make the dish:

Let the black beans soak overnight, then boil for a few minutes and drain. Heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic and the rest of the vegetables until they’re cooked. Add the cumin, black beans and brewed coffee beans to the mix and boil gently. Cover the food and simmer for another 30 minutes and blend once cooked. The soup can be served with some yoghurt or stirred in cream and rocket.
Delicous.

Beef and Coffee Bean Winter Stew

Ingredients:

Olive oil, one and a half pounds of beef, one large onion, two garlic cloves, two peppers, flour, a good splash of white wine, five tablespoons of freshly brewed coffee, salt, fresh thyme and few bay leaves.

Make the dish:

Start by heating the oil, and then add the beef until brown. Now take the meat out of the pan and cook the onion, garlic and peppers. After a few minutes add the flour, white wine and freshly brewed coffee beans and continue to stir. Now put the beef back into the pan, add some salt, pepper, fresh thyme and bay leaves and simmer until cooked. Serve with dumplings and green beans for a hearty English winter meal.

Coffee Wakes You Up

Posted on by Sara Walker

You didn’t get much sleep last night and now you’re driving home from a meeting. You have another two hours to go, so you pull up to a nearby service station and head straight to one of the coffee machines to wake yourself up. Sound familiar?

According to the book, Counting Sheep by Paul Martin, sleep deprivation is the main cause of road accidents in the UK today. It’s not surprising – as a society, we have a tendency to sleep much less than we should. In some respects, the ‘work hard, lose out on sleep’ mentality is even applauded.

Coffee beans may help you to stay alert for short bursts when you’re driving long distances, but what if there was something else to help you on those long monotonous journeys?

Of course, regular sleep would be a good start, but in the meantime, there’s coffee and… blue lights attached to the inside of your car. It might sound peculiar or even off putting, but having a blue light in your car whilst you’re driving long distances could stop you from dozing off.

A group of French and Swedish scientists recently conducted a study to test the effects of blue lighting whilst driving. The 48 participants involved in the study were either exposed to a blue LED light, given caffeine, or a placebo.

The results show that drivers who were exposed to a blue light were as alert as the drivers who were given caffeine. Blue lighting works by triggering the brain into thinking that it’s daytime, stimulating the parts of the brain responsible for alertness. Blue light after all is the last colour to appear in the morning and the first to disappear at night.

Despite the positive results, some drivers were put off by the blue light; however, it could just be something to get used to. The findings clearly show that blue lighting is definitely worth further research and development.

Coffee Bean Creativity

Posted on by Sara Walker

Things To Do With Coffee Beans

You probably love drinking them, maybe even roasting them but have you ever made art with them?

From detailed paintings of landscapes in different shades of brown to stencilled coffee cup lattes, coffee beans are a versatile medium.

This year, two artists stood out – Hong Yi for her interesting coffee cup ring paintings and Arkadi Kim for breaking the world record for the longest coffee bean mosaic.

Japanese based artist, Hong Yi created a painting of the singer Jay Chou using the bottom of her coffee cup. It seems that Yi embraced the coffee ring stain that most of us hate. Her technique involved dipping the bottom of her cup in coffee and then creating hundreds of rings on her canvas to create intricate works of art.

Also this year, Russian artist Arkadi Kim, broke the world record for the largest coffee bean mosaic which was created and displayed in Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure in Moscow for one month over the summer.

The mural, which was appropriately titled ‘Awakening’ took approximately one million coffee beans to make and measured almost 30 square metres. The different colours were created by roasting the coffee beans for different amounts of time – now that’s an example of painstaking dedication!

Impressively, the large scale coffee bean masterpiece took Kim and his team of five assistants only two weeks to complete and involved gluing different shades of coffee beans, one at a time onto a large board.

The finished result was a girl’s face with a cup of coffee and lots of swirly lines resembling the wonderful aroma of coffee – although, we think the girl could have looked a bit more cheerful.

To complete the exhibition, a temporary coffee shop equipped with good quality coffee machines and some comfy seats was set up in the park so visitors could get the full coffee bean experience.

Interesting Uses For Coffee

Posted on by Sara Walker

If you are looking to use the coffee for other pleasures than drinking (although that new fancy
coffee machine of yours, or those luxury coffee beans you just bought are calling your name
and beckoning you to make a cup as you read this, we are sure!) you can try the following.

Soil

Coffee makes for great soil, so if you live in the countryside, or have a compost in the city, make
sure to throw used coffee granules in there. Plants that thrive in acidic environments, such as
blueberries, are particularly fond of soil made from coffee.

Cellulite Killer

Most big brands have caffeine in their cellulite cream, so instead of spending the big bucks
on those creams a long known remedy is to mix coffee with a little bit of olive, or coconut oil
and rub it in, in circular motions. Then you just rinse it off with warm water. Works great as an
exfoliant as well.

Get Rid Of Odour

If you have been peeling an onion, or chopping up some garlic your hands may smell for days.
To get rid of the unpleasant smell you can rub your hands in some used coffee grounds. You
can also put a bowl of fresh unused coffee grounds in the fridge to get rid of any unfresh odour
in there. Or just simply because you like the smell!

Repel Ants & Cats

If you have a nice lovely garden that has been getting visits from ants and cats, that may have
decided to move into your house as well, you can potentially repel them by sprinkling dry, used
coffee grounds in problem areas. If there’s soil around the problem area, you can pour a whole
pot of brewed coffee on the soil.

Vase Fillers

Coffee beans can be used as a decorative item by filling vases with them, as you would sand,
or any other vase filler. Then you can insert candles, or whatever other decorative items. Bear
in mind you don’t want a candle to burn right down to the coffee beans! You can make pencil
holders as well by filling old jars with coffee beans that you then stick your pencils in. Great for
leaving your house smelling lovely too!

We hope this gave you some inspiration!

Coffee Art

Posted on by Sara Walker

Coffee is one of the world’s most popular drinks so not surprisingly it has inspired artists to create some stunning and/or interesting artwork. And we feel sure the day Damien Hirst decides to make coffee into art (like perhaps framing a few beans dotted about in the shape of coffee molecules…) we will see an unprecedented rise in the price of coffee beans. We are still waiting.

Coffee art is an interesting topic for anyone who owns a coffee shop, loves coffee, or sells coffee in any way, shape, or form, as it can compliment your existing stock, or add some colour to the walls of your coffee shop, or home.

We found coffee jewellery from Shay Aaron, an Israeli artist based out of Tel Aviv, below you can see coffee bean earrings and coffee cup cufflinks. He has many more though, if you visit his site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/shayaaron

Coffee bean cuff links Black Coffee Cuff links

Of course you can also turn your latte into art – perfect way to impress your guests. In fact a café can probably make quite a name just for the sake of the art that goes into the cup! The world’s Latte Art Championship will take place in Nice, 26-28th of June 2013.

Bear Latte Art

You can actually make art using your beans as well. The below painting, painted by Karen Eland was made using only coffee and water!

Coffee Ballet

There have also been sculptures made around coffee and one is the Yuanyang II by Tsang Cheung Shing from Hong Kong. It was made for a pottery exhibition of YingYeung, which is a drink made of coffee and tea combined. The artwork then went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

The Coffee Kiss

Another sculpture focused around coffee is Coffee Man by Ruth Jensen. Coffee is such a world-wide phenomena that probably anyone from a big city can recognise themselves, or fellow city dwellers in the man’s pose. Who does not stop to have a coffee ever so often, or run past someone else who is?

The Coffee Wire Sculpture

Arkadi Kim has made the world’s largest coffee bean mosaic. It measures 30 square meters and weighs 180 kilos! It took two weeks to piece together with the help of his team. They had to roast the beans themselves to get the different colour nuances. The mosaic is called The Awakening and portrays a girl smelling the aroma of coffee. We figure that maybe the artist needed quite a lot of coffee to stay awake whilst making this piece!

Bean ArtBean Art

Christmas Cheer

Posted on by Sara Walker

We all know that come December 20th every shop and online retailer will go through what can
only be described as chaos, so why don’t you organise your presents now (or at least make a
list of what to get) so that you get a chance to sit back and enjoy the festive season? After all, a
nice relaxing cup of coffee after a day of ice skating is much preferred to a cup of coffee drunk
in haste in the early morning so as to be able to cope with the Christmas shopping!

If you love coffee, or rather: know someone who loves coffee, we have thought of some
Christmas gifts for you.

There is the obvious you can buy, such as a coffee, or espresso machine, some nice varieties
of coffee beans, or fancy coffee cups. You can also get a bit more creative and make your own
coffee inspired gifts.

Coffee Scrub

Coffee has for a long time been used by the health industry in scrubs and this recipe is the
favourite amongst the ones we found as it incorporates a little bit of Christmas in its scent. It
comes from the Seven Clowns Circus blog.

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1 cup ground coffee (any that you like)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Mix all the ingredients and then put them in nice little jars that you adorn with Christmas style
ribbons and gift tags. You can even put the recipe on there so they know how to make their
own! It should be applied to wet skin in circular motions, to increase blood flow and will work as
an exfoliant. Rinse once done.

Coffee Caramels

For those of you looking for something that suits someone with a sweet tooth, these caramels
are the perfect find! You get about four dozen small caramels from this recipe and you can

either put them into nice little jars, or in an old fashioned candy cone, made from any kind of
paper you have at home.

Ingredients

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1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup (you could try using something more natural such as maple
syrup, but we haven’t tried it yet and don’t know how the consistency, or boiling point
would be affected. If you try, let us know!)
1/4 cup honey
1.5 cups half and half (it needs to have fat in it, so no fat free replacements here!)
2 tbsp instant coffee. You can add a touch more coffee if you prefer a stronger taste
1/4 cup (2 oz) butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract, or real vanilla beans straight from the pod

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1. Take an 8×8 and line it with aluminum foil, then spray the foil heavily with nonstick cooking
spray, or brush it with oil
2. Place all the ingredients but the vanilla in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir
continuously until the sugars dissolve in the melted butter. Insert a candy thermometer.
3. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the thermometer reaches 120 degrees Celsius (if
you do not have a thermometer there is an old trick – have a bowl of cold water nearby. Take
a teaspoon of the mixture and pour it into the cold water. If you can form a ball from the drop
of batter in the water, then the mixture is ready. This may lead to a slightly creamier/chewier
texture than a caramel though)
4. When it reaches 120 degrees remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Then pour the
mixture into the previously foil lined pan. Allow it to set until it is cool and firm, which takes
approximately 3 hours in room temperature.
5. Take out the foil with the caramel in it, flip it upside down on a non-stick surface (granite, or
similar) and peel off the foil. Cut your caramel into desired chunks using a knife that you have
brushed with oil, or sprayed with a non-stick spray.
6. As a finishing touch you can dip the caramels in melted dark chocolate, or wrap them as is in
waxed paper, as they will stick together otherwise. If you store them in an airtight container they
should last about 2 weeks in room temperature.

If you are feeling adventurous you can always try adding different spices, such as a tad of
cinnamon, or cardamom, which normally blend well with coffee.