Starbucks' Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee

I know a lot of people who are big into wine, and they can converse on the topic for hours at end. Me, I like wine just fine, but I often have a hard time placing flavors, and due to a bad experience with red wine in Italy, I usually just stick to whites.

There are plenty of other drinks, however, that I can get behind, and coffee just happens to be one of them. I could be a much bigger coffee geek if I had the money and time, but for now I'll settle for knowing what I like.

So when Starbucks invited me to try the Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee that they released this week, I jumped at the chance. JBM is a rare and expensive coffee with a short growing season in a specific part of Jamaica. Starbucks has only offered the beans twice in their history - once in the '70s and once in the '80s. This time around, they are only releasing the beans to stores with Clover brewing machines. And of the 50-something Clovers in US stores, Boston has about 30 of them (!). Starbucks sees Boston as a leading city in coffee culture, and the Clover has become a popular feature in local stores.

OK, onto the coffee itself. I like coffee brewed on the Clover because it's as fresh as you can get at Starbucks - beans are ground fresh for each cup, and the brewing process extracts flavors that can't be achieved through regular paper filter-brewers. And this coffee was, no joke, the smoothest cup of coffee I've ever had. I usually like to doctor up my coffee with Equal and milk, but this didn't need anything to help it along. It was almost sweet all on its own. The bag notes hints of citrus and chocolate, and those flavors were definitely there - citrus first, then more chocolate as it cooled. I tried it paired with lemon pound cake and chocolate brownie, and I thought that the combo of lemon cake and coffee was outstanding.

Jamaica Blue Mountain is available in Starbucks with Clover machines until August or the supply runs out. A grande will set you back about $5, but if you think of it in terms of other fine drinks like wine, it's actually a good bargain. You can also buy beans in-store to brew at home. I can't wait to try cold-brewing at home to see what additional flavors I can taste. (Note: If you've never tried cold-brewing coffee, now is the time. It seriously pulls out flavors that aren't there when coffee is hot, plus it has more caffeine! I use my French press for easy cleanup, but you can follow the directions I posted previously if you don't have one.)

Full Disclosure note: Starbucks provided me with samples of JBM.

Friday I'm in Love... with Cocoa Metro Milk

If you can ever find a time to wander around a place like Russo's when it isn't busy (is Russo's ever not busy?!), you'll be rewarded with little gems of products sitting on the shelves. Ann and I took a trip to Russo's last weekend, and the sleek packaging of Cocoa Metro stood out against the other milk options - crisp white lettering on a glass bottle, filled with silky-looking, deep brown chocolate milk.

Surprisingly, when I got home, there was an email in my inbox from the founder of Cocoa Metro, telling me about the product. I told him I already loved the packaging and their tagline (Carpe Cocoa - what, you think I like Latin or something?), and he offered to bring a bottle over for me to try.

I broke the milk out the next morning and gave it a small sip. It's thick and velvety and just sweet enough to balance out the dark chocolate. I'm usually a skim milk girl, so this 2% mix is a little thick for my taste, but it is utterly heavenly. It actually tastes like chocolate, not some weird amalgam of chemicals, with a touch of vanilla to balance it out. Plus, Cocoa Metro uses Callebaut chocolate, some of the best stuff around.

Back to that 2% thing. I knew I could easily have balanced it out with a measure of skim milk to water it down, but I had other things in mind. I poured some milk into a coffee mug, about halfway, then microwaved it until hot. I used my cheapo milk frother to whip it up, but if you don't have one, you can just use a small whisk stuck into the mug and twirled between the palms of your hands. Topped off with regular drip coffee, the Cocoa Metro made a better mocha than what you can get at a coffee shop. And for slightly more than the cost of one mocha at Starbucks, you can get a whole bottle of Cocoa Metro to make mochas at home for a week.

Cocoa Metro is only available in the Boston area: Bread & Chocolate in Newton, Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, Russo's in Watertown, and a number of Whole Foods.

Eat Drink and Be Fair Cook-Off

Last night was part two of Green Mountain Coffee's celebration of Fair Trade Month with their Eat Drink and Be Fair event. Instead of a sit down dinner like last week, this was billed as a "Top Chef Masters"-style cook off between some amazing chefs. Besides one dish from each competitor, there were also a range of appetizers focused on Fair Trade and local ingredients. And since Green Mountain was the host, there were a lot of other great companies from Vermont showing off their wares - Cabot Creamery, Long Trail Brewery, Ben & Jerry's - it was like going back to Vermont for an evening. My favorite appetizer was simple, and it's something that I think I'll be making at home - local apples and brie in puff pastry bites.

Since I've been telling people about these events, I've had questions about what Fair Trade is. Prior to these dinners, I had the vaguest sense of a definition, but I have a much firmer grasp on the term now. Basically, Fair Trade provides a fair price to farmers for their harvest. Prices can fluctuate wildly, so this makes sure they get a minimum price for their goods. It also creates networks for farmers, meaning they can work together to strengthen their communities (through schools, roads, etc). Fair Trade also allows companies like Green Mountain to get products out of difficult-to-reach regions and cutting out the middleman. Fair Trade can apply to a huge variety of products, including coffee, chocolate, vanilla, fruits like bananas, and even products like cotton. You can learn more about Fair Trade here.

As part of the event, Green Mountain flew some of the coffee producers from Guatamala up to New England to tour the facilities in Vermont and to join us at this dinner. Domingo, the president of their farmers association, spoke for a bit through a translator. One of the farmers had a video camera glued to his hand all night, taking in every bit of the event, and he had the biggest smile on his face the whole time.

OK, onto the food. I've been thinking about this sea urchin cappuccino from Chef Richard Garcia of Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro since I had it last week. This week's iteration was a little different, but probably because they were making a much bigger batch. The coffee, used in place of broth, was a stronger component. I like the idea of using coffee in this way, and it works especially well with the creamy and slightly sweet parsnips. During the Top Chef portion of the evening, Chef Garcia showed off by opening a bunch of sea urchins at such a fast pace that I couldn't even get a photo of him in action. This dish was also the most unique, I think, because it varied from the others, which were all protein over puree, and used the Fair Trade ingredients (coffee and vanilla) in the most unusual way.

Next up was a bacon and coffee crusted pork tenderloin with sweet potato puree, presented by Chef Jay Silva of Bambara. My friend thought the coffee in the crust (the black ring in the photo above) was too strong, but I really liked it. The pork was perfectly tender, thanks to the bacon, and the sweet potato was a fitting pairing, making the whole dish taste like fall.


Then we headed for the tea-smoked beef sirloin with banana squash puree and a coffee and sunchoke gravy, presented by Chef Will Gilson of Garden at the Cellar. This was probably my least favorite of the dishes, but only because the piece of meat I got was pretty grisly and hard to chew. The flavors were all really good, though, and I loved the use of cacao nibs as garnish. I still haven't been to Garden at the Cellar, and now I'm looking forward to it even more (if only because I want to see what Chef Gilson can do with a dish that I can actually chew). ;)

The last dish was coffee-marinated duck breast with parsnip puree, pickled pumpkin, gala apple, and an espresso-vanilla chimichurri, presented by Chef Peter McCarthy of EVOO and Za. This was pronounced the winner by the judges, and for good reason. The duck was cooked very well (appparently I like duck now, because this is the second time I've had it in a week and I loved both dishes), but the best part was the pickled pumpkin. I don't know how it's done, but it's something I want to make at home now!

After dinner, I grabbed a cup of coffee (Rainforest nut, which I haven't had for ages, and I loved it all over again) and enjoyed the balmy weather by sitting in the courtyard (can you believe it was snowing just a few days ago?!).

Oh, and did I mention Ben & Jerry's was there? They have a variety of Fair Trade flavors, but my favorite was the Chocolate Macadamia (Fair Trade vanilla and chocolate ice cream with fudge-covered sustainable-sourced macadamia nuts). Soooo good!

Fair Trade Dinner at Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro

Hi, have we met? If we had, you'd know I love my coffee. I blame my aunt for taking me on summer walks to get iced coffee when I was a kid and my father for brewing multiple pots every morning. My friend Melody calls me a "champion" coffee drinker because I can slug down a cup like it's going out of style. So when Green Mountain Coffee (which I just visited in Vermont) got in touch with me about a series of Fair Trade events in Boston, I just had to find out more.

October is Fair Trade Month, and Green Mountain is calling attention to it through a new website, Eat, Drink, and Be Fair, and by hosting events in Boston, which will be declared a Fair Trade city in 2010. They have challenged a few local chefs to a Top Chef Masters-type event to cook with Fair Trade ingredients, which I'll write about next week.

I got the chance to attend something of a test run for one of the competitors, Chef Richard Garcia of Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro in Foxboro. Chef Garcia uses local or Fair Trade ingredients as much as possible in the restaurant, so he seems like a perfect choice to create a Fair Trade dinner. In fact, he took the coffee theme all the way and included coffee in each of the courses, and not in typical ways like crusting a steak in coffee. The dishes were interesting and adventurous and absolutely delicious.

To be honest, when I sat down and saw our menu for the evening, I was not excited. There was nothing (not one thing) that I would ever order. But I figured I could at least enjoy the wine and coffee and then find something to eat when I got home. But then something miraculous happened - I loved almost every single thing presented to me. If the regular menu at Tastings is anything like this, I wouldn't hesitate to go back.

We started with a sea urchin cappuccino, served in the sea urchin shell. In reality, it was a creamy parsnip soup, blended with local sea urchin and coffee used instead of stock, and topped with a vanilla froth. The sea urchin lent a bit of umami to the puree, and the sweetness and creaminess of the parsnip combined with the coffee was definitely reminiscent of a cappuccino. I would have licked the bowl clean if it hadn't have been for the sharp spikes.

Next up was coffee cured Hamachi, topped with a grapefruit vanilla citrette, heirloom red peppers, Marcona almonds, and fennel fronds. The fish was sweet and tender, and the almonds on top served as a crunchy foil to the rest of the dish.

The main entree was duck two ways, highlighting a delicious heirloom breed of duck. Lola ducks are deep red in color and taste more like pork or beef (at least to me) than duck. Chef Garcia describes them here on his blog. The coffee-smoked duck breast was like a nice steak - juicy and meaty and satisfying. The real star of the dish, though, was the confit leg with French roast duck jus. It was so tender and perfectly salty - it reminded me a bit of corned beef or pot roast.

Dessert was the weakest part of the meal, but it still had its strong points. The highlight was coffee- and cardamom-infused dates. Cardamom is often added to coffee in the Middle East (in the Boston area, I know Karoun in Newton serves their coffee this way), and the dates were a great vehicle for these flavors. I could have eaten a whole plate of just the dates. They were served with a coffee gel which was perhaps a little too solid - I was hoping for something more like Durgin Park's coffee jello. But did I mention those dates?

During the meal, we were accompanied by Sandy Yusen, director of PR for Green Mountain Coffee. We spent the whole evening discussing fair trade and local foods (and, well, food in general). After dinner, Sandy walked us through a cupping, or tasting, of two different types of Green Mountain Fair Trade coffee. I enjoyed tasting the Kenyan and the Sumatran side-by-side because I got a much better sense of how they compared to each other. Sandy explained that coffee has about twice the flavor compounds of wine, so using wine tasting techniques can help with identifying flavors. The Kenyan was bright and acidic and earthy, and Sandy compared it to a sourdough bread, while the Sumatran was more full-bodied with a warm and round flavor, more like a Russian rye bread. I'm so used to doctoring up my coffee that actually tasting the profile of the coffee was a nice change - I might have to do cuppings more often!

I'll write more about Fair Trade next week after the Eat, Drink, and Be Fair event. To learn more about Fair Trade, visit the Eat, Drink, and Be Fair website and take the pledge.

Carry That Buzz With You

I don't like jello at all. In fact, I hate it. I find the smell and the texture absolutely abhorrent. Which is why I'm mystified over how I could enjoy coffee jello so much.

Last fall, when Lily of Calamity Shazaam in the Kitchen and I embarked on our Ye Olde Boston Food Toure, we started our evening at Durgin Park and ordered, amongst other things, their coffee jello. We picked it because it was cheap (only a couple of bucks) and it sounded so odd. And we named it "astronaut coffee" because it was like a strong cup of coffee in solid form. I couldn't stop eating it, totally grossing myself out, and the coffee jello was definitely the stand out of the trip.

Fast forward months to what should now be the summer - ice coffee weather (although some would argue that it's always ice coffee weather in Boston...). And yet, we've only had 3 days of mostly sunny weather (the best we've gotten) all month. In an attempt to make it feel a little more summery, I finally gave making my own coffee jello a try.

And lo and behold, I'm horrifying myself again by loving this! Luckily, the coffee flavor and smell are so strong, the gelatin isn't overpowering. If I had a desk job now like I used to, I'm pretty sure I would bring along a little tupperware of this stuff as a quick pick-me-up during the day.

Coffee Jello
4 cups coffee (this is a great way to use up leftover coffee)
2 packets unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup sugar

Bring coffee to a boil in a small pot. Whisk in the gelatin and sugar and cook until they are dissolved. Pour into a shallow pan (I used a Pyrex lasagna pan) and refrigerate until firm. Serve with whipped cream for the full coffee experience.

Cold Brewed Iced Coffee

Ah, coffee. How I've missed you.

I've left my job, meaning I am no longer close to a Bruegger's, and thus cannot get 18 cups of coffee a day with my magic mug (don't worry, I'm close to it having paid for itself, though, and I'll make that up through less frequent visits). And while my roommate has a one-cup coffee maker, I don't like it - it's loud and spits everywhere and I'd rather just leave it alone. Thank god for cold-brewed coffee.

The New York Times ran this recipe last summer, but I've just discovered it. The amazing part is that the coffee tastes much smoother and creamier with this brewing method, and there's less acid, which my stomach is quite happy about. And while I normally add milk and Equal to my cup, I didn't feel the need to add anything to this. Another plus? There's more caffeine (apparently the hot water destroys some of the caffeine in a normal hot-brew), so this coffee is that much more potent.

Cold-Brewed Ice Coffee
1/3 cup ground coffee
1 1/2 cups water

In a 2-cup measuring cup (for easy pouring later), stir together coffee and water. Cover well with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 12 hours or overnight.

Strain coffee once through a fine mesh sieve to remove grounds, then strain a second time through a paper coffee filter to remove any other sediment. In a tall glass filled with ice, mix a 1:1 ratio of coffee and water (or to taste - I used less water). Add milk and sugar to taste.

Half Way There!

It's been less than 3 months, and my Bruegger's mug is half way* to paying for itself. I'm actually surprise at the stats: 34 coffees, 11 teas, 6 lemonades, and only one diet Coke! I suppose, though, that I've been out (sick, on vacation, or at my internship) quite a bit, and that's all cut into my coffee consumption - plus, there's no Bruegger's near my apartment, so it's a weekday-only thing for me. And apparently I've been better at my resolve not to drink as much soda than I thought I had been!

I'm still not a fan of the physical mug, though. It's much too narrow, so you get less coffee per serving (forget about anything with ice - then it's only a few sips) and it's a bitch to clean. Does anyone have the drink card instead of the mug?

*If you include the free dozen bagels per month, I'm actually at 68%, but I didn't buy the mug for that, so I'm not including it in my totals.

A New Year of Coffee

I've talked about my magic mug from Bruegger's before. For one flat fee, you get all the coffee, tea, and soda you can drink for a year. I must say, my 2007 mug paid for itself in no time. Oh, and the coffee is Green Mountain... good stuff!

This year, included in the $119 price, you also get a dozen bagels every month. I figured that there are at least 4 of us in my office with mugs... that means bagels every Friday for all of 2008!

So if you live or work near a Bruegger's, be sure to buy your mug soon. They sell out quickly, and they're well worth the large upfront price.

Athan's, Washington Square

Sunday morning, it was drizzling out, and I had the apartment to myself. I spent the morning reading (all of Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? by Allyson Beatrice, then starting Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, an anthology of food writing about eating alone) before succumbing to hunger. A quick prowl of the shelves proved that there was nothing bordering on edible in the house. Right then and there, the day planned itself out for me: find something to eat and go grocery shopping.

My first thought was Athan's in Washington Square. The day before, I bought some florentine cookies, which are pictured below, for a party. While I was in there trying to decide, I noticed too many tempting items.


When I walked in, the small front room, filled with display cases and the register, was busy. I really wanted a pastry (the apricot and almond struedel looked especially enticing), but I knew I needed something a little more meal-like. The cafe has a small sandwich menu... I was all ready for the roasted veggie wrap when I spotted two of the sweetest words not in the English language - brie panino.

I ordered and took a seat at the bar in the crowded dining room. It took a while for the sandwich to be delivered, but I forgot all about it when I took the first bite. The cheese was gooey, almost liquid, against an extra-crispy ciabatta bread. The pungent sweetness of the brie was offset by ripe tomatoes and zesty basil, a nice play on the more typical tomato-mozzarella-basil sandwich.


Another sweet surprise came on the drink menu - Nescafe frappe. The owners of Athan's are Greek, which is shown primarily through the large display of various baklava and galaktoboureko, but also through offering Nescafe frappe. This drink, made from instant coffee and milk, is available everywhere in Greece. It does not contain ice cream, like a Boston frappe, and is pronouced frap-PAY. It's the lovechild of iced coffee and a frothy latte, sweet but with a little bitter bite and much tastier than anything you'll find at Starbucks. I know I'll be back, if for no other reason than to order a frappe again.

Thus filled with cheese and coffee (and bolstered by some more reading time), I headed out for a 3-market grocery tour of Allston-Brighton and Brookline. I am now better prepared for the next time I'm home alone and starved.






The florentine cookies, also from Athan's, were a replacement for cherry tarts that failed. I needed something to bring to a party, and these looked delicious. (Of course, I also bought some for myself). They are, from top to bottom: almond, sesame, and pistachio. These are not typical lacy florentines, but more like little caramelized nut clusters. The almond, the most traditional, was tastiest; the sliced almonds were rich, and there was a good ratio of nut to candy. The sesame was also good, but it reminded me of sesame candy that is available at middle eastern markets in the bulk bins. (I'm not knocking the stuff, I grew up on it!) The pistachio was not very good, but this may just be because the typical bitter tones of the pistachio didn't match up well with the toffee like coating.

Free coffee all summer?!

In the past few months here in Boston, there have been lots of opportunities for free goodies -- first there was free iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts (you know I hit that up about 5 times that day), free ice cream at Ben & Jerry's, and free ice cream (on Fenway opening day, nonetheless) at JP Licks. Now JP Licks has done it again, with free iced coffee, not just today, but every day this summer that the temp goes over 81 degrees! All you need to do is flash a little card that they'll give you today and voila, free coffee.

And the coffee is really good... they roast it themselves in their JP branch. I've never had their coffee before because, well hey, they're an ice cream store. But I'm a fan now. It's less watery than Dunkin's, and has a richer flavor than what I get from Bruegger's (Bruegger's will still be my regular coffee supplier, though, since I've invested in my amazing $120 mug).

JP Licks is also my favorite ice cream purveyor near my office. If there were a Brigham's nearby, it would be in second place, but alas... This is a big change for me. When I was in college and JP Licks took over Denise's in Davis Square, we were all devestated. I think I boycotted for a while... I wasn't crazy about their ice cream (different textures take time to get used to) and their prices were higher too. But over time, I've grown to enjoy their wild flavors (Hibiscus Lemon Sorbet, Fresh Banana Peanut Butter Ripple ice cream) and local pride (Cherry Garciaparra Ortiz). Today I had soft red raspberry yogurt to go along with my coffee -- it was luscious and creamy; I don't often order soft yogurt, but this was a winner.

Edit 7/2/07: Apparently the little card they give you is only good once. It was never handed back to me after I got my free cup the other day...