5 Ways Coffee Will Help You Beat This Heatwave

We're in the middle of what will likely be the hottest week of the year here in Eugene. With the temperature topping 100 degrees, hot coffee doesn't have quite the same appeal, at least in the afternoons. So what to do when you really need that pick-me-up but can't handle the heat? We've collected five refreshing coffee treats to cool you down. 

1. Cold Brew

Cold brew is incredibly easy and doesn't take any extra equipment to make. These simple instructions yield rich, smooth coffee that's great on it's own, or with add-ins like cream, vanilla, cinnamon or almond extract!

2. Sparkling Iced Coffee

Adding some bubbles to your cold brew or iced coffee makes it extra refreshing! We've been making this with our Summer Blend and it's delicious. 

3. Coffee Smoothie

Who says smoothies are just for fruit? 

4. Coffee Ice Pops

A simple way to turn some leftover coffee into a treat!

5. Coffee Crunch Ice Cream

No churning necessary, it doesn't get much easier than 4-ingredient ice cream!

What are your favorite ways to cool down with coffee on these hot days? Leave a comment below!

Summer Blend 2015 Is Here

Announcing our limited edition 2015 Summer Blend! This is an organic blend comprised of beans from Ethiopia, and the Dominican Republic.  

Description:

A light-bodied blend with notes of honey, citrus, and a hint of raspberry.

Available Medium Roast only. Get this exclusive blend while you can! 2015's Summer Blend is only available through September 23^rd. 

Shop Summer Blend.

Questions or comments about this blend? Leave a comment below!

Coffee Chocolate Truffle Recipe

Who doesn't love coffee and chocolate? This truffle recipe is makes for an easy and beautiful last-minute Valentine's treat to share with your loved ones!

Chocolate Coffee Truffles

Makes about 4 dozen truffles (I made these for a crowd, but you can easily half the recipe)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 20 oz dark chocolate chips (I used two bags of Ghiradelli 60%) 
• 2oz your favorite Voyage Coffee (I used our Sumatra), coarsely ground, (like for drip or French press)

Optional: (for rolling)

• Hazelnuts
• Cocoa Powder
• Cinnamon
• Raw Sugar
• Sea Salt
• Nonpareils

Directions:

To start, we need to infuse the cream with coffee flavor. Regular brewed coffee or espresso would have too much water and mess up the texture of the ganache. (That's a fancy word for the chocolaty stuff truffles are made out of.) Typically recipes have you use instant espresso powder, but we wanted to use fresh, high quality coffee instead. 

Mix the cream and coffee grounds in a double boiler. (If you don't have a double boiler, you can use a heat-safe bowl over a small pot of water like I did. Instructions here.) 

Heat on med-high for about 15 min, until the cream is hot but not boiling and has turned pale brown and tastes like coffee. Using a fine strainer (the metal filter from our drip coffee machine worked nicely), strain out the coffee grounds and return the cream to the double-boiler. 

Reduce the heat to low and add the chocolate chips. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted and combined with the cream. (Tradition says that chocolate will seize up if you're in a bad mood, so think happy thoughts! That shouldn't be too hard to do, just imagine how good these are going to taste.) 

Remove from heat and allow the ganache cool to room temperature.

Tip: You can use your coffee-infused ganache for lots of other desserts too. I recently use some as filling in a chocolate cake. It's great with ice cream, as a frosting, or just by the spoonful! 

Now for the fun part: rolling your truffles. Roll your ganache into balls roughly 1" in diameter (don't worry if they're not perfect spheres) and then get creative with toppings. 

I did four types: festive colored nonpareils for Valentine's, cocoa powder and cinnamon for a Mexican mocha flavor, sweet and salty with raw sugar and sea salt, and toasted chopped hazelnuts.

You can use just about anything you want, nuts, chopped dried fruit, crushed pretzels or anything else you can dream up.

Store your truffles in the fridge until your ready to serve them.

Enjoy!

Have an easy Valentine's recipe? What's your favorite way to use ganache? What toppings did you try? Leave a comment below!

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

Espresso Hazelnut Granola Recipe

We made some of this delicious granola to give as Christmas gifts to family and friends and we thought we'd share our recipe with you. It's as easy and stirring some ingredients together and baking them! 

Espresso Hazelnut Granola

Makes 8 Servings

Stir together:

• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 cup large unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup whole hazelnuts
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon sea salt

Mix  together and heat:

3 tablespoons brewed Voyage espresso

2 tablespoon melted coconut oil

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Stir wet and dry ingredients together and spread in a greased 9x13" pan.

Bake at 300 degrees   for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Cool completely and add ½ cup chopped dark chocolate.

Happy New Year!

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

New Coffee Feature: Holiday Blend 2014

Announcing our limited edition 2014 Holiday Blend! This is an organic blend comprised of beans from Ethiopia, Sumatra and Mexico. 

Description:

Warm up any occasion with this smooth blend, featuring flavors of rich, creamy chocolate and vanilla, with hints of citrus and berry.

Get this exclusive blend while you can! 2014's Holiday Blend is only available November 27th-December 31^st.

Shop Holiday Blend.

Questions or comments about this blend? Leave a comment below!

New Coffee Feature: Ethiopia Limmu Inara

Hello coffee lovers!

We have a new single origin coffee in our repertoire: FTO Ethiopia Limmu Inara. 

The Beans:

From the Debelo Coop, part of the Limmu Inara Farmers Multipurpose Cooperative Union located in the Limmu region of Ethiopia. These are Grade 2 Arabica beans and are certified Organic and Fair Trade. 

The Taste:

From our cupping notes: Muted citrus fragrance, tangy lemon and black tea flavors, with a little nuttiness similar to our former Sidamo, hints of tobacco in the  aftertaste. Low sweetness, medium body. 

From Olam's (our green coffee importer) cupping notes: bright, lemon, apricot, sweet, long finish.

Featured in:
Safari Blend

Shop FTO Ethiopia Limmu Inara

Questions or comments about this coffee? Leave a comment below!

Flavors or Flavored?

This week I got a email from one of our regular customers, asking about the flavors listed on the front of our bags. They wanted to know if people with nut allergies should avoid drinking our Mexico La Lagunilla, which has "sweet almond flavors."

The answer is no. “Sweet almond flavors” is a description, not an ingredient. I've gotten similar questions before, so I thought it would be interesting to learn more.

Flavor descriptions are provided on the front of our bags to help you compare varieties.

Coffee is somewhat like wine---we have tastings (you can read about that process here) and find flavors to help describe what we taste. There's even a flavor wheel to help you out with coffee tasting. The Specialty Coffee Association of America has a standard one, but I like this expanded one from Counter Culture Coffee: 

We like to let the coffee speak for itself, so we don't add any flavors, but of course there are companies that do. Generally natural or artificial flavors are added to coffee by coating the beans directly after roasting. There are some downsides: that coating can be hard on your coffee grinder and of course artificial flavors are made from potentially unhealthy chemicals.

If you want specific flavors in your coffee, we recommend infusing your beans with natural ingredients like cinnamon and vanilla, or making your own flavor syrups. There are some great ideas in this article. 

We'd love to hear your thoughts on flavored coffee! Leave a comment below. 

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

All About Caffeine

Many of the common questions we get are about caffeine. It's one of the major reasons that people drink coffee, so I thought it would be interesting to learn more about it.

First, let's cover some basics:

http://dailyinfographic.com/15-things-you-should-know-about-caffeine-infographic

Caffeine content in coffee can vary based on type of coffee and preparation. For example, espresso is more concentrated than drip coffee, so it has more caffeine per oz. 

One thing that's commonly debated is if lighter or darker roasts have more caffeine. I was under in impression that some of the caffeine burnt off during roast, meaning lighter roasts would have more caffeine. After doing some research, I learned that neither is correct. Coffee loses mass but gains volume as it roasts. So if you measure your beans by weight, you'll have more caffeine in dark roast coffee. If you measure it in scoops, you'll have more caffeine in light roast. 

Want to learn more?

• Sweet Maria's extensive FAQ on caffeine.
• This handy database comparing caffeine content in various beverages. 
• A "In Caffeine We Trust" infographic for tracking your coffee/caffeine consumption.

What do you think about caffeine? Does it help you focus? Or are you more of a Decaf person? Comment below

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

April Cupping

On Saturday, we had our first cupping of 2014. We were mostly looking for a match to our Organic Indonesia Sumatra. Since it's one of our most popular coffees and essential to some of our blends, we need to restock with something very similar. We also ordered samples from origins we've never tried before, including Bolivia and the Dominican Republic.


Here are the tasting notes:

Sumatra FTO Grade 1 - KSU Tirmijaya Coop: Smoky, cinnamon spice flavor with notes of vanilla, raisins and butter, very low acidity, some sweetness and full body. An excellent match to our current Sumatra. 

Sumatra Organic G1 - Ketiara Coop: Earthy, with hints of almond. Light lemony acidity and some sweetness. Overall bright and tangy. Similar to our current Sumatra, but not as close as the Fair Trade.

Dominican Republic Organic Rainforest Alliance- APROCAFE: Rich and full-bodied, with dark chocolate flavor and hints of smoky tobacco.

Brazil Fine Cup - Fazenda Pantano 'Yellow Bourbon': A typical Brazil, very coffee-ish, with milk chocolate and nutty notes. Medium body and sweetness.

Bolivia Organic Strictly Hard Bean Euro Prep - Caranavi: Hints of jasmine flowers in the aroma, sour cherry and lemon tea notes, bright and acidic. 

Uganda Organic Rainforest Alliance Washed - Sipi Falls: Sweet and tangy, bringing to mind grapefruit and lemon with hints of buttery caramel.

Coarsely ground coffee, ready for tasting. 

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

Why the Cost of Coffee Changes

We are raising our prices slightly in May, and we want to make sure our customers know why. This is also a great opportunity to explain a little bit about the coffee industry. 

This is the path our coffee takes:

Farmer > Olam (Importer) > Voyage > You

Did you know green coffee is traded as a commodity, just like cocoa, corn, or wheat? (Coffee is second-most traded commodity in the world in fact, after oil.) Because it's a commodity, the price fluctuates every day. Every time we restock on the same green beans, from the same farm, the price has changed.

We want the farmers who grow our beans and their workers to be paid, fair, livable wages. That's one of the reasons we work with Olam. Though not all of the beans we buy from them are certified Fair Trade, (the Fair Trade certification is not without issues) we know that they are committed to paying the farmers well. They even have many community development and education programs in place. (That's another post for another day.)

In 2013, there was such a drop in commodity coffee prices, that many coffee farmers were not even profitable:

“There can be no doubt that in many countries the prices received by coffee growers fail to cover the unit costs of production, while at the same time the prices of basic goods, such as food and energy, are rising....Indeed, coffee is the worst performing agricultural commodity of the last two years, with a downward trend that has so far shown no sign of improving.”

 ---International Coffee Organization, November 2013

Source: Daily Coffee News

In the last several months, the price has risen again, and that is reflected in the price we pay for green beans. We think paying a little more per pound is worth it to ensure that the people who work hard for our coffee are able to support their families!

Here is a great infographic with some other interesting facts about coffee and economics:

Source: Mint.com

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

20 Savory Coffee Recipes To Try

It's easy to find dessert recipes that use coffee. It goes so naturally with flavors like chocolate and nuts that it's a logical addition. It's more rare to find savory food that involves coffee. I've done some Googling and found a lot more than I expected and they are mouthwatering! I've seen a few recipes for coffee barbecue sauces and meat rubs before, but I was surprised to find everything from espresso vinaigrette to coffee crackers. Here are my top 20:

1. Coffee-Braised Short Ribs
This uses wine and cold brew coffee as both a marinade and part of the sauce. 

2. Roast Beef with Porcini Coffee Sauce
Mmmmm....reminiscent of a Boeuf Bourguignon, they add coffee to flavors of mushroom and wine. 

3. Coffee Barbecue Sauce
So many yummy flavors in this one. 

4. Barbecue Hoecakes with Vinegar Slaw
Chicken and corncakes with a brown sugar BBQ sauce.

5. Coffee-Rubbed Cheeseburgers with Texas Barbecue Sauce
Coffee and spice rubbed burgers with bacon and cheese.

6. Short Ribs Braised in Coffee Ancho Chile Sauce
Spicy and sweet....

7. Coffee-Marinated Bison Short Ribs
More coffee and maple syrup goodness.

8. Coffee and Spice-Coated Lamb with Arugula, Avocado, and Blood Orange Salad
This rub has coffee and cocoa, could it get any better?

9. Caribbean Shrimp Tropical Salad with Lime Coffee Vinaigrette
Here's an interesting one, using coffee in a vinaigrette. 

10. Apple Jack Ribs Smoked Over Coffee Beans with Coffee Barbecue Sauce

This one involves throwing coffee beans on the grill to get coffee-flavored smoke. 

11. Coffee Crackers with Aged Port Cheddar Spread

I'm super intrigued to try coffee crackers. 

12. Coffee Coloradito Mole
Adding coffee to an already chocolaty mole sauce, yum!

13. Cuban Style Polenta Tamales
Espresso in tamales sounds delicious

14. Chicken Wings with Thai Inspired Coffee Barbecue Sauce
Switching it up by adding Thai flavors to a barbecue sauce. 

15. Smoked Turkey Sandwich with Coffee Shallot Jam
Coffee jam sounds interesting.

16. Espresso-Chili Rubbed Pork with Sweet Potato Fries
Cayenne, coffee, orange, yum.....

17. Flank Steak with Coffee Peppercorn Marinade
The flavor combos on this one sound amazing!

18. Late Night Coffee-Brined Chicken
Here's a new way to do a whole chicken.

19. Coffee Bacon Sandwiches
Coffee and bacon can't go wrong. We have a pack of bacon waiting to be cooked and I may just try this one out.

20. Molasses and Coffee Pork Chops
Anyone who's ever put a spoonful of molasses in their coffee knows this is a good combo. Plus it's an Alton Brown recipe, so it's almost guaranteed to be delicious.

Have you ever tried using coffee in savory food? Share your experiences and recipes in the comments!

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

Holiday Giving

This holiday season, we will be sending 5% of proceeds from December coffee orders to The ApParent Project. AP is a non-profit in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti that creates employment for the impoverished  especially for parents who are trying to provide for their families. The founders are family friends of ours, and we are excited to support this cause!

Introducing Our 2013 Holiday Blend!

We are happy to announce our new 2013 Holiday Blend!

Description: A perfect pairing for your holiday treats, this wintry organic blend is sure to warm you up with flavors of caramel, cinnamon spice, orange peel, and molasses.

Get this exclusive blend while you can! 2013's Holiday Blend is only available now through December 31st. Shop voyagecoffee.com now and don't forget to take advantage of our Black Friday sale this weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe

Now that fall is here, I've been devouring all things pumpkin! We've been making muffins and crisps like crazy. This week, I finally found the time to try making homemade pumpkin spice lattes. 

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cloves
4 tablespoons pumpkin puree

Directions: 

Heat water in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Once it's warm, dissolve the brown sugar. Whisk in the pumpkin, spices and vanilla. (I made mine really spicy, you could cut back on the spices if you want.)
Pour it the mixture through a fine strainer to get the lumps out.

Now you have a syrup you can add to any kind of coffee!

Sprinkling a little extra pumpkin pie spice hid my lack of latte art skills!

Before stirring in the syrup. 

Fall Cupping Session

Hello internet! It's been awhile since we've blogged. I hope you're all having a great fall and drinking lots of coffee!

We had a cupping this past weekend. We had six varieties to sample this time, including a decaf, and new batch of the same Mexican coffee we already carry. Even coffee from the exact same farm and can taste different crop to crop, so we needed to make sure the taste was roughly the same. 

If you're unfamiliar with cupping and the process, you can read some of our past posts about cupping: 

December Cupping

We Keep On Cupping

One More Cupping

My cupping sheet

Brazil Organic Fancy - Nossa Senhora de Fatima Estate:

The fragrance brings to mind almonds, pretzels and rum with hints of smokiness. Dark chocolate and nut flavors are present, with very low acidity.

Mexico FTO Bird Friendly SHG EP - Swiss Water Decaf:

Muted peppery fragrance, followed by low acidity, classic Mexican chocolate and nut flavors. Very similar to our other Mexico.

Mexico FTO SHG EP - Union Ramal Santa Cruz:

(This is the same Mexico we offer now.) Almond and pepper aroma, nutty cocoa flavors with a slight tanginess and mild sweetness. Very little difference from last year’s batch, also similar to the decaf we cupped above.

Burundi FW AA – Rutana:

Smells like a garden. Very earthy, brings to mind squash, mind flavor, low-medium body.

Brazil Standard FC Peaberry Natural - São Pedro Estate:

Sweet jasmine notes in the fragrance, sourdough bread and chocolate flavors with a hint of spice, and a low-med body. Very mellow. 

Panama SHB EP - La Gloria Estate:

Vanilla, almond and anise aroma. Creamy, low acidity with cocoa butter flavors. Reminiscent of our Kenya Peaberry. 

After tasting all of them, we settled on stocking up on the Mexico, the Decaf, and some of the Panama to work into future blends. 

What coffees sound the best to you? Have you ever done a cupping?

-Jessamyn

at Voyage Coffee Roasters

Summer Coffee Treats

We've been trying and sharing a variety of great summer coffee treats on Pinterest and Facebook. As the summer starts drawing to a close, I thought I would collect the best ones we've tried (and have yet to try) in one place.

• Cold brew your coffee. This is becoming my favorite way to make iced coffee. It's really simple to do and you don't need any brewing equipment. I've been using these instructions. (And did you know it's actually better when the beans have had two weeks to degas? A great way to use up almost-stale beans!) 
• Sweeten while you brew. We just tried out this brown sugar cold brew recipe from The Velvet Bird and it was delish!
• Try freezing your own coffee cubes so your coffee doesn't get diluted as the ice melts. You could make milk or cream cubes too, and even add sweetener if you want!
• Add some spice with cinnamon or nutmeg. 
• Flavor your coffee without all that sugar syrup: add a splash of vanilla or almond extract. 
• Top it off with some whipped cream. (Great on hot coffee too!)
• Mix up the milks: try some dairy alternatives: coconut, almond, soy, or hazelnut. Vietnamese coffee is made with sweetened condensed milk. 
• Blend your iced coffee and end up with a refreshing frappe! (My favorite add-in is Nutella!)
• Mix in some tea. Why not an iced "dirty chai"?
• Freeze some of your leftover coffee as ice pops. 
• Pour your coffee over ice cream to make Affogato. 
• Make coffee ice cream or frozen yogurt.

For even more ideas, see our Iced Coffee Recipe board on Pinterest. (Coffee Ice Creams and Popsicles here.)

Questions? Have any great iced coffee ideas to share? Leave a comment below!

Stay cool!
-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

The Daily Grind

I'm not sure what the Men in Black interns were doing wrong to make the coffee taste like dirt, but grinding it the same morning probably wasn't the mistake!

Some of the most common questions we get are about grind. A lot of people don't realize how much difference it can make. 

No one wants their coffee to taste stale, weak or bitter, so it's important to make sure of three things:

1. Fresh Grind.
2. Correct Grind.
3. Consistent Grind.

Fresh Grind: 
The first step is to make sure to use your coffee within two weeks of its roast date. Once it passes that two week mark, it's going to start tasting stale. If you're buying pre-ground, shelf life is going to be a lot shorter. For ideal results, coffee should be ground immediately before it's brewed. Another tip for freshness is to make sure you're keeping your grinder clean. Old grounds stuck in the machine can make your whole cup taste stale.

Correct Grind:
It's important to make sure that you're using the right grind for your brewing method. Those so called "universal grinds" that some companies offer are not truly going to work for every brewing method. Examples of the right grinds for some popular methods: French press should be coarse, drip should be medium, and espresso should be quite fine. Start by checking the manual for your grinder to see recommended settings, then continue to fine tune if necessary. Most high-quality grinders have precision settings you can adjust. The bottom line is, if you try to make espresso with a coarse grind, you'll get weak espresso, if you make drip with a super-fine grind, it will be bitter, and so on.

I was going to snap some pictures of different grinds to include, but I found this article from ineedcoffee.com that has great photos.

Consistent Grind:
Consistency is especially important for methods that include pushing water through the grounds with pressure, such as espresso. There's no way to get a completely consistent grind if you're using a blade grinder, we always recommend using a burr grinder instead. Using a blade grinder is kind of like a food processor: you have to keep grinding until the beans are as fine as you want. You end up with grinds that aren't uniform. Burr grinders, on the other hand, can be set to the grind you want from the start, and will grind evenly and precisely.

If you're in the market for an excellent conical burr grinder, we love our Baratza grinders and sell their Preciso and Encore models on our online store.

Questions about grinding or grinders? Leave a comment below!

-Jessamyn at Voyage Coffee Roasters

New Coffee Feature: Organic Ethiopia Sidamo

Hello coffee lovers!

Today's post is the last in a series of four about our newest coffees. Last but not least, this post is about our Organic Ethiopia Sidamo Suko Quto. 

The Beans:

This Organic offering is grown in volcanic soil that's maintained with organic recycling. The farm is above 1600 meters in the Oriomia region of Ethiopia. It's a Grade 2 coffee, and it's processed using the Washed Process. 

The Taste:

From our cupping notes: A muted fragrance followed by lemony, black tea notes, a hint of sweetness, and a light-medium body. 

From Olam's (our green coffee importer) cupping notes: very nice sweet, lemon, floral notes

Featured in:
Safari Blend, Tempest Blend

Buy Organic Ethiopia Sidamo

Questions or comments about this coffee? Leave a comment below!

New Coffee Feature: FTO Mexico Santa Cruz

Hello coffee lovers!

Here is our 3rd post about our new coffees. Today we're talking about the Fair Trade Organic Mexico Union Ramal Santa Cruz. (Quite a mouthful, isn't it?)

The Beans:

This Fair Trade Organic coffee comes from the town Ramal Santa Cruz, in the Chiapas region of Mexico. 

It is Strictly High Grown, meaning it’s cultivated above 1200 meters. High altitude coffee beans are hard and dense, generally producing a better cup of coffee. Like all of our beans, these are Arabica. The coffee "cherries" are processed with the Washed method. They are also hand sorted after their initial grading, a method known as Euro Prep. 

The Taste:

From our cupping notes: features a sweet almond scent, followed by sweet dark chocolate, tart wine-like flavors and a mellow aftertaste. Medium body.  

From Olam's (our green coffee importer) cupping notes: nice body, big dark chocolate, sweet.

Featured in:
Safari Blend, Tempest Blend, Organic Odyssey Espresso Blend

Buy FTO Mexico Santa Cruz

Questions or comments about this coffee? Leave a comment below!

New Coffee Feature: Kenya Peaberry Nyeri Gatina

Hello coffee lovers!

Here is Part 2 in a series of posts about our new coffees. Next up is the Kenya Peaberry Nyeri Gatina.  

The Beans:

Two seeds grow facing each other in most coffee cherries, causing one side of each bean to be flat. Occasionally, only one seed grows. The rounder bean that results is called a peaberry. Read more about Peaberry beans here.These are also Arabica variety beans. 

One of our round peaberry beans, Vienna-roasted. 

The Taste:

From our cupping notes: While sharing some characteristics of our Kenya Karatina, such as orange and caramel flavors, this coffee has a unique buttery-ness. Smooth and sweet, but with a little bit of tanginess. It has a wonderfully full body and excellent mouthfeel.

From Olam's (Our green coffee importer) cupping notes: sweet and sour citric and red fruit notes.

Featured in:
Safari Blend, Tempest Blend

Buy Kenya Peaberry Nyeri Gatina

Questions about this coffee? Leave a comment below!