Caffeine Trivia #100.1

I have received many requests for more “iced coffee recipes” –  Here’s a great summer cooler: try this frozen vanilla cappuccino.

Yield: 2   – Ingredients:

2 cups ice cubes
1 1/2 cups strong coffee, chilled
1/4 cup French Vanilla Flavor NESTLÉ COFFEE-MATE Liquid Coffee Creamer
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Ground cinnamon

Instructions:  PLACE ice, coffee, Coffee-mate and sugar in blender; cover. Blend until smooth. Pour into 2 glasses; sprinkle with cinnamon.  Prop your feet up and enjoy!

Caffeine Trivia #98

Caffeine Trivia #91

My bounty of avocados – summer 2010.  My avocado tree is loaded with the biggest and tastiest fruit around…they have been described as “buttery” and the size of  “your head”.  I am constantly asked: How?  The answer is simple….Starbucks Sumatra used coffee grounds!  It’s the only extra thing I do for my tree.  For those of you who don’t drink as much coffee as I do, here’s a great way to go green and get used coffee grounds:

Starbucks coffee grounds recycling program is a grass roots effort that was started by customers more than fifteen years ago. Spent coffee grounds are complimentary upon request at Starbucks retail locations and are available year-round as they are generated. Grounds are packaged in reused coffee bags and sealed with the Starbucks Coffee Grounds as Compost sticker.

Caffeine Trivia #90

Coffee Ice Cream – Just in time for the dog days of summer

Ingredients

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
• 6 egg yolks
• Chocolate curls, for garnish

Directions

Combine the cream, milk, sugar, and coffee in a medium, heavy saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat.

Beat the egg yolks in a medium bowl. Whisk 1 cup of the hot cream into the egg yolks. Gradually add the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream, to the hot cream. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon and reaches 170 degrees F. on an instant-read thermometer, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean container. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down against the surface to keep a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Remove from the refrigerator and pour into the bowl of an ice cream machine. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. After the ice cream is made, transfer to an airtight container. Cover tightly and freeze until ready to serve. Garnish with chocolate curls.

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2003 Show: The Essence of EmerilEpisode: Ice Cream/Sorbet

Dad – I miss you

Caffeine Chronicles is my personal ramblings about caffeine trivia, some coffee history and my personal search for the world’s best cups of coffee.  Today, I’m taking a personal minute to honor my Dad.  Four years ago today I lost my wonderful, loving father…not a day goes by that I don’t think of you and miss you.  Don’t let a single day go by without telling your dad how much you love him.

Caffeine Trivia #89

FLAVOURED COFFEES: One of the fastest growing areas of the coffee market is flavoured coffees. While coffee connoisseurs may turn up their noses at the idea of spoiling the flavour of their sacred brew, there are definitely moments when a chocolate or cinnamon flavoured coffee is just right. Coffee is a wonderful taste itself, but also acts very well as the platform for many other flavours. Flavouring coffee is actually an old trick. In the Middle East it is traditional to add cardamom to coffee, while the practice of adding cinnamon has been widespread in Mexico for many years. The growth in popularity of flavoured coffee is proof of coffee’s versatility and strength. The flavours are added to the beans directly after roasting by spraying them with a carrier oil and then the particular flavouring. Another method is to add a syrup to brewed coffee to make a drink that can be served either hot or chilled with ice to make iced coffee.  It should be mentioned that by far the most important flavouring added to coffee throughout the world is milk.