Tuesday, June 26, 2012

COFFEE TASTE BURNT LATELY? HERE'S WHY


Roasters are sneaking cheaper robusta beans into their blends to save money. Will coffee drinkers revolt?  I came upon this story by Kim Peterson in a tweet from coffee expert Jack Groot.  Have you noticed that your coffee tastes different lately? A little bolder, perhaps even bitter? Does it seem to have more caffeine?

Coffee companies are sneaking more robusta beans into their grounds as the price of the higher-grade arabica beans has spiked, Reuters reports. Very few roasters are actually admitting to doing this, but the evidence is as plain as day: U.S. robusta imports soared by 80% in the first quarter, while arabica fell by nearly a third.

Higher-quality arabica beans have a milder, more delicate and complex flavor than robusta. They're harder to grow and more expensive. Coffee experts say robusta, by contrast, tastes like burned rubber. Robusta also has a lot more caffeine.

Robusta coffee has been dismissed for years. In fact, U.S. coffee merchant COEX Coffee International never traded robustas five years ago, Reuters reports. Now the company said 40% of its business is robusta.

That raises a big question: Who's using all that robusta? Reuters guesses it's the national retail brands sold in supermarkets. Only one major roaster has admitted to using more. Massimo Zanetti, which makes the Chock Full o'Nuts and Hills Bros. brands, said it upped its robusta content by more than 25%, according to Reuters.

Everyone else is quiet.

There's only so much robusta Americans will take in their coffee blends. And roasters seem to be pushing the limit -- an understandable move, given the wild increases in coffee prices in recent years.

But coffee prices have come way down. Arabica futures hit a two-year low this week, in fact. So will the roasters that switched to robusta return to higher-quality arabica now that costs have settled? Unless there's a consumer backlash, the answer is no.

Shoppers on tight budgets are trading down to less expensive coffees, willingly accepting a slightly harsher taste in order to save a few dollars. That means robusta's popularity is probably here to stay, and the coffee industry is adjusting to this new reality. That's good news for Vietnam, the world's biggest grower of robusta.

Rest assured that our Paniola 100% Kona Coffee is all Arabica.  Our Café Pinon de Nuevo Mexico is made with a blend of Central American coffees…all Arabica.  And our Cowboy Action Coffee…the Offifcial Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society…a blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian is, you guessed it, all Arabica!

The purpose of this blog is to unite Kona coffee lovers and perhaps learn a little about coffee and all the benefits of coffee at the same time.  Join up, become a member, comment and have fun!  You can find the Kona Coffee Fiends group on Facebook and we’d appreciate it if Facebook users would “LIKE” the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company page at www.facebook.com/pages/Kona-Cowboy-Coffee-Company/222070817858553.  Just copy and paste to your browser.  You can also find us on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/#!/jackshuster.  And on the web at www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com to order your gourmet coffee and coffee products.

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you want to be cremated just so you can spend the rest of eternity in a coffee can.  So enjoy your coffee, make it Kona, and remember, Kona is the home of the Hawaiian cowboy…and we had cowboys in Kona before there were cowboys in Texas!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

TENDERIZE YOUR STEAK WITH COFFEE


I recently read a health blog that has a great substitute for meat marinades.  Now I agree that meat marinades are an excellent way to spice up a steak, but those marinades are often made with a lot of salt (sodium) and a lot of extra calories that I surely don’t need.  Well, the health blog I read, called The Greatist (which reminds someone of my age of Jackie Gleason, but I digress) the blog suggests you soak your steak in a little coffee and skip the extra sodium.
The process is unbelievably simple, really:
Try soaking your steak in coffee for about an hour before grilling.  That’s all you have to do for tender, flavorful, smoky meat without the extra calories and sodium. In fact, ground coffee also makes a incredible, crusty rub for all of your grilling favorites.

It might sound a little strange, but the amazing sounding combination of coffee and steak makes it worth at least a trial run. We hope that you’ll use our coffee but either way please let us know if you give it a shot yourself.
The purpose of this blog is to unite Kona coffee lovers and perhaps learn a little about coffee and all the benefits of coffee at the same time.  Join up, become a member, comment and have fun!  You can find the Kona Coffee Fiends group on Facebook and we’d appreciate it if Facebook users would “LIKE” the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company page at www.facebook.com/pages/Kona-Cowboy-Coffee-Company/222070817858553.  Just copy and paste to your browser.  You can also find us on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/#!/jackshuster.  And on the web at www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com to order your gourmet coffee and coffee products.

You know you’re a coffee fiend when someone says, "How are you?” And you say, "Good to the last drop."  So enjoy your coffee, make it Kona, and remember, Kona is the home of the Hawaiian cowboy…and we had cowboys in Kona before there were cowboys in Texas!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

HOW TO STAY CAFFEINATED WHILE TRAVELING: WITHOUT DRINKING BAD COFFEE

Making good coffee at home isn’t rocket science. It’s as simple as grinding beans, heating water and mixing the two in a French Press.  Of course, there’s a lot more to good coffee than just that, but making a solid cup of joe at home is very possible. However, according to the Daily Shot of Coffee blog, making good coffee while traveling isn’t as simple.  If you travel at all you know that just about every hotel has a coffee pot in the room or at least in the lobby and there are gas stations at every exit on the interstate, but once you’ve spoiled yourself with smooth, flavorful, home-brewed coffee from the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company, it’s hard to down the hotel’s  bitter, stale brews.  Before your next trip, spend just as much time planning which coffee gear to pack as what clothes to bring along.  If you are the coffee fiend I think you are, you’re probably obsessed with good coffee.  If that’s true, no matter if you’re traveling by air, land or sea, you could make sure that have enough room for a few coffee related necessities.  Now you might think that you have everything until you check into the Hotel from Hell and find that you have no way to heat the water. Or the little drip coffee maker looks dirty and neglected. To make matters worse, the nearest coffee shop is 24 miles away and who knows if it is even a good one.  You could use the microwave to heat the water in the paper or plastic coffee cups but it is not the easiest or the quickest way, and you could melt the cup!
To prevent future near death experiences, a blogger that I read created an updated list of essential coffee gear that he’s packing.  Here are his tips and they’re pretty good.
Whole Bean Coffee – Pretty much a given.  I, of course, suggest our Paniola Kona Cowboy Coffee which is always sold whole bean.  You could grind it at home but ground coffee goes stale. Buy whole bean and grind it just before you brew. I recommend picking up our whole bean Kona online from KonaCowboyCoffee.com and then you’ll have it before leaving home.
Coffee Grinder – You’re going to have to ground that coffee somehow. It is easier to get a small blade grinder to take with you when you travel.
French Press –Take a small French Press but be careful you don’t break the glass.  You could also try a pour over but don’t forget the filters.
 Electric Kettle – Whether you’re staying at a hotel or grandmother’s lake cabin, it’ll guarantee that you have a hot water source.
What do I do, you may ask?  I take a microwaveable cup in case the in-room coffee maker looks funky and I eliminate all of the above with Hula Girl Freeze Dried Instant Kona Coffee.  And you can get a package of that from me at any trade show where you find the Cowboy Coffee Saloon!
Do you want FREE coffee?  The very first cowpoke who saunters up to the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s Cowboy Coffee Saloon at the Single Action Shooting Society’s World Championship of Cowboy Action Shooting and Wild West Jubilee: End of Trail, June 16 – 24 at Founders Ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico and asks for it, will get a free, that’s FREE bag of CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico…our newest fusion coffee made with a proprietary blend of Central American coffees and real New Mexico pinon nuts!

The purpose of this blog is to unite Kona coffee lovers and perhaps learn a little about coffee and all the benefits of coffee at the same time.  Join up, become a member, comment and have fun!  You can find the Kona Coffee Fiends group on Facebook and we’d appreciate it if Facebook users would “LIKE” the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company page at www.facebook.com/pages/Kona-Cowboy-Coffee-Company/222070817858553.  Just copy and paste to your browser.  You can also find us on Twitter at  http://twitter.com/#!/jackshuster.  And on the web at www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com to order your gourmet coffee and coffee products.

You know you’re a coffee fiend when Instant coffee takes too long.  So enjoy your coffee, make it Kona, and remember, Kona is the home of the Hawaiian cowboy…and we had cowboys in Kona before there were cowboys in Texas!