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Tuesday, April 1, 2014

KONA COWBOY COFFEE RUB

I was bored the other day, my computer was down, and I decided to watch a cooking show that I had DVR’d. They were talking about all kinds of rubs to put on meats to add exotic flavors before cooking. Well, that got me thinking that there’s nothing more exotic than 100% Kona coffee and since I make PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee why not an exotic Kona Cowboy Coffee Rub? So here it is.

Start with 2/3 cup of PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee. I used the pre-ground package that we make ‘cause, well, you’ll see. Then get a half-cup of brown sugar, packed down. Just pat it. Next, two tablespoons of coarse salt. Kosher salt is perfect. Now, pour it all into a food processor and grind it up. Actually, if you use ground coffee you can just mix it up. Now just rub it onto and into a nice steak and you’re all set. Let the steak sit for a half hour and then grill away! Ono! As we say in Kona.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company is proud to provide the finest coffee available to rub on your meat. You’ll get a delicious rub and a great cup of Joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might be high octane! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society! If you are a Chai drinker, you’ll love the Coconut or Mango Spiced Chai we bring in from Honolulu.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company has updated our website with new prices, new products and more! Order on line and we’ll do our best to get it to you as fast as possible. Go to www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com and look at the coffees. Go to the “Chocolates” page and find our new Cowboy Coffee Choco-Drops, a coffee caramel smothered in milk chocolate and dusted in cocoa powder! We have new Mescalero Morning Cowboy Coffee Candles on our “Bath Products” page, too.

The purpose of this missive 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 also join 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/. You can also find us on tweeting onTwitter at http://twitter.com/#!/jackshuster. And look us up on the web at www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com to order your gourmet coffee and coffee products.

You know you’re a coffee fiend when all your kids are named "Joe"! 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, September 24, 2013

SCIENTIFIC COFFEE

We’ve been reading a number of blogs about the science of brewing coffee so here are some hints:

Buy good coffee beans: They should be whole beans, sustainably farmed, and roasted within the past few weeks. PANIOLA 100% Kona Coffee is available in whole bean. It comes in a regular roast. A lot of aficionados think that with darker roasts, you're missing out. We know of some writers who use the weird analogy that dark roast is just like taking a nice steak and charring it beyond recognition. We don’t agree. It’s up to you. But, for espresso at home, we have PANIOLA in a dark, espresso roast. Ask for the “Ruidoso Roast” when you order.

Grind your coffee just before brewing: Roasted coffee is very delicate and perishable. Coffee has many more flavor compounds than wine, but those compounds deteriorate quickly when exposed to oxygen. Grinding your coffee just before you brew it keeps those compounds intact, and it's the number one thing you can do to improve your coffee at home. Our PANIOLA 100% Kona is whole bean. Our other gourmet coffees are roasted in small batches and packed in half-pound bags so they won’t sit around and go stale.

Store your coffee properly: Beans which you aren't using immediately should be kept in an airtight container and away from sunlight. A major point of debate in the coffee world is whether to freeze or not freeze your coffee. We fall somewhere in between. If it's going to be more than two weeks before brewing, we freeze our coffee. Otherwise, we avoid it. Freezing allows for condensation when you take it out of the freezer and you want to keep your coffee dry!

Use the right proportion of coffee to water: A major error people make is not using enough coffee. We empathize—it almost seems wasteful to add that extra scoop. But a simple ratio of one tablespoon for each cup is a great starting point and the simplest way to get into that perfect zone by adding or subtracting to taste.

Focus on technique: It's beyond the scope of this guide to go through step-by-step instructions for every method, but underlying all of them is the fact that brewing great coffee is about precision and consistency. Each brewing method has its own particular techniques, but by doing the same thing over and over you fix your mistakes and improve incrementally.

We’ll talk about things like quality tools, the grind size of your coffee beans, water temperature, agitating your coffee beans and the ratio of water to coffee next time. Pretty scientific, huh?

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company is proud to provide the finest coffee available for you to brew scientifically. You’ll get a great cup of Joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might be high octane! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society! If you are a Chai drinker, you’ll love the Coconut Spiced Chai and Mango Spiced Chai we bring in from Honolulu. The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company has updated our website with new prices, new products and more! Go to www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com and look at the coffees. Go to the “Chocolates” page and find our new Cowboy Coffee Choco-Drops, a coffee caramel smothered in milk chocolate and dusted in cocoa powder! We have new Mescalero Morning Cowboy Coffee Candles on our “Bath Products” page, too.

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 go to AA meetings just for the free coffee! 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, September 10, 2013

MARINES WRITE COFFEE BOOK

Coffee is delicious and maybe even an integral part of your work day, but did you know that the tasty beverage has a rich history in the American military experience?

Since the Civil War, coffee has played a part in the life of the soldier. Civil War Captain Robert K. Beecham wrote in his book Gettysburg: The Pivotal Battle of the Civil War, that “The power of the soldiers to endure the fatigue of the march and keep their places in the ranks was greatly enhanced by an opportunity to brew a cup of coffee by the wayside.”

This tradition of coffee and the military particularly fascinated marines Michael Haft and Harrison Suarez. When Haft and Suarez joined the Marines they expected a tough journey, but they didn't anticipate an obsession with coffee. As their enthusiasm with the beverage grew, they began to realize that they had joined the ranks of many soldiers before them who relied on the drink as a way of life.

In The New York Times Haft and Suarez wrote of the importance of the ritual that drinking coffee provided. "We would often share with our platoon sergeants and squad leaders while we gathered around a map and discussed our plans for the day. Whether in the forests of North Carolina, the mountains of California, or the deserts of Afghanistan, the ritual provided a sense of continuity."

Haft and Suarez went on to write a book about their discovery of the link between coffee and American soldiers.

Perfect Coffee at Home is the definitive guide to coffee, told through the eyes of two Marines looking to make the most of their morning coffee ritual.

In this first-of-its-kind digital book, Michael Haft and Harrison Suarez will take you through the third wave coffee renaissance and teach you everything you need to know. Plus they'll use illustrations, interactive graphics, videos and a soundtrack to make the whole story an immersive experience.

From French press techniques for beginners, to microscopic views of coffee particles for experts, Haft and Suarez have created a fun, accessible, and fascinating window into how you can take part in the ongoing coffee renaissance.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company is proud to provide the finest coffee available for you to write a book about. You’ll get a great cup of Joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might be high octane! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society! If you are a Chai drinker, you’ll love the Coconut Spiced Chai we bring in from Honolulu. The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company has updated our website with new prices, new products and more! Go to www.KonaCowboyCoffee.com and look at the coffees. Go to the “Chocolates” page and find our new Cowboy Coffee Choco-Drops, a coffee caramel smothered in milk chocolate and dusted in cocoa powder! We have new Mescalero Morning Cowboy Coffee Candles on our “Bath Products” page, too.

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you don't sweat, you percolate! 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, July 16, 2013

WEATHER IN YOUR COFFEE CUP

Did you know that your morning cup of coffee can help you predict rain? It’s a trick used by backpackers that can come in handy for anyone planning to be out of doors: pour a cup of coffee and carefully watch the bubbles.

Backpacker Magazine writes, If the bubbles amass in the center, you’re in a high-pressure system, which is making the coffee’s surface convex (higher in the middle). Since bubbles are mostly air, they migrate to the highest point. Bubbles in the middle of your coffee cup mean it’s going to be a beautiful day.

If the bubbles form a ring around the sides of the mug, you’re in a low-pressure system, making the surface concave. Bubbles on the sides of your coffee mug means that rain is likely.

Note: It has to be strong, brewed coffee to have enough oil to work, and the mug must have straight sides.

To make new bubbles, simply give your coffee a good stir.

Wow! Now you can forecast the weather in Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees. But if it looks cloudy, take an umberella. You’ll get a great cup of joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might be high octane! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you're so jittery that people use your hands to blend their margaritas! 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, July 9, 2013

DIP YOUR TOES IN COFFEE

A City University of New York professor discovered that carbonized coffee can be used to inhibit the smell of raw sewage, among other practical filtration purposes.

Now an upscale professional apparel company that made waves last year by earning nearly $430,000 on Kickstarter to develop its body-temperature-active dress shirt, seems to be applying that research. They are developing another product called Atlas, a sock that it describes as “like a Brita filter for your feet.” As of this writing, supporters had pledged more than $120,000, greatly eclipsing the $30,000 goal.

So what is coffee’s role in the new sock? Here’s more:

“The moisture-wicking, heat-management, and comfort capabilities of ATLAS are all made possible through its unique combination of fibers, a blend made up of cotton, recycled polyester and carbonized coffee. Odor control is difficult in socks. As such, we turned to nature to find an effective way to create a fresher sock, leading us to coffee. Atlas uses carbonized coffee which has been reclaimed from coffee roasters and shops, and is processed through a pharmaceutical process to remove the coffee oils (so it won’t smell like coffee!) and is then infused into our recycled polyester yarns. Odor molecules which are largely made of carbon are strongly attracted to the carbonized coffee. Atlas has a unique structure (kind of like a sponge with lots of surface area), which allows the particles to absorb a lot of odor. It’s the same concept used in your Brita filter to absorb impurities – giving you clean, fresh water. The odor is released the when you launder your socks – returning to its full capacity.”

The Atlas socks will be produced since the Kickstarter goal was met, and socks will be available in two styles and multiple print patterns. Better than just wading in your coffee.

We do not recommend twiddling your toes in Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees. But you can if you’re not going to drink it! You’ll get a great cup of joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might be high octane! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when the nurse needs a scientific calculator to take your pulse! 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 11, 2013

HOW TO MESS UP YOUR COFFEE

For many of us, the promise of a good cup of coffee gets us out of bed in the morning. Breana Lai, Associate Food Editor, EatingWell Magazine says that somehow, prying off the warm covers isn't so hard when she knows there is a warm cup of coffee waiting. We at the Kona Cowboy Coffee Copmay agree. But coffee is very personal. Everyone has a choice coffee-brewing vessel, coffee style and coffee mug.

Whether you choose to brew your coffee in a single-cup brewer, an automatic coffee maker or a French press, keep in mind there are variables that can affect the quality of the coffee you make. There is a reason the coffee from your local coffee shop tastes better. The coffee is freshly brewed, the beans were just ground, the milk was just steamed and the machine costs as much as a small car.

While we can't all have the fancy machine (and barista to make the coffee), we can take some lessons from coffee shops to brew a perfect cup of coffee at home. Here are 7 of the most common and easily remedied coffee-brewing mistakes that stand between you and a great cup of coffee:

1. Dirty Equipment:
Make sure all parts of the machine have been rinsed thoroughly and no coffee or soap residue remains.

2. Old Beans:
If you can't remember when you bought your coffee, it's time to buy some new beans! Only buy as much as you will consume in 1 to 2 weeks. Now you know why the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company packages their coffee in half-pound bags.

3. Pre-Ground Coffee:
Coffee that has already been ground is more susceptible to oxidation. Grinding your beans as close to brewing as possible ensures freshness. Our Paniola brand Kona Cowboy Coffee comes in both regular roast and espresso roast in whole beans.

4. Wrong Size of Grounds:
Each brewing method requires a different size of grind. Coffee that has been ground too fine is often bitter, but if ground too coarse it may be weak. Check your coffee grinder’s manual to find out which size is ideal.

5. Wrong Coffee-to-Water Ratio:
For every 6 ounces of coffee, you'll need 2 tablespoons of coffee grounds. Using more, your coffee may be too strong and taste bitter; use less and you'll end up with watery, weak coffee. We recommend starting with ONE tablespoon of our full bodied gourmet coffees. ‘Tis better to go up the next time than to pour what you just made down the drain.

6. Improper Water Temperature:
If the water is too hot, you can scald your coffee, and if it's too low, the flavors will be mellow. The water should be around 200 degrees Fahrenheit, or just before boiling (water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit).

7. Impure Water:
Tap water often contains minerals that can alter the flavor of your coffee. Use bottled spring water or filtered drinking water. We use bottled water at every trade show where we sell our coffees.

Some folks say that you can’t mess up the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees. But you can! You’ll get a great cup of joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might be high octane! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you chew on other people's fingernails! 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, May 21, 2013

MORE COFFEE PROHIBITION

A contemporary example of religious prohibition of coffee can be found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The organization holds that it is both physically and spiritually unhealthy to consume coffee. This comes from the Mormon doctrine of health, given in 1833 by founder Joseph Smith in a revelation called the Word of Wisdom. It does not identify coffee by name, but includes the statement that "hot drinks are not for the belly," which has been interpreted to forbid both coffee and tea.

Quite a number of members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church also avoid caffeinated drinks. In its teachings, the Church encourages members to avoid tea and coffee and other stimulants. Abstinence from coffee, tobacco and alcohol by many Adventists has afforded a near unique opportunity for studies to be conducted within that population group on the health effects of coffee drinking, free from confounding factors. One study was able to show a weak but statistically significant association between coffee consumption and mortality from ischemic heart disease, other cardiovascular disease, all cardiovascular diseases combined, and all causes of death.

For a time, there had been controversy in the Jewish community over whether the coffee bean was a legume and therefore prohibited for Passover. Upon petition from coffeemaker Maxwell House, the coffee bean was classified in 1923 as a berry rather than a bean by orthodox Jewish rabbi Hersch Kohn, and therefore kosher for Passover.

Some folks say that the Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees are certainly on their way to becoming spiritual! You’ll get a great cup of joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might be high octane! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when your eyes stay open when you sneeze! 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, May 14, 2013

COFFEE PROHIBITION

Coffee was initially used for spiritual reasons. At least 1,100 years ago, traders brought coffee across the Red Sea into Arabia (modern-day Yemen), where Muslim dervishes began cultivating the shrub in their gardens. At first, the Arabians made wine from the pulp of the fermented coffee berries. This beverage was known as qishr and was used during religious ceremonies.

Coffee drinking was prohibited by jurists and scholars meeting in Mecca in 1511 as haraam, but the subject of whether it was intoxicating was hotly debated over the next 30 years until the ban was finally overturned in the mid 16th century. Use in religious rites among the Sufi branch of Islam led to coffee's being put on trial in Mecca: it was accused of being a heretical substance, and its production and consumption were briefly repressed. It was later prohibited in Ottoman Turkey under an edict by the Sultan Murad IV.

Coffee, regarded as a Muslim drink, was prohibited by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians until as late as 1889; it is now considered a national drink of Ethiopia for people of all faiths.

Its early association in Europe with rebellious political activities led to Charles II outlawing coffeehouses from January 1676 (although the uproar created forced the monarch to back down two days before the ban was due to come into force). Frederick the Great banned it in Germany in 1777 for nationalistic and economic reasons; concerned about the price of import, he sought to force the public back to consuming beer. Lacking coffee-producing colonies, Germany had to import all its coffee at a great cost.

A look at contemporary religious prohibitions next time.

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you're the employee of the month at the local coffeehouse and you don't even work there! 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, March 26, 2013

COFFEE POWER!

Coffee: Is there anything it can’t do?

A tweet from coffee guru Jack Groot mentions a coffee-powered car breaking a world record and that led me to an on line article in TIME by Yue Wang.

In addition to providing a morning energy boost for millions of under caffeinated people and reportedly helping lower stroke risks, coffee can also be used to fuel a Guinness World Record–breaking car.

Martin Bacon converted a Ford pickup truck into Coffee Car Mark 2 — the world’s fastest coffee-powered vehicle. Bacon installed a charcoal stove on the car, which breaks down coffee-bean chaff (a by-product of the roasting process) into carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The gas is then cooled and filtered, and the hydrogen is used to power a modified gasoline engine. The coffee car hit a top speed of 65 m.p.h. in the presence of a Guinness adjudicator at Woodford Airfield in Manchester, England, on Feb. 19.

Starting the machine is no easy task. Instead of simply turning the ignition key, Bacon has to load the coffee pellets to the boiler and wait for enough pressure to build up. After two test runs on that chilly morning and some tinkering with the machine that generates fluffs of white smoke when started, he successfully broke a world record.

Bacon has long been fascinated with coffee-powered vehicles. According to BBC, he converted an old Volkswagen Scirocco into Coffee Car Mark 1 and drove it 210 miles from London to Manchester in 2010. The Car-puccino, which reportedly reached 60 m.p.h., claimed the Guinness World Record of the longest journey by a coffee-powered car.

Now, Bacon and his team are driving the Mark 2 on a tour across the U.K. to promote Co-operative Food, a British fair-trade brand.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees are certainly too good to power your car! You’ll get a great cup of joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that just might be high octane! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when Starbucks owns the mortgage on your house! 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, March 12, 2013

MORE ANNOYING COFFEE

No one wants coffee that has passed through an animal and costs $13 per defecated cup! Jack Groot recently tweeted a story by James Mulcahy and Anne Roderique-Jones on the ZAGAT website about the ten most annoying coffee trends. They rounded up the most frequent complaints, from fatty Frappucinos to ultra-pricey espresso machines and we’ll continue to talk about the top annoyances.

Animal defecated coffee is made from coffee beans eaten by a civet. Once nature takes its course, the bean is roasted and you have Kope Luwak, a concoction coffee houses charge a fortune for. I can see why folks would be turned off by this but how did someone figure out how to do it in the first place?

Stay away from any drink hat requires more than four syllables to order. I love descriptions like coffee from a single-farmer owned estate on the shady side of the mountain under dwarf palm trees picked by a left-handed singing troubadour on a sunny Tuesday afternoon during a lunar cycle while an asteroid was approaching.

Many of the mega chains call it coffee when it's 95% fat and sugar. Inhaling a milkshake for breakfast and calling it “coffee” is a direct ticket to fat camp. Coffee should just be simply made, full aroma and taste, not with a whole bunch of other flavors and sweeteners to cover the bean.

Another annoyance is ultra-expensive one-single-cup-of-coffee-at-a-time machines that are popularized every Christmas buying season. There’s one that costs a cool $1,200 but unless you’ve set your sights on being an amateur barista, you might find a cheaper way to DIY.

And last but not least, blond roasts. It is just under-roasted! The coffee is weak and some pretend that it is like fine wine! Coffee should not be a tall blonde. That’s a woman, not a beverage.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees are certainly not annoying! You’ll get a great cup of joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees is one that just might knock your socks off! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when people get dizzy just watching you!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, March 5, 2013

ANNOYING COFFEE

The Number One complaint was rude baristas. It seems that people want to order their drinks without snobbery. That attitude seems to prevail in some coffee house “laboratories” that act that way just to up prices.

Burnt offerings from the big boys was Complaint #2. Burning the bean and calling it “dark roast” is not impressive. While the big chains will dominate the world they’ll never have the lower prices and unique menu items found in the small coffee shops. They know how to roast the beans there, too.

It ain’t 20 year old single malt scotch! You know there’s a problem when you are charged more for a shot of espresso than for a gallon of gas!

And coffee is a drink not a life style! It’s coffee, not some holy communion.

It may look pretty but taking ten minutes to make pretty latte art does not equal a good cup of coffee.

We’ll talk about more annoying coffee trends next week. The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company’s four brands of gourmet coffees are certainly not annoying! You’ll get a great cup of joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee experience during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees is one that just might knock your socks off! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you’ve built a miniature city out of little coffee stirrers! 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, February 5, 2013

COFFEE CONVERGING ON SODA

According to Derek Thompson, a senior editor at The Atlantic, ten years ago Americans drank enough soda every year to fill a small aquarium: fifty-three gallons of the stuff per person. That's half a liter of Diet Coke on an average day. Compare that to our other favorite liquid-caffeine companion. For every cup of coffee we consumed in 2003, we drank two cups of soft drink. For $1 we spent on coffee, we spent $4 on soda.

Now look where we are: Soda is in a free fall, with domestic revenue down 40%. Coffee culture is ascendant, up 50% in ten years. In another decade, the United States could easily spend more on coffee than soda -- something utterly unthinkable at the turn of the century.

Four factors are behind this remarkable caffeinated convergence:

(1) The health thing. This hardly requires summary. Soda ain't cigarettes, but sugary soft drinks have faced a similar cultural and political backlash in the last decade. As obsessively healthy attitudes have osmosed from yoga yuppies to the general population, local governments have turned on soda, pressing school bans and cup-volume limits. Fading consumer sentiment has had twin impacts: pushing soda drinkers to switch to cheaper brands and encouraging soda companies to shift toward diet drinks, smaller bottles, and alternative drinks.

(2) The water and energy-drink craze. Americans drink about 180 gallons of liquid every year. That number is practically carved in stone. It's zero-sum. When a soda drinker decides she wants to drink iced tea with lunch from now on, she's won't order a Diet Coke and an iced tea. She'll just switch. When we drink more of one kind of beverage -- bottled water sales are up 50 percent in the last decade; sports and energy drink sales are up 100 percent -- those gains have been soda's pains. The rise of energy drinks is especially important because energy drinks directly replace soft drinks among customers who buy Diet Coke and its ilk for an afternoon pick-up. Americans still drink more soda than any other "category" of drink, like milk or juice. But the gap is fading quickly.

(3) Ascendant coffee culture. Coffee consumption in the U.S. is basically flat, after two decades when Starbucks and other national coffee shops sprouted like a steroidal ragweed along urban and suburban sidewalks. But young consumers haven't yet had their fix, and as this demographic trades up for more expensive coffee when the economy recovers, the overall industry should continue buzzing. Just as studies showing the ill effects of sugary drinks have hurt soda, studies showing that we can basically drink as much coffee as we want, permit young people to go back for refills. Consumption has increased the most for consumers between 18 and 24, and younger consumers are more likely to drink coffee on a daily basis today than five years ago and the most likely to drink espresso drinks.

(4) Rising coffee prices. Coffee's growth isn't just a matter of trading up to more expensive lattes, it's also a case of paying more each year for the same cup. "Much of the revenue growth in the past five years was stimulated by a 14.1% annualized increase in the world price of coffee," which were mostly passed on to customers.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company can satisfy your soft drink replacements with our four brands of gourmet coffees. You’ll get a real start on having a great cup of joe with PANIOLA 100% Kona Cowboy Coffee, grown on Hawaiian volcanoes and roasted in the Rocky Mountains … the one with no bitter aftertaste and no acidity. CAFÉ PINON de Nuevo Mexico is the Southwest’s favorite with pinion nuts and a perfect way to improve your coffee happiness during the day. And our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees that will make you positively positive! We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!