Kona Cowboy Coffee: Kona

Showing posts with label Kona. Show all posts

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, 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!

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 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, January 15, 2013

COFFEE FOR YOUR SWEET TOOTH

Got a great Coffee Caramel recipe from the Internet on about.com. These Coffee Caramels have a smooth, smoky coffee taste and a rich, chewy, buttery texture. The recipe as written produces a caramel with a noticeable but not overwhelming coffee taste--you can adjust the amount of instant coffee to suit your personal preferences, using anywhere from 1-3 tbsp instant coffee. Your best bet in freeze-dried Kona coffee…which I can get you. Just ask.

This recipe yields about 4 dozen small caramels.

Ingredients:

· 1 cup granulated sugar

· 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

· 1/4 cup light corn syrup

· 1/4 cup honey

· 1.5 cups half and half (not fat-free)

· 2 tbsp instant coffee (Kona is the best)

· 1/4 cup (2 oz) butter (not margarine), cut into 4 pieces

· 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Prepare an 8x8 pan by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil heavily with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Place the sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, honey, half and half, instant coffee, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until the butter is melted and the sugars dissolve. Insert a candy thermometer.

3. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the thermometer reaches 250.

4. Once at 250, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the caramel into the prepared pan. Allow it to set at room temperature for 3 hours, or until cool and firm.

5. Remove the caramel from the pan by using the foil as handles. Flip it upside down and peel the foil off the back. Spray a large sharp knife with nonstick spray, and cut the caramel into small squares or bars.

6. Wrap the caramels in squares of waxed paper to prevent them from sticking together. (Alternately, they can be dipped in chocolate.) Store wrapped Coffee Caramels in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company can satisfy your coffee cravings 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!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you speak perfect Arabic without ever taking a lesson! 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, January 8, 2013

GOT A SINGLE-SERVE COFFEE MAKER?

Jack Groot tweeted an online article that he found in the HuffPost:

If you use a Keurig single-serve coffee maker, or one of its many rivals, to brew your morning coffee, you're being gouged. According to a report from New York Times java expert Oliver Strand, the coffee in the machine's capsules comes out to a whopping $51 dollars a pound. That's more, he writes, than all but the highest-end beans produced by artisanal roasters like Stumptown and Intelligentsia -- let alone Folgers.

Time magazine notes that prices are a little lower if you buy the pods in bulk through a vendor like Amazon. But they're still much more expensive than even high-end beans.

The reason people -- especially young people -- are willing to pay that much is that single-serve makers are very convenient, and are often still cheaper than getting your fix at a coffee shop. They let you brew coffee extremely quickly and with no annoying cleanup afterwards.

The past few years have seen virtually every major coffee company rush to get a piece of the rapidly-growing single-serve coffee maker market. Anyone not marketing its own is probably making capsules for use in the market leader Keurig. Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks, for example, both signed on in August.

One way you can make Keurig coffee using normal-priced beans by using a product called "My K-Cup." It costs $17.95 on the Keurig website and is indefinitely reusable. That makes it good for the thrifty and the eco-conscious. But it's also worth noting that a big part of the reason people use a single-serve coffee machine is that it lets them avoid having to deal with the mess of wet coffee grounds.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company can fill up your K-Cup 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 single-serve 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!

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, January 1, 2013

REFLECTION

Take some time today to look through some old photo albums and reflect on the way God has worked in your life. There might be a picture of an old love who broke your heart. “Thank goodness we broke up. Otherwise I would have never met the person God really wanted me to marry.” Or you might now understand how that painful move across country brought you to a neighborhood filled with new friends and blessings. Ponder the little things, too.

Today we begin a new year. What a perfect time to take up a prayerful, thoughtful way of life. New Year’s Day is often a quiet day of transition from the holiday season into a new year. So why not take advantage of the calm to do some reflection of your own? You may even want to look at pictures from the past year to spur your memory.

See if you can detect God’s presence in the good times and the challenging times. Recognize his grace in the big and small areas of your life. Then, armed with the evidence of God’s loving care, you can begin this new year with a new level of faith and a deeper readiness to trust in the Lord.

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company, maker of four brands of gourmet coffees, wishes you a Happy and Prosperous New Year. We invite you to try 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 our MOKA-JAVA is a medium dark roasted blend of Indonesian and Ethiopian coffees. We also make COWBOY ACTION COFFEE, the Official Coffee of the Single Action Shooting Society!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when your New Year’s resolution is to amount to a hill of beans! 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, December 11, 2012

KONA COFFEE BROWNIES

Here’s a recipe you might want to try for holiday entertaining. Kona coffee is prized for its bold, clean flavor and in this recipe, that famous Kona coffee flavors both the brownies and their ganache topping. Don’t fret, we’ll supply you with the Kona coffee but, we’ll admit, good espresso beans and strong brewed espresso work well, too.

Here’s what you’ll need…

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

2 cups sugar

15 tablespoons (2 sticks minus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tablespoons finely ground Kona coffee beans

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup pecan pieces

And for the frosting…

1 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (6 ounces)

6 tablespoons freshly brewed Kona coffee

Here’s what you do…

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9x2-inch metal pan with nonstick spray. Combine sugar, butter, cocoa, ground Kona coffee, and salt in large metal bowl. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water and whisk until butter melts and ingredients are blended (texture will be grainy). Remove bowl from over water; cool mixture to lukewarm if necessary. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Sift flour over and fold in. Mix in pecans.

Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake brownies until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool brownies in pan.

Place chocolate chips in small bowl. Bring brewed Kona coffee to simmer in small saucepan; pour over chips and stir until melted and smooth. Let ganache stand until cool and beginning to thicken, about 1 hour; spread evenly over brownies. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; let stand at room temperature.) Cut brownies into 15 squares.

Lastly, enjoy. And invite us over!

The Kona Cowboy Coffee Company can get your Christmas coffee consumption going with our four brands of gourmet coffees. You’ll get a real start on having a great holiday 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 holiday 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!

You know you’re a coffee fiend when you don't need a hammer to pound nails! 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, December 4, 2012

WOULD YOU PAY $7 FOR A CUP OF COFFEE?

Recently saw a tweet from Jack Groot where he forwarded an article by Ben Popken, a TODAY contributor. Popken asks, “Fancy a $7 cup of Starbucks? “

In this day of skyrocketing gas and food prices, only a select few do. But that's the price for a special rare brew Starbucks is serving up in only 48 stores in the country and 46 of them are in Seattle and Portland. Ask for "Costa Rica Finca Palmilera," and pay over $40 for a half-pound.

Starbucks said there's a very good reason for the premium price on this "exotic" blend from a rare "Geisha varietal" line, which comes from an ancient line of plants that traces its lineage back to Ethiopia. They didn't make very much of it. It's simple supply and demand, created for demanding coffee fans in two of the nation's most coffee-centric cities.

The coffee "only grows at extremely high altitudes, and because of the tree’s low yield allows for more of the soil's nutrients to reach each cherry, intensifying the coffee's vibrant flavors," said the Starbucks spokesperson. "A trained nose and palate might pick up delicate floral aromas, flavors of white peach and pineapple, and a juicy herbal complexity in this coffee." In addition, all the beans came from just 3 hectares out of a single 90 hectare estate, yielding a tiny amount, a mere 3,800 pounds. "Costa Rica Finca Palmilera" is part of the Starbucks "Reserve" line of coffees, where the company hunts down rare and flavorful beans in origin countries and makes them available at just a few stores for a brief period of time.

"It is the highest price we've ever had," a Starbucks spokesperson told TODAY. "It raises the bar."

Would you pay $7 for a cup of coffee?

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