[A]ll this month, we’re focusing on where food meets coffee. These intersections are not only delicious, they’re creative and good for business, especially when the dishes are coffee-infused. Everything from cappuccino panna cotta, to vegan coffee caramel ice cream, to coffee butter, to a coffee-rubbed beef stew, are making their way onto menus and onto the plates of hungry customers. We’ve collected a few recipes of sweet and savory dishes creatively using coffee as an ingredient. Go forth and bake!
Portland, Oregon’s McMenamins Zeus Café serves up a smoked brisket breakfast burrito that uses McMenamins Congo Zeus House Roast coffee. The burrito is a take on a machaca burrito, with ground coffee added into the spice rub before smoking. The coffee “intensifies the smokiness of the meat after cooking. It has currently been on the menu for six months now, and is selling like gang busters” says Zeus Café chef Warren Pinkston.
The Rose Establishment in Salt Lake City marinates and roasts beets in leftover batch brew and uses them in their Roots Sandwich, made with lime basil aioli, roasted sweet potato, pickled onion, greens, and coffee-roasted beets on five-seed bread.
Retro Bistro in Mount Prospect and Crystal Lake, Illinois make coffee-braised short ribs using cold-brewed coffee. The ribs are marinated in coffee (and red wine) for twelve hours, cooked in a dutch oven for at least four hours, and served with polenta and brussels sprouts.
Heart Coffee Roasters’ coffee makes its way on to the plate at Phoenix, Arizona’s Crêpe Bar, where they infuse it into the brunch menu. Dishes like the Grand Prix (coffee crêpe, pork belly, espresso maple syrup, crème fraîche, and an egg) feature coffee throughout the dish. Coffee is not just in the brine for the pork belly, it’s in the batter of the crêpe, and in the syrup, and it’s all made from scratch.
Cold-Brew Pop Tarts combine the best of both worlds, chocolate and coffee, into one delicious pastry. Chameleon Cold-Brew’s full recipe can be found here.
For more recipes that use coffee as an ingredient, check out Seattle Coffee Gear’s Youtube channel “Brewin’ with Brandi,” and the Rohan Marley’s forthcoming cookbook, One Love, Many Coffees & 100 Recipes, due August 15.
—Rachel Sandstrom Morrison is Fresh Cup’s associate editor.
