Coffee Shop Talk

If you think coffee can only be taken in its familiar liquid form, better think again. Coffee can be used to marinate steaks and even lamb chops. Infusing steak with caffeine from our favorite beverage produces a unique flavor that’s sure to please even non coffee lovers. Here is a unique recipe for gourmet coffee steak.

Ingredients:

Rub:

• 1 ½ tsp of your favorite instant coffee
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1k rib eye steak
• 1 tsp vegetable oil

Coffee Gravy:

• ¼ tsp of your favorite Instant Coffee
• 1 cup beef stock
• ¼ cup jalapeno, chopped
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in
• 1 tbsp water

Procedure:

1. Combine the coffee, garlic powder, pepper, salt and sugar. Then evenly coat the mixture on both sides of the steak
2. Heat the oil in a skillet and saute steaks to preferred doneness.
3. In a saucepan, combine coffee and stock. Let it boil and simmer over medium heat until liquid is reduced to about 1 cup.
4. Add jalapeno, brown sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch mixture and any juices from the steaks. Mix well.
5. Serve the coffee gravy over steaks.

How do we know that the coffee beans being used to brew our favorite drink taste just right? Expert coffee tasters of course! If there is one job in the world that I envy, it’s got to be a coffee taster or what the industry calls cuppers. For coffee lovers, who wouldn’t want to taste different kinds of coffee all day and get paid to do it? But just like professional wine tasters, there is a certain degree of skill to it. Your taste buds must be sensitive enough to pick up the slightest flavors that make a great coffee. Here are three of the basic properties most cuppers check to ensure coffee that is served at it’s finest.

Acidity - This refers to the sharp, lively features of coffee. Cuppers look for that pleasant sharpness and vibrant quality of the beverage. Too little acidity means less flavor, resulting in a flat-tasting coffee. Too much acidity, on the other hand, would result in an undesirable sour taste. I have had a couple of coffee that’s too acidic for my taste. I wouldn’t want to name the brand, but it’s a local 3 in 1 coffee which comes in sachet form.

Roastiness - Roasting is a critical part of coffee processing as it develops and brings out the full flavor and aroma of the bean. Proper roasting requires the right temperature and the right length of roasting time. Different varieties of beans also involve different levels of roasting. Poorly roasted coffee often taste burnt. I have tasted coffee that too roasted and the experience left a baste taste in my mouth.

Coffeeness - A good cup of coffee means clean, coffee aroma and the notable absence of any off flavor tastes in the coffee. Off flavor tastes like earthy, grassy, and stewed are caused by incorrect post harvest treatment methods of berries, picking coffee berries that are still unripe and incorrect processing of coffee beans. This basically checks for anything that doesn’t make a coffee taste like coffee.

Here’s another benefit from our favorite beverage. Researchers at the University of Bari has concluded that drinking coffee can prevent the phenomenon called blepharospasm which in actual fact is a dystonia caused by involuntary muscle movements leading to twitchy eyelids which, despite popular opinion and myth that coffee might actually be the main cause of the problem.

While drinking one cup does not immediately solve the problem, it does offer some natural protection. It’s the caffeine in the coffee that’s responsible for this protective effect by stimulating the receptors that control the movements in the ganglio basal area of the brain. The list of benefits from drinking coffee just keeps on going and I am sure there’s still a lot more benefits yet to be discovered.