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https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news.atomKohana Coffee - The Bloom2022-10-20T11:29:33-04:00Kohana Coffeehttps://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/cold-brew-mocha-smores-waffles2022-10-20T11:29:33-04:002023-07-26T02:08:55-04:00Cold Brew Mocha S'mores WafflesKohana CoffeeIngredients:

Waffle Batter

1 Cup sprouted grain flour (or whole wheat all-purpose or whole

wheat pastry)

2 whole wheat graham cracker sheets

1 whole wheat graham cracker sheet, broken into small pieces

1 large egg

3 ounces Kohana Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

5 ounces milk

2 large very ripe bananas

1 tsp vanilla

2.5 teaspoons baking powder

Chocolate Sauce

• 1/2 cup 55-85% chocolate

• 1.5 Tbsp Kohana Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Peanut Butter Spread

• 4 Tbsp peanut butter

• 1.5 Tbsp Kohana Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Additional

• 8 large marshmallows

Directions:

1. Pulse the 2 graham cracker sheets into a flour-like texture in a food processor or high quality blender before adding the bananas and pulsing until you have a smooth mixture.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg, Kohana concentrate, milk and vanilla before adding the banana mixture and stirring until smooth.

3. In a large bowl, mix the flour and baking soda. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring until well incorporated, but not over-mixing.

4. Turn on your waffle iron and let batter sit while it heats and you prepare the chocolate and peanut butter toppings.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/grounds-for-dismissal2018-07-16T13:37:00-04:002022-11-16T19:52:13-05:00Grounds for DismissalMasood UmerAs coffee connoisseurs, we all know that not all beans are created equal nor are the coffees they eventually become. There are good grinds, and there are bad grinds. What’s surprising is just how ugly some can be.

Blame it on supply and demand. Global demand for coffee has roughly doubled in the last decade. We have become a coffee planet and the world’s greatest beverage is more popular than ever for reasons that need no explanation. Yet back on the plantation, harvests are getting ever tighter as climate change-spurred weather extremes make it harder for growers in many areas to produce their historically bountiful crops of beloved beans.

In Brazil and Asia, for example, recent droughts have reduced the Robusta crop, beans commonly used for instant coffee and other things best left unmentioned. We know what you’re thinking. “No problem! I don’t drink that dreck.” (We don’t either.) Yes, but… suppliers are making up the difference with Arabica beans, and that’s putting pressure on worldwide supplies of coffees we care about.

As a result of shortfalls like these, the coffee being sold today isn’t always what we think it is. It can be full of fillers from seeds and grains to corn, rice, and even junk like husks and sticks that help less-than-scrupulous dealers keep their sacks full and their prices low. Even worse (we know—what’s worse than a cup of fresh-brewed sticks?), the U.S. has low standards for acceptable levels of mold in coffee, which leaves manufacturers also free to use fungally challenged beans whenever it’s convenient.

How do they get away with these high crimes? That’s no secret. Once all these impurities are roasted and ground, they look just like the coffee they’re pretending to be.

That’s not the kind of cup we’re craving, which means the real issue is making sure we don’t bring home any of this fakery. Thankfully, a few rules go a long way toward ensuring that we always pour coffee that actually is.

  1. Avoid the bargain bin. The idea of cheap coffee is appealing, but there’s a reason it costs less, and that’s usually some combination of poor quality beans, added fillers, and mold-infested product.

  2. Choose a roaster you know. Those no-name brands and generic coffees have no reputation to protect. But boutique roasters and big companies alike have worked hard to establish their street cred, and they’re not going to throw all that quality control away to make a quick buck.

  3. Go organic. Organic standards are the highest around—organic coffee has to be inspected and certified. And having third parties poke around your products is a serious impediment to cheating.

  4. Use whole-bean coffee. When you buy whole beans and grind them yourself, they can’t hide as many secrets. You’ll be able to tell if something’s amiss.

It may add up to a little more per cup. But as coffee lovers, who among us can possibly put a price on a perfect cup of the real thing?

Special Offer:Get 15% off your next order with coupon code WOMENSOURCED. Hurry offer expires July 31st!Shop now!

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/cold-comfort-is-cold-brew-coffee-healthier-than-hot2018-06-28T14:56:00-04:002022-11-16T19:52:13-05:00Cold Comfort: Is Cold Brew Coffee Healthier Than Hot?Masood UmerSome 450 million cups of coffee are consumed every day in the U.S, and it’s no mystery why—coffee is delicious and nutritious, and the mental and physical lift it delivers fuels active days and energized nights.

That boost is born, of course, of caffeine, but when it comes to this magical molecule, not all coffees are created equal.

The caffeinated king of all coffees is cold brew. Brewed with time, not heat, cold brew coffee is made by steeping maximum amounts of coffee in minimum quantities of cool water for as much as 24 hours. The result is a dense coffee concentrate jam-packed with caffeine that can be diluted to any strength without sacrificing the rich flavor coffee drinkers crave.

That control is important because caffeine affects everyone differently. At least six separate genes determine how our individual metabolisms handle it. Some of us can consume an entire carafe and fall asleep on the couch. For others, a single cup triggers the jittery restlessness, heart palpitations, anxiety, sweating, and nausea that are common symptoms of too much caffeine.

Cold brew has other unique benefits, too. Because it’s produced without heat, few of coffee’s usual bitter acids are extracted from the beans. That makes cold brew not only smoother and more delectable to drink, but far easier on our stomachs and our health. Our bodies prefer an alkaline not acidic state, and cold-brew won’t disrupt this delicate pH balance. This notable lack of bitterness also means less sugar and cream are needed to create the ideal cup, a boon to our waistlines and blood sugar alike.

You can make cold brew even healthier still by choosing a coffee like Kohana Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate. Made from carefully curated beans sourced exclusively from individual women-owned farms, it’s meticulously slow-roasted then brewed in small batches that perfectly capture the peak flavor profile this process produces. Every hand-crafted bottle has been nurtured by artisans who understand the rewards only fresh just-harvested beans and creative coddling can bring.

Better still, Kohana Cold Brew is 100% organic. Unlike conventional coffee, which is typically soaked in upwards of 250 pounds of toxins per acre, Kohana Cold Brew is free of these poisons. That’s far better for you and the world, too. Add in cold brew’s other incredible gifts, and you’ll find a magnificent moment to savor in every single sip.

Special Offer: Get 15% off your next order with coupon code WOMENSOURCED. Hurry offer expires July 10th! Shop now!

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/8-fun-coffee-facts2017-07-10T11:17:00-04:002018-05-02T12:09:45-04:008 Fun Coffee FactsKohana CoffeeCoffee is a superlative beverage. But it is also a beverage of superlatives though some of the ways it’s earned that honor are, shall we say, slightly out of the ordinary. Here’s a look at coffee facts you won’t find on trade association web sites:

• The worlds largest iced coffee was prepared on July 17, 2014 at Caffé Bene in Yangju, South Korea. A team of what we assume were exhausted baristas filled a cup measuring almost 11 feet tall and 8½ wide with 3,758 gallons of black Americano coffee and ice cubes. Not to be outdone, the world’s largest hot cup was poured in London on November 5, 2012 and contained 3,487 gallons. Talk about a city that never sleeps…

• Our only question is did these record-breakers use the world’s largest French press to get the job done? Made by Salzillo Tea and in Murcia, Spain that behemoth is 7½ feet in height and 2 feet in diameter and requires a piston to filter its brew.

• It’s likely the only pot missing from the world’s biggest collection of coffee pots, which is owned by one Robert Dahl of Rövershagen, Germany and contains 27,390 individual coffee pots.

• We’d like to get Robert together with Architects Louise Harpman and Scott Specht, who own the world's most extensive collection of disposable plastic coffee cup lids. Somehow, for reasons that are not entirely obvious, the couple has managed to collect 550 different lids, some of which, for reasons that are even less clear, have been displayed at the Smithsonian Institute.

• 550 lids are nothing to the 300 baristas in Carvalhal, Portugal who set the world record for espresso shots last February by making 21,000 in a single hour. We’re guessing no one told them about the world’s fastest espresso machine, which cranks out an insomnia-inducing three gallons per minute.

• If it were up to us, we’d keep that machine in the back of the Car-puccino, a 1988 Volkswagon Scirocco that, like all road warriors, is powered only by coffee. In March 2010, it traveled 209 miles on coffee granules heated in a charcoal fire to produce hydrogen that was combusted for power. The car hit 60 miles per hour and went one mile for every equivalent of 56 espressos, a record we beat last week when we drove all the way to the coast after drinking just three.

• One thing we’ll never drink is coffee from pods created by Singapore’s Medano Coffee. Made from a combination of King Jantan peaberry coffee beans from North Sumatra, Indonesia, and 22K gold dust, these are most expensive pods on Earth. Each one retails for $55.63 and (we’re guessing) includes an application for a second mortgage.

• Lastly, comes the world record for the most coffee ever consumed. We couldn’t find any details, but multiple sources report that someone somewhere once drank a buzz-busting 82 cups of coffee in a mere seven hours, and, we presume, never slept again. File that and all the rest under “Don’t Try This At Home.”

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/unique-ways-to-use-coffee2017-07-05T09:09:00-04:002018-05-02T12:11:21-04:00Unique Ways To Use CoffeeKohana CoffeeCoffee is clearly a drink about which we cannot say enough. It is our manna and our muse, a wellspring of both solace and celebration into which we dip without hesitation or regret. But let us not sell its capabilities short, for the sweet essence of the bean is more than a beverage. It’s a magician with multiple tricks up its sleeve. Here are a few of our favorites:

Fabric Dye. Light colored fabrics soaked in coffee take on a lovely aged patina. Place yours in coffee for 24 hours, rinse, and air dry. The longer it sits, the deeper the antiqued shade of tan you’ll achieve.

Wood Stain. Brew a pot of extra strong coffee. When it’s finished, dump the spent grounds back into your carafe. Let the coffee cool, then saturate any untreated wood with the results. Wait a while then wipe everything clean. As with fabric, the longer your wood soaks, the deeper the stain.

Breath Mint. If you’ve got breath issues, suck on a coffee bean. It will freshen your outflow, and you can chew it when you’re done to finish the job.

Hair Solution. Brew a pot of strong coffee, let it cool, and pour it into a bowl. Over the bowl in a sink, pour the coffee through your hair several times until your mane is saturated. Cover your head in a shower cap, wait 30 minutes, then rinse. Dark hair will get darker and attain a wonderful shine. Grey hair won’t be for awhile.

Vase Fillers. Whole coffee beans can be used as attractive natural vase fillers or in pencil holders and other containers that need some weight or stability. They have a gorgeous look and a great smell, too!

Furniture Scratch Remover. Dip a cotton swab in strong coffee or a paste of very finely ground beans. Rub the swab over the scratches in any dark wood. Let everything dry and brush off the remnants.

Scented Mood Candles. Fill a bowl with fresh roasted whole beans and place a tea light in the middle. The heat from the candle will cause the beans to emit their scent. Or buy some candle wicks from a craft store and grind some fresh coffee. Melt eight to ten tea lights in a double boiler, remove their wicks, add the coffee, stir, and pour into a small jelly jar. Tie the wick to a pencil and hang it down in the center of the candle (you may need to weight the wick’s bottom). Light the candle to add a delicious coffee scent to any room.

Air Freshener. Take an old pair of nylons, cut the legs off, insert one leg into the other, fill the toe with freshly coarse-ground coffee, cut the nylons somewhere above (exactly where will depend on how much grounds you’ve added) and tie off the nylon above the coffee. Place these around the house to absorb odors and add the aroma of your preferred beverage to every corner of your home.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-art-of-caffeine2017-06-20T13:36:00-04:002018-05-02T12:11:59-04:00The Art of CaffeineKohana Coffee There are lots of reasons we prefer coffee. It’s indescribably delicious, simple to summon, and can be dressed up in all kinds of ways for an equally expansive variety of occasions. And did we mention it comes with a helpful helping of caffeine?

Because let’s be honest: We drink it for taste. We drink it for fun. We drink it to warm up or to cool down. But we also drink it to give our bodies and our brains a boost. And depending on how your day is going, this gift of caffeine may be the biggest coffee gives.

Which brings us to today’s question: how to maximize your own coffee’s caffeine content for those moments when you need it most. These tips will give you a bigger bang for your cup:

These strategies will brew a bigger buzz. But there’s more to it. Next time, we’ll talk about making the most of all the caffeination you’ve just created.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/made-in-the-shade2017-06-15T09:52:00-04:002018-05-02T12:12:25-04:00Made in the ShadeKohana Coffee

There’s a lot to love about the transition from winter to spring and then spring to our beloved summer. For many of us, it’s the moment when cold and snow and worse are replaced by warmth and sun and a lot to look forward to. And one of the things we look for most are the songbirds that return to our neighborhood trees. They’ve been missed, and we wonder: Where did they go in the first place?

Would you believe coffee farms?

Over 40 species of migratory songbirds—everything from warblers and Orioles to tanagers and thrushes— love coffee as much as we do, if, that is, it’s shade-grown.

Shade-grown coffee is coffee the way coffee used to be, which is to say it’s not grown on plantations from which all native vegetation has been cleared to make way for endless neat rows of coffee trees. Instead it’s raised underneath a canopy of indigenous trees that have been allowed to remain. That’s how coffee originally came to be, and the trees it evolved under create a perfect habitat for songbirds, who flock to shade-grown farms every autumn.

In addition to supplying our coffee, these farms offer a winter sanctuary to the migratory birds that supply our summers with song. Unlike a conventional all-coffee-no-forest plantation, the trees left standing on shade-grown plots provide the vital food, water, and shelter that our migratory songbirds need in order to gain the weight required to fuel their long often difficult trek back north for breeding each spring.

Without this food and shelter, migration is much more difficult and birds become far less likely to survive the trip and successfully raise their next generation of young. It’s one of the primary reasons North American songbird populations have been declining—the warm winter habitat they depend upon has been disappearing to various kinds of development. Shade-grown coffee is playing a critical role in reversing that trend, and scientists are showing us just how important it can be.

Shade-grown farms in Guatemala, for example, have 30% more birds than traditional sun-soaked plantations. A study in Chiapas, Mexico counted 46 species of migratory songbirds on shade-grown plantations but found only 6 to 12 species on nearby unshaded operations. Shaded farms in Venezuela were found have 14 times more migratory birds than even nearby forests.

Shade-grown gives other gifts as well. It creates habitat for large numbers of native plants, animals, and insects; reduces the need for pesticides; protects water resources; and even fights climate change by absorbing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

That’s why we love shade-grown and use as much as we possibly can. It’s harder to find, and harvests aren’t as large so it’s a little more expensive to buy, but we think it’s more than worth it. We can’t put a price on the avian beauty that fills our North American summers. But paying a little more to fill our cups to save it is a bargain in our hands that’s worth far more than two in the bush.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-truth-about-coffee-antioxidants2017-06-12T11:29:00-04:002018-05-02T12:12:43-04:00The Truth About Coffee & AntioxidantsKohana CoffeeOur quest for health takes us many places. To our yoga mats and our bicycle seats. To the hiking trail and the fitness center, a bowl of fruit or a lunchtime salad. Yet if we really want to boost our bodies, we should head for the nearest café and order a large latte.

Not to say those other things don’t matter. They do. But when it comes to self-care, the latest scientific surprise is deliciously simple: drink coffee.

Researchers who’ve picked our favorite drink apart say it’s loaded with all kinds of good things our bodies need to maintain optimal wellness and the top source of antioxidants in the human diet.

Antioxidants help our cells stay healthy. They defend us from toxins called free radicals, unstable molecules that are missing an electron. There are all kinds of free radicals. They come from things like pollution, sun exposure, and even our bodies themselves, which produce them as byproducts of metabolism. Free radical chemistry gets a little heavy, but the short version is that when these molecules are inside us (and they always are), they seek to become stable by “stealing” an electron from wherever they can. The “victims” of this theft are often the proteins and DNA our cells need to work properly. This action damages these essential elements of life and leaves them in a tough spot—they either have to steal an electron from somewhere else to repair themselves, which starts a chain reaction of harm, or they simply start to malfunction, which leads to diseases like cancer and other unfortunate things.

Antioxidants are the antidote. They’ve got an extra “spare” electron that they can donate to any nearby free radicals that need one without turning into a free radical themselves. This neutralizes toxins while sparing our cells. When we’ve got a lot of antioxidants in our bodies, we’re healthier. And when we drink coffee, we’re getting a lot of antioxidants.

While other foods have more antioxidants per serving, coffee wins the day as the world’s leading source because we consume so much more of it than most other foods. Every cup we savor contains a literal wealth of these beneficial nutrients.

They include necessities like quinines, which help maintain healthy blood sugar levels; the appropriately named cafestol, a brain-boosting anti-inflammatory; and antibacterial compounds like melanoidin and trigonelline. Coffee also contains large amounts of chlorogenic acid, hydrocinnamic acid, and other polyphenols, antioxidants known for their potency and their role in preventing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

Antioxidants are measured by something called ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) units. The USDA recommends we consume at least 3000-5000 ORAC units daily. Since coffee gives us 2,750 units for every 3.4 ounces we drink, just a cup or two a day goes a long way toward ensuring we get the minimum we need. We’re not saying forsake fruits and vegetables. By all means, bring on the blueberries and the broccoli. Then wash them down with a cup or two of health insurance. (Kohanacare, anyone?)

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-ultimate-travel-mugs2017-06-06T11:00:00-04:002018-05-02T12:13:15-04:00The Ultimate Travel MugsKohana CoffeeIs there any more essential tool for the itinerant coffee lover than a good travel mug? We don’t think so. It’s the one thing that can make or break the coffee-on-the-go experience, and all success rides on its superpowers or horrifying lack thereof.

Unfortunately, most travel mugs are meh at best and a cruel practical joke at worst. They leak. They lose heat. They’re hard to clean or add off tastes or won’t fit in your cupholder. Some need two hands for a sip which is really more of a dribble. Others send your precious elixir of life flying by the face-full whenever you’re brave enough to go in for a swig.

You can do better. And for the sake of your mobile coffee experience, you must. Here are five of our most very favorite travel mugs to help:

The Zojirushi excels at coffee transport and looks good doing it: It keeps coffee piping (and we mean piping) hot or (your choice) delightfully iced for up to six hours, which is tops as far as we’ve seen; wouldn’t spill a drop in an F5 tornado let alone your bag; has a locking lid that pops open with one hand on the wheel (though you may need two hands to close it); and it doesn’t have fussy parts to clean. Better still, it comes in multiple colors for households looking to avoid morning mug wars.

The CamelBak Forge offers similar leak-free, one-handed operation, but we like its clever design, which makes this mug virtually impossible to open accidentally and features a super convenient hook that makes it easy to clip onto a bag, carabiner, or anything else. The same hook also stops it from rolling all over your car or floor. Made military-tough for use off the beaten path, this is the one that comes camping.

The Contigo covers all the important bases with aplomb but adds a cool vacuum-seal lid with a one-finger push-button operation that automatically reseals the mug when released, something the others don’t have. Plus, this is one lid you can actually wash in the dishwasher, which wins it huge points for convenience.

The Bubba Mug won’t set any records for heat retention and we certainly won’t be fearlessly tossing this into our backpack, but what it lacks in performance, it makes up for in size. At an oversized 52 ounces, this beast of a mug can hold a whole morning's, afternoon’s, or evening’s worth of java. That makes it great for the pool, the gym, the office, and any other place where you’ll need to bring a reliable long-term supply.

The Espro wins a spot in our hall of travel mug fame for one incredible reason: it’s essentially a portable French press that actually brews your coffee on the go. Sure, you’ll sacrifice a few points for heat loss and a screw-top lid, but let’s get real—road coffee doesn’t come any fresher than this, and some days that’s a plus that’s hard to ignore.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/pour-a-healthier-cup2017-05-30T11:44:00-04:002018-05-02T12:13:56-04:00Pour A Healthier CupKohana Coffee

From the recent news that coffee appears to lower the risk of liver cancer to evidence that it may protect the heart, lower inflammation, and even prevent diabetes, the drink of drinks is becoming a bona fide health food, one that’s beneficial to our bodies in all kinds of ways that matter.

That’s great news for us coffee fanatics—frankly, we’d have been happy just to find out that all those beans we’ve been brewing don’t come with any serious side effects. But discovering that coffee is actually good for us? That’s icing on the coffee cake.

And it’s a good thing, too, because the ways we all too often prepare the only beverage that matters often conspire to make the coffee we savor less than medicinal. Here’s how to pour a healthier cup:

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/iced-coffee-hacks2017-05-25T09:19:00-04:002018-05-02T12:14:15-04:00Iced Coffee HacksKohana CoffeeJune is almost here, and with it comes summer or, as we prefer to call it, iced coffee time. With the season’s heat on the rise, we’re craving cold and seeking the kind of caffeinated cool that air conditions both body and soul. For that mission, no ordinary iced coffee will do. Instead, celebrate the arrival of summer by chilling out with our 10 favorite iced coffee hacks:

One last note: The best-iced coffees always begin with full-strength cold brew coffee. It’s not only unheated in the first place, it’s a smoother, sweeter, richer coffee experience that lends itself perfectly to icing, which tends to mask subtle flavor notes with cold and dilute what’s left. Cold brew is concentrated, too, so it stands up to melting cubes and keeps those flavors coming. Hot-brewed coffee simply cannot compete!

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/strange-brews2017-05-19T11:46:00-04:002018-05-02T12:14:47-04:00Strange BrewsKohana CoffeeHumanity has been drinking coffee for at least 1,000 years. That’s a lot of time for people to have on their hands, especially in the company of caffeine. Unsurprisingly, the result has been some, shall we say, novel ways of preparing the world’s beverage of choice.

We can’t exactly call these our favorites but they definitely display the full range of coffee creativity:

Let’s start with Es Alpukat, which mixes espresso, milk, sweetened condensed milk, and… avocado? Indeed. Sometimes served over ice and/or with chocolate syrup, the result is a smoothie-like drink sold from Indonesian street carts that’s part salad, part dessert. Those who’ve had it say this culinary schizophrenia works better than you’d think.

Cà Phê Trứng contains no vegetables, but be careful what you wish for. This Vietnamese drink whips condensed milk and raw egg yolk together in a cup then fills the remainder with black coffee. The coffee sinks, the egg mixture rises, and you’re caught in the middle wishing you’d gone to Hawaii instead.

Kaffeost keeps it in the dairy case, but not in the way you’d hope. This Swedish drink pours black coffee over a delicate piece of leipäjuusto. You see it on the menu and think it sounds worth trying. Until you Google “leipäjuusto” on your smart phone and discover it’s reindeer cheese. Then, you order the tea.

When life gives you lemons, make monkey-spit coffee. That’s the philosophy of Taiwanese coffee growers fed up with rock monkeys raiding their plantations and eating their coffee cherries. The carnage leaves ruined, semi-chewed beans behind, which an enterprising farmer discovered to have a delicious vanilla-like flavor when brewed. Suddenly leipäjuusto doesn’t seem so bad.

In Melbourne, Australia the latest caffeinated sensation is Deconstructed Coffee. Served on a paddle, it’s a cup of espresso, a cup of water, and a cup of milk. Trendy, yes, and quite possibly pointless, but at least monkeys or reindeer aren’t involved.

The coffee drink called a Guillermo is a bit more put-together. Just cut a few fresh lime slices and pour espresso over it for an acid rush that probably leaves scars. An Espresso Romano is similar but uses lemon peel instead. Either way, please pass the Prilosec.

Further down this fruited continuum lies Cabernet Coffee Espresso from a company that may have had a little too much of both. Concocted by Friends Fun Wine, this canned beverage contains exactly what its name implies as does sister drink Chardonnay Coffee Cappuccino. May your own thirst never become this confused.

Saving the best for last, we come to Fiery Waterfall Coffee, the signature drink of the Lighthouse restaurant in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. You’ll want to sit down for this one. And don asbestos. Here, a presumably carefully trained professional mixes Kahlua, coffee and (wait for it…) tequila in a glass, set the whole thing on fire, and pours the resulting burning river of WTF from one glass to another before adding cream and a cherry.

That sound you hear is your barista running screaming from the room.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/daily-grind-a-guide-to-grounds2017-05-15T10:22:00-04:002018-05-02T12:15:02-04:00The Daily Grind: A Guide to GroundsKohana CoffeeA life without good coffee is hardly any life at all. Indeed, on many days, our most urgent mission is to brew the finest cup possible, and to reach this higher plane of achievement, we seek out the world’s best varieties and stock our kitchens with the perfect equipment.

Yet here’s a secret that’s often overlooked: Without the right grind, even our best and most fervent intentions won’t amount to a hill of beans.

Grinding coffee beans is the key to releasing the essence they contain. It’s the action through which the coffee we seek becomes real and perhaps the single most important part of the brewing process. Use the incorrect grind in the coffee-making method of your choice and you’ll end up with coffee that’s all wrong.

Each brewing style requires grounds of a certain size in order to pull out the desired flavors in the time allotted for their contact with water. Use a fine grind in a longer brew cycle, for example, and you’ll pour an experience that’s overly bitter and excessively strong while a coarse grind in a short brew cycle will end in coffee that’s tragically timid and limp.

The grind is all and it all starts with the grinder itself. There are two types: burr and blade. Blade grinders are inexpensive but inconsistent. Like a miniature food processor, they’re easy to use but their spinning blades barely chop some beans while annihilating others. Burr grinders are far more reliable. They send beans between a rotating disc and a stationary surface whose “teeth” break them apart until their grounds are the chosen size and able to drop into a collection compartment below. There are two types of burr grinders: Conical and wheel. Conical grinders are less likely to clog than wheel grinders and are our top choice. With a conical burr grinder, your grounds will always be right-sized and life will always be sweet.

As to what size that should be, here’s our guide:

One last note: Always grind your beans just before brewing. The many complex flavor compounds they contain are surprisingly delicate, and the longer they sit broken open in the presence of oxygen, the more their aroma and other essential contributors to taste break down. At that point even the most perfect grounds won’t save you or the coffee you’re counting on to beat the daily grind.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/brewing-a-fairer-world2017-05-11T10:21:00-04:002018-05-02T12:15:24-04:00Brewing A Fairer WorldScot MacMillanHere at Kohana, you don’t have to go far to find someone who can testify to how hard it can be for women in the world of coffee. Just find our founder, Victoria, who can attest to the challenges women face—from the plantation to the executive suite—in our favorite industry.

The issue is especially acute in the third world, where the women who grow and harvest much of the coffee we love face more than their fair share of burdens. In addition to a daily struggle to maintain hope in the face of endemic poverty and difficult working conditions, they must continually fight culturally entrenched gender biases and the terrible inequality they create.

It’s not easy, but the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) is working to change that and more by building bridges between coffee drinkers and the women who make sure our cups are always full.

It started in 2003 when founders Karen Cebreros and Kimberly Easson visited Nicaragua and Costa Rica on a trip to explore the issues women confront in the coffee-growing centers of the world and forge friendships that could help address their needs and boost their fortunes. The trip was a success, and once back home, the pair found their message and their mission attracting the kind of attention that made the creation of an organization a foregone conclusion.

Today, IWCA has 19 chapters around the world, all working together to raise awareness of the issues facing women in the coffee industry, advocate on their behalf, and work to improve their lives and communities.

To that necessary end, the IWCA provides scholarships to children in coffee regions, health screenings for women growers and their families, workshops to teach them additional marketable skills, training sessions on everything from negotiating better prices for their to boosting crop yields, and badly needed help preventing coffee rust, a common disease that can ruin the coffee trees they rely upon for their survival.

The good people at the IWCA are also helping women-run coffee farms catch up to their competition by supplying the equipment that is so vital to success in today’s high-tech coffee industry. That includes essential machinery like coffee pulpers, washing stations, hulling machines, and other tools that are almost always financially out of reach for impoverished growers trying to eke out a living on the industry’s margins.

It’s important work guided by a belief we share—that women coffee growers and handlers deserve equality and respect, and that we can all play a role in helping them achieve it while creating better, healthier, and more hopeful futures for themselves and families.

Because there’s more work hiding in that cup of coffee we just savored than most of us can imagine, and much of it is performed by women we’re all unknowingly counting on. The IWCA simply wants to make sure that these women and their families get a fair shake. And that’s a goal we should all work to advance whenever we can.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-art-of-coffee-tasting-part-two2017-04-27T10:17:00-04:002018-05-02T12:16:35-04:00The Art of Coffee Tasting, Part TwoKohana CoffeeLast time out, we looked at how to set up a proper coffee cupping, the practice of consciously sampling the coffees we love. Now we’re ready for the fun part: actually tasting some!

Coffee has three main components: Aroma, taste, and body. In a cupping session, you’ll explore all three. There are whole guides to the process, but here are the basics:

  1. Taste several coffees at once. The more you taste, the more comparisons you can make, and the more comparisons you make, the more apparent the differences between individual coffees become. Since it’s these differences that lead us to identify the flavor components of different coffees, you’ll need to have some variety on your tasting table.

  2. Clear your head and cleanse your palate. Regular coffee drinking can lead us to overlook or develop “immunity” to some of its flavor subtleties. So start by removing all preconceived notions of coffee taste from your mind. Convince yourself you’ve never had it before and start as fresh as you can. Cleanse your palate with water and perhaps plain crackers, and begin!

  3. Go black or go home. Sure, we love our cream and sugar, too. But they change coffee’s taste and hide many of the flavors you’re seeking. Black coffee, on the other hand, is pure coffee.

  4. Start with the aroma. Bend over the cup, give it a slight stir and inhale deeply. What do you smell? What does it make you think of? What other foods or scents does it bring to mind? How does the aroma between your different coffees vary?

  5. Take a quick first sip. What are you experiencing in terms of both initial flavor and aftertaste?

  6. Now slurp a sip. Slurping lets you collect more coffee and spread it more evenly across the entirety of your tongue, whose different zones respond to different elements of taste like sweet, bitter, etc. Again, what does the flavor remind you of? What other foods can you taste? What do you think of its sweetness, bitterness, and acidity? How well are all the different tastes balanced? Are there any flaws?

  7. Contemplate body. Is it thick or thin? Does it feel rich or slight in your mouth? A good coffee should have somebody too it but not so much that it sits heavy on your tongue.

  8. Consider aftertaste. Pleasant or harsh? Bitter or just right?

  9. Move from coffee to coffee without long pauses. This is the best way to get some comparisons going. Don’t worry about cleansing your palate in between—coffee is about 98% water so it’s a cleanser itself! But you can always have a sip of room temperature water if you need.

  10. Take notes. They help you focus on and remember what you’re tasting.

Last but not least, remember that to each his or her own! The coffee flavors you favor may not be the same ones your tasting friends prefer. In this test, there are no wrong answers. Enjoy!

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-art-of-coffee-tasting-part-one2017-04-25T11:18:00-04:002018-05-02T12:17:02-04:00The Art of Coffee Tasting, Part OneKohana CoffeeThankfully, coffee isn’t what it used to be. Gone are the days of horrific gas station cups filled with overheated mud so lifeless we can be forgiven for thinking it came from a pot brewed during the last World War. In their place are magnificent custom roasts carefully curated and treated like the fine wines they resemble, complete with flavor notes that speak of things like berry and nutmeg, hazelnut and hay.

For many coffee drinkers, such language is a bit of a mystery. We drink our coffee, and we love it, but rarely do we pause to tease it apart and unearth the deep well of sensory elements that combine to create the experience. And so the differences between, say, Tanzanian Peaberry and Kona Fancy remain lost to us.

Yet with just a little knowledge and a few minutes to match, we can dive into these delicious depths ourselves. When we do, whole new worlds of coffee drinking open to us, and we become connoisseurs ourselves.

The world of coffee cupping, as tasting sessions are called, is a fascinating one to explore. The Specialty Coffee Association, for example, has an entire series of tasting standards that cover everything from brewing to roasting to the size of the cupping room itself and has developed a unique flavor wheel that organizes the more than 100 separate flavor components that experts have identified in coffee. There’s even a sensory lexicon from World Coffee Research, a complete taste-aroma-texture dictionary you can download free.

Fun to read, yes, but your own tastings needn’t be this complicated. Just a follow a few simple rules:

  1. Use lighter roasts. Roasting is really a gentle burning process, but too much heat can damage the delicate compounds that contain a coffee’s flavor and dull the flavor profile of the brew those beans produce. Light roasting won’t push coffee beans to their breaking point.

  2. Brew your batches precisely. You can choose your own specifics, but apply them consistently. Use the same grind for each coffee, the same ratio of water to grounds, and the same brewing time and/or method.

  3. Choose that brewing method carefully. Not all are created equal! We like a French press with a coarse grind for its ability to extract more of the flavorful oils from our beans and its lack of a paper filter, which can affect taste.

  4. Use filtered water. Minerals, chlorine, fluoride, and other things often present in our water supply can alter the taste of the coffee we brew and not for the better. Filtration will keep these interlopers out of your cup for cleaner, clearer coffee flavor.

  5. Taste from glass or ceramic. No foam, metal, or paper, please! As is the case with the water we use, these latter materials can affect the flavor of your brew. Keep it pure!

That’s really all it takes to start tasting like a pro. Next time out, we’ll look at how to do it when you do. Stay tuned…

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/10-things-you-never-knew-about-coffee2017-04-19T10:20:00-04:002018-05-02T12:04:46-04:0010 Things You Never Knew About CoffeeKohana CoffeeCoffee is always finding new ways to amaze us. These surprises might arrive in a bean we’ve never tasted or that moment when we realize all that blossoms into being when we combine the simplicity of beans with the element of water. Yet coffee hides other secrets, too, and these revelations may surprise you even more:

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-magic-of-caffeine2017-04-12T10:04:00-04:002018-05-02T12:17:16-04:00The Magic Of CaffeineKohana CoffeeAs coffee devotees, we all know there’s a lot going on in our cups. There in the deepest dark, notes of chocolate and fruit, nut and spice, both bitter and sweet swirl together in a mélange of epicurean wonder so profound that no other beverage can compete. And, of course, all that flavor comes with the boost provided by our favorite fuel, the celebrated compound called caffeine.

In a word, perfect.

Caffeine gives coffee its zoom, and coffee gives it to us. Yet the question remains: Just how exactly does it work this black magic?

The story is all in our heads. And it starts with a chemical called adenosine. As our neurons send signals to one another to create thought and consciousness, adenosine is created along the way. This adenosine attaches itself to special receptors on our brain cells. As we think, more adenosine is produced and more receptors get filled.  Each time one does, its host nerve cell slows down its activity. Eventually, enough cells slow to create drowsiness, and we fall asleep.

Adenosine is the brain’s off-switch. It tells us when we’ve had enough thinking for one day and should hit the bed.

Enter caffeine, which is shaped and sized so much like adenosine that it can fit into those special adenosine receptors, too. But caffeine is an imposter. It looks like adenosine. It binds to our neurons like adenosine. But it doesn’t slow down their activity like adenosine. When it attaches to brain cells instead, real adenosine is blocked and that action keeps our nerve cells firing on all cylinders to make us feel less sleepy than we otherwise would.

It takes about four cups of coffee to block about half of the brain’s adenosine receptors, and the artificially boosted nerve activity that follows tricks the pituitary gland into thinking there’s some kind of crisis happening. It reacts by releasing adrenaline, our body’s emergency response hormone.

Now we’re not sleepy, our minds are going full tilt, and we’ve gotten a subtle rush of adrenaline. So far so good. But caffeine has another trick up its sleeve. It also stimulates the release of dopamine, the brain’s “feel good” chemical, and that elevates our mood along with the rest. This effect is what makes coffee mildly addictive and what makes us grouchy when we go decaf.

Caffeine’s adenosine mimicry has some byproducts of its own. When we drink coffee frequently, our brains develop more adenosine receptors in response, and over time, it takes more caffeine to keep us awake. When that caffeine is finally metabolized by our bodies, all the adenosine that’s just been hanging around with nowhere to go comes rushing back in to bind to all our receptors at once. What happens next is your coffee crash!

Going slow and taking it easy can prevent that crash and coffee’s other downsides, as well. As in all things, it’s just a question of moderation, which will let us have our caffeine and enjoy it, too!

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-truth-of-about-coffee-and-exercise2017-04-04T10:42:00-04:002018-05-02T12:17:34-04:00The Truth Of About Coffee And ExerciseKohana CoffeeCoffee is energy and inspiration in liquid form and a potent endurance-feeding fusion of focus and stimulus that feeds our muse in many ways. That’s why we think it’s the go-to necessity for almost anything on our calendars. Still, there’s one daily activity that coffee devotees still aren’t sure should come with a cup, and we hear the question all the time:

Is it okay to mix coffee with exercise?

Grab your travel mug. Coffee is not only an acceptable part of a daily exercise routine, it can actually help you take your body where you want it to go. Here are six ways it boosts your burn:

These are all great reasons to enjoy a little coffee before we hit the gym. The secret is moderation. No one thinks it’s a good idea to load up on double espressos on the way to our workouts. But a cup savored in balanced moderation may be just what the trainer ordered.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-zen-of-coffee2017-03-28T10:35:00-04:002018-05-02T12:17:55-04:00The Zen of CoffeeKohana CoffeeWe drink the sweet essence of the sacred bean in every season and for a wealth of reasons. It is solace and sustenance, the force that renews and reinvigorates both body and mind to bring focus to our days and the moments within them. In this, there is much power and possibility, and when we take that first sip, we are inviting this energy into our lives to work its magic.

Yet for all of its many capacities to illuminate, we rarely tap into what is at once coffee’s most obvious and most overlooked potential. We don’t really consider it as a meditation tool. And we should.

While it’s easy to see how coffee’s reputation as an often high-intensity fuel source would seem to disqualify it from any role in meditation, in fact, it’s ideally suited to serve as a perfect aid. Coffee clarifies the mind and draws attention to its own essential being. Like meditation itself, it’s a pause that restores and a point in time when our attention is concentrated in a single direction on something that is both everything and nothing at all.

Coffee, too, brings ritual into our lives. We prepare our cups and the balm that fills them each in our own ways and always according to a set series of long-practiced steps that lead us to the nirvana we seek. In this, there is an ideal intentionality, an unself-conscious unconsciousness that frees us to empty our minds and wash clear the dust that gathers there.

There is a physical dimension as well. Coffee’s caffeine stimulates and concentrates our minds while the dopamine whose release it promotes leaves us feeling happy and content. Such effects serve to advance the outcomes we turn to meditation to bring.

Our enjoyment of coffee comes at regular intervals throughout each day. In a world with few things we can count on, these cherished coffee breaks are reliable anchors no storm can displace. They will always occur, and when we combine them with meditation, we are creating for ourselves a consistent set of dependable spaces that effortlessly work daily meditation into our often hectic schedules.

Combining these moments with meditation needn’t be complex or time-consuming. It’s simply about hitting life’s pause button in a mindful way for just a few minutes at a time, minutes we can and should use to restore and refresh the entirety of our beings.

Begin by feeling the warmth of your cup. Focus on its touch against your skin.

How else does the cup feel? Is it smooth or rough? Light or heavy? Large or less-so?

Take note of its rising stem. Watch the tendrils drift and play.

Savor the aroma they contain. Pull it deeply into your center with slow deliberate breaths.

Now sip and let it linger on your palate. Taste its full essence. Explore its multitude of complexities.

Let nothing else enter your mind but these sensations. Let no thoughts beyond them come.

The doorway you seek is now open. Enter.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/coffee-goes-to-the-dogs2017-03-24T10:16:00-04:002018-05-02T12:18:21-04:00Coffee Goes to the DogsKohana CoffeeWhen we count all the many ways that coffee and the people who provide it make our world a happier place, we usually get a human score. A roaster paying more to impoverished growers. A café employing ex-cons. A coffee maker making good on its promise to help kids with disabilities.

But the good that pours from our collective cup doesn’t always end up percolating down to people. Lately, our canine friends have been getting a boost from the coffee community, and that’s a great thing, too. As Albert Schweitzer said, “Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.” Agreed, and that’s why it’s so very good to see dogs finally getting more than a couple of legs up thanks to the kindness of coffee people

The Hott Spott café in Mitilíni on the Greek island of Lesbos, for example, has begun letting homeless dogs spend the night inside. Each evening when the shop closes its doors to humans, it opens them to local strays, who are invited into sleep safely (and warmly!) on its empty couches and chairs. The café, whose philosophy reflects the Greek cultural ethos that calls on all people to care for homeless animals, is part of the solution to the country’s problem of one million dogs that have no place to call home.

At Los Angeles’ Dog Café, the spin is a little different. Order a latte or an espresso, and take it to the dog lounge to enjoy in the company of shelter rescue dogs looking for forever homes. Everyone is spayed or neutered and current on vaccinations. All they need is a place to call their own and a family to match. Like speed-dating for canine companions, the no-kill café fosters these relationships by giving would-be owners and their prospective pets a place to get acquainted and some coffee to do it with. They’ll even help with the paperwork.

Grounds and Hounds, a Nashville, Tennessee-based mail-order and wholesale roaster offers such fair-trade, custom-blended coffees as Sit & Stay and Morning Walk. Every time a bag is sold, the company donates 20% of the proceeds to a no-kill rescue shelter in the buyer’s region of the country. Grounds and Hounds work with some 30 partner rescue organizations and has helped save thousands of dogs. Every 30 bags of coffee sold results in one forever-home placement, and just 15 bags will feed a dog for a month while he or she waits for someone to give them a home.

Endeavors like these are helping spread coffee’s good karma beyond the anthropological world and into the animal realm. After all, who says coffee need only be kind to people? Humanity’s intelligent and loving canine sidekicks deserve a boost, too. Thanks to the efforts of heroic coffee lovers, the most desperate among them are finally finding the hope that comes when they get it and leaving the dog’s life behind.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/ideas-we-serving-hope-by-the-cup2017-03-14T10:52:00-04:002018-05-02T12:18:39-04:00Ideas We ❤️ : Serving Hope By the CupKohana CoffeeA good cup of coffee performs many essentials services for humanity. It’s a perfect wake-up call and an ideal pick-me-up, a great excuse for a get-together, and the preferred way to kill time between appointments. But if you get yours at the right place in Seattle, it’s doing a whole lot more.

Welcome to Street Bean, a coffee shop that not only serves a supremely satisfying latte but does it while helping homeless young people learn valuable job skills and make the money they need to finance a more promising future.

Opened in 2009, Street Bean is the brainchild of local non-profit agency New Horizons, which helps troubled teens and young adults move past the despairing burdens of poverty and find the stability they need to create a new life for themselves. Each Street Bean outlet is staffed by New Horizon clients who had no place else to turn, and every cup they pour serves up a solution to the problem of kids with no place to live.

In Seattle, that problem is fairly stark—some 800 young people between the ages of 12 and 26 spend their nights on the streets, where drugs and crime take a terrible toll on their physical and emotional health. Since 1978, the staff of New Horizons has provided help of all kinds to these kids, but one key part of that puzzle was always missing: jobs that would sustain the resources they need to escape the clutches of homelessness once and for all.

In 2009, that dream came true thanks to a generous landlord, who offered the organization a retail space and three months of free rent to help get things started. After some discussion about what type of business would give homeless youth the best opportunities and have the greatest chance for success, the staff of New Horizons picked coffee, which in highly-caffeinated Seattle is like betting on rain.

Thus was Street Bean born, and with it, the homeless young people of Seattle got their first serious break. Today, Street Bean helps “street-involved” teens and young adults learn how to foster positive relationships, acquire marketable skills, rediscover their own self-worth, and reclaim the hope and promise that life on the street has taken from them. It’s a program that’s working—over 80% of all Street Bean apprentices have successfully made the transition to permanent housing and gainful employment.

From one location, Street Bean has grown into two, and they’ve even started their own roasting operation, which funds one hour of job training for every bag of fresh roast sold. That roast is top shelf, too because Street Bean believes in necessary things like high-quality beans and paying fair prices directly to coffee growers so they can enjoy the good life, too.

That’s a cup of coffee that’s doing more than just brightening our day. It’s making the world in which we drink it a better place for all of us to live.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/secrets-of-cold-brew-coffee2017-03-02T10:14:00-05:002018-05-02T12:19:02-04:00Secrets Of Cold Brew CoffeeKohana CoffeeOn the face of it, cold brewing your coffee sounds pretty easy. Grind some beans. Add some water. Wait. Strain. Drink. Simple, right?

Not quite. In practice, the creation of a delicious carafe of cold brew takes more than a little finesse, and those who take the plunge often end up with a pick-me-up that only brings them down. But your own cold brew doesn’t have to end up trading taste for trouble. You’ve got our five Kohana Golden Rules on your side:

Rule 1: No skimping. Cold brew coffee comes without coffee’s usual complement of acids and oils, which need hot water to dissolve into your java. These components desensitize your taste buds and cover up a coffee’s true flavor—you don’t taste the bean so much as you taste its bitterness. With cold brew, your coffee’s true flavors shine through, which makes good quality beans a must.

Rule 2: Get coarse. Your drip coffee may benefit from a fine grind, but use one here and you’ll end up with a fairly foul and bitter cold brew. Why? The finer the grind, the more of its contents will extract into your water and the faster they’ll do it. You want a slower, gentler process that stops before coffee’s harsher elements surface. A coarse grind gives you one.

Rule 3: Watch the Water. There are all kinds of recipes for cold brew and a variety of different water-to-beans ratios among them. That’s confusing. And problematic—too much water lands you in bland, too little and you’re pouring an over-caffeinated batch of nuclear sludge. A general rule thumb is one gallon to one pound or fractions thereof. But we recommend exploring recipes and ratios until you find the one that works for you.

Rule 4: Set the clock. Time does the brewing here and while it’s generally on your side, you can certainly cold brew for too long or too little. You want the sweet spot where you’ve steeped long enough to extract your bean’s delicious essence but not so long that the bitter dregs get pulled out, too. 14-16 hours is a good median time, but experimentation will guide you best.

Rule 5: Dilute it right. Cold brew is really a coffee concentrate. That’s good because you used a lot of beans to make it. But bad because now you’ll have to add water, and that’s playing with flavor fire. Some simply double their cold brew with an equal quantity of water. Others use a 2:1 water-to-cold brew ratio. It’s all about how strong you like yours. Just remember: if you’re using your cold brew for iced coffee, don’t dilute it at all. Your ice cubes will take care of that when you serve it.

Now, of course, you can always have the perfect cold brew anytime by using our own cold brew concentrate- we've done the heavy lifting for you. But these pro tips from our own kitchen will help you slowly “cook” up some worthy cold brew in yours. It may take awhile to get right, but time spent in the pursuit of a perfectly balanced state—in coffee and in life—is always well spent.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/kohana-coffee-unveils-brand-new-web-platform2017-03-01T11:13:00-05:002018-05-02T12:19:55-04:00Kohana Coffee Unveils Brand New Web PlatformKohana Coffee

The Kohana Coffee Company, the creator of the world’s only shelf-stable cold brew coffee, has launched a brand new web platform at www.kohanacoffee.com and unveiled a host of online changes that reinvent the gourmet roaster’s user experience.

The new platform serves up a unique marketing style and inviting appeal via a fresh, ultra-clean look whose light and airy feel reflects the brand’s unique Hawaiian origins. Visitors to the new site can now effortlessly explore its features, access original coffee-focused content, and enjoy a far more engaging digital encounter designed to encourage repeat visits and build strong consumer relationships.

Supporting the new design and its easy navigation are enhanced site search capabilities and a new, more elegant e-commerce solution, which combines to deliver better access to Kohana products and a much more refined online ordering process.

“Our management goal for the new site was to really rebuild everything under the hood from the ground up so that our web presence performs on the same high level as our product lines and meets those same consumer expectations,” says company founder and CEO Victoria Lynden. “We took our inspiration from our coffee technologies themselves. There’s a lot going on behind our packaging that consumers never know is there. The processes that result in our products’ taste profiles are intentionally invisible. It’s the essence those technologies combine to create that leaves the impression and produces brand loyalty. You’ll never know why it tastes so good. You only know that it does. That’s the approach we took.”

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-cold-truth-about-cold-brew2017-02-28T10:37:00-05:002018-05-02T12:18:52-04:00The Cold Truth About Cold BrewKohana CoffeeCold brew is the hottest coffee in town. Nobody with their travel mug screwed on straight could possibly claim otherwise. But beyond this most basic of points, confusion abounds and misperceptions rage. Come follow the bouncing bean as we set the record straight about this coolest of coffees.

Let’s begin by obliterating the myth that just won’t die: Cold brew coffee is not iced coffee. It’s a method of preparing coffee that can then be used to make iced coffee and hot coffee, too. Not all iced coffee is made from cold brew, and not all cold brew is used to make iced coffee.

Cold brewing is both simple and not. It’s made by soaking ground beans in cold water for hours and filtering the result. That’s it. Yet variations in the amount and type of beans used, their grind, the quantity of water, and the length of time these elements spend together result (for better and sometimes worse) in a wide spectrum of different flavors, which makes cold brew part science and more than a little art.

Here’s your science: coffee’s bitter qualities come from its acidic compounds and oils. And those things need hot water to dissolve out of the bean and into your cup. Because cold brew is created with cold water, most of those acids and oils stay trapped in the grounds. Freed from that bitterness, cold brew tastes smoother, sweeter, richer, fruitier, and more chocolaty than traditional coffee, and flavor differences between different bean types become clearer.

One study found that cold brew is two-thirds less acidic than hot-brewed. Since acids also tend to numb our tongues, we end up tasting even more of cold brew’s coffee essence in their absence. Many also find that less acid means cold brew is easier on the stomach, and doesn’t need as much (if any!) cream and sugar.

Cold brew is happily concentrated. While your mileage may vary, most recipes produce roughly double-strength results. That’s why cold brew is often used for iced coffee—adding ice won’t water it down to insipidness and instead merely mellows it as you sip.

All this flavor has another advantage: Unlike hot-brewed, it won’t change over time. You’ll never get that ugly burned taste, and it won’t go stale as it cools because it was cool to begin with. You can savor it hot without bitterness and keep it in the fridge for as long as month without disappointment. That’s helpful because less acid and more flavor make cold brew ideal for baked goods, marinades, and cocktails in ways hot coffee isn’t.

On the downside, forget about that deliciously seductive hot-coffee aroma. It’s not happening. And cold brew takes a lot more beans to make than hot-brewed. Time, too, and that combination is why cold brew costs more than other coffees.

Is the trade-off worth it? That’s a question few who taste this magical balm ever ask. It’s coffee as coffee was meant to be, and that’s just the kind of cup we crave.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/coffee-is-life2017-01-25T09:14:00-05:002018-05-02T12:20:07-04:00Coffee is LifeKohana CoffeeWhen it comes to healthy eating, kale gets all the press. But if the scientific buzz is right, there’s a whole lot of wellness waiting in our coffee cups, too, and while that sweet essence of sacred bean may not have the cachet of cruciferous vegetables, it still packs a serious jolt. And we’re not just talking caffeine blast either. Here are a few recent headlines that put coffee above the nutritional fold:

Coffee fights cancer. It’s packed with antioxidants called polyphenols, and consumption has been linked to less prostate, breast, colorectal, and liver cancer.

Coffee does waistlines right. Those polyphenols are also food for a species of beneficial probiotic intestinal bacteria that’s been shown to positively affect one’s leanness (or lack thereof). And coffee’s caffeine boosts our metabolic rates by as much as 11% and can increase fat-burning by up to 29%. (Not to say it’ll neutralize that breakfast pastry, but still…)

Coffee kills diabetes. And diabetes kills people so it’s nice to see us coffee drinkers reducing our risk of contracting this disease by up to two thirds.

Coffee safeguards the heart. It won’t help you get over a break-up, but drowning your sorrows in java has been shown to reduce the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Coffee loves your liver. Drink two or more cups a day and lower your cirrhosis risk by 66%.

Coffee cools-out the brain. And we don’t mean relaxation either. The caffeine in those beans appears to lower the brain inflammation that leads to things like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Bonus chill factor: it also reduces the risk of Parkinson’s disease.

Coffee lengthens lifespans. Sure, we feel like we could live forever with a latte in our hands. But behind the scenes, its caffeine is hard at work lowering inflammation. Less inflammation = longer life, which is likely why four cups a day lower one’s risk of dying by 16%.

So… coffee smoothie anyone? Okay, maybe not. But coffee doesn’t need to be whipped in a blender with yogurt to make the healthy grade. It’s longevity in a cup no matter how you pour it.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/grounds-for-change2016-12-27T10:00:00-05:002018-05-02T12:20:34-04:00Grounds for ChangeKohana CoffeeLet’s start the new year by being adults and facing a certain situation squarely: coffee making isn’t quite yet the most sustainable proposition on Earth. We may love it dearly (oh, yes) but like our favorite crazy relative, it’s got some issues. Take, for example, all those grounds.

After their sweet perfect essence is artfully extracted, there’s very nearly as much as there was, to begin with. At home, we can compost these tiny piles of sweetly roasted heaven and feed our lawns and gardens with what comes. But what if, say, you’re a big happy coffee company making cold brew by the custom kettle-load?

Proving that coffee and creativity go hand in hand, our British friends at bio-bean have come up with an impressive answer: take all those grinds and turn them into… fuel?

Indeed. They’re working with waste haulers and others to collect spent coffee grounds from cafes and manufacturers all over the United Kingdom. Once delivered to the world’s first coffee waste recycling facility, the mad geniuses at bio-bean somehow (science? alchemy? magic?) transform them into various forms of fossil fuel-free energy anyone can use.

Ground or not, this is no hill of beans either. Bio-bean is processing 50 kilotons a year—that’s one in ten cups of coffee drunk in the U.K.—into bio-pellets for heating building and bio-logs that burn longer, cleaner, and hotter than wood in fireplaces and wood stoves. Next up are bio-diesel and biochemicals. Who knows? Maybe soon our favorite beverage willpower not just our own days but the whole world, too.

At this point, all this high-energy good stuff is only available in the U.K., but that doesn’t make this anything less than a winning tale in more ways than one—coffee makers and waste collectors save money by producing and dumping less waste; and the environment gets a zero-waste, carbon-neutral energy source that reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The rest of us get a cup with cream, not guilt.

Talk about waking up and smelling the coffee. We’ll take ours by the light of the bio-bean fire, thank you.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/coffee-climate-change2016-12-01T10:39:00-05:002018-05-02T12:21:32-04:00Coffee & Climate ChangeKohana CoffeeCan any of us imagine a coffee-less world?

Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement means we won’t have to imagine it at all. Left unchecked, rising global temperatures will guarantee that coffee disappears in our lifetime.

Increasing heat will prevent coffee plants from growing in the places they call home. Extremes of drought and rain will batter those crops that struggle to remain. And the range of coffee rust fungus and pests like the coffee berry borer will explode to finish the job. It’s already happening.

Coffee harvests are already declining. Supplies are falling. Prices are rising. We are facing a world without coffee and those who grow it face a future without hope. That’s grounds for immediate action.

We insist on full unconditional support of the Paris Agreement. Without the changes it mandates, a terrifying tomorrow is brewing. And that’s not a fate we ever want to wake up to.

-Team Kohana

Original letter from Coffee & Cocoa International (C&CI):

Coffee and cocoa farmers around the world, many millions of whom live in poverty, know that climate change is real and that is affecting their livelihoods. Other players in the supply chain also know that it is real and that it will affect their businesses. The International Coffee Organization, International Cocoa Organisation, the scientific community, NGOs and commodity trade associations all support action on climate change to help farmers address the challenges they face. US President-Elect Donald Trump denies the reality of climate change and says he intends to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement.

Starbucks has already spoken out in an open letter to President-Elect Trump ( http://www.lowcarbonusa.org/) that was signed by more than 360 companies in the US. Please make your views known to a wider audience and send us a short statement on this most important of issues.

Please let us know what you think about the President-Elect’s plan and what you think might happen to coffee and cocoa farmers – and the supply chain as a whole – if he withdraws the US from the Paris Agreement and hampers attempts to tackle climate change.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/the-art-of-iced2016-11-16T10:03:00-05:002018-05-02T12:22:08-04:00The Art of IcedKohana CoffeeI know, I know… it’s fall and the traditional end of iced coffee season. But not in my world. On Planet Maddie, there’s no day that can’t be made infinitely better by a fat frosty cup of caffeinated glory and a straw, and calendar be damned, you will take that cup from me when you pry it from my equally frigid dead hands.

My only problem? Most cafes quit making the stuff this time of year, which leaves us diehards out on the cold when it comes to grabbing a cup on a whim. So we do what anybody with a self-respecting iced coffee dependency would do. We make our own. My only advice is to be ruthless about what comes next:

Stir. Sip. Savor. You can thank me later.

]]> https://kohanacoffee.com/blogs/news/kohana-coffee-bbq-sauce2016-11-09T13:00:00-05:002018-05-02T12:22:43-04:00Kohana Coffee BBQ SauceKohana CoffeeAnybody who knows me knows I firmly believe that coffee is as essential to life as we know it as air, water, and the latest Elena Ferrante novel. It’s what my world calls a key ingredient.

But why isn’t coffee ever an actual ingredient? You know, as in something you cook with instead of just drink, happy though those occasions always are?

I was wondering about this out loud with a friend of mine who’s sort of a chef and a bit of a foodie, and she set me straight—coffee can be used in the kitchen and not just in tiramisu either. She said it’s got a distinctive earthy flavor that works well in both sweet and savory dishes, and can be a great accent for meats of all kinds.

Live and learn, right? And I after making the barbeque sauce recipe she gave me as proof, I see her point. It really gave the turkey burgers I grilled the other night a serious jolt. Here’s the recipe:

Kohana Coffee BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

Heat oil on medium-high in a large heavy pan. Add onions and garlic, and sauté until onions are tender. Add brown sugar, chili powder, molasses, cilantro, and cumin, and stir until everything combines together into a paste. Add tomatoes and coffee, and bring to boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook (uncovered!) until the sauce starts to thicken. This takes about 1/2 an hour (stir frequently!). Voila!

This gave me about four cups, which is a lot. But it works with any meat—in the oven or on the grill. And it’s the kind of more-is-better sauce you slather on by bucketload so freeze what you don’t need and you’ll have a quick way to wake up a boring meal.

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