August 2011 Coffee News

-Cold Coffee for Hot Summer Days
-Maps and Photos from the Coffee Farm
-Open Your Home

Cold Coffee for Hot Summer Days
The month of July has gone by in a hot and humid blur. We hope you have been finding ways to stay cool! Because of the heat, we've been drinking ice coffee a bit more than usual and thus thought it would be timely to share what we've learned about cold press coffee recently as well as a fun recipe for homemade Kahlua.

Being lazy, ice coffee for us usually just means poring what's left of our morning pot of drip-brewed coffee over ice cubes and adding cream (and sometimes brown sugar or maple syrup). But when a friend asked about low-acid coffee recently, we did some research into cold-brewing coffee which we'd heard produces a less acidic cup of coffee. Turns out there is some evidence that cold brewing coffee reduces both acid and caffeine compared with regular coffee and at least according to some has a superior taste. It is also quite simple and doesn't require any special equipment.

COLD BREW -- One simple recipe from Smitten Kitchen suggests mixing 1/3 cup ground coffee with 1 1/2 cups water in a glass jar. Cover and let sit at room temperature 12 hours. Strain with a coffee filter. Mix equal parts coffee concentrate with water (hot or cold) or to taste. (Add cream or sugar as desired.) We're guessing that some of you have more experience with cold-brew coffee than we do. We'd love to hear what you've discovered.

KAHLUA -- Here is another coffee recipe that we've enjoyed lately -- homemade Kahlua!
In 2 cups hot brewed coffee dissolve 1 1/4 cup white or brown sugar. After it cools add 2 cups vodka or rum and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Pour into glass bottles and store in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks. Improves with age. Serve cold with cream over ice!

Feel free to send us any other cold coffee recipes you might have. We'll post them with other coffee recipes on our website.

Maps and Photos from the Coffee Farm
Gabe Sidman, who grew up in Wayzata, MN, spent two years as a Peace Corp volunteer living in Rio Negro near our family's coffee farm. He's been back in the States since last fall, but missed everyone so much he took a quick trip back in July. Before he left, he emailed us several maps he has created of the Rio Negro community. We've uploaded two of the maps to the Visit the Farm section of our website. After he returned, he emailed us several photos as well. Here is a link to a short slide-show including photos of all the new baby coffee plants being grown as a result of high coffee prices, the cabin Guillermo was working on in February and a lovely photo of Maximo and Natalia where they are happiest -- working on the coffee farm.

A few weeks later, a group of 10 people from Most Holy Trinity Church in St. Louis Park, MN also visited the farm for a quick stay in the midst of a mission trip to a Honduran orphanage. Jane Flannigan one of the leaders of the group was kind enough to send us the following update of their trip:

"We had a fabulous time at the farm! All went well for our group of 10. I haven't been there since summer 2008 and I was surprised to see all the electrical appliances! A refrigerator, TVs, stereos, outdoor lights. Wow! We hiked down to the hydraulic pump with Avilio and took a dip under the waterfalls. It was really hot that day. Very impressive set up for the electricity. Avilio's knowledge of the land and coffee business was also impressive for our group. The next day, those who went on the strenuous hike up to the big waterfalls loved the hike. A few of them commented that they could have easily spent an entire week at the farm.... On the way down the mountain one of the older ladies said the farm visit was the highlight of her trip. Not the first time I've ever heard that comment! I'm looking forward to the next visit. It would be nice if we could stay a little bit longer."

By the way, we are still planning on bringing two group to the farm in January and June 2012. Stay tuned for more details as they develop.

Open Your Home
Recently we've learned of two different opportunities to open your own home to visitors that may be of interest.

--Highland Park Junior High Spanish Immersion program in St. Paul is looking for a host family for a young intern from Columbia. Let us know if you'd like more details for this rich cultural experience and we'll send them to you.

--Midwest Animal Rescue is in urgent need of foster families for their rescue dogs. We've fostered a couple of dogs this summer and have found it to be quite fun.

Still Time to give us Your Feedback
About 20 people took time to provide us with helpful feedback last month. If you haven't had a chance yet, the quick 8-question survey is still available. Click here to begin.