The perfect accompaniment to any brew?
A biscuit!
The perfect accompaniment to a Twinings Tea?
Why not try these cute little Tea Bag Biscuits we spotted on the Twinings website!
These tiny shortbread biscuits, dipped in chocolate are perfectly sized to fit on a saucer next to a cup and look charming.
We advise dipping them in your tea for a few second to turn the chocolate lovely and squidgy.
Not only does this cake taste amazing it also looks the part.
A traditional sandwich cake oozing jam and coffee frosting.
…continue reading Is This The Most Scrumptious Coffee Sandwich Cake Ever?
Coffee has become a staple in most kitchens across the world.
It stands to reason that people are starting to get creative with the world’s favourite non-alcoholic beverage by adding it into their recipes.
The extensive range of spices and flavours in Asian cuisine is incredibly accommodating for an addition of a well-balanced and full flavoured coffee.
It adds a depth of flavour and a bitter note to the palate, beautifully balancing the sweetness of the honey and the nuttiness of the peanut butter in this recipe.
Well the drink originated from Australia and New Zealand (they will argue about who came up with the drink) in the 1980’s when the coffee culture Down Under really started to take off.
This coffee drink is stronger than a cappuccino and smoother than a latte.
The ground coffee quantity for the espresso shot can be the same or a little finer and tamped down harder to reduce the amount of water passing through the puck creating a ristretto shot (like an espresso but more concentrated).
The rise of the gourmet coffee culture brings with it a host of talented baristas and they like to showcase their skills. Latte art has become more and more popular in recent years, partly due to coffees rise in popular culture and partially due to the technological advances of coffee brewing machinery.
The actual concept of latte art is this; pour milk into espresso to make a pattern, simple.
Contrary to popular belief, a ‘macchiato’ is not a latte drowned in caramel and vanilla syrup, which has the resulting flavour of melted ice cream.
It is also not a cappuccino or a latte. It is a simple drink that floats somewhere beneath both these options (in the way it contains very little milk.)
A macchiato, or sometimes called an espresso macchiato is actually a single shot of espresso coffee drink with a small amount of milk added.
In the United States, it is more common to refer to a ‘latte macchiato’ as simply a macchiato and this is where the confusion arises.
‘Macchiato’ literally means ‘stained’ in Italian, this is because the milk is instantly coloured brown when added.
Our best-selling Colombian Cafetiere Sachets are created specifically for any ‘at home’ coffee brewing methods such as cafetieres, drip filters and aeropress. These sachets are 100% pure Arabica beans, they will produce 2 cups per 15g portion, deliver a professional quality brewed shot and are fantastic value for money.
The flavour of this coffee shot has a subtle yet invigorating acidity with a smooth and rich overall taste. It has a tempting sweetness in the front of the palette with notes of almond and hazelnut in the finish. It is a full body and very popular choice for commercial and domestic kitchens alike.
Our top tips for getting the best brew from home.
1) You can only be as good as your materials. Making sure you have the best quality coffee beans is only half the battle, the cafetiere itself is the other half, make sure you invest in quality equipment that will perform to task and stand the test of time.
The world’s favourite non-alcoholic drink extends fantastically to cooking recipes. The acidity in coffee is also fantastic for tenderising meat in marinades or sauces and if you haven’t tried a shot of espresso in baking and cakes we fully recommend it.
Coffee and beetroot cake might sound like a strange concoction but the flavours balance each other perfectly for a rich, full bodied flavour with a hint of bitter sweet.
It also has a fantastically dark, black forest gateau appearance, add a dollop of vanilla ice cream for sweetness and to really bring out the hidden colour.
Recipe
In the recent boom of artisan coffee, gourmet recipes and hand roasted beans it is not surprising that in the wake of this, ‘coffee tasting’ as a pastime is quickly becoming as popular with the coffee enthusiasts as wine tasting has been previously.
Sometimes referred to as ‘cupping’ there are experiences and even courses all over the country dedicated to showcasing the very best blends and methods of brewing the perfect cup of coffee.
So, the little plate beneath the cup, what’s it for?
The saucer was originally designed to carry a spoon or condiment in the Middle Ages and was quantified then as anything small and bowl shaped to support a cup.
Very useful for holding a wet spoon that may be used again when adding in sweeteners or milk, or for catching drips and spills when carrying a drink from here to there.
