Coffee and Food Pairing Ideas

Coffee is delicious on its own, but it can often taste even better when paired with the right food. A good pairing can bring out aspects of the coffee that otherwise are understated, and it’ll also highlight desirable flavors in the food. The result is a richer combination of flavors that results in greater enjoyment.

If you aren’t confident in pairing coffee with food, here’s how to go about finding successful pairings and several suggestions to get you started. Hopefully, both the common and the less conventional pairings mentioned below will open up another world of coffee for you.

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Topeca Coffee Roasters – Haiti Savan Zombi Review

Coffee Origin: Savan Zombi, Haiti
Roaster Location: Tula, Oklahoma
Roast Level: Medium-Light
Info: https://topecacoffee.com/products/haiti-savan-zombi

Topeca Coffee Roasters’ Haiti Savan Zombi is the pinnacle of mediocrity — and that’s a good thing. When you don’t need a stand-out but also don’t want a failure, this coffee is a safe bet.

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Camber Coffee – Ethiopia Dambi Uddo Review

Coffee Origin: Dambi Uddo, Ethiopia
Roaster Location: Bellingham, Washington
Roast Level: Medium-Light
Info: https://cambercoffee.com/product/ethiopia-dambi-uddo/

Form one of the world’s original coffee-growing regions, Ethiopia Dambi Uddo is a testament to what nature can produce. Camber Coffee has expertly roasted this selection, downplaying the roast characteristics so that the terroir — or the beans’ inherent characteristics — shine forth.

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Cultivar Coffee – Tres Bourbon Seasonal Blend Review

Coffee Origin: Santa Ana, El Salvador
Roaster Location: Dallas, Texas
Roast Level: Medium
Info: https://store.cultivarcoffee.com/products/tres-bourbon-seasonal-blend-coffee

This ain’t your Grandma’s bourbon. The bourbon varietal is one of coffea arabica’s original varietals, and this blend contains three derivations of it (rather than a triple-finger shot of Grandma’s hard stuff). While many coffee blends combine subvarietals and cultivars, you rarely see three differently colored subvarietals in a single selection.

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Which are the best tasting decaf coffees?

“Is decaf coffee any good?!” It certainly gets a bad rap, but it’s not always deserved. Whether you have caffeine sensitivities, or just want a cup of coffee that won’t ruin your beauty sleep, there are some good, satisfying decafs to be had. We went on a hunt for the best and put several to the test here. Of course, coffee preferences are highly subjective, so don’t be put off by any that have a lower rating. Your tastes may differ from those of our reviewer 🙂 Let us know if you have a favorite decaf we should check out.

Top recommendations

Counter Culture Coffee – Slow Motion

Coffee Origin: Brazil
Roaster Location: Durham, North Carolina
Roast Level: Medium-Light

Slow Motion stands apart as a singular selection that’s offbeat and perhaps even a little crazy. The selection would blend in well among other light roasts with lively flavors if it were caffeinated. The decaf tends toward darker roasts with more tame sweet, nutty and rustic notes, though. In that generally dark-roast world, a lively medium-light roast that has multiple complex flavors stands out.

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The Coffee Lover’s Guide to Decaf Coffee

Coffee has over a thousand different compounds in it, the most well-known of which is caffeine. While many consider caffeine a desirable stimulant (and sometimes the only reason to drink coffee), a significant number of people can’t have or don’t want to have caffeine. That’s where decaffeinated coffee comes in, of course.

Here’s a look at what qualifies coffee as decaffeinated, how decaffeinated coffee is made and perhaps the most important question of all — do you really want to drink the stuff?

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How to Roast Coffee Beans at Home

Roasting coffee adds another dimension to your understanding of and enjoyment of the beloved beverage. It’s easy to get started, and you don’t need to invest in a lot of expensive equipment. With some green coffee beans and a basic setup, you can begin roasting coffee at home.

As soon as you brew your first batch of roasted coffee, you’ll immediately notice the difference that fresh roasting makes. Beans that were roasted just a few days ago are much more aromatic, flavorful and lively than those that were roasted months or years ago (like those that you might buy at the store). Even if you don’t get the first batch absolutely perfect, you’ll pick up on finer notes that aren’t present in stale coffee and you won’t want to go back to the old stuff.

From sourcing green coffee beans and selecting a roaster to actually roasting that first batch, here’s how to roast coffee beans at home.

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Different Coffee Roasts: From Light to Dark

We all have our preferences when it comes to coffee. Some of us love our single-origin coffees meticulously brewed with a pour-over, while others prefer a classic milk-based espresso drink such as a cappuccino or latte. But there’s one thing that has a huge impact on the flavor of our favorite coffee before it ever hits our cup: roasting.

Before it’s roasted, coffee doesn’t look, smell, or taste anything like the coffee that we drink. After it’s picked from the fruit (yes, coffee is a fruit) and processed, coffee starts as a green bean that is soft, spongey, and smells a bit like grass. It’s the heat introduced during the roasting process that causes chemical changes within the beans and ultimately creates the coffee that we know and love.

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