Memorial Day Weekend

Hey the suns out! Wait not its not... IT'S Back!

This is what I will be saying all weekend I am sure of it. The forecast looks dreary in every sense of the word

the weather according to weather.com
(they outta know)

As you can see Bellingham will be at best partly cloudy. The forecast on Saturday breaks my heart as I wanted to enjoy sun while I walked around the Bellingham Farmers Market and sipped some delicious Moka Joe Coffee from Festival Espresso.

I suppose we will be experiencing the quintessential Washington coffee weather and I should probably be used to this by now but its suppose to be the first weekend of summer right. What the heck is going on.

I blame La Nina! its all her fault!

YEEEHHAAWWW Cowboy Brisket (with coffee of course)

This recipe comes courtesy of homecooking.about.com (which means some random poster) but if your like me you cannot resist anything recipe with the word cowboy in it.

"Back home we toss a horseshoe in the pot. Stands up straight, the coffee's ready"

Garlic, coffee, and apple cider vinegar flavor this slow-roasted beef brisket. Plan ahead to marinate overnight before cooking. The brisket may be made in advance and reheated.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds first cut brisket of beef
• 3 cloves garlic, slivered
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 large onions, thinly sliced, divided use
• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons bacon grease
• 1 cup strong black coffee, divided use
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup water

Preparation:

Cut slits all over the brisket with a thin, sharp knife. Push the slivered garlic into the slits.

Place 1/4 of the slivered onions, crushed garlic, and vinegar in a large freezer ziptop bag. Squish to combine. Add the brisket to the bag, seal, and toss to evenly coat the meat. Unseal the bag, squeeze out all the air, reseal, and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Remove brisket from the marinade, discarding marinade, and pat dry with paper towels. Heat a heavy, deep skillet over medium heat-high heat. When hot, add the bacon grease and swirl to coat the pan. Sear the brisket on both sides until browned, turning only once. Remove to a platter.

Add remaining onions to the same skillet. Saute until nicely browned, then add 1/2 of the coffee. Bring to a boil, scraping up any browned bits. Transfer onions and liquid to a shallow roasting casserole dish and spread evenly over the bottom. Place brisket on top of the onions and season with salt and pepper. Add remaining coffee and water to the pan, cover tightly with foil, and bake for 30 minutes.

Reduce heat to 250 F. and bake an additional 3 hours until very tender.

Slice thinly against the grain. Skim any fat from the liquid in the pan, then return brisket slices to the pan to coat. Serve hot.

The brisket may be made in advance and refrigerated in the pan juices. To reheat, cover with foil, and bake at 350 F. until warmed through.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

did you know tasting coffee was this involved?

First you have to smell it right after it is ground

Make sure you use a French press to get the full flavor

here is all the aspects you may taste

close up

another close up

Cafe Femenino

Here at Moka Joe Coffee we are proud of the coffee we offer. It is 100% fair-trade and organic and we believe these aspects make a difference not only in taste and quality but also in the way we take responsibility for the communities we interact with and purchase products from. It is for this reason that we offer Cafe Femenino coffee along with our other coffees.

But what is Cafe Femenino?

Well I will tell you. Cafe Femenino is a brand of whole sale Coffee which we buy and roast. The Coffee is produced exclusively by women farmers and the goal of the Cafe Femenino Group is to support these women by selling their coffee completely separately from other coffee producers. There are currently 464 farmers participating in the Cafe Femenino project. With the support of the group these women can afford to feed their families and send their children to school. This contributes to a better quality of life for farmers and their families.

Women in coffee producing countries are often disenfranchised by their cultural settings. In these coffee farming families there are usually minimal resources and because of this it is often the sons who are sent to school and educated while the daughters stay home performing household chores and tending the farm.

Cafe Femenino's website says this about their influence...

"Insufficient funds and a full spectrum of social problems have hindered attempts to intervene. But with the organic premiums paid and the Fair Trade premiums, we are now able to promote the organization of the female coffee farmers and their integration into social, political, and occupational organizations.

The hope is that by changing the roles of women we improve the quality of life in these communities and build a sustainable economic system." 

If you are interested in supporting the Cafe Femenino group you should look for their logo on the coffee you purchase. it looks like this

Of course it would probably be easier to just order it from us at www.shop.mokajoe.com either way you will be supporting coffee producing women that could really use the extra hand to improve their quality of life and the quality of life of their children. Also check out their website for more info at http://www.cafefemenino.com/

A trailer for what looks to be a Powerful Film

This looks to be a very eye opening and powerful film. and really shows why buying Fair-Trade products is so important for the farmers and producers.

Why Should You Drink Shade-Grown Coffee

If you're like me, you go to the grocery store without a specific idea about which products you want to buy. For example, I will know I want cereal but whether I will get corn flakes or Cheerios, I never know until I'm there. Or perhaps I know I want fruit but pears, apples, or oranges, it depends on which are of the best quality or which is on sale. When it comes to coffee I am the same way. I show up at the store and roam the aisles.

Eventually I make it to the coffee aisle and "Oh My God." there are so many choices. Sometimes I never know where to start. So how do you start making a selection. Well the first thing I do is decide what kind of coffee I want, French Roast or Breakfast Blend etc. Then I check for the organic and fair-trade coffee. Now, most people already know what organic and fair-trade mean and if they don't you can reason it out. However, the next classification that sometimes follows organic and fair-trade is shade grown. But what is the point of shade grown coffee?


Shade grown coffee is just what it sounds like, coffee grown under the forest canopy. Now you are probably saying to yourself..."Duh, obviously that is what shade grown means but what is the point or the advantage of it?" Well, shade grown coffee does not devastate the forests where it is farmed. it does not contribute to deforestation. Here is a picture and what Wikipedia has to say on the subject...

A Shade-Grown Coffee Plantation

"A canopy of assorted types of shade trees is created to cultivate shade-grown coffee. The traditional shade-grown coffee farm resembles a forest because it consists of several layers of trees, such as fruit and hardwood trees, epiphytes, and other assorted bushes and plants. As a result, up to 40 species of trees can be found on these farms, and contribute to the maintenance of soil quality and habitats for numerous species of animals and plants. One of the main arguments in support of shade-grown coffee is that it houses many species of birds. More specifically, shade-grown trees house two-thirds of the bird species found in natural forests in the same geographic areas.

Sun-grown coffee requires numerous chemical fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides to be added to promote growth. This also contributes to toxic water runoff and lack of habitat for many species. In contrast to the previous information regarding birds, sun-grown coffee provides shelter for less than one-tenth of bird species."

You can see that there are many advantages to making sure your coffee is shade grown. especially if you care about your environmental impact.
 

A Traditional Coffee Plantation

Because coffee trees that are planted in the sun can be much more productive than shade grown trees large scale farms and agribusiness choose to plant trees out in the open. This creates more coffee in a shorter period of time. However, this coffee is not only less environmentally friendly but the sun effects the taste of the coffee. Non-shade grown coffee has more of an acidic taste. For these reasons it is preferable to spend a little extra coin for the "good stuff"

So the next time you are perusing the coffee aisle remember to look for shade grown coffee. Moka Joe Coffee is not only 100% organic and fair-trade, it is also shade grown and bird friendly. After all, who doesn't wanna be bird friendly.You can get some for yourself at our website www.shop.mokajoe.com

Check out this antique coffee paraphernalia

Old hand cranked coffee grinder. I am happy that mine has a plug.

Supposedly this was the original espresso machine at the original Starbucks... Talk about history.

Very old-school coffee pot. Ill stick with my trusty Mr. Coffee thanks! (how does this even work?)

More antique grinders.

 I thought it would be cool to feature a little coffee history, aren't you glad its not so hard to make a latte anymore. These would be fun pieces to use as decoration though.(but it bet they are expensive)