Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Coffee & Chocolate



COFFEE

Haitian coffee is made from the finest Arabica coffee bean from Haiti. A good coffee from Haiti is rich-flavored with a medium body and a relatively low acidity that gives the coffee a pleasant softnesssweet and smooth.  Unlike other coffee-producing regions such as Colombia, Jamaica and Indonesia, coffee growers in Haiti produce mainly for domestic consumption, not export. Though Haiti for a long time was the first and only caribbean coffee exporter during the colonial era but eventually the Dominican Republic over the years took first place.  Haiti was the world's largest coffee producer (in the late 1700s, it was responsible for something like half of the world’s coffee. All of Haiti’s coffee is Arabica, the high-quality bean used in gourmet coffees.

Watch the following video to listen to Douglas Wiener, the fourth-generation grower behind popular brand Cafe Selecto, He contends, “When you drink coffee from Haiti, it’s like drinking coffee from 200 years ago.” “We kept the original tipica tree,” 





Fresh Ground Coffee bean

Separate coffee beans from any debris and spread on cookie sheet. Roast at approximately 375 degrees, turning often until brown. Make sure all beans are dark brown to get a rich full flavor. When finished roasting, rub the beans with your hands to loosen skins. Shake the tray outside to have the loose skins blown away. Grind the beans in a coffee grinder or a small quantity at a time in your blender. Experiment with color and roasting time for your own taste.

To add more dept to the coffee add roast the coffee in a pan and add a spoon of brown sugar to caramalize.



Cafe au lait/Coffee with milk



Sailor's Coffee

Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:
  • ½ cup of fresh strong coffee
  • 1 oz. brandy
  • 1 oz. Cointreau, or other orange liqueur
  • 1 tsp. brown sugar
  • whipped cream
  • dark chocolate, grated
Method:
Poor hot coffee into a large wine glass, add sugar and stir to dissolve. Add brandy and liqueur, stir and mix. Float whipped cream on top (to prevent the cream for sinking, pour over back of a spoon). Sprinkle grated chocolate over top and serve immediately.
Variations:
  • Irish Coffee - substitute the brandy and liqueur for 2 oz. Irish whiskey and increase the sugar to 2 tsp.
  • Kahlua Coffee - substitute the brandy and liqueur for 2 oz. Kahlua.

Kafe Myèl (Haitian Coffee with Honey)

2 to 3 oz. fresh brewed espresso or very strong, dark coffee
Heavy cream (6 oz. per serving)
Honey (raw dark amber honey is preferred, 3-4 tbsp. per serving)
Cinnamon (1/2 tsp. per serving)
Mango (1 generous slice per serving)
Lime juice (2 drops per serving)
Instructions
While espresso is still hot, combine with honey, cinnamon and lime juice, stirring until well-combined. Place a generous mango slice (or several, to taste), slightly bruised, into a shaker with ice and heavy cream and shake well. Add espresso to shaker, recap, and shake. Transfer contents of shaker into a chilled glass, and serve. Looks nice garnished with a lime slice.
CHOCOLATE/COCOA

Fine fermented cocoa 


Haitian cocoa is a high quality  and highly sought-after product according connaisseurs  It is all due to the special fermentation it undergoes.  Haiti still cultivate the non-hybrid old varieties of chocolate that is typical to the caribbean.  The crillio and the trinitario.  The strong aroma of the beans to their and finesse is unmatched which explains why they only represent  5% of the world production and their use is reserved for only high-end chocolate.

This chocolate  in Europe sells for much higher prices as a "fair trade" product and the increased revenue has brought many more financial benefits to cacao producers throughout the cacao producing regions of Haiti according to USAID.  FECCANO is a federation of seven cocao grower cooperatives that has been working with the producers in haiti to connect the with the European market.

The Haitian chocolate is an unobtrusive chocolate that has a fairly low raost and a very good melt, they flavor just keep giving according to experts.  Bonnat is another chocolatier that carries Haitian chocolat and it is stated that it certainly holds itself up with the other Bonnat chocolates and others from the origin, perhaps even superseding the likes of the Naive, Richart, Castelain and Soma chocolates from the island.




Caribbean Hot Chocolate

This delicious drink is a hot chocolate concoction that combines chocolate with rum, whipped crème and Crème De Cacao.

Spiced Cocoa

3 unbeaten egg whites
4-8 Tbs sugar to taste
3/4 c of cocoa
1c cold milk
1 tsp cinnamon powedered
11 c milk

Mix into a paste the eggs whites, cocoa, cinnamon and sugar. Dilute the paste with one cup of cold milk. Boil the remaining 11 cups of milk over low heat. Add the paste gradually to the hot milk, beating constantly. Serve hot and foamy.