This Is NOT Your Father’s Corn Muffin

Coupla snow days + unlimited roasted cornmeal = truly inspired corn muffins

I have to admit, I’ve been developing this recipe in my head for a couple weeks now.  Our roasted cornmeal has inspired several dishes in our household, like this one, and this one.  But the quest for the killer corn muffin has been one disappointment after another.  Even my favorite sources for new ideas, like Saveur, contained no real inspiration.

So this weekend, with a few inches of snow in the Carolinas, and a pantry full of promising ingredients, I reached deep inside to pull out this bad boy:

Buttermilk Roasted Corn Muffins with Bacon-Infused Maple Cream Cheese Filling

Behold the splendor of bacon, and corn, and cheese:

What Every Corn Muffin Wants to be When It Grows Up. Decepetively Simple From the Outside...

But Incredibly Delicious on the Inside, What With Its Bacon-Infused, Maple Cream Cheese Filling

Yes, that’s right.  An incredible, Roasted Cornmeal Buttermilk Corn Muffin.  With unbelievable Bacon-Infused, Maple Cream Cheese.  Thought about using that cheesy, porky goodness as an evil icing, of sorts, then realized what had to be done: fill a piping bag, insert the tip in the top of the muffin, and fill that thing like a possessed Twinkie.

Here’s how it’s done.

For the muffins:

2 cups flour
2 cups Roasted Cornmeal
1/2 cup honey
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs

Mix all ingredients well.  You know the drill – first dry, then wet, then combine.  Fill into muffin pans and bake at 400F for about 25 minutes, or till toothpick comes out clean.  Makes about 20 regular sized muffins.  After baking, place onto a cooling rack for about 15 minutes while you whip up the filling; don’t fill them hot, because the cheese will melt and it just makes a mess.

For the filling:

At least 2 slices bacon for rendered fat and garnish
2 cups room-temperature whipped cream cheese
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Cook the bacon till crisp.  Reserve 1 tablespoon bacon fat and allow to cool to room temp (10 minutes or so).  Mix the cheese, syrup and bacon fat.  Chop 1/2 slice of bacon and reserve for garnish.  If you prefer a vegetarian muffin, skip the bacon entirely.

When the muffins are approaching room temp, put the cheese in a piping bag, insert the tip just into the top of the muffin, and squeeze out a few tablespoons into the muffin.  Withdraw the tip with a slight flourish.  Garnish the cheese with bacon bits.

Some with bacon, some without. Something for everyone.

The muffin is slightly sweet, with a crisp crust that has an aroma of graham crackers.  The filling is smokey and slightly sweet, with a pleasant creaminess that in the yin to the yang the crumb texture.  The crunchy bacon bits are the perfect finish, with a salty flavor and light crunchiness that are a perfect compliment to the finished product.

Thoughts on future versions: maybe add some chopped jalapenos to the muffins, infuse some herbs into the hot bacon fat (bay laurel comes to mind), experiment with different cheeses (goat chevre, anyone?) .  Bigger muffins, maybe a little more leavening agents, a little convection in the last five minutes of the baking cycle.  I’ll be working on this recipe a little more in upcoming weeks.

Leave your suggestions and feedback!

http://www.muddydogcoffee.com

Read Full Post »

Our Last Hurrah of Summer Menu

Starring your favorite and mine, King Corn.

On this Labor Day weekend Sunday morning, we were forced to contemplate the end of summer.  With one exception (C.), we are a summer family, enjoying the heat and dreading cold.  Summer food, in particular, is one thing we miss during the other three seasons.  So as I drank a full press pot of Kona Peaberry this morning, I thought about a dinner menu that would be a fitting send-off to the season we love so much.

One upside of working in farmers’ markets in an abundance of seasonal food.  Our fridge… and table, and counters… truly runneth over.  But there are two standouts on any summer menu – sweet corn, and tomatoes.  So I made a simple menu to showcase those two ingredients, which we happened to have plenty of after yesterday’s markets.  And I couldn’t resist using one of our newest products as a central ingredient, too.  The final menu read as follows:

Lyon’s Farm Sweet Corn Soup with Timberwood Organics (thanks Martha!) Sorrel Pesto
Roberson Creek Farm Heirloom Tomato Nuovo-Caprese Salad
Muddy Dog Roasted Cornbread
All Paired with Fox Hill Meadery Traditional Mead

I must confess that the soup was inspired by a similar dish I had at Spruce in San Francisco last month.  I like my corn soup base better than theirs, but their sorrel was better, more like an emulsion than a pesto.  So as not to keep you in suspense, here’s an image of the finished product:

Vegetarian, and all seasonal, local inputs

The soup is really easy, and can be served hot or cold.  Cut the kernels off two ears of corn; retain the cobs.  Place corn and cobs in large saucepan.  Add 4 cups water, 2 cups whole milk or cream.  Also add one smashed garlic clove, a few branches of thyme, a few tablespoons of butter, and salt to taste (start with a couple teaspoons).  Finally, add 1/4 cup of Muddy Dog Roasting Company roasted cornmeal (the cornmeal adds a roasted flavor while improving the texture and mouthfeel of the soup).  Bring to boil, reduce to simmer.  Simmer for an hour.  Remove corn cobs nd thyme branches.  Blend till smooth with immersion blender.

After the soup is prepared, make a sorrel pesto by processing a big handful of fresh sorrel leaves and olive oil in a blender or food processor.  Reserve some sorrel leaves and chiffonade them for garnish.   Add oil to the spinning appliance till a thick liquid consistency is achieved.  Throw in a generous pinch of salt while blending.

Assemble by filling a bowl with soup (can be hot or cold).  Spoon some sorrel pesto on top and garnish with sorrel chiffonade.

The tomato salad was a quasi-traditional preparation: cucumber, tomato, sliced red onion, some diced mozzarella cheese tossed in olive oil and vinegar.  I garnished with more sorrell since it was around.  Salt and pepper to taste.

The cornbread was Deborah Madison’s recipe.  Basically, 1 cup cornmeal, 1 cup flour, pinch salt, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 2 eggs, 1 stick melted butter, 4 tbsp honey, 1 cup milk.  Mix well, bake at 400F for about 15-20 minutes.

And so ends another summer.  While we will soon enjoy broccoli, cabbage, winter squashes and more, we will think back on today and long for corn and tomatoes.  But seasonality is what makes them special.

Read Full Post »

Western Wake Farmers’ Market = Success!

WWFM Opening. Photo courtesy of Sandra's Kitchen Studio, http://www.sandraskitchenstudio.com

Asses and elbows.

I just don’t know how else to put it.  That was the scene Saturday morning at the opening of the new Western Wake Farmers’ Market.

And it was wonderful.

Mia, Jennifer, Pali, Natalie, Amy (both Amys), Teri, Cindy, Heidi and Juliann have done a great thing for West Cary.  These women decided a year ago that they weren’t satisfied with the status quo of Cary markets, and set about organizing the market they wanted.  And they have done a spectacular job.  Hats off to all of you!

As a vendor, it was invigorating to be part of someting that was absolutely alive.  I was so busy that I only got to see the market from the inside of my tent, and that’s the way it should be.

Yours truly, from the inside of the tent. Photo courtesy of Sandra's Kitchen Studio, http://www.sandraskitchenstudio.com

Like many (most?) vendors, we were pretty much sold out of everything by 11 AM.  None of us anticipated a crowd that we were later told was about 1100 people.  I think we’ll all be better prepared next week.  There will probably be some “settling out” period, for us at least, where we learn the balance of what we’ll sell in a given week.  I will try to overshoot the mark a little next week.

I’m told that there is an amazing compliment of vendors there.  Certainly the tents strectched as far as my eyes could see.  I did manage to get my meat shopping done with Grandview Farms, as they happened to be set up right next to me – grass fed beef and free-range chicken, yum.  Maybe next week I’ll bring some more help and get out to explore.

See you at the market!

Read Full Post »

A Tale of Two Markets: Farmers’ Markets in Cary this year

Talking to our customers over the past couple months, it’s obvious there is a bit of confusion regarding the local farmers’ market scene.  Let’s see if we can clarify.

Cary will have TWO farmers’ markets this year: Downtown Cary Farmers’ Market, and the Western Wake Farmers’ Market.  We will be vending at BOTH of the Cary markets.  Here’s the 411 on each:

Downtown Cary Farmers’ Market

The Downtown Cary Farmers’ Market is the returning market.  This market is the one that USED TO BE at the Amtrak station on between Harrison and Academy Streets.  I say USED TO BE because that market is relocating this year.  The reason it’s relocating is that the train station will be expanded, and we were not allowed to stay for the season.  The NEW LOCATION is 744 E. Chatham Street, in the Chatham Square shopping center, across from the Circus Restaurant.

The hours of the downtown market are Saturdays, 8 AM – 12:30 PM, and Tuesdays, 3-6 PM.  Opening day is this Saturday, April 4th.

The official website of the Downtown Cary Farmers’ Market is http://www.caryfarmersmarket.com

Twitter @CaryMarket

Map:

View Larger Map

The Western Wake Farmers’ Market

There will be a new farmer’s market in West Cary this year, the Western Wake Farmers’ Market.  That market is a Saturday-only market, opening Saturday, May 2.  Hours are 8-12 noon.  The location of the Western Wake Farmers’ Market is Carpenter Village, on Morrisville-Carpenter Road.  The market will be located about half a mile west of Davis Drive on the south side of Morrisville-Carpenter.

Official website of the Western Wake Farmers’ Market: http://www.westernwakefarmersmarket.org

Twitter @wwfm

Map:

View Larger Map

We will not be keeping shop hours on Saturdays during market season.  C’mon down to the market of your choice and see us there!

Hope that clears up some confusion.

Read Full Post »

Fire in the Hole!

<Read this post in your best Anthony Bourdain voice and I promise you it will sound better>

Tonight I made my first fired tea.  In several batches.  It was harder than I thought it would be, and it didn’t come out exactly right each time.  In fact, it came out exactly right only once, curiously enough the first time I tried.  My shop smelled like a 1970′s Pink Floyd concert.  But it worked.  And thus begins another life-long obsession, I suspect.

What is fired tea, you ask?  It’s green tea, roasted.  The one that got me started on this is hojicha, a tea I first tried while Japan.  Hojicha, the traditionally charcoal-fired version of bancha, or second blush of sencha, sounds like a romantic, artisan creation.  And it is.  But in that uniquely Japanese way, it is also eminently practical.

You see, bancha is an inferior tea.  The first of seasonal green tea is called sencha, and it is universally prized around the world.  After the branches are bare, the second push arrives, and is harvested.  This ugly duckling of a tea, coarse and twiggy, is called bancha.  If bancha were coffee, it would be Vietnamese robusta.  Yuck.   So in true Japanese fashion, they take something undesirable, and turn it into something prized.  With fire.  Hojicha.

Sencha

Bancha. This is actually the best looking bancha I've ever seen; it looks better than some sencha. I wouldn't fire anything that looked this good. Well, OK, maybe I would. Fire, heh heh.

It’s understandable why the Japanese were driven to do this.  Any of you who have been to Japan know that real estate is at a premium.  They can’t just farm more land and harvest more sencha to make enough to earn a living.  No, they need to utilize the land to its fullest.  And hojicha is one way of doing that.  Hoji magically transforms the rough and relatively flavorless bancha into a beautiful, less astringent tea, with lovely grain and cereal flavors.  It’s just short of miraculous, really.

Hojicha. This one is a little twiggy.

So once again, I had the distinct advantage of knowing just enough to be dangerous, and not nearly enough to be useful.  If there’s one thing I can do, I figured, it’s roast.  And roast I did.  How hot?  How long?  How much air?  How much agitation?  All complete mysteries to me.  And they pretty much still are.  But I got it right once, and that was all it took.  I am hooked.

It turns out that hojicha is usually pan fired over charcoal.  In retrospect, I can clearly see the wisdom of this technique.  As you might have guessed, that’s not exactly what I did.  What I did… is to remain a secret.  Why? Well, the obvious reason is proprietary competitive advantage.  And that’s true, to a certain extent.  But the real reason is embarrassment.  I know I looked like Rube Goldberg, but with enough BTUs to torch a house.  What I did tonight was dangerous and silly.  And fun.  And unexpectedly productive.  And my secret.

I would offer you some of my hoji to try, but the batch I got right yielded just enough for a few servings.  I sent what was left after my sampling to a friend in Atlanta with his coffee order.  I look forward, as always, to his sometimes harsh, but always honest feedback.  I suspect he will encourage me to continue.

And as I research the field, I realize that hojicha is but one type of fired tea.  People have been doing this to all kinds of beverages for a very long time.  Looks like I have some catching up to do.

http://www.muddydogcoffee.com

WWJD (What Would Jim Drink today?): Hoji!  I drank all of the batch that worked, now I’m working on some of the less perfect batches, and they’re still good.

Read Full Post »

Old School: That’s How They Roll

I’m talking about my parents, of course, and how they make coffee.  No method is too labor intense, no device too archaic.  And, not suprisingly, the apple has not fallen far from the tree.

We visited the folks at the Pennsylvania farmstead in between Christmas and New Year’s, as those of you who

Here's the Muddy Dog herself, down on the farm. Who said a dog can't smile? That is literally a sh_t-eating grin - I saw what she was eating right before the photo.

placed orders that week now fully realize; of course, I needed to bring coffee.  So as I was getting ready to turn out the lights in the roastery Christmas eve, I assembled a couple boxes and gathered up every roasted bean I could find in the shop to give away to my family.  All the Friends & Family trimmings that the walk-in customers have come to love (walk in and buy a couple pounds, and I throw in a bag of trimmings for free!).  All the unsold bulk coffees.  All the retail finished goods.  Everything.  All told, I boxed up about 35 pounds of coffee (mind you, I had been concentrating on depleting the inventory for about a week at that point).  I was determined to start 2009 with absolutely no inventory – a gesture that my accountant loves.

Upon arrival, my brothers descended on the boxes like a pack of ravenous wolves.  Still, my parents were left with a pretty amazing array of coffees.  And we drank a lot of them over the week.  And as interesting as all those coffees were, it’s how they were brewed that was more interesting.  All those who think you need fancy new technology to make great coffee, prepare to be amazed.

Those who know me know that I have a hard time starting the day without a simple, straight espresso.  Mom and Dad have no fancy espresso machine.  Nor do they want one – no space in their kitchen.  So we went old school: moka pot.  For the uninitiated, a moka is how most Italians in Italy make their coffee at home (at least the ones I know).  The device is simple, just three pieces.  A bottom vessel to contain the water, a filter basket shaped like a funnel, and a pot to catch the finished coffee.  The principal of operation is simple, too.  Fill the bottom vessel up to the pressure relief valve.  Fill the basket with finely ground coffee, in this case our Classic Italian Espresso, strike it level, do not tamp.  Assemble the pot.  Place onto a heat source.  As the water heats, the air above it heats.  As the air heats, it expands, pushing on the water.  The only place for the water to go (path of least resistance) is up the funnel, through the coffee, into the pot.  It makes a really good, stiff coffee.  You don’t get the same oil emulsification (crema) that happens at 9 bars of pressure, but it’s still damn good.  And cheap, and simple, and easy to store in the cabinet.

Moka pot, and espresso blend. That stove was new sometime in the 70's.

Here's what it looks like apart. This is a plain, old, aluminum Bialetti brand moka. We sell a fancy stainless steel version, as well as the aluminum classic.

Basket filled, struck level, no tamp, ready to assemble.

Pure Magic...

Still, a little tedious if you have a crowd, which we did at times.  In that case, we drag out the old vacuum pot.  Yeah, we could have used the percolator, but as I established in a post last summer, that one actually takes some skill to use well.

Vac pots date back to the mid 1800′s, purportedly invented by a guy named Napier, a maritime engineer.  Principle of operation is the same as the moka – bottom vessel for water, top vessel shaped like a funnel, with funnel rod extending to bottom of water vessel.  In between there is a filter of some sort.  Water heats, air heats, air pushes on water, water follows path of least resistance up funnel and mixes with ground coffee in that vessel.  Only difference in this case is that you keep it on the heat as long as you want the coffee to steep.  Then remove it from the heat.  As the bottom vessel cools, it creates a vacuum (this is, basically, how a canning jar works, too).  The vacuum sucks the brewed coffee through the filter and into the pot.  Done.

Vac pots were hugely popular before WWII.  Restaurants had huge gangs of them.  They were in every household, in numerous brands – Cory, Nicro, Sunbeam, and more.  All types of filter mechanisms.  At one time I had a collection of them, but I try not to pack rat and sold them all except one or two.  Even today, they are available if not popular.  Bodum makes the most mainstream of them, the Santos.  The device in the movie The Bucket List was a vacuum pot (the Royal), a different configuration but same principle.

Here's Mom's Vac Pot. She's clumsy, so stainless is how she rolls. I think this one is a Nicro, but not sure. It uses a Cory glass filter rod, probably not original.

Put the filter rod in, then add the coffee. A bit of technique - heat the water a little with the pot unassembled, then put them together. It's more viscerally satisfying to seethe thing work as soome as you assemble it, and you can start timing your agitation, otherwise you're waiting for the water to heat, in which case I get distracted then the next thing you know it's been gurgling for who knows how long.

Assmebled, water starting to move into upper chamber. Stir a little as the water rises to get all the coffee wetted.

Let it steep, on the heat, for about three minutes, then remove from heat and watch the vacuum work almost immediately

It's done when the grinds are sucked dry. remove the upper vessel and serve.

My favorite coffee of the week was the Mexico Organic Dry-Process Nayarit.  I’m a sucker for a good natural.

Even if you don’t use these methods every day, it’s fun to experiment with them and inexpensive to buy the equipment – look on eBay to get what you need.  They work great, they give you infinite control, and you’ll feel good about mastering a new technique.

http://www.muddydogcoffee.com

WWJD (What Would Jim Drink today?): I’m working on a couple new blends for a potential new coffee shop customer.  The dark house blend is a variation on the Christmas Blend theme.  I’ll keep you posted.

Read Full Post »

Crunchy Granola

Literally.

Last night I made some granola bars.  This morning, I wanted to get to the roastery early, so I grabbed some of the granola off the baking sheet, put it in a Pyrex bowl, and off to the shop I went.

I like to share, so I put my granola out to share with customers who stopped in for coffee.  You would think I was feeding them caviar, the way some them raved.  And a few people asked for the recipe, so here it is:

Preface:  There’s not really any right or wrong way to do this.  It’s grains, nuts and seeds, with some fat and sweetener.  Roughly 8:0.6:1, grains:fat:sweet, or thereabouts.  The only “trick” to it is that your “dough” should be sticky enough to make into a doughball without crumbling.  Also, big chunks tend not to bind as well, so chop big things into smaller pieces.  Improvise your own recipe based on this one.

Preheat oven to 350F

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup flax meal (so if you don’t have this, I would pulverize nuts into a powder instead and substitute)
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup finely chopped cashews (I like the salted ones, then I don’t use any more salt.  If you use unsalted nuts you may want to add a teaspoon or so of salt)
1 cup shelled sunflower seeds
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 stick butter, melted
I also added about a 1/4 cup of apple syrup we got as a gift from somebody who went to Canada.  Completely optional.  But dried apples (chopped) would probably be nice in these bars.

Mix the dry ingredients, then the wet into the dry.  Mix thoroughly.  Grease a large baking pan (I use an 11 x 13 b/c it’s the largest I have – a little bigger would be better).  Spread the dougn evenly and pack it down as hard as possible (use something big and flat to press on it).  Should be 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.

Bake for 20-30 minutes till brown (it will be really soft while hot – just make sure the edges are browned, and don’t mess with it while it’s hot).  Remove from oven, lower temp to 200F, and allow to cool for 20 minutes or longer.  Cut into desired serving sizes.  Break up portions and place on a flat baking sheet (parchment paper aids cleanup).  Pop back into the 200F oven.  For a moderate crunchiness (“al dente”) bake another three hours.  For really crunchy, bake longer (5 hours).  I time things such that I put the oven on timer and put them in when I go to bed.  So they bake for a few hours, then stay in a cooling oven for a few more.  Consume within a week or two, or freeze (I don’t bake them dry enough to store at room temp indefinitely)

Incidentally, you can make dog treats much the same way – equal parts grain and flour, a few eggs and a cup of melted peanut butter.  Follow the same procedure for baking, but dry the hell out of them so they store at room temperature – 8 to 10 hours in a 200F oven.   Then you can gross out your kids by eating dog treats.

http://www.muddydogcoffee.com

WWJD (What Would Jim Drink today?): I’ve had a craving for Mexico Oaxaca Pluma don Eduardo for several days now.  So I whipped up a pump pot this morning before the customers started arriving.  Hopefully by next week I’ll be trying it on my new Fetco ECO brewer (yay!) – better coffee, and better for the planet (although I felt the teeth nip my butt with the bite it took out of my wallet – it ain’t easy being green!).

Read Full Post »

Flantastic!

I’m not talking about Pocket Flan, although that is a good idea (you laugh?  One word: Gogurt.)

No, I’m talking about the coffee flan at the new Tasca Brava in Raleigh.

We had some old friends from up north drop in unexpectedly yesterday.  So I called Bistro 607, one of my favorite restaurants, to see if they could squeeze us in – only to find they were no longer there!  Turns out Juan Samper bought the place to open his new Tasca Brava, a true Spanish tapas restaurant.

Those of you who know me well know that it’s nearly impossible for me to be satisfied with a restaurant.  This is usually due to the fact that whatever geography is represented, I’ve probably been to that place and ate like a local.  Kind of like Tony Bourdain, only without the camera crew, the after-dinner smoke and the foul language.  Well, OK, with the foul language.  We all have our issues.

But I do have a weakness for tapas, and I’ll give any of them a try at least once.  The problem with most tapas restaurants is either, a) they suck, b) the plates are too big, or c) both.  Red Room has been my reigning fave for the past few years, ever since the place on 9th St. in Durham closed.  Red Room has problem b).  Oliver’s Twist, Zelly & Ritz… problem a).  So my expectations were low.

But when we walked in, the first thing I saw were coffee bags for sale.  Karma was talking to me, baby.  As he seated us, I asked Juan, the owner, where he got his coffee.  Since I knew he didn’t get it from me, there was only one answer that would be acceptable.  And he gave that answer.  He roasted it himself.  BANG!  Cosmic connection.

The meal blew me (and all of us) away.  Our tapas were perfect.  Four people, nine or ten tapas, a bottle of wine (what did you pick, Myles?  It was fabulous), and still room for dessert.  Could it get any better?

Two words: Coffee Flan.  That’s right.  Rich, creamy and caffeinated.  Wow.

So I did sample Juan’s espresso.  It’s good.  I don’t feel threatened, though.  Too much like illycafe for my tastes.  I invited Juan to the shop for a little roasting, blending and brewing session.  We’ll see if he takes me up on it.

Just say no to chain restaurants.  Visit Tasca at 607 Glenwood.

http://www.muddydogcoffee.com

WWJD (What Would Jim Drink today?)  I was a bit of a coffee fiend today, which believe it or not, is unlike me.  I started the day with a pump pot of Christmas Blend, which I shared with my high-powered work team from Duke’s business school – they are helping me out with some MBA consulting.  Every one of these people is the the smartest one in the room.  If I was a little more self-aware, I would be intimidated.  Then this afternoon I had a craving, swear to God, for acidity.  So I brewed up some Kenya.  That scratched the itch – you gotta love a coffee that is unrepentingly bright.

Read Full Post »

Farmer in Chief

I’ve been trying to be disciplined and limit my blog posts to coffee-related topics.  I even have started a food blog so I can pursue my other passion there.  But this piece from Michael Pollan was too good to resist linking here, despite the obvious political leanings that are not in line with my own (before you start thinking I’m an idiot, I’ll explain that I am a committed third-party voter).  Get involved with your food supply!

http://www.muddydogcoffee.com

WWJD (What Would Jim Drink today?): traveling, so I am drinking hotel swill coffee.  Amazing just how bad this stuff is.

Read Full Post »

Sunny Maid Corp. Mr. Brown Coffee Recall

When the melamine pet food recall occurred a year or so ago, I predicted that there was NO WAY this problem would not impact the human food chain (never fear, the Muddy Dog and her trusty sidekick eat local & organic, just like us… this week they are dining on lamb hearts, livers, kidneys and tongues courtesy of our Orange County farmer friend, mixed with Harnett County sweet potato peels).  So then it was Chinese baby formula, where melamine was added to make protein content test higher than actual.  And now we hear that Asian coffee has been contaminated with melamine… to the extent that something called a 3-in-1 flavor packet can lay claim to actually being coffee.  Yes, Sunny Maid Corp. (the people who bring you delicacies like “instant tea”) is recalling bags of “Mr. Brown” coffee mix.  But why hear it from me when you can read about it from the FDA:

http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/sunnymaid10_08.html

Permit me to rant just a little… who buys this crap, and why??  What in the hell are they thinking?  Convenience?  A single cup press pot takes 3-5 minutes to prepare.  Are people in THAT MUCH of a hurry?  Cost?  Well, setting aside the obvious cost of KIDNEY FAILURE, we run coffee specials that enable people to make great, artisan coffee for as little as about 15 cents per cup.  Even if you pay all the money for the best coffees on our site, you are going to net out under 30 cents per cup.  Look, folks, I understand the current economy has people down.  But this is beyond ridiculous and moving into dangerous.

Let us hook you up with great, ethical, sustainable coffee, please.

http://www.greenroasting.com

Read Full Post »