Kemgin
Well, the holidays are upon us once again. And as usual, we have pulled out all the stops to bring you some amazing coffees during your holiday celebrations. This Wednesday night marks the beginning of Hanukkah, and Thursday is Thanksgiving, so right now is the opportune moment to purchase the first of these brilliant coffees.
Kemgin is a very high-end coffee from Ethiopia that we procured through Ninety Plus, who have brought us so many exquisite coffees throughout the years. We offered the Kemgin a couple of years ago, and it was a big hit then, so we've brought it back for another go-around. This is a coffee that has been celebrated by coffee reviewers and professional tasters, as well as winning top coffee at the Good Food Awards.
Because of the region where it is grown, the care with which it is picked, and the clean processing and sorting of Kemgin, it achieves some of the flavors that make coffees stand out as the best coffees in the world. Aromas of jasmine and lemon lead off, and as you taste the coffee, nuances of black tea and orange excite your palate, with a long, silky finish with highlights of pine. Perfect for the holiday season.
Because we care about your coffee experiences at home, we came up with two food pairings we think accentuate the coffee in different ways. Obviously you'll want to drink Kemgin by itself, but having just the right thing to go with it for breakfast and dessert makes the coffee all the more pleasurable. Follow these recipes for our Cranberry-Orange Muffins and Blackberry Cobbler.
Cranberry Orange Muffins (courtesy of our baker, Kristin Hoffman)
1 orange (including peel), quartered with seeds removed
1/2 Cup orange juice (juice of 1 orange)
1 egg
1/2 Cup butter, melted
1-3/4 Cup all-purpose flour
3/4 Cup white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 Cup dried or 1 Cup frozen cranberries
Preheat oven to 400ºF and prepare 12 muffin cups with spray or paper liners. Puree orange quarters and orange juice in a food processor or blender. Add egg and melted butter to orange puree and blend until smooth. Sift dry ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl, then add orange mixture and combine. Stir in cranberries. Fill muffin cups with batter. Bake 20 minutes.
These tend to bring out the black tea flavors in the Kemgin, as well as some soft vanilla flavors that really make this pairing meld together.
Blackberry Cobbler (courtesy of my mom, Millie Franklin)
3 Cups frozen blackberries (do not thaw)
1 large pear, halved, cored, thinly sliced
2/3 Cup sugar
3 T orange juice
2 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Gently toss all ingredients together. Pour into buttered pan.
1 Cup flour
1 Cup sugar
Dash salt
1 Stick butter
Vanilla & Almond extracts (to taste)
Mix sugar, flour, salt, and sugar in food processor with butter until crumbly. Add vanilla and almond extracts and pulse again. Pour over fruit and bake 350 degrees until brown and bubbly (45-50 minutes).
The pears in this cobbler really smooth out the acidity in the blackberries, and the whole thing brings out the citrusy aspect of the Kemgin, and the cinnamon really carries forward through the coffee to make for a unified experience.
Both of these recipes are just unbelievably good, and I highly suggest you give them both a try while you have Kemgin in hand. And it's not going to last long, so buy some today!