Tuesday, August 9, 2011

What Do Celebrity Roasts And Granita Have In Common?

Everyone who loves to laugh, loves a good roast. Whether a celebrity, new groom, or long time friend celebrating a milestone birthday, we all enjoy a friendly ribbing about embarrassing moments and quirky idiosyncrasies.  If you're a foodie, you probably enjoy roasts of another nature as well. Oyster roasts, pig roasts, and pot roasts are among several Southern favorites. If you're a coffee lover, however, there is no roast more dear to your heart than the fresh, fragrant, richly delicious roast prepared by your local independent coffee roaster!



What? You don't have a personal coffee roaster? One who custom roasts the highest quality beans of your choice and packages them securely to seal in that freshness and flavor?  Well, allow me to introduce you to Coastal Coffee in Summerville, SC.

Brad & Holly selecting beans to be roasted

Recently, Holly Roberson, owner of GoCharlestonDeals, and I had the pleasure of touring a wonderful, fledgling business dedicated to first class customer service, sustainable practices, and family values.  It's the kind of business many people daydream about while toiling away endless hours at jobs they despise, but endure for the sake of 'making ends meet'. The kind that makes you feel good about family, friends, the environment, and life.

For owners Brad and Jacki Mallet, along with children Richard, Rachael, and Ryan (not the quarterback), that dream became a reality last year when they decided to leave corporate America, move South, invest their savings in a building near the coast, buy a coffee roaster, and focus on their passion: Great Coffee.


The shiny, new, made in America, roaster!


Here's a little background in their own words:

"We're a locally owned, family operated business that's dedicated to sourcing the best beans and roasting them fresh for our customers.

Coastal Coffee Roasters began as a simple idea...

That idea: to share our family's passion for fresh, sustainable coffees with the world. We use Organic, Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, Bird Friendly and Swiss Water Process certifications and are always looking for the best practices We love the coast as much as we love our coffee, so we headed toward the South Carolina coast with our vision for transforming the best organically grown beans into the most amazing, freshly roasted coffee. We use a creative, locally roasted process to bring our passion for great coffee to life in every bag. We want our name to be synonymous with the best cup of coffee that you have ever tasted. Period.

Coastal Coffee Roasters is passionate about bringing the culture of coffee to your cup."

Brad and crew are constantly sourcing the highest quality beans, and are committed to providing the freshest coffee from the best coffee regions of the world, while combining it with the friendliest customer service possible. (If you visit, you can even shoot some hoops with 'em in the back of the warehouse!)

A portion of their wide selection of beans

Every batch is roasted fresh and carefully monitored to ensure the optimal flavor profile.





After a great visit, I left with several new friends and a sampling of some wonderful coffee that was roasted fresh before my eyes just minutes earlier!



If there was ever a small business worthy of support, Coastal Coffee Roasters is it! For more information, to order online, or just share some love, visit their website here.  Also, follow them on twitter here.

Now, for those of you thinking; "I thought this was a food blog. Where's the recipe?", don't get your panties in a wad! I'm including a recipe to ease your tension and show that coffee is for more than just a hot morning drink!

Simple, cool, and refreshing granita:



Coffee GranitaServes 2

Ingredients
1 cup brewed coffee
1/4 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons simple syrup (or your preferred sweetener)

Method
  1. Brew coffee as usual and mix with milk and sweetener.
  2. Place in small shallow pan and reserve in freezer. Every 15 minutes scrape ice crystals with fork. Do this until the entire liquid has frozen into small crystals.
  3. Serve in small glasses as a light dessert served with fresh berries or drizzled with dulce de leche.



Recipe and photos are courtesy of my friend Marnely Rodriguez of the blog Cooking With Books. Be sure to show here some love too!

So, what do celebrity roasts and granita have in common? Hmmm...if you make some fresh roasted Coastal Coffee for your neighbors, you'll be a neighborhood celebrity. And, if you're smart, you'll make 'em some coffee granita, too!  Enjoy ;)

p.s. For a coffee ice cream recipe, click here.

18 comments:

  1. Great post Alan! And your coffee granita looks great and the recipe couldn't get any simpler. :)

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  2. thanks for the shout out dear and how awesome is it you have a personal rooster!? Next thing you know you have a local bacon maker!!

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  3. How fun!!! I love fun experiences like this, learning all about a beautiful product from behind the scenes:-) The granita looks like a perfect summer treat! Hugs, Terra

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  4. Always love the way you combine your sense of humour with your love of food (and coffee!) :)

    Incidentally, I am making this same coffee granita RIGHT NOW at work! For the third time in a week! (Much love, Nelly)

    Also, huge fan of wonderful, local businesses like Coastal. Your food and drink is so much more meaningful when you connect with the very people responsible for its production, no?! Well done bringing some extra exposure to the awesome work they're doing!

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  5. Enjoyed reading about this local business. We need to support our local enterprises as much as possible. So glad I found your blog. I'm enjoying it. Thanks for visiting.

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  6. Thanks for including us on the post! The granita looks super yummy and perfect for this weather.

    Go Charleston Deals LOVES supporting local businesses and this field trip was great fun.

    Holly Roberson
    Go Charleston Deals
    www.gocharlestondeals.com

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  7. did you try some of Brad's iced coffee while you were there? if you didn't you need to go back and make him give you a cup

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  8. Incredible post Alan. Love the glimpse into a family business and the granita looks fantastic.

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  9. I love only coffee roast..but missing my personal roaster :( Like to read about the family business.

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  10. I am sooo sooo jealous that you can go and pick up freshly roasted coffee wow!! that is awesome! we need something like that in DR!
    and of course recipe is delish and perfect for the summer time!
    great great great!
    Fran

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  11. We are muy grande coffee lovers around here. I don't have a personal roaster so I'm green with envy. Not hurtful envy. Just, "gosh I wish I had that" kind of envy. The granita sounds so refreshing right now. We are about to burn slap up down here!

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  12. What a fun post! I would love to do something like this. I love coffee and love the idea of a coffee granita, can't wait to try it!

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  13. This sounds like a nice dessert for the hot weather here. I am sure we will like this as we all like coffee here.

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  14. coffee granita sounds amazing right now. this definitely has nelly's trademark on it. she is coffee lover!

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  15. wow, that coffee granita sounds just fantastic!

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