West Coast Peanut Butter Cookies · Wednesday December 22, 2021 by colin newell
Peanut butter cookies
are my favourite cookie – ever.
There is something about the taste
and the texture that takes me straight back to childhood.
INGREDIENTS
▢ 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 180g▢ 1/2 cup butter unsalted, room temp 113g
▢ 1 cup smooth peanut butter 250g
▢ 1/2 cup brown sugar 100g, lightly packed
▢ 1/2 cup sugar 100g
▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract 5mL
▢ 1 egg large, room temp
▢ 3/4 tsp baking powder 3g
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F – you can likely convection bake these at 325 to 340 degrees but shorten your time!
Sift flour and baking powder together then whisk to combine.
Cream butter and sugars in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. You can add an optional 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt.
Add peanut butter and mix until incorporated.
Mix in egg and vanilla extract then add flour mixture and beat until incorporated.
Roll dough into one inch balls and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
*I used a tool called (I think) a melon baller – kind of a much smaller version of a ice cream scoop to get the perfect size every time.
Flatten cookies with a fork in a criss-cross pattern.
Bake cookies for about 10 minutes. Pay strict attention to timing. These cookies are dead easy to burn.
Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet, before being transferred to rack.
This cookie pairs well with any kind of black coffee or tea. It is guaranteed to take you back to a simpler time.
Colin Newell is a Victoria resident and long time editor of the CoffeeCrew.com website.
Great coffee in Ottawa - creating a list - checking it twice. · Tuesday April 30, 2019 by colin newell
Origin Trade (111 York St.)
Origin Trade is in the Byward Market. …coffee beverages stellar, but the atmosphere and aesthetic of the cafe is awesome too. It’s a cozy setting is the perfect place to come study with a friend during the fall season.
Bridgehead (Various)
This socially responsible local chain was the first company in the nation to serve fair trade coffee. Specializing in specialty grade beans, their goal is to connect the producer with the customer in a meaningful way.
The Ministry of Coffee (279 Elgin Street)
The Ministry of Coffee is all about innovative brewing technologies. They rotate their drink menu every week, with selections coming from all over the continent. They do courses on home coffee prep.
Café Morala (734 Bank St.)
If you’re looking for some coffee with a Latin American flare, we recommend Café Morala! They offer various coffee and hot beverage options such as Americano and Mexican hot chocolate, along with delish Latin American pastries and sandwiches like empanadas, tamales and much more.
Happy Goat Coffee Co. (35 Laurel Street)
Happy Goat Coffee treats coffee like an art form and are happy to educate their customers about the different types available and their origins. Roasting only the most superior beans, the niche coffee company aims to protect their environment through sustainable small scale farming which supports diversity and local economies. They also sell three or six-month coffee subscriptions on their website.
Quitters Coffee (1523 Main Street South – Stittsville)
Casual cafe by day and bar by night, this independent coffee shop features chic décor, outdoor seating and quality service. Their coffee menu is constantly changing and they carry various local brands of craft beer and wine. They also serve a fantastic breakfast and lunch.
Equator Coffee (412 Churchill Avenue / 1 Elgin St. (NAC))
Equator coffee strives for good service and amazing brews. Everything they do is focused on their three main pillars: “Fresh Roasting, Fair Trade Purchasing and Organic Certification.” They value investment in and commitment to their local and global communities; they partner with SchoolBox to bring classrooms and school supplies to Central America. We especially recommend their newest location at the recently-renovated National Arts Centre! Relaxing with a beautiful view of Elgin street through its floor-to-ceiling windows.
Grounded Kitchen, Coffee & Bar (100 Gloucester Street)
Founded in the summer of 2010 by Amir Rahim and Gabriel Pollock, Grounded is definitely down to Earth with simple, natural grub and stellar coffee. The open kitchen concept of the Centretown establishment tries to evoke the feeling of an outdoor market while indoors. Much of the interior has been recycled and or refurbished, such as the whiskey barrel bar or the pair of wood carts once owned by the Museum of Civilization, lending it an eclectic vibe.
Morning Owl Coffeehouse + Parlour (Various Locations)
Morning Owl is owner Jordan O’Leary’s way of celebrating his family’s Abruzzese roots. Using organic and direct trade Little Victories coffee, this shop offers all types of coffee concoctions, including lactose-free options. Drinks range from flat whites to undertows to lattes in a variety of original flavours, such as Nut N’ Honey, Peppermint Patty, Nutella and Snickers. They have four locations scattered throughout the city.
Francesco’s (48 Jamie Avenue)
This award-winning artisan coffee chain roasts their coffee to order, using state-of-the-art equipment to make 10 to 60 kilo batches every 17 minutes. Thick roasting drums and precise control and cooling technology make some of the best coffee around. They can even deliver your custom order to your front door in under 36 hours from the time of roasting.
Steeped coffee from Santa Cruz - what's new. · Monday November 13, 2017 by colin newell
Podcast – Talking steeped coffee with Josh Wilbur of Steeped Coffee – Santa Cruz, California –
Talking steeped coffee!
We spoke with Josh Wilbur, brainchild behind the “Steeped Coffee” concept just out of beautiful Santa Cruz California.
Hey. People love coffee. I love coffee and have been talking about it for over 20 years
Just when I think I have run out of things to talk about, something interesting comes down the pipe.
And that is Steeped Coffee.
Steeped Coffee has just launched, arguably, the easiest way to make a great cup of coffee with their fully compostable single-serve bags.
Steeped Bags replace the need for wasteful pods, expensive machines, and time-consuming homebrewing equipment. And for the first time, this new brewing method combines the quality and ethics of specialty coffee with the convenience of a single serving. Not only that but the packaging is Earth friendly too! Wait, what?
My lab mates and I tried some free samples of the Steeped coffee product recently – simply following the dead simple instructions – Hey, if you can make a cup of tea you can make a darn fine cup of coffee. As the press info goes: “Each portion is delivered in a fully compostable nitro sealed packet for freshness, essentially halting the coffee’s aging process so it’s like it was ground within moments.” And we found this to be true. Just ground freshness in an envelope.
As Josh pointed out in our audio interview: “Sometimes simplicity is the most difficult thing to achieve. I came up with this idea 7 years ago—knowing that there should be an easier way to make great coffee. When I first started it was just coffee in a tea bag,” said Josh Wilbur, CEO and Founder. “There’s a reason this hasn’t been done before. We had to innovate to account for a number of factors such as sourcing ethical and quality beans, getting the right grind size and density, maintaining the freshness of ground coffee, controlling the water permeability of the filter, and making sure everything we do is environmentally sustainable. Turns out there were a lot of challenges to overcome to make something this simple work.”
Whoa. We love it when a plan comes together.
In our lab at the University of Victoria, we enjoy great coffee every day. We grind and brew for Hario V60 brews as well as Newco pro drip brewers. In a pinch it would be nice to have a slightly faster process that we can count on in a pinch – and have a clear conscience too! We have reviewed numerous “instant brew” type machines with PODS and such that are a blight on the environment. Steeped Coffee has thought it through and brought us something that we can live with. And a product that tastes good. Stay tuned!
For more information, visit Steeped Coffee online.
Podcast – If you cannot see the HTML audio player above, click here for the mp3 download.
Comment [2]
The Nespresso Inissia pod system and the convenience of now · Tuesday August 4, 2015 by colin newell
I get many offers of coffee machines to test in exchange for a review – or a machine in exchange from one of the many online companies offering a selection of coffee products.
The folks at New York City and Berlin based Gourmesso.com were good enough to send a very significant supply of coffee samples and arrange for an Inissia machine to test them on and for me to keep, cherish and redistribute however I saw fit. Great deal.
So – my review of the Innisia is over here – and it is worth a spin before proceeding with the rest of these follow up observations.
OK – here is the big upside of Nespresso pod coffee. It is convenient and fast. It reduces the planning for coffee to a push of a single button. Feel like coffee? Get out some pods and fill and power up the machine. There is little more than a minute and a half of waiting while the unit heats up. I like to heat up my cups before I start brewing shots from the Nespresso so that might take a few more moments of your time. So, if you are absolutely and positively in a hurry and have to have your coffee right now, this might be the way to go.
The quality of the Nespresso coffee pods is good, annoying good in some ways when you compare it to other methods of brewing. From a technical stand point, there is not quite enough coffee in each pod to balance the mount of water that the Nespresso pushes through. I noticed that the Gourmesso pods contained slightly less coffee (or the pods were a touch smaller) and the quality of the coffee was not quite up to the level of the Nespresso pods. The Gourmesso pods are also cheaper – and I think at last check, a Nespresso pod is well over a buck a pop. And for you convenience lovers, that adds up fast! We had some friends over last night for some wine and coffee (brewed on our patio out of doors!) and they claimed to be Nespresso lovers for a few months until the costs for the pods started to rack up.
They noted that they were averaging $200 (Canadian) a month on pods – they are both coffee drinkers. They were brewing several double shots in the morning and afternoon and quickly added up to lots of pods.
The Nespresso (and Gourmesso) pods are only available online (or in Nespresso boutique stores in large Urban cities) so the costs and shipping start to add up fast. My whole bean coffee habit when consuming the same amount of coffee (brewed as gravity drip) is less than 1/2 this amount and I serve an average of 2-4 cups a day to 2 to 4 people every day of the week!
The big downside outside of the cost of pods is the waste that is generated – but slowly there are recycling stations that are taking the spent pods – which often contain plastic, paper and foil in one unit — kind of difficult to process. Pod systems are quite the rage right now and the environment is having a bad time with all the waste materials and it could be years before the planet catches up to it all.
The Nespresso machines themselves tend to not be that expensive and they are not that complex – and they are wickedly convenient… but that comes with a cost that you have to weigh out. Do the math ahead of time and if you think you can live with the extra cost, then go ahead.
Personally, I like my gravity drip methods, my Hario filter holders, paper, grinder, kettle and scale. It’s hipster and tasty and easier on my pocket book and my conscience. For the Coffeecrew blog and website, I am Colin Newell in Victoria B.C. Canada.
Barista Bible author Cristine Cottrell on the subject of Aussie coffee · Tuesday July 14, 2015 by colin newell
Talking coffee with Cristine
Click here for audio file if you cannot see flash player above.
When I started writing about and reviewing coffee shops and cafe culture in the mid-1990’s I always dreamed of writing the ultimate coffee book or complete (as I saw it) history of coffee culture in North America.
I have kept at a blog and a website on the subject of cafe culture for 20 years now, I have yet to write the book.
And in my travels all those years I have met every manner of coffee expert and niche professional – you know, someone who knows espresso inside and out or someone who knows how to build a successful chain of coffee shops or someone who has invented an amazing brewing device or coffee gadget… but I have never met anyone who had that perfect grasp of the entire picture – you know, the person who could write such a book or guide.
When Christine Cottrell and her husband Paul came to town (after their tour of the Western states and a visit to SCAA 2015 in April) I thought to myself, OK, I am going to get to meet up with another of the industries leaders in one area or another of specialty coffee. Which in itself is awesome – but I was not expecting to meet that person that was actually creating that definitive guide to all things coffee!
After a single day with Christine and Paul, I had a new perspective and reinvigoration in my own coffee passion.
So, who is Christine Cottrell and what has she done? Well, Christine connects with baristas and coffee experts around the world finding out everything there is to know about global cafe and coffee culture and where the heck it is going.
With over 20 years of experience, herself, in teaching and working in the hospitality industry, Christine created The Coffee Education Network and has helped thousands up their game in specialty coffee with her complete series of training manuals and guides – the flagship being the Barista Bible.
It was in 2009 that the first 10 publications were made available to the Australian marketplace, and they were so warmly received that an international release took place in London, England in 2010 at an international coffee conference. Her guide, the Barista Bible is about simply everything coffee – but there is so much more to it. Her supplementary guides include troubleshooting for the cafe owner and barista, the dialog of the cafe, an up to date dictionary on 21st Centuries emerging coffee lexicon and a complete recipe or menu guide for the modern cafe.
Christine and her husband Paul are clearly on something of a global mission to educate consumers and raise cafe culture (through education and instilling passion in cafe owners) to an entirely new level.
Their motto appears to be “The pursuit of excellence” in Australia and their dedication to a better cup of coffee has, in no small part, pushed Australia to the leading edge in the global quest for cafe quality domination. It was an honour to spend a day with Christine and Paul and I make no bones about it – my own passion level in the World of specialty coffee needed an infusion – and it got one serious one indeed!
Christine’s work is available over on her website at www.perfectespresso.com.au
