Coffee Things

As the coffee culture reaches unprecedented highs across the globe, beverage manufacturers are becoming increasingly innovative in their use of consumers’ favourite commodity, as indeed are manufacturers from other industry sectors that have used coffee to boost the appeal of other products.

Coffee-flavoured beers, syrups, liqueurs and various confectioneries, such as coffee-flavoured or coffee, chocolate covered coffee beans or coffee chews, are more and more commonplace as the growing love for coffee boils up around the world. In Ethiopia, far removed from the more likely links with the ingredient, a coffee-flavoured condom was introduced to encourage safer sex and is reported to have been a real success, despite reservations amongst some locals who felt the association devalued the drink.

Meanwhile in the US, a new confectionery product, KA-POW!, takes the more natural link between coffee and chocolate to the next level by excluding the chocolate element entirely, with the resulting offering having the same visual appeal, the same melting ability and the same crispness as chocolate, but with the rich flavour and energy impact of coffee caffeine.

Also in the US, a roasting company is promoting coffee husks for use in tea. Sold as qishr, which is more commonly used as goat feed or fertiliser, these husks – reportedly tasting of fig and date – have also been brewed in tea in Yemen and Ethiopia for centuries with the addition of ginger and other spices.

Coffee caffeine has also been used as an ingredient in sports drinks, blended with teas, used in functional beverages to promote weight loss, with numerous other potential applications yet to have been tapped.

Filed under: News by Steve