Hawaii Coffee Blossom Tea
Tasting notes: both delicate and powerfully floral. Perfume of jasmine, orchid, oolong, bamboo, vanilla.
Unless you know a coffee farmer, are a coffee farmer, or have some connection to a coffee farm, it's unlikely you'll come across coffee blossom tea or coffee flower desserts very often. It's not as common as Cascara (coffee cherry tea), or other coffee-related tisanes because of the challenges associated with harvesting. For just a few short days the farm fills with an intoxicating perfume of jasmine, and we have a short window to quickly & carefully harvest the fragrant flowers for coffee blossom tea. It takes a timely harvester with a delicate sense to harvest the blossoms so that removal doesn't affect the growth of the coffee bean.
Arabica coffee trees are self-pollinating, meaning we needn't wait for cross-pollination through bees or wind for fertilization to occur. After the blossoms have opened and germination has occurred, the coffee flowers are ready for harvesting, drying, and curing. It takes roughly a day to harvest just a pound of coffee blossoms, and the window to harvest is - at most - three days per blooming cycle. Not nearly long enough...
................................
Brewing: Use 1-2 grams per 6-8 oz hot water (205-212 F). Steep for 5 minutes.
................................
Coffee Blossom Simple Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
3-4 Tbsp coffee flowers
1. Bring ingredients to a boil in a saucepan, stirring so that the sugar dissolves.
2. Reduce heat and continue stirring until all the sugar has dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and let steep for 30 minutes. Let cool and then strain through cheesecloth into a jar or bottle with a tight-fitting lid.
4. Refrigerate until ready to use. It will keep for a month in the fridge.
................................
Coffee Blossom Panna Cotta
Recipe created & provided by Chizui & Miguel Meza.
1.5 cups cream
1 tsp gelatin
1/3 cup water
3g (1/3cup ) dried coffee blossoms
1 Tbsp sugar
Pinch salt
1. Mix gelatin and water then set aside.
2. In a pot, add sugar and salt to cream and bring to a simmer.
3. Turn off heat and add dried coffee blossoms.
4. Steep coffee blossoms for 10-15 minutes in cream
5. Remove coffee blossoms from cream. Add gelatin mixture and stir.
6. Pour into serving cups and chill in a refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
................................
Coffee Blossom Infused Gin
Stir 1/3 cup coffee blossoms into a bottle of dry gin and leave to stand, stirring occasionally for up to five hours.
Don’t allow it to stand for any more than this. Dip your finger in and taste it – you should be able to taste elements of jasmine and spice.
Strain and decant the gin into a bottle.
................................
