Barista Box Little Taster review

Regular readers will know that we enjoy a cup or two (or three!) of real coffee every day. That’s why we were really up for trying the subscription service from the newly formed company, Barista Box.

The Brighton-based brand teamed up with their favourite local coffee shop, Blend & Brew, who supply their coffee. In addition, Barista Box also donate to local causes:

Barista Box has formed a charity partnership with two The Trussell Trust Foodbanks. Our pledge is to donate a 1-litre carton of long-life milk, or non-dairy equivalent, for every order that we fulfil. So for every monthly coffee subscription order, every coffee gift box and any other products we might sell in the future we shall donate long-life milk to one of these foodbanks

They have a number of different options on offer; tasting boxes, gift sets, regular subscriptions and one off purchases. Our ‘Little Taster’ box comprised 2 resealable pouches of coffee (1 x Libertine + 1 x Blend & Brew), blue plastic coffee scoop, glass espresso measure and battery-operated milk frother.

As we have a bean-to-cup coffee machine, we requested bags of beans in our bundle. However if you have a filter coffee machine, moka pot or cafetière (the latter which they can supply), you can choose from their 3 textures of ready-ground coffee.

Usually, I like a flat white with soya milk. However, as I was trying out a new coffee, I made a double espresso with the medium-roast Libertine beans so I could enjoy it in its pure form. The taste was very smooth and mellow – no bitterness at all – very enjoyable with a couple of chocolate digestives!

The espresso measure that was supplied is just the right height and width for fitting under the portafilter of our coffee machine.

The second pouch of beans, the Blend & Brew type, were also medium-roast. It has a little more earthy flavour with a touch of chocolate flavour. This time, I enjoyed my soya flat white with a late-afternoon croissant.

Many thanks to Alexandra from Barista Box for supplying us with our Little Taster coffee box.

**Use our special discount code H4H12 for 12% off any gift box, (valid until 4th September 2021)**

Cakes & Bakes: 4 top coffee cake recipes

Coffee is (an enjoyable) part of our daily routine; we always have a morning coffee with breakfast, and then another mid-afternoon with cake or biscuits.

As well as a in brew, we enjoy coffee in other foodie ways – cookies, ice cream… and cake. Coffee is great on its own, but combined with other ingredients… maple syrup, vanilla, salted caramel… it’s on a whole different level!

Here are our top 4 coffee cake recipes where it’s paired with other flavours.

Sourdough coffee & chocolate cake

Double espresso brazil nut cake

Coffee & raspberry cupcakes with vanilla buttercream

Coffee & walnut Swiss roll

Cakes & Bakes: Coffee-flavoured Belgian waffles

Since I bought my waffle iron a couple of years ago – I think that it’s been a little underused. That’s why, when I saw this recipe for coffee-flavoured Belgian waffles, I felt I needed to give them a try.

I made my own buttermilk – it’s something that isn’t always available in the supermarket – using 300ml of full fat milk with a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice stirred into it. Also, the original recipe calls for espresso powder; however, I finely ground some espresso coffee beans, which worked perfectly fine.

There are two different types of sugar and a tablespoonful of cream cheese in the batter, so that means the waffles can easily burn if the hob temperature is too hot. You don’t want it so hot that the butter begins to smoke, but also you want it hot enough so that the batter doesn’t stick to the iron… it’s a careful balancing act!

These are perfect for a late, lazy weekend breakfast – drizzled with maple syrup… or perhaps some chocolate sauce. You can make them in advance and either refrigerate or freeze them until you’re ready to reheat them in the oven.

Click here or on the image below to save the coffee-flavoured Belgian waffles to Pinterest

Coffee-flavoured Belgian waffles

Bon Appétit

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Course Breakfast

Cuisine Belgian

Servings 2 people

Ingredients

175 g/6oz plain flour
25 g/¾oz granulated sugar
50 g/1¾oz light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 large egg beaten
1 tbsp ricotta room temperature
330 g/11½oz buttermilk
1 tbsp instant espresso powder plus more for serving
35 g/1¼oz unsalted butter melted, plus more for brushing

To serve

Maple syrup and/or whipped cream
½ tsp instant espresso powder

Instructions

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and bicarbonate of soda
In a large mixing bowl (I like to use a large, Pyrex measuring jug), whisk the egg and ricotta just to incorporate, then add the buttermilk and tablespoon of espresso powder. Whisk until smooth
Whisk in the melted butter, before folding in the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula. Be careful not to over-mix (a few lumps are OK)
Allow the batter to sit uncovered at room temperature for half an hour to let the flour hydrate
Turn your oven on to its lowest setting - about 90ºC/200°F/Gas mark ½. Set a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet and place it in the oven
Heat your waffle iron and brush it generously with butter
Pour about 125g (dependant on the size your waffle iron) batter onto the iron and cook until the waffle is golden brown and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes. Flip the iron half way through if you have a cast iron one like mine
Remove the waffle from the iron and transfer it to the wire rack in oven to keep warm
Repeat with the remaining batter, brushing the iron with more butter in between as needed
Serve the waffles topped with whipped cream, drizzled with maple syrup or runny honey and sprinkled with more espresso powder

I swapped the ricotta for full fat cream cheese, no problem
The waffles will be limp at first but will crisp up as they sit

Coffee-flavoured Belgian waffles ingredients

Keyword coffee, waffles

Cakes & Bakes: Double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies

This recipe for double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies comes from a brand new cook book by James Beard Award nominee, Jason Licker, entitled Baking With Licker: Home Baking With Asian Accents.

One of the things that drew me to the recipe – on top of the fact it contains 2 types of chocolate and strong coffee – was the way the recipe ingredients are all given in grams. So many American recipes use cups; what’s a cup of butter or a cup of peanut butter? It can be a messy and inaccurate method of measurement.

Saying that, the grams were also my downfall in the making of the cookies. I decided that 30 grams of egg coresponded to 3 eggs – so that’s how many I used. In fact, it’s one, medium-size egg!

That’s why, after chilling the cookie dough in the fridge for many an hour, there was no way I’d be able to roll 50g chunks (more like ‘blobs’) between my palms! Nevertheless, other than spreading a WHOLE lot on the baking sheet, they were absolutely delicious.

Vietnam is currently the largest producer of Robusta coffee and the second largest producer of coffee in the world. The coffee produced in the country is rich roast with chocolaty tones – so perfect for teaming with dark and white chocolate. If you can’t find it, full-bodied espresso beans will be a good swap; just set your coffee grinder to the finest setting.

Click here or on the image below to save this double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies recipe to Pinterest

Double chocolate Vietnamese coffee cookies

2020-10-22 14:58:59

Yields 12

Cook Time

15 min

Cook Time

15 min

Ingredients

65g/2⅓oz butter
100g/3½oz sugar
110g/3⅔oz dark brown sugar
50g/1¾oz egg (1 medium egg)
3g/½tsp bicarbonate of soda
2.5g/½tsp salt
40g cocoa powder
115g plain flour
5g Vietnamese coffee, ground into a fine powder (I used finely ground Espresso beans)
125g white chocolate

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Instructions

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar for 10 minutes until the mixture is light and creamy. Every few minutes, use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure a uniform mixture
Add the eggs into the butter and sugar mixture in three increments. Once again, scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure a uniform mixture
Add the bicarbonate of soda,salt, cocoa powder, plain flour and Vietnamese coffee slowly, so that you gradually incorporate these dry ingredients until they are just combined into the mixture. Finally, scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure a uniform mixture
Mix in the white chocolate chips and then remove the cookie dough from the stand mixer. Place the dough in a medium-size bowl and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight
Preheat the oven to 185ºC/365ºF/Gas mark 5
When you are ready to bake, weigh out 50g chunks of dough and roll them into balls. Place them on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and make sure you leave some room for the cookies to spread out. Push the balls down with your palm evenly until they are half the original height of the balls
Bake for 12-15 minutes. Half way through, turn the tray from back to front so they are evenly baked. You will know the cookies are done when the edges are set, but the centre is still soft
Remove the cookies from the oven and either transfer to a wire rack or allow them to completely cool on the cookie sheet

By Jason Licker

Adapted from Baking With Licker: Home Baking With Asian Accents

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