A Good Day for Coffee

by Elizabeth Courville, intern

February 3, 2018 was a good day for coffee in Southern Louisiana; not just any coffee, but specialty coffee to be exact. Specialty grade coffee refers to the use of beans that are produced in special and ideal microclimates. The SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) makes the standards and scores coffee beans on a 100-point scale, with anything above 80 being graded as “specialty.” The specialty coffee industry in the U.S. is growing more and more each year, but Baton Rouge has been a little behind on the game… until now.

The Cafeciteaux Cupping at Java Mama

Cafeciteaux Coffee Roasters out of Baton Rouge hosted a free/public coffee cupping and tasting at Java Momma. Steve and Chris are fairly newer to roasting, but don’t let that scare you off – they are producing some delicious coffees. Participants got to taste 3 of their coffees which included their new, outstandingly balanced and tasty Guatemala San Pedro La Lagunana single origin. Their coffee can be found in multiple local grocery stores here in Baton Rouge including Calandro’s Supermarkets, Redstick Spice Company, Oak Point Fresh Market and Alexander’s Highland Market.

In the same weekend New Orleans hosted the kick-off of Coffee Champs. This was the US Coffee Championships qualifying event hosted by the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America). A $17 ticket bought you access to 2 days-worth of tasting both sponsor and competitor coffees, information sessions with some of the best roasters in the country, learning how to brew - by true professionals, barista competition viewing and tons of awesome merchandise.

Exploring the Roaster Village

In the “Roaster Village” there were two local roasting companies based out of Louisiana – Rêve Coffee Roasters (locations in both Lafayette, and one opening up in the White Star Market in mid city Baton Rouge) and also French Truck Coffee (multiple locations in New Orleans, and one in mid city Baton Rouge). Rêve Coffee Roasters is a specialty coffee company that micro-roasts every batch and ships the beans on the day they are roasted – guaranteeing some of the freshest coffee that you will ever taste. French Truck is another local roasting company that uses super fresh beans and roasts in small batches. Representatives from Light House Coffee could be found perusing around Coffee Champs as well. Light House Coffee is a specialty shop with a cause, that is looking to open its doors in March 2018. Light house will be hiring and helping refugees and displaced people coming into Baton Rouge.

The schedule for Coffee Champs looked like 10:00am-6:00pm days, followed by after parties at local New Orleans coffee shops. It was certainly a caffeine packed weekend! There are a lot of new and exciting things happening in the Baton Rouge coffee world! Give these local specialty shops some love whenever you get the chance! Your taste buds will thank you later.

South American Supper: A Private Dinner at Red Stick Spice Co.

by Sophie Spring, intern

Gov't Tacos Chef Aimee Tortorich, Jay Ducote and their culinary team were able to take a break from slinging tacos and focus on the latest Red Stick Spice Company private dinner, South American Supper for 24 lucky guests. The four course meal featured traditional South American foods, with a Bite and Booze twist.

The guests starting arriving around 7, with the tantalizing scent of roasted potatoes filling up the store.

Our first passed course was red snapper ceviche with a crispy fried plantain chip and glasses of bubbly Prosecco. The guests enjoyed this course while perusing the store, allowing them to see all of the delicious oils, vinegars, and spice mixtures Red Stick Spice Co. has to offer.

Photo by: Jordan Hefler Photography

Once the guests were seated it was time for the second course, a seafood paella. Our paella was traditional, using Supreme Rice with saffron, mussels, shrimp, and green peas. The dish was complimented nicely by Jay D’s Blanc du Bois. An added bonus for the guests were the extra prepared mussels that were served family style to each table.

Chef Aimee Tortorich plating the paella. Photo by: Jordan Hefler Photography 

The third course was a real show stopper: Cafeciteaux coffee rubbed tri-tip served over fresh green cilantro chimichurri with a side of creamy paprika roasted potatoes a la plancha. This course was probably the biggest hit of the night. Every plate brought back to the kitchen was licked clean. Our guests enjoyed this course with a glass of robust Malbec.

Photo by: Jordan Hefler Photography

For the dessert course, the culinary team put a spin on traditional tamales, making a dulce de leche tamale served with homemade bananas foster ice cream. The tamales had a subtle sweetness and the bananas foster ice cream melted beautifully over the warm masa. The guests loved this unexpected dessert. Served alongside the tamale was Jay D’s Single Origin Coffee, with a splash of Frangelico hazelnut liqueur and cinnamon whipped cream.

Photo by: Jordan Hefler Photography

The dinner went off seamlessly, thanks to help from Anne and the Red Stick Spice staff there to help us out. After the dinner was over, the team received such great feedback that we were inspired to plan another SOLD OUT Red Stick Dinner, North African Appetite on August 16!

Get Caffeinated with Cafeciteaux Coffee Roasters

by Sydney Blanchard

Stevie Guillory, left, and Chris Peneguy, right, are the co-founders and roasters at Cafeciteaux in Baton Rouge

If there's anything you can learn from the roasters at Cafeciteaux, it's to never doubt the power of a hairbrained idea. 

Stevie Guillory and Chris Peneguy, the co-founders of Cafeciteaux Coffee Roasters based in Baton Rouge, met when they lived across the street from each other. The two became friends, and it was inevitable that after a couple of beers they'd dream up all sorts of potential business ventures.

Cafeciteaux is the one that stuck.

The Louisiana natives found themselves searching Baton Rouge for the best cup of coffee around and coming up empty-handed. Commercial coffee companies and national chains dominate the area, and only a few locally-owned coffee shops exist. 

When "cupping" or tasting coffee, a chart can be used to pick out certain flavors in each roast

In July 2014, the pair decided to start responsibly sourcing coffee beans and roasting them at home. With eight pounds of beans and a whirly pop, Guillory, a PA, and Peneguy, a CPA, taught themselves everything they now know about roasting coffee.

A coffee bean's flavor depends on a number of factors including how it's roasted, where it's from, what the planting conditions were like, etc. 

When they started, they were only able to produce and sell 40 one-pound bags of coffee that year. But by 2015, they had jumped to selling thousands of pounds of their responsibly sourced, locally roasted beans from places like El Salvador, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Sumatra, to name a few.

Now, their online sales are picking up, and you can find Cafeciteaux's single origin, blend, and espresso roasts in both Calandro's locations, at Alexander's Highland Market, and at other specialty shops across the state.

Cafeciteaux prides itself on responsibly sourcing beans from around the world to ensure quality

Guillory and Peneguy plan to eventually transition into roasting full-time and expand their reach to coffee shops and restaurants across the state whose passion for that perfect cup of coffee matches their own.

Check them out on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the latest Cafeciteaux news, and listen to the podcast we recorded on site at Cafeciteaux!

Monday Morning Wakeup Call featuring Cafeciteaux (again)

by Sydney "Brown Nose" Blanchard

The Éthiopiques Blend beans. They were very aromatic. 

Perfect Monday morning perk-up.

For those of you keeping tabs, last week Blair and I decided we weren't hyper enough, apparently. We somehow thought it might be a good idea (productivity!) to sample coffees weekly and write about our findings. 

Last week we tried local roaster Cafeciteaux's Guatemala Patzun and wrote up a little blog about it. When we posted it to Facebook, the guys as Cafeciteaux insisted we try the Éthiopiques Blend next, and who are we to ignore an expert recommendation?

Blair and I both preferred this blend to last week's. The Éthiopiques Blend was significantly darker than the Guatemala Patzun, and the taste was darker as well. We picked up notes of dark berries and fruit, but we didn't notice much of the jasmine or lemon rind the packaging suggested. 

Any suggestions of what we should try for next week? Leave us a comment!

Cafeciteaux gets it right: the best roasts we've had in a while

by Sydney "Brown Nose" Blanchard

Cafeciteaux's Guatemala Patzen roast beans

If you're anything like us at Team Bite and Booze, you need coffee. It isn't an optional thing. It's a necessity. 

That's why we get deliveries monthly from Cafeciteaux. It's no longer a thing they do, but a while back they offered what they call "le pari," or the gamble in French. 

For a certain fee, they sent us different coffee beans each month to try. 

As a result, we've got bags and bags of coffee hanging out in the office, waiting to be drank.

Freshly brewed Cafeciteaux Guatemala Patzun.

Cafeciteaux is a great company for a number of reasons. First, they're local – their roastery is located on Airline Highway and you can buy some for yourself at Calandro's Supermarket. Secondly, these Baton Rouge-based roasters sell coffee beans that are directly traceable to the farm and mills where they were produced. 

I don't know about you guys, but I like to know where my coffee comes from. 

Blair and I decided to try the Guatemala Patzun first. We ground the aromatic beans and boiled some water to make the pour over coffee. 

The result was very cool. The coffee was very cloudy and a bit more viscous than other brands. The color of this roast was a dark amber, and we picked up hints of toasted sugar cane and dark dried fruits. 

We can't wait to try out our next bag of Cafeciteaux coffee beans. And thanks to our caffeine addiction, the next taste test might happen sooner than we anticipate.