the modern barista

Thanksgiving blend with cinnamon sweet potatoes

October 26, 2016 by jocelyn 1 Comment

There is a small window, right before the Christmas mania begins, where Starbucks Thanksgiving blend appears in stores. Thanksgiving blend was created in partnership with Seattle restauranteur Tom Douglas in 2008. The goal was to create a blend that could pair with both sweet and savory foods, a culinary coffee to compliment a Thanksgiving feast. Ten blends were created, but Tom and master blender, Anthony Carrol, narrowed it down to two. Tom cooked a Thanksgiving feast, and paired the two coffees with the meal. When paired with the herbed stuffing, one coffee stood out.

Thanksgiving Blend has become a tradition is many homes over the past 8 years. It is a blend of coffees from Sumatra and Guatemala, spicy and full bodied with subtle herbal notes.

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Holiday Blend with Oprah chai roasted chickpeas

October 23, 2016 by jocelyn Leave a Comment

Holiday is just around the corner, and that means my favorite coffees are here! Thanksgiving blend, Christmas blend, aged Sumatra and Holiday blend!

For a long time, Holiday blend was the same as Christmas blend, just in a different package. In 2013 that changed, and Holiday blend became it’s own blend of Latin American and Indonesian coffees. Holiday blend does not have aged Sumatra, and is a little less intense than our vintage Christmas blend. I know people say it’s too early, but as soon as I saw Holiday blend in the stores, I became so excited. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

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Hacienda Alsacia and the Espresso cloud IPA

October 21, 2016 by jocelyn Leave a Comment

I really wanted to do something special on National coffee day. Since I was in Sacramento, I made some vague plans with some friends to meet up at an evenings store to try the new Espresso Cloud IPA. As luck would have it, the third crop of Hacienda Alsacia was recently released in Japan, and one of my friends came to my rescue and sent me a bag.

This coffee has travelled the globe. From Costa Rica to Seattle, to Japan, to California. These are very special beans, and I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate them. A group of coffee masters getting together and talking about our shared passion and our love for the craft.

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Colombia El Quebradón with snickerdoodle cupcakes

October 18, 2016 by jocelyn Leave a Comment

With the holidays approaching, the amount of baking I do drastically increases. I love baking treats and bringing them into my store! A few years ago I discovered that you can bake directly in to sample cups, so doing this is a staple once the red cups come out. There is nothing more adorable than a peppermint mocha cupcake baked into a red sample cup. I am getting a little ahead of myself. While I was in Sacramento, we had extra sample cups. The baristas gave them to me, and you know I brought them all the way back to Michigan with a project in mind. Reserve cupcake pairing. So here it is; Colombia El Quebradón with snickerdoodle cupcakes!

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Cool beans, Cold brew

October 11, 2016 by jocelyn 2 Comments

Over the past year I have been having so much fun with this blog, and connecting with partners all over the world. Something that I have been thinking about is having ‘guest bloggers’, coffee masters contributing their recipes and pairings. The idea that this blog, eventually, become a hub for coffee masters. Several months ago, one of my friends, Michelle, came up with a custom cold brew blend named cool beans, cold brew. Michelle is a talented artist and coffee master, so I knew she would be perfect to be the first guest blogger here.

And then life happened. To both of us. Michelle had some issues to deal with, and then suddenly I had to fly to California to be with my family. Coincidently, Michelle lives in Sacramento, which is very close to where my family lives, so instead of having a guest blogger, we got together and drank coffee together!…

México Chiapas with chocolate hazelnut chicken mole

September 28, 2016 by jocelyn Leave a Comment

Tomorrow is National Coffee day, and I really wanted to highlight the return of México Chiapas in a serious way. What better way to honor a coffee and the many hands it has passed through than making a feast?

Food is culturally something that connects people, and I wanted to create something that could be a communal experience. It is said that there are two things that people want to do together; laugh and eat. So gather your friends, put down your phones, and share an incredible meal with an incredible cup of coffee.

As some of you may know, my dad just passed away, and being here with family, sharing these meals, sharing stories and creating new memories really made me remember how special these moments are.

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life update

September 9, 2016 by jocelyn 2 Comments

Hi friends,

Just a quick note to let you all know I have a family emergency that is taking me to California for an undetermined amount of time. I probably won’t be updating here too much, if at all, but I will keep all of my social channels updated.

If you are in the Sacramento area, please drop me a comment of what store, and maybe I can pop by for a coffee tasting 🙂 You know my suitcase is stocked with coffee from the Roastery 😉

xo Jocelyn

Colombia Santana el Bolsón with thyme guacamole

September 3, 2016 by jocelyn Leave a Comment

If there is one food I could eat for the rest of my life, it would be chips & dip. Hands down. Especially guacamole. I love a chunky guacamole, with loads of tomatoes and cilantro, just like Alton Brown taught me to make. One problem.. my husband hates cilantro 🙁 Some people have an allergy where cilantro tastes like soap. My poor husband is one of these people. We often clash on the subject of cilantro when I’m cooking dinner, so I have learned to work around it. If you think about it, a lot of the flavors in guacamole are found in Italian cooking; tomatoes, onions, garlic, and what herb goes better with those flavors than thyme? It’s thyme for guacamole :)…

Saint Helena with vanilla bean & citrus madeleines

September 2, 2016 by jocelyn Leave a Comment

“The only good thing about Saint Helena is the coffee.” –Napoleon Bonaparte

At the beginning of August 2016, the Starbucks Reserve Roastery & Tasting room in Seattle offered a micro lot of Saint Helena. Starbucks purchased 1/3 of the islands yearly production (around 200 pounds), and only 20lbs of it was reserved for the Roastery to sell. It sold out very quickly, as one could imagine, but I was lucky enough to have a few ounces sent to me. This coffee was made available to reserve subscribers on the Starbucks online store, and sold out in less than 24 hours. ($80 for an 8.8 ounce bag with hand numbered card, for those interested)

At $10 an ounce, is it worth it?

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Ethiopia Gedeb with orange & ginger quinoa salad

August 29, 2016 by jocelyn Leave a Comment

Ethiopia Gedeb launches in Starbucks Reserve stores on September 6th. I am so lucky to have friends from Seattle keep my coffee bar stocked with coffee from the Roastery, weeks before they launch in stores, so I am able to taste them and create recipes for partners. Ethiopia Gedeb is one of my favorite coffees released so far this year, and let me tell you, it makes an incredible cold brew! I wanted to create something that would pair well with cold brew iced coffee, so I thought a nice and light quinoa salad would be perfect!
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