Getting away from the daily grind: Chefs perk up menus with coffee-flavored fare

Nation's Restaurant News,  Nov 1, 1999  by Bonnie Brewer Cavanaugh

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Similarly, the Kafya Martini was created to satisfy coffee aficionados who covet a drop of coffee before dinner but also crave a cocktail. Julie Reiner, bar manager at Manhattan's C3 restaurant and lounge, serves up a dozen or so coffee-infused quaffs. The coffee Martini is made with a splash of Tia Maria and is topped off with a cinnamon-stick garnish. It is her most popular new combo. "It's one of those things that take a little encouragement to try, but if you like coffee, it's a great drink," Reiner insists.

The new Martini is outpacing even the voguish Cosmopolitan in popularity, she says.

Aquavit's Samuelsson, winner of the Rising Star Chef Award at the James Beard Foundation Awards last May, has been flavoring his dishes with a dash of coffee for so long that he scoffs at the idea of its use becoming faddish. "I am not a trendy guy," he explains. "There is no way to be able to hang with all the different trends; you'll always be behind. The thing is to lead rather than follow."

Samuelsson credits mass-market coffee purveyor Starbucks with creating a national interest in coffee flavors. Jorin agrees. Finding a good espresso or cappuccino 10 years ago was difficult, he says.

"Coffee was always big, but [Starbucks] made good coffee popular. So they have to be credited with making it mainstream," Jorin continues. "Pastry chefs always used to make coffee-flavored things, but now it's like the customer is asking for them. It's marketing, too. If you call something a cappuccino torte, it's going to sell much better than a coffee torte."

Kiefer says: "I have been using coffee for a long time in recipes. I think a lot of chefs probably have. You just don't talk about it much. But now that it's part of society in general -- you have a Starbucks on every corner -- it's become kind of cool."

Starbucks does not yet offer coffee-flavored treats at all its stores. However, its cookbook, "Passion for Coffee," features a few coffee-infused dishes, including coffee creme brulee with coarsely ground espresso beans and a garnish of edible gold-leaf stars.

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