If you fast forward to the end of this post there’s an invite to attend a virtual tailgate party we’re throwing tomorrow morning. But before we get to that, I wanted to tell you a bit about the partnership that’s the reason for the post, and the recipe I’m sharing below.

A couple months ago Community Coffee approached me about doing a sponsored post with them for their “Tailgate Traditions” campaign. If you know Ben and me at all, you know we’re not huge sports fans. We are, however, huge coffee fans and also huge fans of basically any excuse we can find to throw a great party! So we let them know we’d love to do the post if it could be a tailgate “alternative” brunch instead – and they loved the idea! We began the preparations and things are shaping up to be pretty awesome.

And then the floods came to Baton Rouge. In case you didn’t know, in the last month there has been massive flooding in Baton Rouge that has displaced thousands of people and destroyed hundreds of homes and business. And it just so happens that Community Coffee is based in Baton Rouge. It was (and still is) a pretty serious situation there and the efforts to stabilize and rebuild the community of Baton Rouge have required massive effort and there’s still a great need for resources and manpower to accomplish the overwhelming task of restoring what has been lost there.

For me, Community Coffee is one of those brands that I’ve always been aware of in a peripheral way – the familiar red bags on the shelves of the grocery store and a general awareness of who they are as a brand. But it wasn’t until this partnership, and also the calamity affecting Baton Rouge, that I realized what an amazing company they are. Family owned and operated for four generations, they don’t just talk about “values” like they’re some kind of romantic ideal that will sound good on a podcast – they’ve embraced a true set of core values that have stood the test of time for over 95 years – just think of how much has changed in that amount of time!

Anyway, when the floods came to Baton Rouge, Community Coffee, along with many others, sprung to action in helping support the ongoing rescue and rebuilding efforts there. Currently, Community Coffee is donating 10% of their proceeds to support the rebuilding efforts in Baton Rouge. When we asked them what we could do to help, they asked that any support we could offer be sent through the Salvation Army – you can find a link to their donation page HERE. Please take a moment to donate and support of the people of Baton Rouge.

Let’s Get Glam-gating

After our “Tailgate Brunch”, or as I like to call it, “Glam-gaiting” (since we do it inside, brunch style…with mimosas and all that jazz. I mean, who wants to tailgate in Texas, in 100 degree heat with giant mosquitos. Not this girl!) we’ll be sharing a couple more, coffee infused recipes that you’ll see at the party. For now, though, I wanted to share one of my favorite ways to enjoy coffee, Vietnamese Coffee!

Vietnamese Coffee is traditionally a combination of strongly brewed coffee with chicory root, combined with sweetened condensed milk, and served over ice. Including chicory in coffee is something that originated in France around Napoleon’s time and made it’s way to Louisiana during the Civil War. Today it’s a tradition that’s almost synonymous with Louisiana, so of course, Community Coffee has a chicory blend of their own…and let me tell you….it’s a heck of a good one!

Below is the recipe. Join us on Instagram tomorrow at 11:00am (Central time) for our party. It’s gonna be a great time and you’ll get a peek at the other recipes that are coming soon.

Note: This recipe makes a coffee concentrate. It can be cut at a 1:1 ratio (or more) with anything, like cream, water, or even club soda (Ben’s favorite thing,…check out his Instagram). Because I have yet to find a non-dairy, sweetened condensed milk that I like (even the ones I have made myself), I like to just add some almond/coconut milk creamer and a little maple syrup to taste. It’s delicious. We’ve also been known to throw a lovely splash of espresso liqueur in there too… 🙂

Vietnamese Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

 Ingredients:

1 bag (12 ounces) ground Coffee & Chicory from Community Coffee (Get it HERE)
7 1/2 cups of cold filtered water

Special Equipment:
Large metal, fine mesh sieve
Cheesecloth
2 large containers or mason jars

Method:

1. Add the 12 ounces of ground coffee (the whole bag) to the mason jar, then slowly pour the 7 cups of cold water over the grounds. Gently stir a few times till all the coffee is covered with water.

2. Cover the jar with the cheesecloth and leave to set at room temperature for about 15 hours.

3. When it’s ready, line the sieve with the cheesecloth and place it over the other large container. Strain the coffee into the container, then discard (or repurpose) the grounds. You can also use a french press to strain the coffee. When I use this method, usually strain it in 2-3 sets, as best fits the size of my french press.

4. Serve as you like, with milk and sweetener to taste, with club soda or even us in cocktails! It’s also works great at full strength in cooking and baking.

Keeps for about 1 week, covered in the fridge.