With the holiday season upon us, it’s time to think about GIFTS!

These coffee gift ideas came from a customer of ours — we met her at the Fresh 52 Farmers and Artisan Market in Henderson. We were doing some market research, asking customers what they would want in a Coffee Gift Basket. This particular customer took the question under advisement and came back the next week with a list all written out for us.

We thought it was brilliant – so we’re sharing it here, along with our input:

• Antique or collectible cup and saucer with a cream and sugar set. This would make an ideal gift for someone who loves antiques and who would love a special “something something” to serve coffee in.

• Box of delicious mocha or coffee flavored candies – ah yes, simple, sweet, and delightful!

• A bag of gourmet coffee beans with chocolate covered stirring spoons – this idea proves that simple is often best when it comes to gifts.

• Coffee scented pillar candle or a votive candle and holder filled with coffee beans – wonderfully creative!

• Chocolate covered biscotti tied with a velvet ribbon – good for “high tea” (only you’d of course be drinking coffee) or any other time of day!

Frankly Good Coffee creates and sells fresh roasted coffee gift baskets — we can create one of these, we can create a surprise for that special someone, or we can customize one to exactly what your Coffee Loving self, friend, or family member desires! Contact GlennFrank@franklygoodcoffee.com to order!

With Americans drinking up to 400 million cups a day, 86% of us make our coffee at home. At first blush, this may seem strange, what with long lines snaking through coffee shops on weekday mornings.

Clearly the majority of coffee drinkers prefer to brew at home.

Coffee drinkers like YOU who have certain standards.

• If you prefer to make your coffee at home (most days anyway), you may be one of our People. 

• If you marvel at the convenience of the Keurig, but wouldn’t dream of drinking that coffee because it doesn’t taste fresh, you may be one of our People.

• If you’ll drink Starbucks in a pinch, but it’s not your favorite because it’s too heavy and bitter, you may be one of our People!

If you’re reading this post, you feel the way we do about coffee:

• You want super fresh coffee that tastes absolutely delicious at a cost comparable to the average stuff you’d get at a coffee shop or grocery aisle.

• You’re willing to pay a little more for Fair Trade Organic or Rainforest Certified coffee beans because you believe coffee should be harvested and processed in ways that are respectful to coffee producers and to our planet.

• You want to buy your coffee from a small business that cares about coffee. And about you.

Part of our mission at Frankly Good Coffee is to rescue those who want to be rescued from the deplorable taste of mediocre coffee.

Are you one of our People? Did we miss something? Tell us about yourself in the comments!

We don’t sell “flavored coffee” because most “flavored” whole bean coffees are simply sugary syrup poured over the beans after roasting and before packaging. We don’t do that because it’s not very healthy (in fact it’s gross) and because the syrups do a good job of masking the true flavor of the freshly roasted beans.

Here’s what we recommend you do to flavor your coffee after grinding and before brewing:

1) Choose your spice. Pumpkin spice, vanilla bean, vanilla extract, hazelnut extract, cinnamon, or cardamom work great. Our freshly roasted coffee ground and flavored with pumpkin spice is a big seller at the open air farmers markets!

2) Measure out your spice.  The best way to get this “right” is to dive in and do some taste testing. Start with 1/2 teaspoon of your spice or extract of choice per basket of ground coffee (for drip pots), or per french press.

3) Add your spice to your ground coffee BEFORE brewing. If the flavor is too strong, you know to add less spice next time. If you can barely taste it and want more, you know to add more the next time.

4) Once you have the proportion that really makes your taste buds sing, write it down and plaster it somewhere near where you make coffee. This way it will become a no brainer and therefore convenient for you to do every time you make a cup, or a pot, or a french press.

We will provide more detailed recipes and concoctions as we create ones that we believe no one who loves flavored coffee should be without. Meanwhile, go and try this, return and post your concoctions in the comments! We’d LOVE to hear from you.