coffee barbeque

Coffee and chiles both have bitter components, and getting bitters blended with balance — took time: the demerara sugar isn't there to make the rub sweet so much as to hold the two bitter notes in balance, with the tomato and spice rounding the edges. That's why the coffee reads as roast depth rather than a sharp edge. Because the sugar leads the build, heat management is the cook's job: hold it over indirect or moderate heat and the sugar caramelizes into bark; rush it over a hot fire, and it scorches. What it does next depends on method, heat, fat, and timing.

Suggested Uses

Coffee BBQ Sauce — Stir 2 tablespoons of rub into 1 cup ketchup with 2 tablespoons molasses and 2 tablespoons cider vinegar, then simmer 10 minutes. The rub already carries the sugar and salt, so taste before adding more of either.

Ribs, Low and Slow — Coat the rack at the house rate, about 2 tablespoons (20 grams) per pound — roughly 3 to 4 tablespoons on a full rack — and cook over indirect heat. Keep it off the direct flame: the demerara needs gentle heat to caramelize into bark, and a hot fire scorches the sugar before the meat is done.

Steak, Crust and Finish — One blend, both ends of the cook. Pressed on before a reverse-sear (about 1 tablespoon per steak; gentle heat to temperature, then a short hot sear to set it), it builds a coffee crust — a hard fire from cold would just burn the sugar. Stirred into melted butter to the texture of wet sand (roughly 2 teaspoons butter per tablespoon of blend) and spooned over the rested filet, it goes the other way: the warm fat blooms the spices and rounds the coffee into a finishing note. Keep the finish light — the blend brings its own salt.

Burgers — Work 2 teaspoons per pound into the ground beef and dust a little more on the outside before grilling. There's enough salt in the blend to season the patty on its own.

Salmon and Shrimp — Dust lightly, about 1 teaspoon per fillet or per handful of shrimp, then grill or broil. Watch it under the broiler — the sugar takes color fast, and seafood is thin enough to overcook before you notice.

Roasted or Grilled Vegetables — Toss a sheet pan of vegetables with oil and about 1 tablespoon of rub before they go in. The sugar helps the edges caramelize; carrots, squash, and onions take it especially well.

Baked Beans and Braises — Stir 1 to 2 tablespoons into a pot of baked beans or a beef braise in the last stretch of cooking for sweet-salt-coffee depth. It's already salted, so taste before seasoning the pot further.

Ingredients: demerara sugar, Hawaiian Alaea red sea salt (sun-dried, hand-harvested white Hawaiian sea salt, premium baked Hawaiian red alaea clay), chiles, spices, domestic garlic, coffee granules, domestic onion, domestic tomato powder organic, coffee blend type organic flavor, oil soluble (organic sunflower oil, natural flavors).