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Coffee's cup of kindness overflowing for Nelson caffeine lovers

Monday, 31 August 2020

Nelson is blessed with roasters and retail shops, such as Zumo. So whatever you fancy, baristas like Natalie Surova will help you find it.
Nelson is blessed with roasters and retail shops, such as Zumo. So whatever you fancy, baristas like Natalie Surova will help you find it.

OPINION: The Nelson region has an outstanding coffee scene, and not just the many cafes that serve tasty fresh coffee.

There are a number of boutique coffee roasters and retail shops that sell everything you need to make the perfect cup of coffee - just the way you like it.

Be it a drip-filter coffee, plunger coffee, coffee made using a pod machine, an automatic machine that grinds the beans and makes the coffee for you, some even heat the milk if you like a latte. Or if a perfect double-shot espresso produced using a high-end machine is what you want then there’s a number of shops in the region that can help you find the right one for you.

A new Rabobank report predicts the demand for beans will drop worldwide by over 1 million bags of coffee and cafes will lose out as people continue to brew their own at home.

The other key ingredient is freshly roasted coffee, either beans to grind yourself or pre-ground beans, there are a number of coffee roasters in the region producing a wide range of coffee flavours for you to choose from.

When I say flavours, I don’t mean vanilla or mint flavoured abominations, I’m talking about the natural flavours from beans grown in different parts of the world and roasted to different toast levels.

The bean variety also plays a big part in the flavour of the finished product.

All you have to do is find your favourite bean, decide on your preferred method of making your daily pick-me-up and you are set.

During lockdown, one of the biggest complaints I heard was people missing their daily coffee fix so, as soon as we dropped back to level 3 restrictions, the sale of coffee machines sky rocketed along with the range of pods available in supermarkets.

The original coffee roaster at Pomeroy’s cafe.
The original coffee roaster at Pomeroy’s cafe.

Organisations like Starbucks realised they needed to have a way of selling coffee when their shops were closed, so they became big players in the pod market too.

But it’s the boutique roasters in this region that hand craft each roast to create beautiful, fresh coffee beans for you and me to buy to use at home that I love the most.

When I had a chat with Hayden from Pomeroy’s a couple of years ago he told me that no matter how you make your coffee, the one thing you can do to improve the coffee you make at home is to invest in a good quality grinder and grind your favourite coffee beans as you need them. Nothing beats freshly ground coffee beans.

Knowledge is power, so speaking to someone who knows what they are doing will go a long way to ensuring you get to drink exactly what you want, when you want.
Knowledge is power, so speaking to someone who knows what they are doing will go a long way to ensuring you get to drink exactly what you want, when you want.

Of course you don’t have to make your own. If a café doesn’t make great coffee then they won’t have regular customers, consumers simply take their coffee habit elsewhere.

If the coffee isn’t just good, but great, then we soon move on to somewhere we can rely on for our quality caffeine fix. I have my favourite places around the region where I know I can get a double shot long black made just the way I like it.

If you do want to invest in good coffee making equipment make sure you buy from someone who is passionate about coffee and can understand what you want, not just sell you an expensive machine.

With a staggering array of roasters, you can get whatever you need to satisfy your coffee craving.
With a staggering array of roasters, you can get whatever you need to satisfy your coffee craving.

You also have lots of options for buying freshly roasted coffee beans in this region.

You can choose from the original boutique roaster, Pomeroy’s, Sublime coffee where Dan uses the skills controlling heat and smoke he learned working on the set of Lord of The Rings to build a coffee roaster that would give him the results he wanted, Zumo on Rutherford St, Kush Coffee in Church St, Crossbow Coffee (previously Society Coffee) in Richmond, Rabbit Island Coffee Roasters at the Mapua Wharf, The Grind Coffee Roasters by the clock tower in Motueka, Tuatara Coffee from Golden Bay or even the Wholemeal Café in Takaka where they roast their own beans in-house.

Where ever you happen to be in this delightful region that we are lucky to call home, you can buy the perfect, freshly roasted, coffee bean to suit your taste buds.

Today’s recipe is one of our favourite ways to cook chicken thighs. By adding a few beautiful ingredients you can elevate this humble ingredient into something really tasty.

The new season’s Cranky Goat soft cheeses are now available and are perfect for this dish, especially the Provencal cheese that is rolled in herbs. You can kick up the flavour even more by adding fresh herbs if you have some in the garden.

Stuffed chicken thighs

Serves two

Ingredients

Method

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180C (fan bake)

  2. Flatten the chicken thighs between folded baking paper

  3. Lay each thigh on a strip of prosciutto

  4. Divide the goat’s cheese into four pieces and spread a piece onto one end of the chicken thigh

  5. Drizzle with balsamic

  6. Sprinkle with fresh herbs

  7. Season with a little salt & pepper

  8. Roll reasonably tightly and put into a baking dish (seam down) lined with non-stick foil

  9. Drizzle with Olive Oil and bake for 50 minutes, turning half way through

  10. Rest for five minutes, slice each thigh into three pieces.

Serving suggestions: