Pairing Desserts with Coffee (+ GIVEAWAY)

Disclosure: I was sent a sampler of Community Coffee single serve cups, in exchange for a post that included their products. Community Coffee is also providing the giveaway item. All opinions are 100% my own.

Happy Christmas Eve, y’all! I’m so excited that Christmas is tomorrow. 🙂

One of the biggest things about tomorrow (besides seeing family, of course) is the meal. While I know that the biggest tradition for Christmas is usually a beef roast, our family sticks to making turkey and ham. In fact this year (for the first time ever), I’m responsible for the ham. ::fingers crossed it doesn’t end up overcooked::

Along with dinner of course, are the desserts. My family is known for making desserts. Everything from pralines to ooey gooey bars to cheesecake to cobbler to macarons…it’s just a whole ‘nother feast. We have some amazing dessert makers in the family. 🙂 One thing that I hardly ever think about is pairing dessert with the perfect cup of coffee. Now, coffee is a MUST with desserts for me, but I usually just go with a darker roast coffee.

The folks at Community Coffee came out with a dessert pairing guide that will help you figure out what type of coffee goes best with the dessert you’re having.

The easiest way to remember coffee-pairing is that the richer and more indulgent the dessert (like chocolate, praline or peanut butter flavoring), the darker the roast you’ll want to serve. So, with that:

• It’s best to pair chocolate desserts with premium dark roast coffees, like Community Coffee’s Dark Roast Signature Blend.
• The in-between desserts, like creamy desserts and sweet cakes pair well with a medium-dark roast, like Community Coffee’s Café Special.
• For fruit or tart desserts, it’s best to pair those with lighter roast coffees, like Community Coffee’s Breakfast Blend.

If you have a combination of desserts, a good, solid choice that Community Coffee recommends is their Café Special. It’s their best-seller coffee, which is full-bodied, yet still offers a smooth cup of coffee. I especially agree with this choice, because I drink this coffee every morning at work. My work place goes through their Café Special like crazy!

Now, I’m sure quite a few of you who aren’t from Louisiana haven’t heard of Community Coffee before. Community Coffee is a coffee company that started in Baton Rouge in 1919. It’s a really well-known brand of coffee in south Louisiana. They offer great, standard flavors of coffee (varying by roast type), as well as seasonal flavors (My personal favorite lately is their Pumpkin Praline, and I can’t wait for their Mardi Gras King Cake to come out again). I’m such a fan of this company, so I’m excited to share this giveaway with y’all!

The folks at Community Coffee are offering one lucky reader of The Nifty Foodie this variety of single serve cups!

To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Note: This giveaway is supplied by Community Coffee, and is open to readers in the continental US only. Entries will be accepted until January 3rd, 2015 at 11:59pm (central standard time). Winner will be emailed (make sure you leave an email address in the form), and will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.