Coffee in Your Cheese?

Home from our visit to the annual Specialty Coffee Association of America show in Minneapolis, we’ve been thinking a lot about how great it is to see coffee popping up all over the culinary map. But did you ever think it would end up in cheese?

Utah-based Beehive Cheese Company stays true to their name with an coffee-coated cheese they call “Barely Buzzed.” The nutty, full-bodied cheese is aged on Utah Blue Spruce and then rolled in a mixture of lavender buds and a blend of ground coffee from Legacy Coffee Company in Grand Junction, Colo., owned by the cheese maker’s brother.

The cheese has notes of caramel that are imparted by the rub, whose flavor is more noticeable near the rind. Barely Buzzed was honored with First Place in the Flavored Cheddar category by the American Cheese Society in 2007 and Al Roker even tried it recently on this Today Show segment about cheese.

Photo by: Out of Bounds Creative