4 Kaldi's Coffee Collaborations: Whiskey, Beer, Watches, and Chocolate

One of the most fulfilling and enjoyable experiences in hospitality is the opportunity to team up with other local businesses to bring an exciting new product to you. In fact, it’s something we have been doing almost as long as we’ve existed.

In this blog, we celebrate 4 of those partnerships from new to the long-standing. 

SPIRIT OF INNOVATION: STILL 630

Dave, the master distiller at the heart of StilL 630’s experiments on rye and bourbon and gin is as grateful for this relationship as we are. For 5 years, we’ve tinkered with aging our Colombia Monserrate beans in rye whiskey barrels before roasting them and cold-brewing them for infusion into the same rye whiskey for a truly remarkable coffee whiskey. 

Big Jake Breakfast Brew is a coffee-infused rye whiskey, almost certainly not recommended for breakfast (except maybe on St. Patrick’s Day), derived from from its elder brother Big Jake, a clear, unaged rye whiskey, in 3 distinct ways:

1. Rye-soaked barrels in which the green coffee, our popular Colombia Monserrate, ages; 
2. Pure Big Jake in which one-half of the roasted, ground coffee is subsequently cold-steeped overnight (the other half is cold-brewed with water as normal);
3. And finally, the generous bulk of Big Jake into which the potent rye-and-coffee concentrate is then mixed.

The final product is a dark but smooth, fruit-and-chocolate-forward coffee-infused rye whiskey. Big Jake Breakfast Brew can go down nicely neat, is practically begging to be baked with, and packs a pretty wallop at 81 proof. It joins StilL 630’s selection of fantastic whiskeys, Missouri bourbons, gins, and wilder experimental spirits. 

NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT: JORD

Picture credit to Jord 

Coffee watch. Not a combination of words you hear every day, but our friends at Jord made it happen. Jord is a cutting-edge, St. Louis-based creator of fine watches, handbags, and sunglasses. After meeting their founder Salman Shah by happy accident at a Pedal the Cause event, Kaldi’s Coffee partnered with Jord to bring to life one of the strangest but coolest collaborations we’ve ever done: a watch made with coffee!

The BARISTA Original Coffee Watch utilizes special resin-casting technology to preserve coffee beans from Kaldi’s Coffee’s 700 blend. The resin mold is then carefully sliced and hand polished to provide the body of the watch with the most extraordinary cross-section of our roasted coffee. 

Not only is the body of the watch literally made of infused coffee, but the minimalist dial also draws upon coffee elements for its design. Incised arcs around the edge of the dial reveal 6 different colors of a coffee’s roasting journey, from green bean to dark roast. Let your day be guided by the spirit of coffee, and look fashionable while doing so.

Picture credit to Jord 

BEER WITH US HERE: SCHLAFLY

Kaldi’s Coffee’s relationship with Schlafly, The Saint Louis Brewery, goes back practically to our first few years of roasting coffee. Legend has it that Kaldi’s Coffee team members would visit the nearby Schlafly Taproom, and ask for a shot of espresso in their Stout - thus giving rise to the increasingly popular Schlafly Coffee Stout! Earthy but sweet and balanced, this smooth barley beer infused with dark roasted coffee is one of the best things to look forward to each winter. 

Photo Credit to Schlafly

Schlafly has the remarkable distinction of being one of the oldest independent craft brewers still operating in the U.S. They led the way for the many other craft breweries that have made St. Louis into one of the best cities for beer nationwide. Through nearly 3 decades of experimentation, Schlafly has built an impressive reputation and a wide selection of year-round, seasonal, and specialty brews. We are proud to call them our oldest collaboration partner.

RAISING THE BAR: HONEYMOON CHOCOLATES

Founded in 2016, Honeymoon Chocolates is a local St. Louis confectionery that is changing the chocolate game. This year, Kaldi’s Coffee teamed up with the visionary couple behind Honeymoon to create two delicious and distinct chocolate bars incorporating two of our coffees! Honeymoon Chocolate’s unique recipe replaces sugar with honey, making their chocolates not only naturally delicious, but also helps reduce our refined sugar intake.

The 75% Haiti Cacao + Coffee features cacao and coffee both sourced from Haiti. The coffee is the same as the Brew for IMPACT blend we roast on behalf of Brace for IMPACT 46, helping to support their mission of aid in Haiti and in North St. Louis. Enjoy delicious, local, coffee-infused chocolate and support a worthy cause in the same bite. 

The other chocolate collaboration this year, the 75% Colombia Cacao + Coffee, also combines cacao and coffee from the same nation. At last, lovers of our longtime favorite Colombia Monserrate coffee can enjoy the apple and caramel notes of our long-standing relationship coffee wrapped up in silky dark chocolate!

One special aspect to our collaboration with Honeymoon is their commitment to helping protect and restore honeybees, a cause near and dear to Kaldi’s Coffee.

CONCLUSION

Kaldi’s Coffee is proud to be partnered with so many local craft artisans, and to provide our roasted coffee to so many delicious or creative endeavors. By no means was this list exhaustive and the list is growing all the time. We look forward to a bright future with these local companies and many more.

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