Everyone in the world has associated coffee as a drink. This is a drink that has continually grown in popularity, and in recent times has meant there is more demand than supply. But we don’t always have to put our coffee beans in to a bean to cup coffee machine and treat ourselves to a fresh brew. Many innovative chefs and food fanatics have looked to include the ingredient in to their meals and other beverages, so we look at other ways you can enjoy the great taste of coffee, without the use of a bean to cup coffee machine.

1. Coffee Ice-Cream – two famous Italian ingredients, rolled in to one to make a great tasting dessert. This can be made in a variety of ways; it can be made from scratch by using egg yolks, sugar, milk, water...........oh and coffee. This will traditionally be made in an ice cream machine which will whip the ice cream before being placed in a Tupperware container and left in the freezer overnight. Another alternative is a dish called an ‘Affogato’ which is made by scooping a few balls of fresh vanilla ice cream in to a dish, and then coating the ice cream in a freshly made espresso, so that all the taste of the coffee is on the outside. This is a dessert which has become increasingly popular in recent years.

2. Coffee Cake – You can make this as a cake or if you prefer you could make a coffee muffin to compliment your after dinner drinks. For this cake you will have to create a great tasting coffee icing to compliment the cake which can be made with either churned coffee beans or instant coffee if you don’t have the time. Ingredients for the dish include sugar, margarine, eggs, self raising flour and baking powder. This dessert has become a popular choice in places such as Vienna and Rome, where coffee is part of the countries heritage and lifestyle, with lots of local cafes ready to serve you the tasty treat.

3. Coffee Mousse – Again, here is another popular pudding with a coffee twist to it. Important ingredients to include in the mousse is instant coffee, caster sugar, powdered gelatine, double cream, egg whites and some chocolates for decoration. There has been many variations of this dish which include an Irish coffee mousse, cappuccino coffee mousse and chocolate & coffee mousse, making it a popular choice after an evening meal.

4. Coffee Pecan Pie – Pecan is a nut which is a very popular ingredient for many pies and tarts, and in this case it has been teamed up with coffee to bring you a great tasting tart. This pie has a nutty and gooey texture to it, and is a rich and flavourful dish when served with a nice fresh cup of gourmet coffee. The pie includes a wide range of ingredients with pecan, coffee, vanilla and syrup to name a few.

5. Sambuca – Let’s get one thing straight first, this is not coffee tasting Sambuca, the Sambuca comes standard and how you would expect it. However, the traditional way to drink the popular liquor is to top it off with 3 coffee beans. Why you ask? Well the coffee beans are there to enhance the flavour of the anise flavoured liquor. On top of that, each coffee bean has their own meaning. One is there to represent happiness, one is intended to represent health, and the third is intended to represent prosperity. The drink is then consumed in a variety of different ways, with the most popular being to light the Sambuca, before blowing out the flame and drinking the shot.