Godiva Coffee Livens Up Your Holidays

Godiva coffee was a new product for me this year. I’ve had the chance to try it several times both through the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program and at the Foodbuzz Festival. Thank you to Godiva and Foodbuzz!

My first tastes came during my Godiva Coffee Cocktail experiments with the limited edition flavors Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Pecan Bark. Living in New England I come across pumpkin flavored coffee quite a bit and my experience is that it can be a really tough flavor to channel well into coffee. Godiva has done a nice job of balancing the pumpkin and spice flavors with the underlying coffee elements, making it smooth and drinkable without being overpowering. The Caramel Pecan Bark wins this race on aroma. The kitchen smelled so good, like we were baking cookies and making chocolates, when I first brewed it and I saw the bottom of the empty bag of this flavor first!

While I write this I’m enjoying a cup of Godiva Hazelnut Crème Coffee, one of the samples I picked up at the tasting pavilion during the Foodbuzz Festival. The hazelnut flavor is very accessible and the underlying coffee is again rich and flavorful. I’ve already taken down about half the mug and am feeling pretty perky for a morning I was moving a bit slow to start with. I wonder how jacked up the folks in the Godiva Coffee test kitchens got while testing out the flavoring to get them just right!

The farewell brunch at the Foodbuzz Festival was sponsored by Godiva Coffee and they served the unflavored Breakfast Blend. Again I was struck by the richness of the coffee. Without any added flavor I was really able to experience the roasted flavors and didn’t detect and harsh or sharp elements that might otherwise be masked in its flavored siblings. It was clearly brewed well, the secret to making sure any coffee has a chance to please, and when prepared with my typical amount of cream and sugar it remained bold and flavorful. Bravo! As I and other festival-goers assembled at the table I mentioned the coffee and how happy it was making me. Everyone else who chimed in was equally complimentary to the coffee, also mentioning the rich, bold flavors and that the coffee was a noticeable and happy departure from everyday restaurant coffee.

Now that I’ve got you all jonesing for a cup of coffee I guess I should try to rescue you. Two lucky blog readers are going to win a Godiva swag pack that includes:

• A full sized bag of Godiva coffee
• Sampler pack of flavored coffees 
• Godiva apron

The apron will come in especially handy to keep your holiday cooking messes off your favorite holiday sweater! Sorry, I had to. For the record I don’t wear a holiday sweater, but I do don an apron to keep myself presentable when entertaining and cooking at the same time.

So how do you get a chance to win? Visit the Godiva Coffee website to take a look their collection. Then come back here and leave a comment with how you would incorporate Godiva Coffee into your holidays. Would the Peppermint Mocha make your special holiday traditions even more special or will you put on your mad scientist lab coat and use a different flavor in the recipe for a new holiday treat? Any way you spin it, you and everyone you share the coffee with will be smiling.

Rules

• You must leave a comment on this post to be entered to win
• You must be a US resident to win
• The drawing ends on Friday December 16^th at 8 PM EST
• The winner will picked randomly using random.org

If you just can’t wait to try Godiva Coffee click here todownload a coupon and use the Store Locator to find a retail location near you. Everybody wins!

Cheers!

Jason


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 

Win a Spanish Wine Party Pack from Tapeña Wines & the Ancient Fire Wine Blog

The Ancient Fire Wine Blog is teaming up with Tapeña Wines to give away a Spanish Wine Party Pack to one lucky reader. The Party Pack includes wine, charms, a corkscrew and other goodies. How exiciting!

Tapeña Wines is a new take on Spanish wine combining socializing, food and Spanish style to create a line of wines that are valued priced and ready to drink. Tapeña produces four styles of wine covering wine lovers of many stripes with Tempranillo, Garnacha, Verdejo and Rose. I know I’ve had the Tapeña Temrapnillo in the past, but sadly I can’t recall my impressions. My take on reading the producer notes is that the wines are dry with a focus on balance and long, clean finishes.  

With food and entertaining in mind the Tapeña Wines blog contains weekly updates of recipes, pairing ideas and style tips. While Tapas is one of the inspirations for the wines, many dishes can be successfully paired with them, and specifically a range of seafood dishes. Recent Thanksgiving themed posts are a peek into the breadth of Spanish wines when pairing them with food.

So how is this giveaway going to work? Your first chance to win will be accepted with the following actions:

• Follow @tapenawine and @ancientfirewine on Twitter (if you don't use Twitter don't worry)
• Like Tapeña Wines and the Ancient Fire Wine Blog on Facebook (same here)
• Leave a comment here with how you would entertain with a Tapeña Wines Party Pack.
• The winner will be selected randomly from the valid entries.
• The comment and Follow/Like period for the giveaway will be open until 12:00 PM EST December 7^th.
• Must be 21 years or older to enter, and that by entering you verify you are over 21
• Apologies to my readers outside the U.S. but you must also be a legal U.S. citizen to be eligible to win

Next week I will be posting a Spanish Wine pairing of my own matching Paella and the Tapeña Tempranillo. A second chance to enter the giveaway will be available via a comment on that post with your Spanish wine pairing questions.

Thank you to Tapeña Wines for the great party pack giveaway. Like Tapena Wines on Facebook and enter to wine an Ibiza trip for two!

Locate Tapeña Wines at your local wine shops using the Retail Locator at the Tapeña web site.

Don’t forget to follow @tapenawines on Twitter to get frequent updates on expressing your Spanish wine style with Tapeña Wines.

Cheers!

Jason

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”