Last month I was privileged to visit the Gaviña Gourmet Coffee Roasters in Vernon, California. The occasion was the introduction of the new Gaviña Holiday Collection. That's right, people. A COLLECTION. Of COFFEE. *swoon*
The Gaviña Holiday Collection (!) is a selection of seasonal coffees especially curated to “warm the hearts of coffee lovers during the holidays while brewing support for local Children's Hospitals.”
I was pleased to be able to sample the holiday collection (a Collection, people!) of coffees prepared by former U.S. Barista Champion Bronwen Serna. Gaviña has joined forces with her, local restaurants and coffee shops to brew support (get it?) for local Children's
Hospitals. Five percent of the Holiday Collection (!) coffee sales will be
donated to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals on behalf of each
participating customer.
Available September 1st through December 31st exclusively at
participating restaurants and coffee shops throughout Southern
California, the Gaviña Holiday Coffee Collection (!) features:
- Pumpkin Spice – Homemade pumpkin pie with fragrant spices.
- Eggnog – Rich and creamy, perfect for the holiday season.
- Candy Cane Cream – Smooth and crisp peppermint in a swirl of rich cream.
- Caramel Spiced Rum – Caramel and butterscotch with a hint of rum. (They had me at “a hint of rum.”)
We got to sample every one of the new brews in the Holiday Collection (!) and I decided that my personal favorite was the Caramel Spiced Rum. (By the way, that's my trademark red lipstick on each cup in the taste-fest, but that's not important right now.)
If you look closely, you can find me yakking away at around the 0.32 mark. (I know. Shut up.)
Also, I was delighted that we were treated to a tour of the Gaviña Roasting facility which was informative, amazing, and fragrant! Something that only mountains of bags of fresh coffee beans can provide.
That's me. In a hairnet. With mountains of coffee beans behind me. Which means I can actually use the word, “redecilla” – my favorite word in Spanish – in a blog post. And it's applicable! “¡Mira que comica se ve Marta en su redecilla!”
I'm so grateful to the Gaviña family for their most gracious hospitality. Read their history here.
L to R: Pedro Gaviña, me, Leonor Gaviña-Valls
Theirs is a wonderful American success story with rich and deep Cuban roots.
See what I mean?
I'm pleased and proud to announce that Gaviña Gourmet Coffee is sponsoring today's giveaway.
MBFCF Blogiversary Giveaway #5:
A Gaviña Gourmet Coffee Basket, which includes their new Holiday Coffee Collection (!)
This beautiful Gaviña Gourmet Coffee basket includes the following:
- 2 Gaviña travel mugs
- 1 – 8 cup French Press
- 3 - 2.5 oz ground bags of Pumpkin Spice
- 3 – 2.5 oz ground bags of Candy Cane Cream
- 3 – 2.5 oz ground bags of Eggnog
- 5 – 2.5 oz ground bags of 100% Organic Guatemala Dark
- 4 – 2.5 oz ground bags of 100% Organic Mexico
Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a Gaviña Gourmet Coffee Basket – they have generously provided two (!) for this giveaway, (valued at $75 each) – please answer one or both of the following questions:
- What is your first cup in the morning? – Espresso? Cortadito? Americano?
- Do you have an afternoon cup?
- Which one of the coffees in this Holiday Collection (!) sounds the best to you?
Full disclosure: My first cup of the day is brewed Don Francisco Gourmet Coffee by Gaviña. Freshly. Ground. Heaven.
I'll choose the winners at the end of MBFCF Blogiversary Giveaway Week on Monday, October 8th, 2012 at 11 am.
“I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we
have thumbs so we can make coffee.” ~Flash Rosenberg
I would love to try the eggnog flavored coffee in the basket. I have a BIG bubba mug that I fill up every morning with American coffee or I stop at 7/11 and fill it up with cappuccino coffee (-: If I have coffee in the afternoon I have Ice coffee. I think the eggnog and the Candy Cane Cream would be grrrreat for my afternoon cold coffee.I have to admit though that I love my Ma’s cafe con leche. Made dark and with lots of love.
Thanks for sharing your trip and story Marta! I envy your tour!
Please let me win!!!! I love coffee. My first cup in the morning is whatever is in the house, which is usually whatever is on sale. My husband is Cuban and loves that strong stuff in the tiny cup. I have a cup in the afternoon if someone at work makes it. The Candy Cane Cream sounds the best to me….YUM!
Which one of the coffees in this Holiday Collection (!) sounds the best to you?Caramel Spiced Rum- Caramelo, especia- verbo, sazonar, Ron
Vamo mi gente, you can’t get more Cuban than that!!
; ) Loving this series Marta- Congrats.
BB2U
I have a cup in the morning, afternoon and evening! But my first one is always a cortadito!
I have a cup of American coffee every morning. On the weekends I usually have care con lecher con una tostadita. Id love to try the Pumpkin Spice!
You do realize how jealous this makes me. They would have had to throw me out of that place. Being around all that coffee? Abusadora!Now to answer your questions:
1. What is your first cup in the morning? – Espresso? Cortadito? Americano?
Cafe con leche.
2. Do you have an afternoon cup?
Yes, a Colada.
Which one of the coffees in this Holiday Collection (!) sounds the best to you?
I would say whichever one can be brewed into espresso since I have no other coffee maker. The Dark, no flavor. I like coffee flavored coffee.
I love that quote at the end by Flash Rosenberg !!I start my day with a cup of Americano–but hubby & I use 1/2 folgers & 1/2 espresso in our morning coffee 🙂
When I get to work, I brew the morning espresso and have my cafe con leche. My co-workers mans the espresso machine for our 3pm shot.
As you can see…I love my cafe/coffee !
Note the exclamation points—just had my espresso LOL
I would love to work there and be surround by coffee all day. I have a cafe con leche in the morning but none in the afternoon until winter comes then I do.Pumpkin Spice sounds delicious especially this time of year.
Martha, you have reached a spot.. I am a Coffee loving Dominicana, married into a Cuban American family, with a beautiful Cuban American/Dominican 10 month old..So you can imagine, that at all of our family gatherings, the main component is always a tazita de cafe. Oh and I just happen to make a mean Cuban Colada :)1. What is your first cup in the morning? – Espresso? Cortadito? Americano?
I have been drinking Cafe Sello Rojo from Colombia, it is delicious!. It was a souvernier my father in law brought me from Colombia from a recent trip him and my mother in law took for a destination wedding in Cartagena.
2. Do you have an afternoon cup? Yes, weekdays afternoon at work we brew some Starbucks coffee, usually Veranda blend blonde. But during weekend afternoons, my hubby makes me a very sweet afternoon colada.
3.Which one of the coffees in this Holiday Collection (!) sounds the best to you? Fall being my favorite season, I will have to go with the Pumpkin Spice for sure.
My first cup, currently, is Chicory from Cafe du Monde brewed in a Sowden Softbrew. Afternoons right now are perfect for an iced Americano made with cold-brewed coffee.
Martha, as a good Cuban-born, I get up in the morning straight to the stove to make get my cafecito infusion (first and most important expresso of the day.) No stops along the way, just straight to that stove. There is nothing in this world that can wake me up the way a cafecito does. This has been a tradition in my family from the time my mami would wake me up to go to school, and I have since passed that onto my boys (now 23 and 19.) Although they are both away from home (working in ATL and studying at FSU respectively), I look forward to the times they come home so I can wake them up with a cafecito, the same way my mami woke me up each morning.This beautiful Gaviña Gourmet Coffee basket would be perfect to have when the boys come down for the holidays. I think the Pumpkin Spice would be perfect for Thanksgiving, Candy Cane Cream for Navidad and oh, what a treat with the Eggnog for Noche Buena as I imagine it must taste like a “Crema de Vie” and boy, do they love that.
By the way, throughout the day and definitely at the end of our dinner, my husband and I always have a cafecito (expresso.) He adores any form of cafe, from my morning expresso infusion, to cortaditos, cafe con leche and coffee period. We woudl totally make use of the rest of those goodies in that wonderful bag. I can smell the beans roasting already.
Liliana Romero
My first cup is usually Don Fransico Columbian Supremo. Then café Cubano in the afternoon.The Caramel Spiced Run sounds delicious!
My first one in the morning is a steaming cup of cafe con leche or americano, if I’m in a hurry. The pumpkin spice sounds so delicious!!
My first cup in the morning…Well, honestly ANYthing as long as its strong. I even enjoy the FREE coffee at church on Sundays. My afternoon cup (yes usually I do have one)I enjoy my flavored k-cups and it feels like a treat. One of my favorite is the pumkin spice. As an October baby I love anything fall. Happy Anniversary MBFGF! time flies huh?
First cup- a latte then one about 3 in the afternoon too. The Spiced Carmel sounds yummy!
Ever since I was around 9 years old, my mother and I, even though we lived in Nicaragua, we would have a cafe con leche, made with instant coffe and milk. We would drink it eating, the closest they had to pan cubano with butter. to this day, I still drink my cafe con leche every morning. When I’m REALLY tired in the morning, I’ll make it with Cuban coffee, (like they do in Miami.Before going to bed, sometimes I’ll drink another cafe con leche, but with decaf coffee, otherwise, I would be awake all night!
Pumpkin Spice Coffee sounds delicious! I love pumpkin pie, so just the thought of the coffee remotely tasting like pumpkins, makes my mouth water! Delicioso!
Mmmmmm…. Pumpkin spiced! I only have coffee in the morning. Well sometimes in the afternoon, ok and sometimes at night…lol
I have an Americano in the AM, sometimes 2, and an espresso in the afternoon, Eggnog sounds heavenly, that would probably be my fav, but they all sound delicious!
I love coffee!
I start the day off a with Cuban “cafecito”, freshly brewed by my American hubby who bringsit to me in bed every morning!!
Holiday coffee?
Pumpkin Spice, Yum!
AZUUUUUCAAAA!
I get up and make cafe con leche for the family and the hubs gets his cup in bed…Then, while I prepare for the day, I have a cup of black espresso, hubby too.
Before we leave the house, it’s another tacita de café, and off for the day.
In the afternoon, right after lunch, another cup…
erm…yes, we have a little coffee addiction problem…
I’d like to try the egg nog variety.
I wouldn’t be Cuban without my morning Cafe con Leche. Thank you for the opportunity to win this delicious basket; and if I win, I will give it to my sweet Cuban daddy who is turning 94 in two weeks! Fingers Crossed!
A very enterprising Cuban once said:”Sin azúcar no hay país,” and he was right. Nevertheless, I do have to point out that without coffee there wouldn’t have been sugar, and without sugar, well, we know. No Cuban can go on with his/her day without a “buchito.” No enterprise would have flourished in Cuba without the energy of that “café de las 3:00 de la tarde” of which our parents and grandparents always spoke, and that we, younger folks wanted to have to no avail. Look at what has happened in the island once they decided to stop allowing people to drink real coffee, and gave us “café mezclado” instead.
Every morning I have a cup of Green Mountain Dark Magic which tastes just like Cuban Cafecito!I live on cafe all day, every day!
The Rum one sounds best porque its RUM!! Hello! <3
My first cup of coffee is cafe con leche. I’d sometimes have a latte in the afternoon. I would love to try the Pumpkin Spice coffee from the Holiday Collection.
I love coffee! My husband usually makes cappuccino or a latte for me in the morning using his Gaggia. It is always perfect. If you guys lived closer, I’d have you make me Cuban coffee in the afternoon as I am not so good at doing it! I really would love to win this give-a-way because I had one of these beautiful mugs and in my clumsiness I broke it! So sad! Anyway, I think the Candy Cane Cream sounds delicious! Fingers Crossed!
All day I follow the Cuban philosophy and repeated phrase “Que Cafe?”…As a typical coffee enthusiast, I even use coffee in my culinary recipes, and use leftover grounds to fertilize some of my plants. Personally I like my first cup to be Americano and my day always end with Cafe con Leche (comfort factor and helps me sleep). Depending on my mood, I do either Americano or a cafecito in the afternoon…but I always have to have my coffee and LOVE trying new flavors, blends, and brands!!!
QUE RICO!!!! HASTA AHORA, NO HE PROBADO ESTE CAFE; ME ENCANTARIA SABOREARLO!
1-un expresso cuando me levanto y uno americano cuando llego al trabajo.2-nunca despues de las 11am porque me desvelo.
3-creo que el “candy cane”
Mmmm, I want to try the candy cane cream most of all but they all sound yummy! I usually have an espresso based drink in the morning and american coffee if I’m drinking in the afternoon or night.
morning, afternoon and night. Morning would be cafe con leche, afternoon espresso and night cafe americano.
Americano in the morning, but cafe con leche is my favorite!
My first cup in the morning is my Cuban, Cafe con Leche! But I would love to tray the Pumpkin Spice from the collection!!
I LOVE coffee, cafe, cortadito, cafe con leche anything with coffee or coffee flavored. I always have american coffee in the morning and cortadito or cafecito later in the day.
We just drink regular coffee in the mornings these days. I would like to try the eggnog one!
I have American coffee every morning and throughout the day. I love coffee! The holiday collection sounds wonderful! Having flavored coffee is a treat all by itself.
My first cup is Paul Newmans organic bold kcup. Can’t start the day with out! During the day I have regular American coffee. I think it’s folgers? Whatever they brew at the office. I love my espresso…I can’t drink too much….makes me crazy…lol. I have been drinking coffee since I was about 8 years old. I would come home from school and my grandparents had brewed espresso in el colador! some wood and cloth thing…since then I love my coffee <3. Nowadays I can only drink decaf espresso.
I usually have a cortadito in the morning and then another one at 5 p.m. I’d love to try all of them (lol) but the eggnog kind sounds yummy!
My favorite summer cafe right now is a shot(make it a double, I’m not driving) of espresso in my vanilla soy milk. I have another around 2or3. The pumpkin spice would be my the first if the holiday favors I’d try.
I have a cortadito (oscuro con la azucar del cafe – dark with the sugar from the coffee) every morning. I would love to try the Pumpkin Spice.
I love Gaviña and I love all of them.My first cup of coffee in the morning is Americano with a little bit of cream and some sugar
I sometimes have a little cup of coffee in the afternoon to wake me up, usually Cuban espresso.
I think I would love the Pumpkin and also the Eggnog, but since I love coffee, I wouldn’t complain to receive all of them…;))
I have a morning cup and an afternoon cup when i need too!and the pumpkin spice sounds amazing!
I would love this! Caramel Spiced rum sounds like it’s calling my name. And in the morning, I’m a cafe con leche type girl! Afternoon is Cafecito time, no doubt about it. Do you know if Gaviña plan to expand to Miami?
Discovered you via Gavina’s twitter stream. Tomorrow is my birthday so looks like I’m entering just in time! I love just a regular brewed cup of coffee in the morning. Brewed in my French press. In the afternoon I prefer iced coffee.
My first two cups in the morning are Americanos. At about 10:30, I’ll have a cafe con leche and in the afternoon, I’ll usually have a kick-in-the pants cortadito!The Holiday Collection sounds wonderful and I’d love to try the Caramel Spiced Rum-yum!
Thanks, Marta, for another great giveaway! You’re so generous!
un abrazo~
I start my day with cafe con leche and the bag that sounds best would probably be the Guatemala Dark 🙂 Abrazo Fuerte por ser tan generosa Marta!
What a lovely collection. I love holiday coffee! Gaviña’s Don Francisco’s coffee is part of my morning ritual! XOXO