Community Coffee Gift Give Away!

Growing up, we had a percolator pot, and each morning Mother would plug it in and the coffee would begin its dance up the glass at the top. Once we moved to South Louisiana, my parents began to drink Community Coffee and the entire house would fill with that good strong coffee aroma—it wasn’t like any coffee we’d experienced before. It was high school before I was allowed to pour myself a cup of that brew I’d been smelling every morning. I drank it with lots of cream and sugar back then, although I drink my morning coffee black now. That coffee was dark and strong and I was hooked on my big ole mug of Community, dark roast, in the red bag.


This was before coffee shops dotted street corners, and before coffee became something Cool and Hip. Coffee was the brew to get you started in the mornings, to drink with pie, or with a neighbor, or to solve problems over, and you either drank it black or you put some cream and sugar in it (or if you were Katie Ivene or Frederick, you added bourbon), and that was that. We gulped it down on school or work mornings, but we savored it on weekend mornings. When I married GMR, he made coffee even stronger than my mother’s coffee. The coffee oils swim atop, my tongue coats with rich ground coffee bean.


I drank Community Coffee for all my coffee drinking years spent in South Louisiana, until I moved to the mountains of western North Carolina five years ago. When our Community Coffee ran out, we switched to a local brand here in WNC. Oh, but friends feel sorry for us. When Louisiana friends visit, they look at us sadly, as if we are lacking in the very fundamentals of life—what? You don’t have Community Coffee in your little log house? Oh Dear. Oh My. Shaking of head, sighing of sighs, and next visit, Louisiana friends come with their own personal bags of Community Coffee. Or, they'll peruse the grocers around here to find Their Brand, CC's being the Only Brand in their opinion. . . *laughing*


I one day wrote about South Louisiana rituals, Community Coffee being one of them, and how CC shows up in my Virginia Kate novels—because it must! One can’t write about So Louisiana without Community being a part of it. You all know I always brag about my Deep Creek Blend—oh, I have defected! Oh Dear, my Louisiana friends say, Oh My. One day Community Coffee contacted me—would I like a gift set of Community Coffee and a travel mug? Yes folks, even Community Coffee wants to re-convert me back to my early coffee years when Community Coffee was The Coffee, the one and only brew to get me going every morning, *Big Grin*


What arrived was much more than I expected. There were four big bags of Louisiana Holiday Blends and a cute travel mug—the coffee included: 12-oz coffees of Holiday Jazz®, Bread Pudding, Breakfast Blend, and Cinnamon Roll. I’ve tasted all but the Bread Pudding, which I’m saving for our Thanksgiving Feast on Thursday.

The Holiday Jazz was milder than I expected, so even with the Holiday Jazz name, this is a mild coffee that would pair well with breakfast, or as a starter coffee for those just trying out CC. The Breakfast Blend is also perfect for breakfast or the first cup of the morning brew—it and the Dark Roast in the Red Bag is what I personally think about as “traditional Louisiana coffee,” and what GMR and I drank most often when we lived in Louisiana. The Breakfast Blend is milder than the “traditional red bag-dark roast," so I think it would suit more palates—Community Coffee can be quite bold and if you aren’t used to strong dark coffee, this gift set is a good place to start. The Cinnamon Roll was great for Sunday morning, and when I added cream and sugar, it was like a Bed and Breakfast coffee! The cinnamon wasn’t overwhelming and the bit of sweet I added to blend with the cinnamon gave it a festive holiday feel. I’d drink the Cinnamon Roll as a “with dessert” coffee with dinner guests. I’m betting the bread pudding will fit perfectly with our Thanksgiving dessert and I can’t wait to try it and see what my friends think (I’ll be sure to let y’all know).


Because Community Coffee is cool, they have been kind enough to offer someone their choice of one of these gifts: holiday tumbler, taste of the holidays sampler gift set, hot chocolate for two, or red French press—you can peruse the site to see which one you like if you are the winner.


So! If you want to win a gift: All you need to do is go to the Community Coffee website. Once there, click around and you’ll find where they have a coffee frequently asked questions page. The first person to tell me what CC’s exact answer is to the question: How is flavor added to the flavored coffees? and one of those gifts is yours, courtesy of Community Coffee—just leave your answer in the comments section. Good Luck!