6 Coffee Brands Recommended By Celebrity Chefs
Whether it's a simple cup of coffee or more of a modern twist on your daily drink (frozen coffee pods, anyone?), the right coffee can tempt your taste buds and bring you flavor from around the world. But how do you know what's a good brand to invest in and what is a waste of money? We suggest taking the advice of someone who has made a career based on their taste buds. If you're looking for a new way to wake up in the morning or just wondering what kind of coffee your favorite food professional enjoys, there are plenty of celebrity chef-recommended coffee brands out there to consider.
Beginning with the coffee bean grower and ending with the brewing process, the best coffee brands facilitate multiple steps of sourcing coffee, managing quality and consistency along the way to consumers. Roasting also plays a large role in turning green beans into a truly satisfying cup of coffee. Unsurprisingly, a brand with a good mission can also make your daily sip taste better. All in all, there are many reasons why these coffee brands are recommended by celebrity chefs.
1. Giada De Laurentiis: Counter Culture Coffee
Giada De Laurentiis, Food Network star of "Everyday Italian" and "Giada at Home," recommends Counter Culture Coffee, as served alongside the flaky pastries and California-Italian foods of her Las Vegas restaurant, Pronto. Available for your home, her choice for a morning brew comes in a range of whole bean varieties or a flash-frozen option. While talking with Modern Wellness Guide, De Laurentiis says that her chosen blend from Counter Culture is "bold, slightly acidic and delicious."
Sustainably sourced from places like Nicaragua, Colombia, Honduras, and Ethiopia, Counter Culture Coffee's single-origin beans and blends carry hints of floral, fruit, nutty, chocolate, or smoky flavor. The coffee beans, some of which are naturally sun-dried after they're washed, are organic and kosher. Featuring a wide variety, Counter Culture Coffee offers roasts from light to dark, with four levels in between. Whole bean options span decaf to single origin options as well as year-round blends and limited releases.
2. Ina Garten: Dallis Brothers
The one coffee brand Ina Garten can't go without has been in business for 100 years in New York. Otherwise known as Barefoot Contessa, Garten is a believer in Dallis Brothers Coffee as her go-to choice for fresh coffee. A host and columnist for the Food Network and author of multiple cookbooks, Garten chooses Dallis Brothers for her and her husband's daily home-brew. Crafted in small batches, Dallis Brothers Coffee sources beans in small batches directly from growers.
Dallis Brothers Coffee is no stranger to providing consumers with coffee, whether it's through a variety of blends for your pleasure at home or by providing coffee equipment services to those who craft for others. Sourcing from across the coffee belt in specific regions of Ethiopia, Colombia, and Sumatra, Dallis Brothers beans are roasted from light to dark and offered as single origin, blend, decaf, or espresso.
Rumor has it, Garten prefers the Ellis Island Blend, a medium roast featuring a mix of bittersweet earthiness with a light, nutty flavor that produces a smooth, yet spicy, cup of coffee. Other blends include 1913 Blend — a light to medium roast that tastes of chocolate and sweet fruit; Red Den Blend — a dark roast that hints at dark chocolate and BBQs; and New York Espresso Blend — a medium roasted espresso with flavors of chocolate, nougat, and caramel.
3. Bobby Flay: illy
Bobby Flay, a well-known restaurateur and celebrity chef, is not shy about his love of coffee, especially the warmth he has for his espresso machine. Considering it a part of his everyday life, coffee is naturally woven throughout his daily ritual. Preferring the deep, rich nature of espresso, Flay reaches for illy, an Italian single-origin coffee selection that features beans from more than 30 countries across the world.
Created for both espresso machines and traditional coffee makers, illy offers coffee lovers multiple brewing options, such as whole bean, ground, espresso capsules and pods, K-cups, instant, and more. The widespread Italian coffee features beans from locations such as Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India, and Nicaragua.
Flay, who has also created and produced hundreds of award-winning television episodes, uses illy whole beans for his espresso machine. He told his daughter in their mutual podcast, "Always Hungry with Bobby Flay and Sophie Flay," not to forget that the grind makes the difference in your end result. How you grind your coffee beans for your personal machine determines the level of flavor extraction you'll get. He also warned against bitter coffee, stating a good cup of coffee or espresso should yield the "right balance" and have "great flavor."
4. Missy Robbins: Intelligentsia
As a chef and owner of two Italian restaurants, Missy Robbins is naturally a big fan of the cappuccino. Also the author of two cookbooks, Robbins learned authentic Italian cooking after immersing herself in the country's culture and culinary traditions. The Italian food at Missy Robbins' Lilia delivers simple, classic dishes, such as focaccia, antipasti, grilled clams, rigatoni, ravioli, and grilled lamb.
And though she may not recommend the brand by name, Robbins told Men's Journal she enjoys a cappuccino when she visits Butler, a cafe close to her home. Butler serves specialty coffee that's carefully crafted from Intelligentsia coffee beans. Sourced directly from the grower, Intelligentsia roasts coffee beans from seasonal locations in places like Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Ethiopia, as well as Rwanda, Colombia, and Peru.
Intelligentsia coffee encompasses notes of various fruits, honey, caramel, shortbread, vanilla, cacao, or molasses. The brand sells a variety of pre-ground options for your espresso maker, French press, Chemex, Hario cold brew, or even a Turkish grind for a cezve.
5. Rachael Ray: Laughing Man Coffee
Laughing Man Coffee is a coffee brand recommended by celebrity chef Rachael Ray. Author of several cookbooks and creator of a lifestyle magazine, Ray has had a long-running and successful daytime home show aptly named "The Rachael Ray Show." She is also a drinker of strong, black coffee in the morning, and Ray admitted that she's a much bigger coffee consumer than her husband. She revealed on her show that while they often have friends especially "toast and roast" their cinghiale coffee, she and her husband enjoy Laughing Man Coffee whenever they can.
Laughing Man is a coffee brand that arose from a small farm in Ethiopia during Hugh Jackman's travels to the Yirgacheffe region. After discovering how the entire coffee process works, Jackman chose to create a coffee regarding the positive, enlightening experience he had.
Still sourcing beans from the original village Jackman visited, Laughing Man offers a variety of single-origin and blends. One such blend is Dukale's Dream Blend — named after the farmer who drew Jackman into the world of coffee beans. This particular blend has a background of blueberry and dark chocolate and is suitable for traditional coffee or espresso. Single-origin coffees come from Honduras, Colombia, Ethiopia, Brazil, Peru, and Costa Rica.
6. Sara Moulton: Ethan & the Bean Coffee
A natural fixture in the world of food and drink, celebrity chef and Food Network star Sara Moulton encourages coffee lovers to try Ethan & the Bean coffee. To help bring awareness and put more eyes on the coffee company with a cause, Moulton emphasized the "important work" Ethan & the Bean Coffee is doing via a Facebook post. Author of several cookbooks, Moulton continues to teach people how to cook on her popular show, "Sara's Weeknight Meals."
Ethan & the Bean is a non-profit organization based out of New Jersey that features a local cafe and online shop. By offering employment opportunities for differently abled people, Ethan & the Bean strives to support individuals who need help with gaining and maintaining employment, independent living, and community involvement.
An array of goodies are sold at the local cafe; customers can choose from delectables, such as coconut samoas, banana bread, and chocolate chip cookies, to go with hot or iced coffee options like a cappuccino, latte, or Americano. Handcrafted in small batches, coffee lovers can order Ethan & the Bean online or take home blends like Bad Ass — a coffee meant to be enjoyed black — or Wicked Brew, a bold, medium roast.