After a good date season, have you ever had tons and tons of date seeds sitting in the kitchen waiting to be thrown away? Neither have we, but this recipe will definitely peak your interest if you’re in the market for a caffeine-free alternative to kickstart your weekday morning.
As of 2004, 6.9 million tons of dates were processed, with a whopping 863,000 tons of date seeds produced. So the obvious question is what do we do with all this waste? Currently these byproducts are mostly used in animal feed with their potential for human health benefits lost and forgotten.
Did you know that within that syrupy sweet date flesh that we crave, hides a small jewel that has the potential to lower blood sugar levels, prevent heart disease and blood clots, encourage good gut bacteria growth, and prevent certain types of cancers? All while increasing your intelligence more and more with every sip.
So, enough about all the good stuff that comes with this new concoction, let’s get down to the nitty gritty and make a cup of date coffee for yourself!
The Date Coffee Manual:
1. Eat LOTS of dates! The collecting of date seeds can be a pain, but trust us, by the end of this experiment you’ll be forever in our debt. Between 8-10 seeds should be enough for a solid cup, so we suggest you get chewing right away! 2. Following that, a good soak in a nice hot bath overnight should get rid of all that sticky fruit surrounding the seeds. Be sure to get all that nasty stuff off with some water and a paper towel or it could ruin the roast 3. Now that your seeds are all swelled up and clean, you’ll need to leave them out to dry, just like what happened on your last date 😉 4. Here comes the fun part! If you’re fancy like us and have your own coffee roasting machine then congrats! You’ve won yourself a whole pat on the back. If not, don't stress. The process is basically the same, just be sure to give your seeds a good shake every couple of minutes when in the oven at about 170℃. A roasting time of around 30 minutes should be good but trust your gut on this one 5. Once again, you can give yourself another slap on the back if you have your own coffee grinder at home. This can work just as well if you use a food processor or even a pestle and mortar if you’re willing to put in the extra elbow grease (Not sure how that will affect the flavour, but anyway…) 6. And now, ladies and gentleman, the moment you have been waiting for, for all 2 minutes of reading time, we have finally reached the brewing stage! Whether you like your morning brew made via a drip filter, french press or Aeropress this interesting creation finds itself somewhere in the arena of tea with natural sweetness and even hints of coffee and mocha all in one cup.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s summarise:
- Collect date seeds
- Treat like normal coffee
- Drink and enjoy
Remember to add some funk in with some cinnamon, ginger or even our artisanal chai concentrate to pump you up for another exhilarating day of trying to find something else to replace that buzz provided by your loving companion – your morning cuppa coffee.
