You may be familiar with the sweet bubbly coffee beverage known as Frizz and their iconic bottle, but have you tried Frizz in a can? Since the 1900’s Frizz has prized themselves on making a genuine espresso beverage with only simple ingredients; espresso, pure cane sugar, water, and carbonation. Frizz’s rich coffee flavor tastes best when served cold, in a glass or straight from the bottle or the NEW can. Many enjoy it poured over ice with cream and added flavors such as Crème de Menthe, Bourbon Caramel, Irish Cream, and more. It can also be mixed with your favorite spirit for an extra kick in your cocktail.

Make sure to check out the NEW can! Same delicious taste as the bottle, but with 6 grams less sugar! Though make sure you enjoy it cold, if not it can bubble over due to the pressure in the can.

Fun fact: A case of Frizz in the glass bottles weighs 25 pounds while a case of the NEW cans weighs only 15 pounds!

Try out some delicious recipes below and see How you Frizz!

Bourbon Caramel Frizz Coffee  Image courtesy of Frizz

Frizzkey

• 1/3 bottle/can Frizz Coffee
• Ice
• 1 shot Whiskey

Directions: Pour Frizz Coffee and Whiskey over ice. Serve in an Old Fashioned glass.

Bourbon Caramel Frizz Coffee

• 1 bottle/can of Frizz Coffee
• Ice
• 1 oz. of Torani Bourbon Caramel (or any syrup flavor you desire!)
• Cream to taste

Directions: Fill a 16 oz. cup with ice, add Frizz Coffee, Torani Bourbon Caramel, cream to taste, then stir and enjoy!

Black Frizztini

• 1/2 shot Amaretto
• 1/2 shot Brandy
• 1/2 bottle/can Frizz Coffee

Directions: Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake, strain into a glass and serve.

Frizz Float

Frizz Float

• 1 bottle/can Frizz Coffee
• Vanilla Ice Cream

Directions: Fill a glass with vanilla ice cream. Pour Frizz Coffee over the top and enjoy!

Have you tried Frizz? How do you drink it – over ice, with cream or flavored syrup? Watch for new recipes and join the conversation! #HowDoYouFrizz

The post How Do You Frizz? appeared first on Houston's Blog.

Although not many can afford (or even want) to drop that much money on a cup of coffee, no matter how sublime, research studies show that coffee consumption in America is on the rise.  Coffee is the beverage of choice, over soda and teas, for many Americans—in fact, over 60% of adults in the United States report drinking coffee daily.  And it doesn’t appear that this will change any time soon, as interest in other energy-inducing beverages is waning with reports of their adverse health repercussions.  So how can coffee aficionados get a great cup of coffee without spending a fortune?  One way is to embrace the up-and-coming “flat white” coffee, an Australian invention that has finally made its way to America.

The flat white is, generally speaking, a coffee beverage consisting of coffee, milk, and foam.  What separates this drink from the others with the same ingredients (think cappuccino, latte, cortado) is the method of preparation. The flat white is a smaller beverage with a higher proportion of coffee to milk than other traditional drinks.  The milk is steamed to a cooler temperature, allowing it to retain the fats and proteins and thus retaining a sweeter flavor than what one would normally find in customary coffee-house offerings.  The froth, a velvety “microfoam” with a silky texture, is then carefully folded into the espresso.  The result (besides the signature white dot in the cup) is an artistically crafted, smooth, decadent cup of coffee, richer and tastier than a cappuccino or latte, and for a fraction of the price of a cup of the elitist Geisha from Panama.

I’ve tried a flat white coffee and found it to be worth the hype that surrounds it.  Have you tried it yet?

The post Be Trendy, Try a Flat White appeared first on Houston's Blog.

As medical researchers learn more about the health benefits of the darker-roasted coffee beans, touted for their higher level of antioxidants, Americans are buying into the slightly bitter taste of espresso, for example. Consumers who used to brew pots of Folgers in their homes are now heading out to coffee shop where they are “more than willing to wait over a minute for their ground-on-the-spot, individually brewed cup of Joe,” states Katherine Sacks of CulinaryTrends.net. And customers are essentially putting their foot down when it comes to “waterlogged coffee made with over-roasted beans.

Chocolate, likewise, is gaining momentum in the world of healthy eating. The latest research backs up claims that dark chocolate, without being deluged with sugar, milk, and butter, is good for you, working well with exercise to strengthen your cardiovascular health, and thus lowering your risk of heart attack. And the chocolate that we reach for when we are stressed? Imagine our joy at learning that stress hormone levels are reduced as we indulge in a dark chocolate bar!

But what is bitter, exactly? Turns out it is more difficult to define, if not nearly impossible, because the taste is so complex and somewhat elusive. Often it is our tastebuds that determine a bitter flavor, but seemingly as often our sense of smell detects it before our mouth does. And, crazy as it may sound, it may be the texture of a food, or the temperature, that tip us off that a food is bitter. Even scientists are a bit baffled because the “compounds that are perceived as bitter do not share a similar chemical structure,” as concluded by A. Drewnowski in his article written about the science and complexity of bitter taste in an NCBI article published on PubMed.gov.

And this complexity and elusiveness is precisely what is causing the bitter trend expected in 2015. Try it out for yourself with a small piece of 65-70 percent dark chocolate; simply put the piece in your mouth and experience it on your tongue. Your tastebuds pick up many different flavors, and its texture is much more exciting than a bite of mainstream milk chocolate. The same complexity is found in hoppy, bitter beers; in cocktails with a splash of Angostura bitters; in foods that impart a touch of bitter with sweet or with creamy. “It adds a new dimension, and perks up the tastebuds,” says Jorge de la Torre, dean of culinary education at Johnson and Wales University. “It makes you want the next bite.” As Americans are exposed to more exotic tastes, you can bet chefs and brewers, chocolatiers and coffee roasters will continue to experiment with bitter as a means to entice their customers in 2015 and beyond.

The post Restaurant Trend #6: It’s Better Bitter appeared first on Houston's Blog.

Sweet Bubbly Espresso. Photo Courtesy of Frizz Coffee

Coffee drinkers rejoice! Houston’s is proud to announce the arrival of Frizz Coffee to our product line-up!

Produced in southern Italy, Frizz Coffee is the original sweet & bubbly espresso soda with pure cane sugar and a single shot of espresso rounding-out it’s very simple ingredient list. Frizz Coffee’s rich flavor tastes best when served cold, and even straight from the bottle. It can also be enjoyed poured over ice with half & half or cream. Frizz lovers say that it is a “must try,” and for those who are hesitant about the idea of coffee soda, rest assured that it tastes much better than you might think; especially when used in one of these delectable recipes from Frizz Coffee:

Frizz & Cream

• 1 bottle Frizz Coffee
• half & half or Cream
• Ice

1. Pour Frizz Coffee over ice.
2. Add half & half or cream, to taste.

Frizz Float

• 1 bottle Frizz Coffee
• Vanilla Ice Cream

1. Fill a glass with vanilla ice cream.
2. Pour Frizz Coffee over the top and enjoy!

Photo Courtesy of Frizz Coffee

Frizz Italian Cream Soda

• 1 bottle Frizz Coffee
• 24 oz cup filled with ice
• 1/2 oz Vanilla Syrup
• 1-1/2 oz Cream

1. Pour Frizz Coffee and Vanilla Syrup over ice.
2. Top with cream and stir. Mix it up by trying other syrup flavors!

Frizz Frapp

• 1 bottle Frizz Coffee
• 24 oz cup, chilled
• ice
• Smoothie Base
• 1/2 oz Caramel Syrup

1. Combine Frizz Coffee, Caramel Syrup, Smoothie Base and ice.
2. Blend and serve.

Frizz Mudslide

• 1 bottle Frizz Coffee
• Ice
• 1 shot Irish Cream Liqueur
• 1 shot Coffee Liqueur

1. Fill a glass with ice.
2. Add one Irish Cream Liqueur and Coffee Liqueur.
3. Pour in Frizz Coffee, stir and serve.

Photo courtesy of Frizz Coffee

Frizzkey

• 1/3 bottle Frizz Coffee
• Old Fashioned Glass
• Ice
• 1 shot Whiskey

1. Pour Frizz Coffee and Whiskey over ice.
2. Serve in an Old Fashioned glass.

White Frizztini

• 1/2 shot Kahlua
• 1/2 shot Vanilla Vodka
• 1/2 shot half & half or cream
• 1/2 bottle of Frizz Coffee

1. Mix all ingrdients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake, strain into glass and serve.

Black Frizztini

• 1/2 shot Amaretto
• 1/2 shot Brandy
• 1/2 bottle Frizz Coffee

1. Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Shake, strain into a glass and serve.

Have you tried Frizz? How do you drink it – over ice, with cream or flavored syrup? Watch for new recipes and join the conversation! #HowDoYouFrizz

The post Frizz Coffee – the original sweet & bubbly espresso! appeared first on Houston's Blog.

Chocolate Fudge Latte

1 ounce Monin® Chocolate Fudge Syrup
2 shots espresso
Steamed milk

• In a 16-ounce mug combine espresso and syrup. Stir and set aside.
• Steam milk in a pitcher.
• Pour the steamed milk into mug, stir gently,
  and garnish as desired.

Iced Chocolate Cherry Latte

1 oz Monin® Chocolate Cherry Syrup
2 shots espresso
5 oz milk
Ice

• Fill a 16-ounce glass with ice.
• Add remaining ingredients and stir vigorously.
• Garnish as desired.

Chocolate Fudge Frappe

1 oz Monin® Chocolate Fudge Syrup
4 oz milk
1 scoop vanilla frappe powder
1 shot espresso
Ice

• Combine ingredients, except ice, in blender. Fill a 16-ounce glass with ice and add to blender.
• Blend until smooth and pour into glass. Garnish as desired.

Chocolate Cherry Cocoa

1 oz Monin® Chocolate Cherry Syrup
½ oz Monin® Dark Chocolate Sauce
Steamed milk

• Combine syrup, sauce, and steamed milk in a 12-ounce mug.
• Stir and garnish as desired.

**All photos courtesy of Monin

The post The Ultimate Chocolate Beverages appeared first on Houston's Blog.