Today is International Coffee Day. And Alaskans drink a lot of coffee. A 2017 study by market researchers at The NPD Group found that Juneau is the country’s highest-ranking metro area in terms of coffee shops per capita. Anchorage ranked second.
It’s not hard to guess why. But coffee can be more than brain and body fuel during Alaska’s cold and dark winters.
Since Alaskans will drink coffee with just about anything, Hollis Swan, of Soldotna’s Declination Roasting Company, offered suggestions for pairing coffee with regional culinary classics.
“Smoked salmon’s kind of like a middle-ground, full-body coffee,” he said. “For instance, we have a Peru right now that’s kind of right in the middle of everything. It’s got these kind of cashew and pear flavors to ’em, which I know doesn’t sound quite like smoked salmon, but they go somewhat well together.”
If you’re hunting, you might want to pair your take with something heavy, like a Burundi dark roast.
“Any of those heavy tones are going to pull out those good meaty characteristics,” he said.
When feasting on your recently picked berries, on the other hand, go for something lighter and brighter.
Or, if you’re into the whole pumpkin spice thing:
“I’m going to go with a little bit heavier coffee, not super dark, but a good Guatemalan,” he said. “Something that has a lot of brown sugar characteristics in the coffee would go really, really well with something like that.”
Certain varieties of coffee, like wine, also pair well with certain varieties of cheese. Declination and Lucy’s Market plan on offering joint tastings at the market soon.
“It’s pretty amazing when you take a bite of a certain cheese and then you take a drink of that coffee, how it pops,” Swan said. “Like, what these flavors do.
You can already buy Declination coffees at Lucy’s or from Swan’s roasting facility on Eddy Hill Drive. Soon, you can also get them delivered to your doorstep. Swan is launching a monthly coffee subscription service this fall, something that he’s wanted to do for a while. Since pulling away from selling at markets amid the pandemic, he’s been able to dedicate more time to building up that service.
Swan will be delivering coffee to subscribers by bike each month, starting in Soldotna and with potential for expansion into Kenai and K-Beach. He has a fat-tire bike for when the weather gets dicey and a car for when things get really dicey.
“The bike portion of delivery for me is a way that I can get outside and still do my job, too,” Swan said.
Kaladi Brothers Coffee and Sentinel Coffee, in Juneau, also offer monthly, to-your-door subscription services, according to their websites. But those come by mail.
