Category: Drinks

Drinks, Life in General, St. Louis Small Businesses

Great Perks at The Breve Coffee Company

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Coffee Beans

Good Friends and Good Coffee! Two of life’s greatest perks taking place right here in St. Louis!

Tis the season with a cup of joe from my dear friends at The Breve Coffee Company!

Their story is unique. It’s one of passion and hard work. Owner and founder, Kevin Wiesehan, an aeronautical engineer at Boeing Aircraft was transferred to Seattle to work with a supplier back in the early 90’s.  Both Kevin and his wife, Holly (my good friend from high school) lived in Seattle for three years.  Yes, Seattle…the coffee capital of the world! Kevin was working 100 hours a week and soon became a coffee drive thru junkie.  He loved it, and the entire coffee concept. This is where it all began…the idea, the passion, and the dream to one day bring this idea to the Midwest. He did just that.

On March 5, 1995, Kevin opened St. Louis’ first Espresso Bar in downtown St. Louis in the Paul Brown Building.  This was seven years before Starbucks even came to St. Louis!  Later in 1995, they introduced St. Louis to the first Panini press sandwich.  It wasn’t easy building the business, but in time the people kept coming back.  The quality and the passion was there in every cup of coffee because Breve Coffee only uses the finest coffee beans. Those coffee beans are grown in the mountainous regions of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Java, Sumatra, Columbia, Kenya, New Guinea, and other remote areas. Breve Coffee has a unique distinction of quality because of their true small batch roasting and temperature control all done right here in Pevely, MO at their Roastery.

Today, The Breve Coffee Company, has three locations 1) Lobby of the AT&T Center, 2) Lobby of the PNC Building in Clayton, and 3) Lobby of SSM St. Anthony’s Hospital. You can also find their coffees sold in some local stores.  If you are not located in St. Louis, look no further then their awesome website where you will find all their coffees including great Christmas blends perfect for holiday gift giving! Their website includes a wealth of information about all their coffees, how to purchase them, pictures of the locations, menus, hours, and so much more. Check them out at www.brevecoffee.com or contact them directly via this link…https://www.brevecoffee.com/contact.html

Don’t worry if you haven’t experienced Breve Coffee yet, better latte then never!

The St. Louis Cooks love to support and promote small businesses.  I hope that you will too!

Cheers!

Breve Logo

Drinks, Family, Kids

Summer Smoothies

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Banana Strawberry Smoothie

We love smoothies in the summer time.  Heck, we like them all the time. There are so many different types of smoothie recipes out there, but this first one is my absolute favorite.  I always have all the ingredients in the kitchen. Yogurt is always in the fridge and Costco‘s Kirkland Frozen Three Berries or any other frozen berry variety. My best recommendation is to double the recipes.

The Banana Berry Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt or any berry type
  • 3/4 cup of orange juice
  • 1 cup of Costco’s Kirkland frozen three berries (any kind is fine)

Directions

  • Blend all ingredients for 30 seconds to make 2 healthy servings.  Yummy!

Here is another great smoothie recipe based on ingredients we had at home…

The Banana Pineapple Smoothie

Banana Pineapple Smoothie

 

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • Hand full of ice cubes
  • 1/3 cup of fresh pineapple or canned pineapple
  • 1 cup of orange/pineapple juice (or any variety)
  • 1 tsp. of vanilla

Directions

  • Blend all ingredients for 30 seconds to make 2 healthy servings. Yummy!

The beautiful thing about smoothies is you can get creative, try different flavors, use what you have at home and enjoy!

Drinks

Peach Birthday Martini

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Perfect Martini with a little flavor
Perfect Martini with a little flavor

It was Friday, June 21st.  The first day of summer, the longest day of the year, and my birthday.  Of course, the celebration of my birth has become “just another day”, but I still like to celebrate.  I could not believe that we did not have baseball or dance.  After a very long week of four dance recitals, two baseball games, and work, it was time to relax.

My husband and I enjoy trying different martini’s and different flavored vodka’s.  Tonight was extra special when he mixed up a batch of Peach Birthday Martini’s.  I asked him for the recipe.  He said it was a secret recipe that he could not share so I will have to leave you guessing for this one.  There’s several ways you could make this martini depending on your preference.  Do you like it more sweet?  Do you like the perfect martini?  On the rocks or up? Do you prefer Absolut, Grey Goose, Three Olives and the list goes on?  The options are endless. 

Cheers!