Last week, the Laughing Man team spent four days serving coffee and having a blast on the set of the upcoming film Noah, starring Russell Crowe. Since he is a good friend and a big fan of our flat white, we thought we’d treat the cast and crew to some cups of our finest — after how hard they work, they deserve it!
We brought some sweet Laughing Man goods for everyone to check out, and before you knew it we were all sporting a little bit of All Be Happy.
Thanks Russell for being a great friend! And thanks to the cast and crew of Noah, you were awesome and a lot of fun!
The Laughing Man team laughing it up on the set of Noah
A flat white – Russell’s fave
Even on set, people are lining up for Laughing Man
Community, humanity, laughter, and inspiration – we want it all in a photo. From September 17th through September 30th, capture ALL BE HAPPY in a photograph at our 1 North End Avenue location and become one of 20 winners to have your photo featured on our Pinterest board.
You can take photos of anyone and anything – yourself, your friends, our stunning waterfront view, cups of Joe, or even the Laughing Man staff! The only rules are that you have to capture your shot at the store and your photo has to declare #allbehappy. You can submit as many pictures as you want. No purchase is necessary.
Happiness can be frozen in time – by you! Winners will view their photo pinned to the Laughing Man Pinterest board and will receive an in-store free drink or a 50% online purchase discount.
Enter the contest by sharing your photos through Instagram #livelaughingman or Twitter @livelaughingman, or by emailingsocial@livelaughingman.com.
Ever wonder where chocolate comes from? With Valentine’s Day coming up, we thought we’d do a post entirely devoted to the chocolate process.
To start, chocolate grows on trees (sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?) Here’s a video showing where the magic begins:
Isn’t it cool how the cacao grows straight out of the trunk? In case you were wondering, there’s about 30-40 seeds in each of those football shaped pods in the video. If you were to bite into a seed straight from the pod, it’d be bitter. That’s why we’ll continue on in our quest to figure out where chocolate comes from.
Once workers have the beans, what comes next is one of the most important steps in the process – fermentation. The beans, still sticky with pulp, are placed in earthen pits or wooden bins and covered with banana leaves, then left to ferment. The heat of fermentation changes the bitter flavors in the beans into something more edible, more chocolatey. The sugars in the bean turn into acids, the color changes from pale to dark brown, and the pulp residue melts away. The length of the fermentation process depends on the type of bean; the higher quality beans may need only a few days, where others may need a week or more.
After fermentation, the beans are dried in the sun for about a week. The flavor continues to develop during this time. Some manufacturers try to speed this process along by drying the beans over a fire, which gives them a smoky, inferior flavor.
Once the beans are dry, they are ready to be shipped to a factory, where they are turned into chocolate.
Laughing Man chocolates are fairly traded and Rainforest Certified. Our chocolate represents the ultimate combination of quality and sustainability. Our cocoa bean are either sourced through direct relationships or from trusted partners the farmers have chosen. Our chocolates are also all natural. They have no preservatives and are kosher.
Whether you give it away or keep them to yourself Laughing Man Chocolate is another way to make ALL BE HAPPY a reality.
Looking for a new and innovative dish to cook this Sunday evening? Try out this Laughing Man Coffee-Braised Pot Roast – it was given to us by one of our Facebook fans who found another use for our Home Blend!
Ingredients:
1 (3-pound) beef bottom round roast or choice cut roast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup brewed LAUGHING MAN COFFEE (Home Blend is recommended)
3/4 water, divided
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
4- 6 TBS all-purpose flour
2 powder golden brand beef powder
Directions:
Brown all sides of roast in hot oil in a large pot. Remove roast and put in crock pot. Add onion and garlic to pot on stove, and sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in LAUGHING MAN COFFEE, 1/2 cup water, 1 bouillon cube, and next 3 ingredients until blended and then add to crock pot. Cook over low for 6 -7 hours in a crock pot or until tender. Remove from crock pot to rest and then slice. Put drippings in crock pot on high add flour, ¼ cup water, golden brand beef powder and 1 more bouillon cube and cook till thick. Add meat to gravy and keep warm till you serve.
