---

 

Clare Goes to
Washington!

Dead to the
Last Drop

National Bestseller 
3 Best of Year Lists!

TO LEARN 
MORE or BUY 

 

With an appendix of
amazing recipes...

 

---

 

FREE
READING
GUIDES
 

 

---

 

 

---

It's Official!

Now a
BESTSELLER
in paperback! 

 

#3 bestselling
paperback mystery
at B&N Stores
Nationwide! 
 

Cleo's 10th
Coffeehouse 
Mystery

 

Murder
by Mocha

 4 Year-End 
Best Mystery 
Lists!

 

This bestselling
hardcover is
now reprinted
in paperback,
and a...
 

TOP-10*
Mystery 
Bestseller,
Nationwide!

*Barnes & Noble

*

Includes
Chocolate
Recipes!

 

CLICK HERE
TO SEE RECIPES.

This is a 
PDF document 
and will take a
minute to load. 

"...a tasty tale 
of crime and 
punishment 
lightened by 
the Blend's 
frothy cast of 
lovable 
eccentrics."

~ Publishers
Weekly

 

 

  

---

 

 

 

Read 
with joy! 

~ Cleo

 

egg

 

 

---

 

Arson leads
to murder
in...

 

ROAST
MORTEM
 

Named as a
"Favorite Book
of the Year!"
Reviewer's Pick
~ Bookreporter.com

 

Now a
National
Mystery
Bestseller!*

*Barnes & Noble
Nationwide!
 

A deliciously
thrilling
culinary mystery
that's also a
tribute to
firefighters...
 

 TO LEARN 
MORE or BUY 

  

See some of
Roast Mortem's
featured recipes by 
CLICKING HERE.

 

 

---

 

---

 

 

 

#1 
Bestselling 
Paperback

French
Pressed
 

TO LEARN 
MORE or BUY 

#1 Bestseller 
Independent
Mystery 
Booksellers
Association 
April 2008

 

---

 

Caffeinated
Cheers 

to

COUNTER
CULTURE
COFFEE

"Top Innovator" 

DETAILS magazine named Counter Culture Coffee as #1 (of North Carolina) among five industry "innovators creating coffees that have the complexity of fine wines." 

I'm a big fan of Counter Culture and have written about them on this site and in my books. Read my Coffeehouse Mystery: French Pressed or scroll down this column to my "Coffee Pick" list.

Says Counter Culture: "We hope that such media coverage helps spread awareness that coffee can not only be an authentic, delicious food experience, but also a conduit for community, sustainable agriculture, and cultural exchange."

~ Cleo

 

---

  

  

A
#1 Bestselling
Paperback

 Decaffeinated
Corpse 

 TO LEARN 
MORE or BUY 

#1 Bestseller 
Independent 
Mystery 
Booksellers 
Association 
July 2007

 

 

---

 

BULLETS
ON THE
BEACH

 

 Murder
Most Frothy

TO LEARN 
MORE or BUY 

Murder Most Frothy

Cleo's 4th Coffeehouse Mystery gave her amateur sleuth, Clare Cosi, a summer job as a "coffee steward" at a posh new eatery in the Hamptons, the fabled seaside escape for New York's rich and famous.

When a co-worker is gunned down, she's on a case that leads her to strange clues on the beach, a rogue Navy SEAL, and a suspicious manager at the restaurant where she's pouring gourmet cups of joe...

 

NEW YORK
HAMPTON'S
COFFEE CO.

CLICK HERE to visit some real coffee peeps who work hard to give the Hamptons folks a great cuppa joe.  

 

* * * * * *
 

And  
just for fun...

Peter Pans 

"Overstaying the 
Hamptons Party"

New York
Times 

Click below to read a past Times feature about "house shares" in the Hamptons and men who try to keep the postcollege "boys of summer" party going decades after their undergrad days. Shades of my character Matt Allegro? Hmm...

Click here
to read.  
 

 

---

 

  2010 WORLD
BARISTA
CHAMP

 

Mike Phillips, our U.S. Barista Champ, finished among the top 3 baristas in his first World competition, held in Atlanta, Georgia. The following year, in Olympia, London, he won FIRST PLACE and is now THE WORLD CHAMPION FOR 2010! Way to go, Mike!
 

How did he get there? "I really care about coffee and the entire chain of things, from where the coffee is grown and processed, all the way to the shop where it's prepared and the customers who enjoy it."

Mike worked at Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea when he won the barista competitions. To virtually visit the store, click here.

*

---

 

 

Java Master Gives
Tips on Making
the Perfect Cup

Italian-born Gennaro Pelliccia is responsible for the taste of the 108 million cups of Costa coffee sold in Britain each year. His policy with Lloyd's of London insures his tongue for 10 million pounds!
 

Click here to read Mr. P's tips on making a great cuppa joe...

  

 FREE 
EXCERPT!

 for Cleo Coyle's
2nd series...

 

Haunted
Bookshop
Mysteries

 

 THE GHOST
AND THE
HAUNTED
MANSION

* National Mystery

Bestseller!

Independent Mystery
Booksellers Association 

 

Meet the ghost at...

Amazon * B&N

BAM * Indiebound

 

* A Fresh Fiction
Fresh Pick! 

  

 

Click here 
to read a
Free Excerpt
 

 

 

---

 

 

Want to Grow
Your Own
Coffee Plant?

 

Thanks to CM reader Linda for posting info about where to buy coffee plants and seeds. Click here to go to the coffee seed catalog page and scroll down. Look for the "coffea" plants listed in ITALIC alphabetically.

Coffea arabica 
Coffea catura 
Coffea kona 

Linda also says: "Gurney's Plant and Seed catalog has small coffee plants for $8.95 each. Click here and look for item # 11295 for coffee plants."

 

---

 

WAKE UP AND SMELL...
THE CANVAS!

  

"I started painting with coffee because I wanted a cheaper medium that was accessible to me," says Filipino artist Sunshine Plata. A tube of oil paint costs at least 500 pesos ($11), while a jar of instant coffee is only around 150 pesos ($3). Click here to read more about Sunshine and her coffee art.

 

---

  

  Caffeine
Myths

 

A New York Times story by the amazing Jane Brody examines coffee and health, click here to read more. (I learned a lot about the myths of caffeine!)

*

Click here to read about a Harvard study that shows coffee's link to preventing heart disease.

*

Click here to read how a cup of coffee a day may offset Alzheimer's disease.

 

 

---

 

   

In Memoriam

Sheena

2.21.2009

 

---

    Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony!

Yes, like the Japanese with their tea traditions, the Ethiopians have a very special way of enjoying coffee. Click here to learn more!  

 

---

 

Coffee Health News!   

Coffee May Boost Memory
in Older Women 

Women older than 65 who drank more than three cups of coffee a day — or the caffeine equivalent in tea — showed better memory retention than men, a French researcher reports. To read more in a Scientific American article, click here.

---

 

    COFFEE NEWS!

Ethiopia announces commercial culitvation of low-caffeine coffee plants! Ric Gostwick's "dream" coffee from Decaffeinated Corpse is no longer fiction! To read about this amazing breakthrough, click here.

    

---

   

 

 

 AND NOW

FOR SOME

OF CLEO'S

PAST

COFFEE PICKS...

 

 ---------------------------

  

SEPTEMBER '07
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

MAGNOLIA GRILL BLEND

 

With the tip of a chef's hat to the married couple who run Magnolia Grill, Cleo's coffee pick for SEPTEMBER 2007 was Magnolia Grill Blend sold by Counter Culture Coffee roasters. 

 

---

 

OCTOBER '07
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

GOMBE RESERVE

 

Cleo's pick for OCTOBER 2007 was Gombe Reserve sold by Green Mountain Coffee Co. and endorsed by Dr. Jane Goodall. 

 

---

   

NOVEMBER '07
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

MAJOR DICKASON'S BLEND

 

In tribute to the late, great Alfred Peet, Cleo's pick for NOVEMBER 2007 was Major Dickason's Blend sold by Peet's Coffee and Tea. To read Cleo's past featured article "Alfred Peet and the Birth of Coffeehouse Culture" as well as the article after it about the Major Dickason coffee blend itself, go to Cleo's article archives by clicking here and scrolling down.

---

 

JANUARY '08
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

"YIRG" - ETHIOPIAN YIRGACHEFFE

 

Cleo's pick for JANUARY 08 was Ethiopian Yirgacheffe sold by Counter Culture Coffee Company. This coffee was also featured in Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Mystery: FRENCH PRESSED. 

 

---

 

FEBRUARY '08
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

RWANDAN VILLAGE BLEND

 

Cleo's FEBRUARY '08 pick was Rwandan Village Blend sold by Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Co. To read Cleo's archived article on this coffee, click here and scroll down.

 

---

 

MARCH '08
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

KENYA

 

Cleo's MARCH '08 pick was Kenya, sold by Counter Culture Coffee, Co. and Peet's Coffee. This coffee was also featured in Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Mystery: FRENCH PRESSED. 

 

---

 

APRIL '08
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

PURPLE PRINCESS

 

Cleo's April '08 pick was the amazing "Finca El Puente" from a coffee in Honduras nicknamed "Purple Princess" by the coffee director of Counter Culture Coffee of Durham, NC. This coffee was also featured in Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Mystery: FRENCH PRESSED. 

 

---

 

MAY - JUNE '08
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

 

Cleo's June '08 pick was the "Jamaica Blue Mountain" of the South Pacific. An award-winning coffee grown on the exotic island of Papua New Guinea (north of Australia). 

 

---

 

JULY - AUGUST '08
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

SOLAR ROAST COFFEE

  

 

Cleo's July - August '08 pick was Solar Roast Coffee of Pueblo, Colorado, the only company in the world that roasts its coffee using solar energy! Meet Dave and Mike, the two brothers who invented this one-of-a-kind solar roaster, and learn how you can purchase their delicious coffees for yourself by clicking here or typing SolarRoast.com into your browser.

---

 

SEPT. - OCTOBER '08
Cleo's Coffee Pick:

JOE'S VIENNA ROAST
from the NYC coffeehouse:
Joe, The Art of Coffee

 

The September-October '08 pick was Joe's Vienna Roast, sold by Joe, The Art of Coffee café in Greenwich Village, New York, recently named one of the best coffee bars in the country by Food and Wine magazine (and one of Cleo Coyle's inspirations for her fictional Village Blend!). CLICK HERE to visit Joe online. (To read Cleo's archived article about the Joe cafe, click here.)

 

---

 

NOV. - DECEMBER '08
Cleo's Coffee Pick

BOUCHON BLEND 

This smooth, delicious coffee is the House Blend served at Bouchon Bakeries, which are owned and run by award-winning chef Thomas Keller. This coffee was featured in Cleo Coyle's 7th Coffeehouse Mystery: ESPRESSO SHOT. It is blended and roasted by Equator Estate Coffee and Teas, a women-owned company based in northern California. Click here to visit the company and try their coffees for yourself.

  

---

 

JANUARY 2009
Cleo's Coffee Pick

NOT KOPI LUWAK! 

 

One of the rarest coffees on the planet, Kopi Luwak is also one of the most expensive. Kopi Luwak was also a featured coffee in Cleo's 7th and most recently released Coffeehouse Mystery: ESPRESSO SHOT. To read Cleo's brief archived article on Kopi Luwak and learn how it got its hilarious nickname: "cat poop coffee," click here and scroll down.

 

---

 

SPRING 2009
Cleo's Coffee Pick

ROOSTER BROTHER's
LA MINITA ESTATE
(Costa Rica)

 

This outstanding single-origin bean is treated with love by the coffee team at Rooster Brother, a store for cooks housed in a historic Victorian building in Ellsworth, Maine. Master Roaster Gene (pictured) does a masterful job of bringing out the very best in this smooth, bright, delightful coffee with the kind of hints of citrus and berry usually found in high-quality African beans. Click here to visit George and Pamela Elias's Rooster Brother store online and order some of this superb coffee for yourself! (Thanks to Coffeehouse Mystery reader Bud Knickerbocker of Bangor, Maine, for suggesting it!)

  

---

 

MAY - JUNE '09
Cleo's Coffee Pick

BISHOPS BLEND  

Creating blends is a culinary art, and I'm happy to report that the roasters for Bishops Blend have done a masterful job at creating theirs. The beans are roasted medium dark and the package came to me (via UPS) freshly roasted, beautifully oily, and smelling of chocolate. The coffee is perfectly balanced; and as it cools, the notes include a slight vanilla flavor and a touch of cinnamon. Even better, when you purchase a bag, a percentage of the money goes toward ERD, a charity that provides disaster relief around the world as well as enabling people in the poorest communities on our planet to climb out of poverty. 

 

---

 

SUMMER 2009
Cleo's Coffee Pick

DALLMAYR PRODOMO
Imported from Munich, Germany

 

To learn about this beloved German coffee brand, including tips on where to purchase it in America, read Cleo's feature article by clicking here. This is an archived article and make take a minute to load.

 

---

 

FALL 2009
Cleo's Coffee Pick

AMARO GAYO
(Ethiopia)

roasted by
Gimme! Coffee

 

An exotic Ethiopian coffee sold by the outstanding roaster Gimme! Coffee, which takes pride in getting it to you expertly and freshly roasted. Visit the roaster by clicking here.

 

---

 

 

SPRING 2010
Cleo's Coffee Pick

FRENCH LAUNDRY
ESTATE BLEND

 

 roasted by
Equator Estates Coffee
"Roaster of the Year"
~ Roast Magazine
 

This "chef's blend" was created especially for award-winning Chef Thomas Keller's world-renowned French Laundry restauant. The roaster is Equator Estates. Visit the roaster by clicking here.

 

 

---

 

Summer-
Fall 2010
Cleo's Coffee Pick
Kafe Lespwa

 

"Coffee of Hope"
from Haiti

To purchase this coffee
or learn more about it,
CLICK HERE.

To Read Cleo's
feature post on
this coffee, CLICK HERE
and scroll down
 

---

 

Spring-
Summer 2011

Cleo's Coffee Pick
Cops Coffee 
 

COPS
COFFEE
"Midnight
Shift"
dark roast

"Your safest cup
of brew..."

 

 Click here
to learn more.
 

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Mocha Java
Blend

To learn
more or buy,
click here.

 

and...

Dancing
Goats Blend


To learn
more or buy,
click here.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Winter 
2011 - 2012

Cleo's 
Coffee Picks
from 

 

Rooster
Brother

A boutique
roaster in 
Ellsworth, 
Maine

 

 

Costa Rica's 
La Minita Estate

"The Lafite of coffees." 
An amazing cup 
of joe from


To visit the
Costa Rican farm
where this coffee 
is grown, 
click here...

 

To read more
about this coffee 
or purchase it
for yourself, 
click here.

 

and...

 

 

100% Kona
Coffee

Grade:
Extra Fancy
 

Grown by 
Kona Star Farms
of Kona, Hawaii

 

To learn 
more, click here.

 

NOW 
SOLD OUT

 

 

---

 

 

Cleo's
Spring 2012
Coffee Pick

Brazil's 
Poco Fundo 

"Almond joy 
in a cup"

 

 

 Roated by 
Seattle 
Coffee Works 

 

 

 

---

 

 

Cleo's
Summer 2012
Coffee Pick...

From the 
"Coffee Goddesses"
of Maine

 

 

Bistro Blend
& 
Fireside Blend

 

Roasted by
Carpe Diem
Coffee Roasters

To learn more
or purchase,
click here.

 

---

 

 

 

---

 

WIN COFFEE

 

---

    

---

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

FREE
READING
GUIDES
 

 

---

 

AFFILIATE LINKS 

This site includes affiliate links. Your purchase, through these links, helps to support our writing work, while adding no extra cost to you.

 

---