Day 7 - New Mexico Piñon Coffee

All About that Piñon
How do you piñon? #pinoncoffee #alldayeveryday #tistheseason
Posted by New Mexico Pinon Coffee on Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Around the Journal Center district of Albuquerque not too far from the Balloon Fiesta Fields the smell of sweet coffee permeates thought the crisp New Mexican air. That smell is coming from New Mexico's largest coffee roasting company. Let me share with you a little bit about New Mexico Piñon Coffee. 

Back in the early 1990s, James Franco and his business parter started to experiment with different blends of coffee at their bookstore and coffee house. The two knew they had a hit on their hands when they came across the perfect combination of piñon and coffee. Unfortunately, Franco's business partner passed away and Franco decided to sell the bookstore and coffee house. After the tragic loss, Franco held on to his memories of their perfect coffee blend. Using the blend as his inspiration, he then decided to open Piñon Coffee in 1994 in the back of an old red Chevrolet pick-up truck. In the beginning, Franco had a dog, named Decaf, that can be seen on some of the old labeling as he was once thought of as the company's mascot. The coffee quickly became popular throughout New Mexico and created the foundation for what is today the largest coffee roasting company, by volume, in New Mexico.

New Mexico Piñon Coffee is now on its third owner, but is still family owned and operated. Today, Cindy and Frank Bassett are the owners and two of their sons as well as their daughter-in-law operate the company. Including both the office crew and production staff, they employ about 20 New Mexicans.

All of the company's roasting is done in Albuquerque out of their roasting facility. They use 100% Arabica coffee coming from Peru, Brazil, Mexico and sometimes Honduras. Their roasting process is based on small-batch roasting, which means no more than 100 pounds in each batch. They roast on average 2,500 pounds of coffee beans per day and over 800,000 pounds per year using old-school flame based roasters without any fancy gadgets or mechanisms. Each batch is watched over by their house roaster who continually checks the beans throughout the process to make sure they roast to perfection. To put into perspective, about one coffee tree produces about a pound to a pound-and-a-half per year. For New Mexico Piñon Coffee to reach their demand, they are using beans from over one-million coffee bean trees. 

Today, the company has over 40 different coffee flavors that are tested and approved by a group of professional tasters. They also offer free coffee tasting classes twice a month throughout the year. You can check out their availability on their website. One coffee factoid that I learned while touring their roasting facility is that a light roast of coffee = more caffeine and a more acidic flavor, a darker roast = less caffeine and slightly biter flavor. 

This year in particular has been a very exciting year for the company as they are on their way to roasting over 1 million pounds of coffee. This was also the first year New Mexico Piñon Coffee was the official coffee sponsor of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. In previous years Folgers held this title, but 2015 was the first year that a local company was selected for the position. 

For our grand giveaway we are including one of the New Mexico Piñon Coffee Traditional Gift Sampler sets, as featured in the photograph above. 

Bags of Coffee arrive in the warehouse from Peru, Brazil and Mexico.

You can find New Mexico Piñon Coffee is most New Mexican super markets, on their website or by stopping into their retail store off Jefferson street NE in Albuquerque.

To be eligible to win the #ChileChicaGiveaway - one item from each of the 12 Days of New Mexico Christmas (valued at over $200!) - you will need to do to the following:

1. Repost your favorite of the "12 Days" as they are posted now through December 23rd on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram - feel free to repost older days you have already read as well!

2. Include the hashtag #ChileChicaGiveaway on all your reposts!

3. Follow New Mexico Chiles; History, Legend and Lore on Facebook.

4. Follow The Chile Film on Facebook.

Post everyday for your best chance to win. Each post will count as an additional entry, limit one per day per social media platform. We will announce the winner on Christmas Eve, and remember to have your privacy settings public so we can see your posts! Happy holidays!

Day 4 - The New Mexico Candle Company

The Browning Family of Rio Rancho founded New Mexico Candle Company in 1971. Bill Browning primarily ran the company until the mid 2000s, when he sold the company. 

Then along came Heather, a former high school math teacher. She taught Algebra 1 and 2 for 8 years in Rio Rancho. She began making candles as a hobby about 10 years ago when she had seen a candle making kit. Heather thought it would be a fun way to use old candles from around the house during her time off from school. She began making candles for friends and family as gifts and started her own website to sell the candles while she was still teaching. Her husband found a listing for a candle company for sale and, with the love and support of her family, she left her career and bought New Mexico Candle Company in August of 2010.  

"I have been lucky to live my dream since," Heather says. "My business is completely family run. I produce all the candles that are sold in our retail location in Old Town and the candles that are shipped across the country through our website and our wholesale sales. Many of the products that we carry, like our pottery, are locally made. We try to support local artists as much as possible." New Mexico Candle Company really is a family affair; her mother, Christine, does the accounting for the company, handles the shipping and helps with the Old Town location and her niece, Opal, is the salesperson at their Old Town location. So when you buy candles from NM Candle Company you know that your money is going directly to a local family in Albuquerque.

All of their candles are hand poured using top quality paraffin wax. The main candle line that has been the backbone of the company are the Sandcast candles. Each candle takes about 5-7 days to create. The candles are poured in large tubs of sand, pulled out and sanded smooth, then hand carved and detailed. With this process, no two candles are exactly alike. When burned properly, the outer shell of the candle will last forever. 

What is better than sending friends and family a small piece of New Mexico. The small Sandcast Casa adorned with mini glass ristras can last a lifetime. Once the candle has burned down you can replace with a small tea light.

Another very popular line of their candles are the Corndles. A couple from Los Lunas started these candles then New Mexico Candle company acquired them sometime in the 1990s. 

Last are their scented candles. New Mexico Candle Company carries about 60 different fragrances and pick up new ones each year.

The Chile fragrances were specially developed by a chemist at one of their fragrance companies (a closely guarded secret for the company). The red and green chile candles are no joke! I have never come across another company that has so accurately captured the smell of roasted chiles. After you light a green chile candle from them, your house will permeate with the delicious New Mexican smell. After I lit mine in the back patio, my neighbors started asking if I was roasting green chiles in my back yard. I had to show them it was a candle because they didn't believe me. That's how accurately they resemble the real roasted green chile smell.

These candles make perfect gifts for those who have moved away from New Mexico, sure you can send them some roasted chile but you can't send them a whole roaster. So with these candles they can have both experiences. It's no wonder the New Mexico Candle Company sells more Red and Green chile candles than any other fragrance.

One of the most popular is of course are the Red and Green Chile scents that are both a part of the GIVEAWAY and are made in beautiful sand bowls. 

To be eligible to win the #ChileChicaGiveaway - one item from each of the 12 Days of New Mexico Christmas (valued at over $200!) - you will need to do to the following:

1. Repost each of the "12 Days" as they are posted now through December 23rd on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram - feel free to repost older days you have already read as well!
2. Include the hashtag #ChileChicaGiveaway on all your reposts!
3. Follow New Mexico Chiles; History, Legend and Lore on Facebook.
4. Follow The Chile Film on Facebook.

Post everyday for your best chance to win. Each post will count as an additional entry; limit one per day per social media platform. We will announce the winner on Christmas Eve, and remember to have your privacy settings public so we can see your posts!

Day 3 - Señor Murphy’s

Señor Murphy's all started when Neil Murphy, a fourth generation candy maker from Dublin, Ireland, came to New Mexico and opened a small artisanal candy shop in Santa Fe’s Sena Plaza in 1971. Murphy was captivated by the local ingredients, such as piñon nuts and chile, and incorporated them into his signature products that continue to be made by hand today. 

All of Señor Murphy’s candies are made in small batches to assure the freshest quality and their toffees, brittles, caramels, and fudges are made with as many local ingredients as possible, hand stirred in copper kettles to provide the highest quality taste and texture. Over the years, the staff's dedication to learning Murphy’s techniques and recipes helped the company grow and expand. Today, they have moved to a larger location in Santa Fe and have six other retail stores in New Mexico. Some of their signature chile candies they offer are:

Dark chocolate raspberry creams with red chile

Red and green chile jelly

Roasted red chile piñon nuts

Green and red chile pistachios

Chocolate chile piñon brittle

Chile pistachio bark

Chile seasoned pecans and peanuts (great for hikes and travel well).

However, my favorite Señor Murphy candy is by far the Carmales. The Carmale is a twist on traditional tamale. They make a vanilla fudge center dipped in creamy caramel and rolled in piñon nuts. Once the treat is dried, they wrap them in a cornhusk and tie them to look like miniature tamales. Without the husks on the piñon treat, they are simply known as piñon rolls.

To be eligible to win the #ChileChicaGiveaway - one item from each of the 12 Days of New Mexico Christmas (valued at over $200!) - you will need to do to the following:

1.     Repost your favorite of the "12 Days" as they are posted now through December 23rd on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram - feel free to repost older days you have already read as well!

2.     Include the hashtag #ChileChicaGiveaway on all your reposts!

3.     Follow New Mexico Chiles; History, Legend and Lore on Facebook.

4.     Follow The Chile Film on Facebook.

Post everyday for your best chance to win. Each post will count as an additional entry; limit one per day per social media platform. We will announce the winner on Christmas Eve, and remember to have your privacy settings public so we can see your posts! 

You can check out Señor Murphy's at any of their locations or by visiting them online.