Coffee and Breakfast Pairing Ideas: Creating Harmony on Your Plate

What is the best food to pair with coffee? It’s more than just doughnuts and cakes! If you love coffee just as much as we do, then you know that it has such rich and complex flavours. That’s why it pairs so well with more foods than you think. 

In this little read, we’ll go through all the delicious coffee food pairings we love in the hopes that something might pique your interest - enough to give them a try yourself. Trust us, it’s well worth it. Just think - it means you can enjoy your fave coffee at just about any time of day! Sounds like a huge win in our books.

Sweet Pairings

Pastries

Let’s get the most obvious and possibly the most iconic coffee food pairing out there - pastries. Have you ever heard the term “bittersweet”? That’s how this food pairing kind of makes sense here. Coffee is often bitter. And this is the part where sweet comes in. 

Doughnuts, cakes, muffins, brownies, cookies, and even bread are all considered to have a sweet profile. They pair so well with coffee that you’ll often find these treats in a coffee flavour. 

Ice Cream and Pudding

People love drinking coffee with milk and cream added to it. So it makes sense that ice cream and similar food pair so well with it. Take affogato, for example. It’s an Italian dessert where gelato or ice cream gets added or mixed in with coffee. It’s insanely good. 

It also makes sense here since people go get a coffee with dessert. And desserts don’t come as creamy and simple as a scoop of ice cream or a serving of gelato. 

Also Read - Top 5 Coffee Ice Cream Recipes

Fruits and Nuts

You’ll notice that brands market their coffee as having notes of hazelnuts, almonds, pecans, cherry, or even citrus. If you’re a fan of those particular flavours, you may want to get a nuttier and fruiter taste. You can easily accomplish that by grabbing some nuts and maybe a fresh fruit and just munching away.

Just think. While strolling around with your iced coffee in tow, you can eat some mixed nuts and fruit to go along with it. It’s similar to having a bowl of granola or muesli in the morning while you have a cup of coffee!

Chocolates

Coffee and chocolate pairings have been around for as long as we can remember… and for good reason! If you’re planning a coffee tasting party, why not bring out a few bars of chocolates while you’re at it? Chocolates have similar flavour profiles to coffee that they can magnify the flavours of your java. 

While milk chocolates make perfect pairs for coffee, a delicious dark bar is what we prefer. You can melt a bar on your freshly brewed coffee to make it creamy and delicious. You’ll get an insanely rich brew rather quickly!

Savoury Matches

Breakfast

This will be an all-encompassing recommendation for breakfast with coffee! Breakfast blends exist for a reason, you know. Bacon, sausages, ham, or just about any fatty meat can do with a bit of hot coffee. It helps cut the fat. 

Coffee and breakfast work hand in hand to give you the best start to your morning. This really needs no explanation, does it? It’s breakfast with coffee… It’s going to be great no matter what!

Cheese

Cheese is strong, creamy, and sometimes pungent. It has so many complex flavours that will do well when paired with coffee. People often think of pairing cheese, nuts, and crackers with a glass of wine but you can do just as well with a brew. 

Cheese also makes sense since you can have it as a cake - rather, cheesecake! And we know that cakes pair so well with coffee. Also for an easy lunch, a grilled cheese and iced coffee sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? 

Mushrooms

Earthy, savoury, and a little nutty, mushrooms are surprisingly wonderful matches for the flavour of intense coffee. It gives off a rustic and homey feel, too. To warm up on cold nights, try pairing your coffee with some delicious mushroom soup. 

If that’s not your style, you can always pick up some mushroom powders to give your coffee a little health boost. Have you heard of Lion’s Mane or Chaga? Fungi like these are said to help boost concentration and help relieve stress. Sounds just like the pair we need in the office!

Also Read - Navigating the Best Time to Drink Coffee

Coffee and Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert…

Pair your coffee with all the delicious foods we mentioned above. Each is worth a try - especially for the adventurous. Portfolio Coffee can deliver different blends with different tasting notes straight to your doorstep. We do all the work for you coffee-wise. All you have to do is find the right coffee food pairing!