Wild Coffee & Tropical Fruit Breakfast Blend (makes about 4 1/2 cups or 2 servings)

breakfast--my Maui style!

If you are a coffee drinker then you drink what is extracted from the roasted seeds. However, have you ever considered eating or drinking the fruits? This outer layer of the coffee fruit does not have caffeine but it makes a nice smoothie that is full of fiber and probably anti-oxidants. While on a hike with my husband and a couple of friends on the island of Maui we harvested some wild guava and red cherry coffee beans. We ate most of the guava during our hike and took the coffee beans home. Once home I squeezed each fruit to remove the seeds. I soaked the seeds in water to ferment them for a day, then dried them to make coffee later. I was amazed how healthy looking these coffee trees were; insect and fungus free. These trees seem to thrive very well in the wilderness. Here is a smoothie using carnation instant powder given to me by my brother Dan. However, you can add pretty much anything you prefer to concoct your own special blend. 

After I wrote up my mini post I did a search on-line seeking out a good article on coffee fruit. Here is an interesting one: Discover Coffee Fruit, Nature's Wasted Superfood. I particularly like the notation that there may be some youthful benefits to the coffee pickers!!

strawberry guava on tree
(tasty and very fragrant)

wild coffee

freshly harvested wild coffee

red coffee cherry fruits (above)
coffee seeds squeezed out (below)

Wild Coffee & Fruit Breakfast Blend (makes about 4 1/2 cups or 2 servings)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup wild red cherry coffee fruits (seeds removed)
6 wild ripe strawberry guava (preferably tree ripe)
About 1 cup ripe papaya (preferably tree ripe)
1/8 pineapple (see post on How to Prepare a Pineapple)
2 apple bananas (or about 1 williams banana--found in most stores in the Mainland US)
1/2 Tbsp brown sugar (optional)
1 1/2 cup milk (may use soy milk)
About 4 ice cubes (more if interested)
1 packet Classic French Vanilla Flavor Carnation instant breakfast essentials*

Method:

Put everything in a blender and puree until smooth.

*Instead of the instant breakfast essentials you may use half to one cup of yogurt.

sunset view from Pukalani Terrace (Maui, 2015)