Hello all,
I've been curious about making a coffee-flavored cheese. I actually stumbled across one type, a hard Italian (made by BellaVitano from Wisconsin) whose rind is rubbed with ground espresso beans, but haven't tried it yet.
I had been thinking of trying a cheddar-type with coffee, by soaking the curds in coffee or espresso prior to pressing, a la the stout- or port-cheddar recipes from the Amrein-Boyes book. Another possibility would be making a washed natural rind, using coffee instead of water for the brine.
I'm wondering though if there are any chemical properties of the coffee that would ruin or adversely affect the cheese in these processes?