Café Mocha Rub

Ground coffee, cocoa, dark brown sugar, paprika, cinnamon, cayenne. The coffee is upfront. The cocoa adds bitterness underneath. The sugar pulls everything into a crust when the heat hits.

Made for beef, and made for the long cook. Put it on brisket and smoke it low and slow. Beef short ribs too.

As a brisket rub

This is the job it was built for. Coffee, cocoa and brown sugar need hours at low heat to turn into bark, and a brisket gives them twelve or more. The coffee goes quiet over that time. What's left is a dark crust with a bitter edge, and beef that tastes more like itself.

A whole 5 to 6kg packer takes about 8 dessertspoons. Smear the brisket with mustard first so the rub has something to hold. Cover every surface and press it in. The rub already carries salt, so don't add more. Leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight. Smoke it at 110C and wrap it in butcher's paper once the bark stops smudging.

The full method is in the Café Mocha smoked brisket recipe. The same rub goes on beef short ribs.