Ingredients: Coffee-infused white vinegar, red bell peppers, red habanero peppers, sweet onions, garlic cloves, ginger root, extra virgin olive oil, salt & spices
My first experience with Queen Majesty’s hot sauces, their Sicilian Scorpion, left me with mixed opinions. They knocked it out of the park with the extreme heat, but I found the flavor of the Sicilian ingredients completely obliterated by the scorpion peppers. I did, however, really appreciate their dedication to quality all-natural ingredients and with the brand having a rabid following in the hot sauce community I knew I had to give them another chance. This time I decided to go with one of their core offerings, and one that showed up in the number four position of Hot Ones season three, their Red Habanero & Black Coffee Hot Sauce.
I’ve had coffee infused hot sauces before from Butterfly Bakery of Vermont and El Yucateco, but both of those used actual coffee in the sauce. Queen Majesty Red Habanero & Black Coffee Hot Sauce instead uses coffee infused vinegar. Infused vinegars are something I’ve seen in some other sauces such as La Pimenterie’s Mycelium which uses a cedar infused vinegar and Djablo’s Power Jab which uses a ginger infused vinegar – it can be a great way to add a more subtle flavor of an aromatic ingredient to the sauce than including it directly. On the topic of ginger this sauce includes it as well, which can be tough to integrate since it often brings an unpleasant fibrous texture. Red Habaneros, red bell peppers (a classic hot sauce filler but one that can bring some flavor), and the classic aromatics of onions and garlic round out the sauce. The sauce has a medium consistency with some nice chunks of pepper and other vegetables. The ginger thankfully doesn’t give this one a fibrous unpleasant texture. There are notes of coffee in the aroma as well as the peppers themselves, with a lot of fruit coming in on the nose, plus the onion and garlic.
The coffee flavor is subtle in this sauce and comes in strongest at the very front end of the palate, perhaps it’s the gentle coffee aroma that reinforces it before stronger flavors take over. After the subtle coffee flavor there’s the vegetal sweetness of the red bell peppers and the fruity heat of the habaneros that dominate. The onions and garlic round out the flavors but aren’t dominant in the taste of this sauce, though I think I’d miss them if they were gone. The ginger does impart a nice spicy aromatic bite at the back of the throat, and is balanced with the rest of the sauce, a great thing since it’s a flavor that can easily dominate. The sauce also contains a small bit of olive oil which does add some richness though it’s not a creamy sauce like Torchbearer’s Garlic Reaper or Seed Ranch Truffle Hound. There’s a good amount of acidity in Red Habanero & Black Coffee Hot Sauce as well, with a great tanginess. In terms of heat while there’s a bit of that habanero quick bite up front there’s no lingering heat here and the overall sauce is still quite mild.
I wasn’t sure if the coffee element would make this a difficult sauce to pair but a natural place to start was with breakfast. I’m a big red eye gravy fan so I tried this with some fried ham, eggs, and cheese grits and found it worked great as a breakfast sauce. I don’t usually want something killer in heat first thing in the morning so the milder heat level really worked there. Going with the pork theme I tried this on a BLT and again I found it a great pairing, the subtle coffee element, more of an aroma and very mild taste, went with the bacon wonderfully. Going beyond pork this sauce was also great on some birria tacos and shrimp tacos. The bottle suggests using it with pasta and that’s one area I felt this didn’t shine. I tried it with some rigatoni with sausage and tomato sauce and I felt the ginger and coffee elements stood out too much in that context and clashed with the Italian Sausage and sauce.
Queen Majesty Red Habanero & Black Coffee Hot Sauce gets my strong recommendation. Now that I’ve tried this one I really understand the love for this brand, and likely should have began my journey with the company here as opposed to their Sicilian Scorpion. If you’re looking for a delicious habanero sauce that’s on the milder side and with a unique twist give this one a go. This sauce is all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.
AramisSAS
It tastes like advertised, but I dont like it.
FlamingInferno3
I got this as a gift and honestly love it. It’s great on burritos or burgers. Anything with red meat. Didn’t really work with white meat, weirdly.
4 Comments
Bitter: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Salty: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Sour/Tangy: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰
Sweet: ⭐✰✰✰✰
Umami: ⭐⭐✰✰✰
Heat: ⭐⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰
Quick Flavor Notes: Habanero, fruity, vegetal, subtle coffee, ginger
Texture: Medium with chunky consistency
Recommended: Yes
Ingredients: Coffee-infused white vinegar, red bell peppers, red habanero peppers, sweet onions, garlic cloves, ginger root, extra virgin olive oil, salt & spices
My first experience with Queen Majesty’s hot sauces, their Sicilian Scorpion, left me with mixed opinions. They knocked it out of the park with the extreme heat, but I found the flavor of the Sicilian ingredients completely obliterated by the scorpion peppers. I did, however, really appreciate their dedication to quality all-natural ingredients and with the brand having a rabid following in the hot sauce community I knew I had to give them another chance. This time I decided to go with one of their core offerings, and one that showed up in the number four position of Hot Ones season three, their Red Habanero & Black Coffee Hot Sauce.
I’ve had coffee infused hot sauces before from Butterfly Bakery of Vermont and El Yucateco, but both of those used actual coffee in the sauce. Queen Majesty Red Habanero & Black Coffee Hot Sauce instead uses coffee infused vinegar. Infused vinegars are something I’ve seen in some other sauces such as La Pimenterie’s Mycelium which uses a cedar infused vinegar and Djablo’s Power Jab which uses a ginger infused vinegar – it can be a great way to add a more subtle flavor of an aromatic ingredient to the sauce than including it directly. On the topic of ginger this sauce includes it as well, which can be tough to integrate since it often brings an unpleasant fibrous texture. Red Habaneros, red bell peppers (a classic hot sauce filler but one that can bring some flavor), and the classic aromatics of onions and garlic round out the sauce. The sauce has a medium consistency with some nice chunks of pepper and other vegetables. The ginger thankfully doesn’t give this one a fibrous unpleasant texture. There are notes of coffee in the aroma as well as the peppers themselves, with a lot of fruit coming in on the nose, plus the onion and garlic.
The coffee flavor is subtle in this sauce and comes in strongest at the very front end of the palate, perhaps it’s the gentle coffee aroma that reinforces it before stronger flavors take over. After the subtle coffee flavor there’s the vegetal sweetness of the red bell peppers and the fruity heat of the habaneros that dominate. The onions and garlic round out the flavors but aren’t dominant in the taste of this sauce, though I think I’d miss them if they were gone. The ginger does impart a nice spicy aromatic bite at the back of the throat, and is balanced with the rest of the sauce, a great thing since it’s a flavor that can easily dominate. The sauce also contains a small bit of olive oil which does add some richness though it’s not a creamy sauce like Torchbearer’s Garlic Reaper or Seed Ranch Truffle Hound. There’s a good amount of acidity in Red Habanero & Black Coffee Hot Sauce as well, with a great tanginess. In terms of heat while there’s a bit of that habanero quick bite up front there’s no lingering heat here and the overall sauce is still quite mild.
I wasn’t sure if the coffee element would make this a difficult sauce to pair but a natural place to start was with breakfast. I’m a big red eye gravy fan so I tried this with some fried ham, eggs, and cheese grits and found it worked great as a breakfast sauce. I don’t usually want something killer in heat first thing in the morning so the milder heat level really worked there. Going with the pork theme I tried this on a BLT and again I found it a great pairing, the subtle coffee element, more of an aroma and very mild taste, went with the bacon wonderfully. Going beyond pork this sauce was also great on some birria tacos and shrimp tacos. The bottle suggests using it with pasta and that’s one area I felt this didn’t shine. I tried it with some rigatoni with sausage and tomato sauce and I felt the ginger and coffee elements stood out too much in that context and clashed with the Italian Sausage and sauce.
Queen Majesty Red Habanero & Black Coffee Hot Sauce gets my strong recommendation. Now that I’ve tried this one I really understand the love for this brand, and likely should have began my journey with the company here as opposed to their Sicilian Scorpion. If you’re looking for a delicious habanero sauce that’s on the milder side and with a unique twist give this one a go. This sauce is all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.
It tastes like advertised, but I dont like it.
I got this as a gift and honestly love it. It’s great on burritos or burgers. Anything with red meat. Didn’t really work with white meat, weirdly.
This sauce is my goat.