Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Foam Sweet Foam

My brother called me a coffee snob the other day. 

"Coffee snob?" says I.  "Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

After we finished this highly erudite and mature conversation, I stopped to think about it.  Am I a coffee snob? 

I don't use all the fancy words like "cupping" and "floral and bright" to describe my tasting experience.  Coffee high mucky mucks can get into the special language trap and that puts people off.  I don't do that.

And I don't look down my nose at other people for what they drink.  I don't care what they drink or how they fix it.  I am very fussy about what *I* drink - ever since I started roasting my own coffee I can't drink much else - but I don't shove it down other people's throats.  Heh.  So to speak.   Except occasionally I play coffee bar for visitors, just so they can see what coffee really ought to taste like.

But I'm not a "purist".  I do sometimes drink black espresso shots with no frills.  But the fact that I like a latte or cappuccino might make me "less than" in a true coffee snob's eyes.  So by way of proof that I'm not a snob,  I have to cop to my latest addiction - sweetened froth.  omg this is good.  I just put a little sugar in the milk before I froth it.  The idea here is not to sweeten the coffee, although that happens too, but to sweeten the foam. 

I wonder if my brother will accept this argument. 

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

Cup Woes

I have a problem with cups.  Coffee cups in particular.

I'm really fussy.

For my morning latte, I like a bigfat (think mini-soup bowl), thin rimmed cup, both microwave and dishwasher safe, with a comfortable handle for my littlish hands.  Not an easy combination to find.  I had one, which I blogged about previously, that I loved loved LOVED.  It was big enough, had a lovely thin rim, pretty blue with little flowers on the outside.  The perfect cup.  Look what happened to it.

Is this not the saddest thing you've ever seen?  I didn't do this all by myself, I had help from a four-legged friend who got a little too rambunctious and paid for it by wearing spilled coffee on his head.

I went back to the store whence it came and tried to find another.  Unfortunately, there were none.  Line discontinued. 

I tried to glue it back together, but ... no go. 

So I got online and searched for the maker - it's one of the dine series made by HD Designs.  I found some HD Design stuff, but no dishware like this. 

Majorly bummed, I bought this, because it was the only BIGCup I could find.

Whimsical, yes.  Colorful, yes.  Big, sure.  But it's got an equally bigfat rim, and it's heavy.  Clunky even.  Not only that but - although it claims to be microwaveable - it heats up way too much in the nuker.  Don't know how to get around that problem.

Anyway, lo and behold, the other day I found a new cup that is almost big enough - just a skoche bigger and it would be perfect - and has a nice thin rim AND is safe in the nuker.  Not blue or flowery, but kinda classy in a country sort of vein.

Guess who makes it?

Yep, same company.  HD Designs.  I wish I could find a website for them, I'd email somebody and say - You're my kinda peeps!

Ok, only one more pic, in homage to this new, almost-perfect cup, and then I'm done. :)

Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

I've missed HOW MANY Chocolate Fridays? 

Well I'm jumping back into the blogosphere with something really easy that combines two of my favorite things: chocolate and coffee.  I've always wanted to try chocolate covered coffee beans.  I wasn't sure I would like them, to be perfectly honest.  I'm really addicted to my liquid coffee, but chawing on a crunchy bean... I wasn't too sure about.

I'm here to tell ya, they're great.  This is the perfect antidote for a long drive, or a hiking trip, when coffee of the liquid variety is hard to come by.  Pop a few of these for some tasty instant rocket fuel.  I'm serious, those with heart conditions beware.  I popped half a dozen and a few minutes later, the top of my head came off. 

And the recipe is so easy!  I tried using flavorings in the chocolate, and different types of coffee beans, some more exotic than others.  And the conclusion I've come to is they're best with a good hearty basic espresso bean, and just plain semi sweet chocolate.  Exotic coffee beans detract from the chocolate.  And added flavorings seem to detract from the coffee.  Basic and not too sweet is best, IMHO.

Easy Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

1/2 cup espresso beans
1/4 - 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a bowl, melt chocolate chips in microwave for 1-2 minutes, stirring every 20 seconds or so, until creamy.  Stir in coffee beans till completely covered.  Spread on a sheet of wax paper.  Allow to cool on counter for 10-15 minutes, then place in freezer.  Once completely hardened, break apart. 

The result looks like peanut brittle... so maybe this should be called coffee brittle.  :)

Enjoy!

My New Favorite Cup

I've finally found the perfect morning latte cup.  It's ginormous!  Bigger than any of my other cups, almost a soup bowl.  And this baby, unlike most cups of this size that have wide bottoms and correspondingly wide rims, has a nice, thin, no-dribble rim.  Sorry, no pretty latte art here, just fluffy foam.

King David Coffee Roasters

I'm gonna have to quit working, it's seriously cutting into my other endeavors.  Now, if I could find a way to earn a living in Uru Live, that would be quite the apogee.  Ah well.

I have some coffees to review, especially for those of you who prefer fresh roasted coffee, but don't want to do the roasting yourself.  King David Coffee Roasters, a small coffee micro roasting company located in Nashua, New Hampshire, offer freshly roasted coffee, both retail and bulk/wholesale.  You can select the darkness you prefer, and the grind, but of course, if you're going to bother to order freshly roasted coffee, you don't want it pre-ground.  Sort of defeats the purpose.  Additionally, King David's is "certified strictly kosher by KSA, Kosher Supervision of America".  I hate to admit I don't really know what that means to coffee. 

Anyway, the three I've tried and can comment on are Costa Rica Tarrazu (light roast), Panama Boquete (medium roast), and Celebes Kalossi (dark roast).

I started with the CR Tarrazu, since I have most experience with it.  It didn't disappoint, it was fresh enough to suit me, and flavorful.  I have to say though, I'm not really a fan of light roast coffee.  The flavor is still a bit too green for me.  I much prefer a medium roast, that still retains the regional flavors, but moving in taste toward the carmelized bean.  Still, this light roast Tarrazu was good.

I enjoyed the Panama Boquete, it was alright, but my favorite was the Celebes Kalossi, from the Sulawesi Island of Indonesia.  I'm not that familiar with Indonesian coffees, and this was excellent in a dark roast.  Very tasty. 

One thing I noticed is there didn't seem to be much difference in bean color between the light and medium roasts.  Maybe this has to do with the type of coffee, I don't know.  The coffee chart on Sweet Maria's website is what I've been using as a reference for my own roasting experiments, and to go by that, the King David Panama Boquete was actually closer to a light roast.  I need to get some freshly roasted beans from other companies and make some comparisons, but I would definitely recommend King David's as a source for freshly roasted beans.

My Coffee's Better Than Theirs Is ...

There was this ad jingle, back in my youth.  It went "My dog's better than your dog, my dog's better than yours, my dog's better 'cause he eats KenLRation, my dog's better than yours."

If you never saw or heard this commercial, you just have to imagine it.  If you have heard it, I'm sorry in advance, because now that song will be stuck in your head ALL day.  And maybe the rest of the week.  It's been in my head for two days now, and it WON'T go away.

It all started with coffee.  Waking up and realizing I didn't have enough freshly roasted coffee beans to last my morning.  I only had enough to jump start my engine.  Now, I could have just roasted some, but, well, right out of the roaster ... not so good.  Better if they sit overnight and breathe a bit.  So I inhaled that smidgy of coffee I was able to make, and then dashed off to the store and the coffee shop for a double shot.  Ohmigod, I'm here to tell you - c'mon sing along with me now - my coffee's better than their's is, my coffee's better than theirs, my coffee's better 'cause mine is fresh roasted, my coffee's better than theirs!!!

S'truth. 

For a long time now I haven't made a big deal about this with my friends and family, because I was afraid they'd think I was turning into one of those [grimace] coffee snobs.  You know the kind, the ones who sash-aaaay into Starbucks and rattle off their order at lightning speed, and then look down their noses at you when you can't figure out what the options are.  I really don't want to become a [grimace] coffee snob.

But s'truth.  Freshly roasted coffee is so-way-much better.  Don't take my word for it.  Read these articles: Part 1, and Part 2, written by the great Tonx, all about the selecting your beans, and the issue of freshness.  (A list of more articles can be found on this blog post.)

The bad thing about roasting your own - you can't settle for stale coffee, you're completely ruined.  So, my next endeavor is to research coffee shops in my area that do roast their own.  I'm sure there must be a few.  Because the next time I run out of freshly roasted, I won't be going to THAT particular coffee shop again, unless it's to jingle them with "My coffee's better than yours is..."  Heheh.

Chocolate Friday: From Grog to Nog

I bought some white chocolate creme liqueur to try.  Is it too early for a toddy?  Can I sip my lunch? 

Did you know our traditional holiday egg nog began as "Egg and Grog in a Noggin"?  According to Saint Margaret Mary:

... It became customary for a community’s young men to go “wassailing” on New Years Day. They visited the houses of their family, friends and the town’s elite, receiving at each abode a bit of meat and an alcoholic drink. The wealthy benefactors were obliged to share their bounty in order to win the loyalty of the lower class and preserve the social structure, so the young men sang and made merry, becoming more and more inebriated after each visit. The man who completed his holiday rounds was revered by his intoxicated peers.

In this precursor to Christmas caroling, the drink most often served was the Tom and Jerry — a frothy potion made from egg, milk, brandy and spices.

...
Except for holiday wassailing, the drink was confined to the upper class in England; poor London-folk could rarely afford milk. In America, however, farms and dairies were plentiful, and the drink gained popularity and a new name — eggnog.

The word “noggin” was used in 1500s Europe to denote a small, carved wooden drinking vessel, and the word “grog,” often used in Australia, typically denoted a rum-and-water drink. “Egg and grog in a noggin” was a mouthful, and the name was shortened.

Be that as it may, I wanted to share a couple of interesting recipes I found, variations on tradition, to be sure, but interesting none-the-less.  First is a modified recipe, originally posted on about.com's coffee/tea section, for coffee grog.  I added chocolate, a splash of orange flavored vodka, and voila.  Not for the faint of heart.

Chocolate Orange Coffee Grog
3 cups coffee
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup brown sugar
4 ounces melted dark chocolate
2 tbs butter, softened
1/4 tsp cloves, ground
1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground
1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground
Peel of 1 orange
Peel of 1 lemon
1-2 jiggers orange vodka

Melt chocolate.  Break fruit peels into 6 pieces, each. Place one piece of each into cups. Blend butter, sugar, cloves, nutmeg, chocolate and cinnamon in a small bowl. Mix coffee and cream together with the spice mixture.
Serve into 6 cups with whipped topping if desired.

Second, a recipe I haven't tried yet, but it's up next.  Can't remember where the recipe came from.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

Chocolate Egg Nog
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups chocolate milk
5 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup Kahlua (or strong coffee)
1/2 cup dark rum
1/2 tsp ground cinammon

Combine milk and chocolate milk in a saucepan and scald (do not boil). In another bowl, beat eggs and sugar together until thick. Add about 1/2 cup of the hot milk to the egg mixture and mix through. Then stir the egg mixture back into the hot milk, and place over low heat.

Add whipping cream and Kahlua. Cook and stir until mixture thickens. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add rum and cinnamon. Let cool and refrigerate until chilled. Serve with a sprinkling of grated chocolate and nutmeg.

There, now you're all ready for Christmas wassailing with grog and nog.  Merry merry!
Don't forget to get your last minute Christmas recipes in to the Carnival!!

Bada Bing Bada-Bean

So, you like flavoring in your coffee, BUT ...

• You don't like creamer
• You're on the road a lot and you don't want to carry around expensive flavored coffee or risk exploding those little packets of flavored creamers
• You work in an office where they only provide basic coffee
• You have an adventurous spirit and like to try new things

This new product might just be for you.  Bada-Beans, advertised as "The Coffee Confectioner", are little oval dissovable tablets that you add to your coffee for a little extra flavoring.  They come in these little tins, which are handy for carrying in your purse, but which are disturbingly reminiscent of the tins for Altoids or other breath mints, which I could see might be a problem.  I mean, you reach in for an Altoid while driving and you get a Bada-Bean by mistake. 

I'm not going to pop one in my mouth to try it.  Get Mikey, he'll try anything.

Bada-Beans come in three flavors: Crazy Carl's Caramel Fudge, McCoy's Dream Vanilla Bean (which I liked very much), and Hazel's Nutty Hazelnut.  The Caramel Fudge was ok, but not up to my high expectations of chocolate flavorings.  The Hazelnut was difficult because it didn't smell good, and I have a hard time making my mouth try something my nose doesn't like.  I did try it though, and it tasted better than it smelled.  I only used one tablet in my cuppa, and the flavor was pretty subtle.  My brother needed two tablets to get enough flavor, and then he said he didn't like the aftertaste which may have been caused by the fact that the first ingredient is sorbitol, a common sugar substitute.  I think they would have done better to leave the sorbitol out.  But all in all, this is an interesting concept.  Anybody else try these?

Christmas Coffee: Mint Mocha

I'm treating myself to a sweet cup this Sunday morning.  The air is crisp here, although we never get the kind of winter cold that other parts of the country get.  Still, it's cold enough to warrant a big fuzzy blanket, socks on my feet (for a change), and a cuppa hot minty mocha coffee.

There are many ways to make your own Mint Mocha.  If you're a creamer kind of person, you can find Coffee-Mate's Peppermint Mocha in stores now.  I bought some to serve my Thanksgiving guests and it's pretty darn good.  A little more mint than mocha, but that's ok.

If you're not interested in a creamer-tainted cuppa, you could just add a drop or two of peppermint extract to your coffee, and maybe a squirt or two of chocolate syrup. 

But I happened to have on hand (left over from Chocolate Friday's brownie adventure) some Hershey's chocolate mint candy canes.  I gotta say, these are some of the best candy canes EVER, but somebody was over-vigilant in the wrapping process.  It's tough to get the cellophane off!  I only managed to peel three before I got frustrated and stopped.  But three was enough for my morning cuppa here.

Break the candy canes into small pieces, put them in a sandwich bag, take a hammer and start smashing. 

I took it outside and hammered on the patio, as the hubs was still snoring, and I double bagged the candy canes, since I was going to really pulverize these.  The dogs watched me closely through this whole process with quizzical expressions.  I wish I'd had the camera handy; it was really funny to see them looking at me, at the baggie, at the hammer, back to me, cocking their heads.  What were they thinking, I wonder?  Heh.  "Mom has finally lost it, but something in that baggie sure smells good!"

Once I had candy cane powder, I added it to a bowl with a few spoonfuls (spoonsful?) of cocoa.  Stir into hot coffee and enjoy!  This is definitely something I'll be serving for our Christmas brunch. 

I'm going for a second cuppa!! 

Coffee Roasting Report #2

My, my how the time does fly.  In between this post and my last ... let's see, we had a touch of the flu; a strange orange crested bird started showing up at my feeders; mass quantities of food were consumed by extremely grateful people, and my brother announced that he and his are going up north for Christmas.  This last was announced carefully, as if they thought I might pitch a fit.  I did.  But I waited till they left, in my own room.  It's not the same without them here for Christmas.  *sigh*

Oh yeah, and a whole lotta coffee has been roasted.  Heh.  I think I'm finally ready to give my two cents worth on the Z&D Home Roaster. 

The first thing I noticed, which you can't really tell when you're roasting in the oven, is how much the beans expand.  I took some "action pics" here during the process to show the changes.  Click for big'uns.

It's definitely a process that needs to be tended to.  In spite of roasting time guidelines, each is different, and you can't just assume roasting time for one bean will work for another.

As promised, it self-ventilates, so I can roast without smoking up the house.  But it still smells like coffee roasting, and that's great.  No, that's WONDERFUL.  There are some smells that send me into nasal nirvana, and coffee roasting is right up there.  Baking bread, cookies fresh out of the oven, bacon in the morning, and coffee - roasting grinding and brewing.  My only complaint is that by the time roasting is done my nose has sent my mouth into overdrive-anticipation-mode.  But most stuff I've read says the flavor is best if it's had a few hours or so to expand and breathe.  Geeyod it's hard to wait. I have had to learn self-control.  Not an easy task for me.

I'm sure enjoying experimenting with the various green beans I have here though, and I think I've made the hubs a convert.  Actually, I may have created a monster.  Now he doesn't want anything but fresh roasted.  For now that's no problem.  I've got quite a supply of samples and we're going through them all one by one.  I'm doing two roasts of each kind - one dark and one medium/light.  The individual flavor of the bean is definitely more pronounced a medium roast.  I'm having a grand time tasting and making notes, deciding which ones I like best. 

The only other complaint I have is that it's not easy to clean.  We don't generally warrant running the dishwasher every day here, so if I want to roast more than once a day (am I getting obsessive???) I have to wash the thing by hand, and that's no easy task.  But the destructions - including the instructional video - all really emphasize that you MUST clean it after each use.  What a pain!  You need all kinds of special tools and implements and my local store doesn't carry those kinds of small brushes. 

I guess I can live with this small inconvenience.  I have to say this has already proven to be the best birthday present a girl like me could get.  I love love LOVE it.

Happy Birthday to Meeee!

It's here, it's here!  My actual bird-day isn't till later this month, but birthday presents arriving early ranks right up there with chocolate, especially when the present is a brandy new Zach & Dani's coffee roaster.

A coupla weeks ago, the hubs asked me what I wanted for my barfday.  As you may remember, I've been lusting for the Zach & Dani's home roaster kit for a long time now, but unfortunately it turns out the Z&D roaster is "out of stock".  What a huge disappointment.  However, salvation was right around the corner at Sweet Maria's. 

Ever since I told him what I wanted I've been waking up SALIVATING at the thought of freshly roasted coffee beans.  And it's here, it's sitting on the counter!  Hippo Birdies to me!  Hairy Birthmark to me!  I can't wait to get started. 

Guess what I'm going to be doing tonight?  More pictures will follow!

Swapping, Blog-Style

This is just such a cool concept. It's been done in a variety of ways on the net, via blogs and websites both.  Swaps are all over the place.  I've seen one where a journal was passed around, eventually traveling all the way around the world.  Pretty cool.  Bloggers are so inventive, and it still amazes me sometimes how small the internet has made the world.

This blog - Knitters Tea Swap 2  (and where, pray tell, is Knitters Tea Swap number ONE???)  lets folx sign up and send each other little packages of oh-so-wonderful stuff.  I had a great time reading the posts and looking at the pictures of what was in the packages.  It was a voyeuristic joy.  Sort of like vicarious Christmas.  Because it's not just tea - there's cups and biscuits and even chocolate! 

Of course, a mention must also go to TeaSwap, which has been around for a long time.  They're a little more organized, complete with yahoo group, database and all. 

Here's one for coffee lovers - the Knitter's Coffee Swap.  It looks like this one is just starting a swap, I couldn't find any posts or pics of packages.  What a great idea though. 

I wonder, when you ship yarn and coffee beans together, do you end up with a sweater that always smells like coffee?  I could live with that.

And joy oh joy, here's one for chocolate.  And there's pictures and posts and lots of vicarious enjoyment to be had at the Chocolate Swap blog.

I wish I had the oomph to be able to participate in something like this.  Of course, I don't knit anymore, but I think I would really enjoy the swapping process.  At least... heheh... I would enjoy the packages arriving.  I remember what a thrill it was when my tea package arrived from the tea fairy.  My problem is I'm allergic to the post office.  I break out in hives at the thought of going there.  If I have to drive by it, I go real fast, and if the light happens to turn red right there, I hold my breath and avert my eyes.

Pretty pathetic, huh?  I guess I'll just have to enjoy other people's gifts.  So keep blogging about your packages folx!  Somebody out here is enjoying them with you.

Coupla Coffee Quotes

Just to prove that coffee quips come in all shapes and sizes. 

Psychological:  Even the stain on the coffee cup seems not coffee but the physical manifestation of one's inner stain, the fatal blot that from the beginning had marked one for ultimate aloneness.  Jane Fonda

Anatomical:  I could serve coffee using my rear as a ledge.  Jennifer Lopez

Intellectual:  Science is, on the whole, an informal activity, a life of shirt sleeves and coffee served in beakers.  George Porter, British Scientist

Humoresque:  If I asked for a cup of coffee, someone would search for the double meaning.  Mae West

Confused:  If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.  Abraham Lincoln

Really confused: I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.  Ronald Reagan

Mini Mocha Macadamia Muffins

For Chocolate Friday, it's mmmmmocha mmmmmadness again.  This time, in the form of a small, harmless looking but highly deadly muffin. 

One of my favorite things for a tea party is a tray of assorted mini muffins. And I wanted to make something using the Folgers Chocolate Truffle coffee I have here, so I modified and mini'd this recipe from The Best of Coffee, A Cookbook.  These are so good, I know they wouldn't last long.

I have to add here that I think bite-sized food is the best way to avoid guilt of eating decadent foods.  Smaller food has less fat and stuff, right?  Even if you don't eat it standing up?

Mini Mocha Macadamia Muffins

1/2 cup freshly brewed espresso (chocolate flavored coffee if at all possible)
1 tblsp baking cocoa
3/4 cup plus 2 tblsp sugar
1 2/3 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup coursely chopped unsalted macadamia nuts
1 oz. white chocolate chips
1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a small saucepan, bring espresso to a boil, add 3/4 cup sugar and cook, stirring frequently until sugar is dissolved.  Boil over med heat w/o stirring for 4 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 1/4 cup.  Cool to room temperature.  Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 2 tblsp sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, beating well after each.  Add coffee mixture and beat until blended.  Fold in half the dry ingredients using a spoon or spatula.  Fold in sour cream, then add remaining flour mixture.  Lastly, stir in the nuts and chocolate.  Fill muffin cups (greased) 3/4 full.  Bake 15-17 minutes at 400 degrees F. 

Makes 48 mini muffins.  And that's a PILE of muffins.

Enjoy!

Folgers Gourmet Coffees

I recently received one of those packages you open with glee: a box full of coffee samples.  Folgers is promoting a new line of Gourmet Selections.  To be perfectly honest, Folgers is not the place I would have started to look for gourmet coffees.  I've always thought of them as the staple of average coffee, the stuff gramma served, the stuff you get at a Denny's or whatever.  But these are quite good.  I've only had time to try a few, but I thought I'd make a start on my thoughts.  (You can request some free samples from their website if you wanna taste along here.) 

Lively Columbian - I'd give this one a 7 (out of 10).  Whole beans get an 8 for greater freshness.  The body is good, nice and full, and it's got a rich earthy flavor.  This is the one I'm drinking most.  In fact, it's what's in my cup right now.

Morning Café - I would compare this to a Starbucks House Blend, light roast, medium flavor, neither intrusive or impressive.  About a 5 on my scale.  I asked the hubs to try it, since he really likes the Starbucks House, and he made the mistake of making espresso with it.  Heh.  Silly hubs.  It's really not an espresso kind of coffee, but I'll make him a regular pot of this later and see what he thinks of that.

Vanilla Biscotti - There was something in the smell of this that I didn't like.  But taste doesn't always follow smell, and the taste of this was great.  The only thing was, it's not good for a whole pot at full strength.  At least not for me.  The full-on flavor was heavenly in the first cup.  After that it was too much.  So I made a second pot using a combination of the Morning Café and Vanilla Biscotti.  That did the trick!  I don't think it would blend well with a dark roast, but the light roast was a good taste combo.

Chocolate Truffle - Smell and flavor both heavenly.  I walked around with my nose in the bag while the coffee was brewing, it smelled so wonderful and chocolatey.  But again, more than one cup at full strength was too much.  Maybe I'm not really a flavored coffee drinker.  But I really REALLY like this one combined with the Columbian.   Double-richness in a cup.

I've got a few more samples to try, and I'll be posting my thoughts as I go.  Has anybody else had a chance to try these?  Let me know what you think. 

National Coffee Day!

Isn't it wonderful that National Coffee Day - one of them, at least - falls on Chocolate Friday? That means we can celebrate MOCHA!  Again.  Heheh. 

Also, in honor of the day, I offer these icons for your use and viewing pleasure.  (Please don't just link to them, or you'll drain my batteries.  If you want one, copy and send it to your server, please and thank you very much.)

Now ... for MOCHA!

So, here's something I didn't know.  Mocha has, in the past, referred to a type of arabica coffee, grown near the port of Mocha in Yemen.  Apparently from the 15th through 17th centuries, Mocha (the city) was famous for being the major marketplace for coffee. Wiki says: "Even after other sources of coffee were found, Mocha (also called Sanani (meaning from Sana'a) or Mocha Sanani) beans continued to be prized for their strong, chocolate flavor - and remain so even today."

Now, lest anybody think I'm just waxing on useless minutia ... I am.  BUT ... Wiki also says: On the April 2003 Australian version of the TV show "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" the one million Dollar question was "Mocha, a choice variety of coffee, takes its name from a seaport in which country? A: Somalia, B: Yemen, C: Oman, D: Djibouti". 

See?  You never know when you might need some trivia like this. 

Anyway, supposedly the coffee itself, sans human intervention, actually has a chocolate flavor.  I'm ordering me some!  Today!  I found several places online to buy, but I'll start with Peet's.  We'll see if they really do. 

Now, of course, "mocha" generally means coffee with chocolate added.  Either espresso and chocolate syrup, or down-home style made with a hefty spoonful of Nestle's cocoa.  Or, in a pinch, a handful of chocolate chips in the bottom of the cup will do nicely. 

Topped with whipped cream, or maybe a dollop of ice cream, and you've got a delish dessert drink.  Add a splash of tequila and kahlua for a Mexican Mocha for an after dinner treat. 

No matter how you mix it up, chocolate and coffee are two of my favorite things that go really well together.  In a cup, or used to flavor a dish or dessert, give me chocolate and coffee together and I'm a happy girl.

Ahoy There Mateys!

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day!  Cute button, huh?  I stole it from the Wikipedia Pirate page.

For more information and lotsa good links about International Talk Like a Pirate Day, check my last year's Piratey post.  There's links for making grog, and plenty of other pirate stuff.

Arrrgh, swash my buckle, and shiver me timbers, it's hard to believe it's been a whole year. 

And stay away from my bootie!  Errr, booty.  Heh, but stay away from my bootie too.

Speaking of booty, you gotta see this video clip: Pirate vs. Ninja.  It's a mighty chuckle-fest and appropriate for the day.

To help you make it through the day, Jack Sparrow's Coffee is a must. 

And be it known that moderate doses of RUM help yer ability to talk like a pirate.  So get ye out there and celebrate, pirate-style.  Avast there!  Shove off and heave to.  Or something like that.

Coca-Cola Blak

I don't even know how to describe this beverage.  Coca-cola is apparently trying to sidle up on the coffee market with their Coke Blak, marketed as "Coke Effervescence With Coffee Essence!

Effective advertising, I have to add, since the only reason I'm sitting here sipping a cold one is because there's this giNORmous billboard right up the street that's been blasting my eyeballs for the last week with this wonderful black/brown/orange eye-candy, with the word COFFEE prominently displayed.  Got my attention.  And given my recent weirdness with Frappaccino and Coke, I immediately thought "Hey they must be inside my head!"  Gotta try that.

I did a search to find out more about the stuff (besides the taste) and of course there's a slick marketing website complete with visuals and music (that unfortunately also grabbed hold of my browser and wouldn't let go... a nasty web trick that I hate ... which is why I'm NOT posting the link here.) 

So ... young, slick, dark coffee-generation marketing.  But how does it taste?

Not bad.  There's kind of an odd aftertaste that I'm having to get used to.  But maybe that's because I was subconsciously expecting the taste of coke.  It's not quite enough coffee flavor for me, or else the coffee flavor they're using is in competition with the cola.  Bean wars. 

I think I know what would solve this problem.  A splash of milk.  Or hey, maybe even better, a splash of khalua.  Heh.  But on its own I'd probably give the Cola Blak a score of 3 out of 5.  Not bad.  But not a favorite.

Iced Mocha Frappa-Cherry

This has got to be the weirdest thing I've ever drank drunken  drunk  pffff! ... had.

It comes from it being so hot, you see.  Needing something - anything - cool enough and big enough to fill this really big cup.  Quenching thirst, yes, in large quantity, but cooling as well.  (I still haven't got around to trying out the iced tea maker...)

Now, this cup normally could hold two of those Starbuck's coffee things that come in bottles, or two cans of coke.  I would have been happy with either, but I only had one of each - one Mocha Frappuccino, and one Cherry Coke.  And a sparse amount of ice.  So.  Combo-drink. 

I know, it sounds really really weird.  But it's really good!

I had a friend who used to drink milk and pepsi, and another from somewhere in the south who swore by hot Dr. Pepper, neither of which sounded good to me.  I guess I'm getting weirder as I get older.  Warning though, this drink packs quite a caffeine punch.  (Not to mention sugar.)  Quick, give me something to clean while I'm on high -rev!

In the News Tids & Bits

Or is that "In the Snooze"?

* Experts conflicted over health effects of coffee, tea - The debate goes on.

* Short-Term Supply Squeeze Is Call Writing Opportunity in Coffee

* Tea prices will be hit if clash escalates to ME - No, not me.  Middle East.  Silly.

* Orlando Bloom's Bad Back 'Tea' - There's something not right about this newsblip.  Orlando Bloom had to quit drinking green tea because it made his back hurt.  What? 

* And from the Groaner File: Im-peach-mint Tea:  described as "a zesty blend of high-quality black teas, infused with the aromas of ripening peaches and cool, dewy mint leaves.  Brewing instructions: If the Bush Administration is bringing you to a boil, add one teaspoon and visualize impeachment. That's it; mission accomplished! I'm not making a political statement here, so don't yell at me.  I just thought it was funny. In a groaning sort of way. Found via growabrain

Choco Coffee

Long Time No Blog!  I've been busy.  And sick.  And busily sick and sickly busy.  I hope to find an end of both soon.  I have a backlog of stuff to post about!  Coming soon - my new iced tea maker, dud or delight?  And I have several blogs and websites to play linky with (after I find half a minute to go look at them).

This morning I just want to mention the coffee I'm drinking.  I'm trying a variety of Christopher Bean coffees.  Their house blend is ... pretty darn good.  I like it.  I got this from a local shop, but I'm thinking of ordering online and see if I can't get a slightly fresher bean.  These weren't bad though, quite acceptable.

I do NOT recommend their Fudge Nut Brownie coffee.  Bleach!  I was suckered in by the name.   The past few years I've fallen away from flavored coffees, but this one just sounded so good... right up my alley.  Fudge ... nuts ... brownie ... what's not to like?  I neglected to read the fine print.  It warns ya, right on the bag -- "Rich Chocolate & Cinnamon Glazed Pecans".  The chocolate flavor was good, the pecan flavor was alright ... the cinnamon flavor ruined it all, sent my tastebuds spiraling down to a unified YUCK!

I don't expect flavored coffees will be my regular cup, but now I think I'd like to find some GOOD chocolate-flavored coffee for special occasions.  In the meantime, there's always "cocoa in yer cup".

Vanilla Coffee Cooler

The heat around here is oppressive.  I envy folx who live in more moderate climates.  I grew up in the Northwest, and I'm much more comfortable in the rain and the cool. 

People around here tell me it helps you cool off to drink something hot.  Ha.  I don't know what alternative reality they're living in. 

I need something cool to drink in the afternoons, and it's really putting a crimp in my afternoon tea ritual!  One of these days I'll take the time to make myself a pitcher of really good iced tea. 

In the meantime, I'm having an afternoon espresso, summer cooler style.  No, not with coffee ice cubes.  That'll come soon though. 

Today I just did the easiest thing. 

A teaspoon of almond syrup and a large scoop of vanilla ice cream in a cup. 

Add coffee.  Et voila!  Instant summer coffee cooler. Not too fancy but it's all I have time for right now.

The only thing that would make this better would be a larger cup and more ice cream!!

Heh.  I guess I'll just have to go back for seconds.

The (Almost) Ultimate Map Resource

When I started my travelogue list / map way back when, I was intent on mapping out destinations to visit where I could have good coffee, good tea, as well as visit roadside attractions and oddities.  I actually started a graphical map that I could click on various locations and get the information about that site.  But my travel project got stalled, partly because it's such a lot of work! 

Enter MapMuse!  This is a still-new resource that offers maps showing locations of specific interests. Check this out:

This puppy here shows locations of independent coffee houses across the U.S.  Pretty cool, huh?  If you click on a dark blob, you narrow it down by region, and you can continue refining your search, right down to the cross streets.

They do have a category for brands -- the perfect resource if you're trying to get into the Guinness World Book of Records by slurping frappaccino at every single Starbucks in every single town in the U.S.

You can also search the category results by zip code, which is always handy.  But this is a great service for folx going into a strange city, who don't perhaps know the streets or zip codes or names of businesses to search by. 

There is no interest group for tea, unfortunately.  YET.  I submitted a request for it, especially for locations serving high tea or afternoon tea.  Once they add tea houses, this will be the ULTIMATE travel resource.

Mexican Mocha Coffee

Ay-ay!  Mustn't forget that it's Cinco de Mayo!!  So you get two posts from me today.  Seeing as how it falls on Chocolate Friday, we'll be serving Mexican Mocha, the chocolate version of Mexican Coffee.  Best served in large mugs and only when you have nothing important left to do for the day.  Sip, relax, and kick back, Mexican-style.

Mexican Mocha Coffee

1 large cup of strong black coffee
1 jigger tequila
1 jigger kahlua
1 squirt chocolate syrup
top with whipped cream if you like

If you don't have chocolate syrup, you could melt some chocolate chips, or use 1-2 tablespoons powdered cocoa.

ENJOY!

Espresso: Ultimate Coffee

Espresso : Ultimate Coffee by Kenneth Davids is the almost-ultimate coffee book for anybody who wants to know all about espresso.  From the ground up, Davids explains the history, mythology, and technology of that glorious little shot of heaven: espresso. 

I found Davids' writing style engaging and easy.  I felt like I was reading a story instead of being educated.  He shares his experience as well as his knowledge, and tosses in a dash of the lyrical now and then just to keep you interested.  But it's not the kind of book you can sit down and plow through.  I've had to take it in small chunks, using it as more of a reference book.  And what a great reference book it is!

Not all the information in this book was new to me.  But my explorations online have been jagged, uneven.  This book smooths out all the rough edges in my knowledge and gives me the whole wallapalooza in 180 pages.  All my questions about how different espresso machines work are answered here.  I may actually be able to make a purchase now without fearing that I'm wasting my money.  Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good information online, but I found I had to wade through a lot of garbage to find the gold, and I was getting confused.  This book was most helpful in clearing up those confused areas. 

I would say it's the ultimate, but for one small complaint.   If you've read any of my other book reviews you'll guess right away what it is. 

No color pictures.  NO COLOR PICTURES! And in a second edition, too.  There are photos, but they're all in antique-style sepia tones.  Cheaper to print no doubt, but very hard to get excited about.  I wonder if Davids' understands the need to see gorgeous full color shots of ... heh ... shots.  I can only hope that these books make enough in sales to warrant a third edition that will include at least a few full color make-you-drool photographs.

Chocolate Chip Streusel Coffee Cake

I couldn't resist, I had to try this streusel coffee cake.  I made some adjustments, as usual, so I'm posting the recipe here with my revisions.  I increased the streusel, because the best part of a streusel cake IS the streusel.  I also added a shot of espresso.  The original, if you didn't see my earlier post today, is here.

Anybody remember the crack-a-tooth cookie mishap?  Well, this afternoon I had a lesson in "having the right tools".  I couldn't find the rectangular cake pan!  All I had was an 8" square.  I think the hubs must have stolen the other cake pan for oil changing or some such thing.  The resultant overflow looked like something from The Blob.  It's alive!

It didn't affect the taste of the coffee cake, I'm happy to say.  This is some serious to-die-for coffee cake.  But we'll prolly call this coffee cake the Ugly Bulbous Coffee Cake forever more. 

Chocolate Chip Streusel Coffee Cake

For the Streusel:
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 tbsp flour
3 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp melted butter

Mix together in a bowl and set aside.

For the Coffee Cake:
1 pkg yellow cake mix
8 oz sour cream
1 shot of espresso or 1/2 cup of strong coffee + water to make 3/4 cup liquid
3 eggs

Combine all ingredients and mix well on high for 2 minutes.  Spread 2/3 of the batter in a 9 x 13 cake pan.  Sprinkle half of the streusel mixture over the batter.  Pour in the remaining batter, and sprinkle remaining streusel topping on top. 

Bake 35-55 minutes at 350°.  Knife should come out mostly clean when inserted into center.

I just have to say again that this is some serious to-die-for coffee cake.  I'm not sure I can share.  I might have to tell the hubs that it tastes awful, just really awful, on top of being ugly, and he better wait for the next batch.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

Enjoy!

Yesterday & Today

I seem to be a day behind again!  What's up with that?  Some cosmic force is holding my heels down.  Yesterday was Chocolate Mousse Day.  In belated honor, here's a recipe for Decadent Chocolate Mousse that sounds like it could kill the hardiest of choco-holics. 

And if you're a chocolate (not-limited-to-mousse) fan, you might want to mark your calendars for October 14, 2006, the 4th Annual Chocolate Moose Festival at the The Murie Center in Moose, WY.  A bit far for me to go, but it sounds like fun.  And the entries all sound delicious and decadent.  Too bad they don't include photos on their website. 

Catching up to today . . . Martin Luther King was assinated on this day in 1968.  I remember that day.  I remember thinking I didn't want to live in a world where such evil things happen. 

And bluesman Muddy Waters was born on this day in 1915.  (I'm not always up on what's happening today, but I like to see what was happening in history.) 

As a little bit of trivia, Muddy Waters got his nickname - not from coffee, like you might think - but from his grandmother chiding him for playing in the muddy banks of the Mississippi river.  However, when I was searching for info on the man, I found a ton - I mean a TON - of coffee shops all over the U.S. called "Muddy Waters", and one coffee roaster, which apparently is defunct because their website is gone.  I sort of thought there might be a connection, coffee shops, blues, muddy ... well, you get the picture, but there seems to be no connection at all that I could find.  And I could only find one song recorded by Muddy Waters that had anything to do with coffee: Iodine In My Coffee, from the album Top of the Boogaloo.  I'm still trying to find an mp3 of it.  Kat?  Anybody? Bueller?

Coffee Roasting Report

I have roasted!  My very first batch of home-roasted coffee beans!

I wanted the first batch to be a sort of experiment.  I wanted to know if there really WAS a difference, semi-objectively.  So I chose to start with Costa Rican Tarrazu beans, since I had some that I had bought and could use them to make a comparison with.  Well, maybe not a completely fair comparison, since the bought beans were already some hmmphmm weeks old in the house.  But at least it gave me a place to start.

I followed the destructions given here.  I used the lower temperature - 410 F -  to start with, but when the beans didn't crack at 12 minutes, I turned the oven up to 425 F and waited.  4 minutes later I was started to get nervous but there was finally a crack.  I kept waiting for the second surge of cracking, but it never came, and the first cracking actually never fully stopped.  I'm going to guess that means my beans weren't roasting uniformly.  Maybe I had too many in the pan, or not enough space in the center, I don't know.   In any case, after 18 and a half minutes they were quite dark, so I finally just took them out.  Then it was just a matter of letting them cool, and shaking them in the collander to get the little chafy stuff off. 

Then came the experiment.  I had to wait for the house to clear a bit, because all I could smell at first was the smokey roasting smell, which I LOVE, by the way.  I would fill the house with that smell all the time, if the hubs didn't object so strongly.  It wasn't as smokey as I thought it would be, but I did have a pretty hefty fan blowing through the kitchen and straight out the wide-open window.

I measured out the same amount of beans from the bag of Costa Rica Tarrazu and my freshly roasted.  The first big difference I noticed was the smell of the beans themselves.  What a difference.  HUGE!  The bought beans smelled bitter and flat.  Not stale, just bitter.  The fresh beans had a really strong smell, a full smell.  Much richer and more complex. 

I made myself two cups of coffee and carefully tasted each.  I won't even bother to say I "cupped", because I'm such a rank amateur at this it's not funny.  But I tasted.  And waited.  Then tasted the other.  Back and forth a few times, letting the coffee flavors speak to me.  There is a definite difference.

Now, those folx who have done this will think I'm being silly, but ... frankly, as the hubs was happy to tell me, there's a lot of hype about coffee and various coffee preparation - machines and beans and such - and I'm inclined to agree with him somewhat.  I did feel a little bit skeptical.  I wondered how much of that praise and rapture is just ... fashion.  I had to know, I had to test it for myself.  Even if there hadn't been a big difference, I would have enjoyed the process.  But now I can say that there is definitely a difference in the flavor of coffee made from a freshly roasted bean.  A big difference.  The bought coffee was good, but the flavor of the other was fuller, bigger.  I don't think it was something I've ever tasted, so I'm not sure what to compare it to. 

It was like the difference between a freshly picked rose and one that's sat in a vase for a few days.  If you've only ever smelled the 2 day old rose, you would think it smells nice, and you would enjoy it, but you wouldn't know what you were missing.  You wouldn't have been blessed by the subtle complexities from the aroma of a fresh rose.

That's what this experience was like.  My nose and taste buds went  "ahhhhh, I never knew ... "

The kicker -- the hubs likes it.  Before I did this, he said stuff like "You know, you can just BUY those beans at the store and not have to go through all this trouble".   But after I served him up his very own cup, he raved.  In fact, he went back for another cup this evening.  And he said something to the effect of "I wouldn't go through all this trouble myself, but any time you want to roast some more beans, I'll be happy to help you use them up."

That's high praise from the real skeptic in this house.

Now the question is, shall I keep doing it in the oven, or shall I invest in the roasting machine thingy?

Color Me Happy!

My green coffee bean sample packs from Sweet Maria's have arrived already!  They're frikken FAST!!  It arrived yesterday afternoon, and I had only ordered it 2 days before.  I didn't ask for speedy delivery, I asked for the cheapest possible shipping.  I'm so happy!  My feet are dancing and the hubs thinks I'm crazy. 

I don't have time to roast today, but guess what I'll be doing this weekend?

And now, on with Chocolate Friday!

Shopping Spree!

I celebrated the first day of Spring by spending all kinds of money.  I shopped, and I shopped well.  I'm a good little consumer, seeding the economy with my hard earned cash... errr ... credit.  Heh.  Dontcha just love credit cards?

First stop, the grocery store, where I bought some essentials not worth mentioning, but also found a Tea-zer Tumbler, which I blogged about previously and have been wanting to try.  I'll let you know how I like it after I try it out.

Home again, but not content, with my credit card burning a hole in my pocket, I went online in search of Jerry Garcia Teas, which my cuz suggested (betcha thought I forgot, huh?).  Strangely, Google didn't land me in the right place to purchase - and the only clues I had were these news articles