Morning Coffee & Afternoon Tea

Yay for the Independent Coffee Houses

Today's Small Business Trends post confirms that, at least in Cleveland, small business owners are more in touch with the emotions and needs of their customers/clients.   In  Independent Coffehouses Understand Their Market, Anita comments on a recent tour of coffeehouses in Cleveland that offer free wireless Internet (wi-fi) service.  And it's the small, independent coffee houses that are serving up free wi-fi service.  The big chains all charge for it.  Unfortunately, as is the case with most things, the big guys with the big budget don't have to care.

Sounds like a good time was had by all!  An all-day event, with bloggers/wi-fi enthusiasts/coffee-lovers strapping on their notebook PCs and other techo-accoutrement and taking in the Cleveland coffee house circuit.  Sounds like my cuppa tea... er... coffee.   

The Comfort of Tea (and Toast)

I uncovered some old childhood memories yesterday.  I woke up with a bad head cold which got worse & worse throughout the day, till by the evening I was feverish and couldn't breathe. 

Red eyes, tissues stuffed up my nose, I dragged myself into the kitchen to make tea and find something to eat that I could prepare quickly and take back to bed with me.

The memory that washed over me was so sweet and so comforting.  There was a period when I was little and got sick that my single-working-mom would take me to grandma's house.  Grandma would tuck me under a blanket on the living room sofa where she could keep an eye on me, and bring me a cup of hot tea and buttered toast on a small plate. Some days, when I was really sick, she would use her special china plate and cup that normally I wouldn't be allowed to touch.  Even at my most miserable, she could usually coax me into sipping the tea and nibbling at the toast. 

I know there aren't any grand, magical medicinal properties in the combination of black tea and toast, but they became, in my child's mind, the cure for all that ailed me.  The taste of the tea and the toast were comforting in themselves, true.  But more than that, they came to represent grandma's care and comfort.

So, I poured my tea into one of grandma's good china tea cups - one of the few things I still had of hers that hadn't gotten broken or lost over the years.  I made myself a slice of toast to go with my tea, lathered with butter.  I poured gobs of honey into that pretty china tea cup, and tucked myself into bed, propped up on my pillows.  I felt better as I ate and sipped, comforted by tea and toast, and by the memories of somebody who loved me and took care of me when I felt like crap. 

More Fun Coffee / Tea Quizzes

These came from about.com's Coffee/Tea section.

Test Your Coffee/Tea IQ
Take the test here...
I'm not going to tell you how I scored.  It was embarassing!

What kind of coffee are you? (note: this is a different coffee quiz from before)
Take the quiz here...
According to this quiz, I'm an espresso!  Whooeee!

Coffee Gadget Wishlist

I'm always on the lookout for gadgets and gifts for my coffee loving friends. But these two interesting little items may end up being gifts for me!

Dominic Skinners Dunk Mug

This is too cute. It has a built-in compartment for cookies! Comes in right & left handed versions.  I had to think about that for a minute.  I guess I'd want a left-handed cup, so's I can hold the cup with my left hand and dunk with my right.  More here: Dunk Mug
Thanks to Kitchen Contraptions for this one

USB CafePad
This little doo-dad plugs into your USB port and keeps your cuppa warm. Dontcha just love technology?  I really want to try this one out.  And I know a programmer who would use this all day long. But I'm still searching on the web for a place to buy the silly thing! 
More here: The USB CafePad

Coffee Blogs Salut

Thanks to Coffee Tea or Blog and Coffee Blog for the nods.  Here's a nod back-atcha.  And a nod to a few more coffee blogs that I like to meander through:

The Blog of a Coffee Addict

bread coffee chocolate yoga

CoffeeGeek

Badgett's Coffee Journal

Salut!

Easter Coffee

I was wondering what, if any, special coffees there were for Easter, so I did a search on the keywords Coffee and Easter.  I actually found one site selling something called Easter Blend.  The description says "A Java Haven special blend for Easter!  Luscious strawberries and raspberries smothered in chocolate!"  I don't know if I could handle all those flavors together in my cup. 

A few other interesting tidbits from my search, in case anybody's interested:

There are about nine mazillion "Easter Coffees" being held -- gatherings of one sort or another, both morning coffees and afternoon coffees, some with other events, craft sales, stalls, some with music.  I'd list them for you, but almost all of them DGB (done gone by) already.  I guess you don't actually have Easter Coffee gatherings on Easter.  Go figure.

Here's a page of Easter Coffee Cake recipes.  What makes them different from any other coffee cake recipes?  I don't know. 

A nifty idea for an Easter Basket for Coffee-Loving Teens

And a craft idea for a Coffee Filter Easter Egg - I'm usually pretty crafty, but this project boggled me.  Are they decorating an egg or a coffee filter?  Maybe I'm trying to make this too complicated.  Maybe I need to learn to think like a child. 

Maybe I just need more coffee.

Tea in a Pill

A pill.  To substitute for a cuppa tea.  Well, it's an interesting idea, and I applaud the folks at Tocklai Experimental Station for thinking about the poor rushed working person who hasn't time to stop and boil water. Very considerate.

But I don't think it's going to fly, personally.  A big part of the joy of tea for me is the ritual.  The preparation.  The feel of the china cup, the aroma, and of course the taste.  And according to Peter Foster of TheAge.com.au, who got a chance to taste the pill, it's bitter.

The bitterness was extraordinary, followed by an intense after-burn of heavily stewed black tea. Swallowing the pill seemed the politest way of ending the agony.

So, maybe they need to coat it with chocolate, or sugar, something like an M&M.  The Mary Poppin's song comes to mind... "Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down..."

Now don't get me wrong.  I also drink tea and coffee for the caffeine.  I do love my caffeine buzz.  But I don't think I would go for it in the form of a pill, even if it was sugar coated.  If I needed a quick caffeine boost and didn't have time to boil water for tea, or stop for coffee at the quicky mart, I'd probably grab something chocolate.  But then again, when I'm THAT rushed, I'm usually buzzing pretty high on the adrenalin of trying to get where I'm going on time and in one piece. 

Now, put that kind of high in a pill and maybe I'll try it.

White Tea is Healthier Than Green?

Studies have shown that green tea stimulates the immune system to fight disease, but white tea is even better for you? Apparently so. 

A study presented last year at the American Society for Microbiology general meeting in New Orleans showed that White Tea Extract can actually destroy in vitro the organisms that cause disease.  Some studies have also shown that white tea contains more active cancer-fighting antioxidants than green tea.

The 23rd Psalm er... Cuppa

Some days you need a little humor in the morning.  While worshiping at the altar de caffeine this morning, I ran across this.  Henceforth it shall start my day.

The 23rd Cup
Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in green pastures;
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my buzz.
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for its name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of addiction,
I'll fear no Equal for thou art with me;
Thy cream and thy flavorings they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of Starbucks.
Thou anointest my days with vigor; my mug runneth over.
Surely flavor and aroma shall follow me all the days of my life
and I will dwell in the House of Maxwell forever.
Amen

More Coffee Jokes:
Link: http://www.thebeanstock.com/fun-stuff.html - some groaners here
Link: http://www.gone-ta-pott.com/coffeejokes.html - scroll down or you'll miss em
Link: http://www.koffeekorner.com/koffeetoons.htm - coffee cartoons

Have fun!

In Search of the Perfect Tea & Biscuit

My coffee grinder broke this morning.  I briefly considered simply chewing the beans and saving water (it IS World Water Day, after all), but the idea wasn't appealing.  So this morning instead of coffee and a scroll, I'm doing tea and a biscuit. 

A biscuit, for us non-brits, is a sort of cookie.  Best to be a little hard and crunchy, because the purpose of the biscuit is dunking.  If you want to be sure you have it right, read  Taxonomy of Biscuits.  These nice folx at nicecupofteaandasitdown.com have given all the ins and outs of biscuits; what they are, and what they are not, how to recognize a REAL biscuit from the faker, and an FAQ. 

Apparently proper biscuitry is very important.  Important enough that one biscuit company has developed a crash test dummy to determine the average number of crumbs from their biscuits.  This big Dummy has a mechanical mouth and teeth specially designed to munch biscuits and produce crumbs in the same way as the average human.  I guess it's important to know how much biscuit lossage there will be.  But what about the lossage due to dunkage?  Are there any stats for that?