This is a guest-post written by Gareth Hobbs. Gareth writes humourous movie reviews at Dodgy Movies. Reviewed!
Until recently, coffee was the domain of the urban undead. It satisfied the morning cravings almost as well as brains, but had the advantage of being socially acceptable. However, the ritual of coffee making has started to be used by the enlightened urbanite as a meditative technique. At first, it seems like coffee and meditation are at odds. After all, meditation is supposed to allow for relaxation and “stilling of the mind” something that the stimulant effect of coffee supposedly prevents. Although, watching an urban zombie’s attitude change as that morning coffee satisfies the craving, you’d have to reconsider. As the proverb goes<i>, it’s not the destination, rather the journey that matters Similarly, it’s not so much the coffee itself, but the ritual of making it that promotes the meditative aspect. For the perfect cup, the steps need to be followed meticulously much like the Japanese tea ceremony. Of course, the ceremony varies according to tastes, but you’ll find that the generic steps are the same.
First, the water needs to be placed into the coffee maker. While this may appear a simple task, careful planning is required to ensure that the coffee is neither too weak or too strong. Complete presence is needed to determine the exact number of cups of water to be added. Pouring the water into the reservoir is a complex task. The body must be in perfect balance to prevent spills. Once the water is safely contained, the mind turns to the preparation of the coffee beans. Pre-ground coffee is acceptable, but, sticking your nose into a bag will never give you the same sensation as the aroma that is released from the beans on grinding. The grinding sound can be a little harsh at first, but, with practice, the nuances present themselves and the precise moment to stop the grinder can be sensed. This is an art, and critical to the perfect cup. too coarse, and the water filters through the grounds too quickly and the final product will be weak. Too fine, and the opposite occurs. The black on white as the grounds are placed in the filter is a wonder to behold, with each morning bringing unique patterns. And finally, the machine is ready to be switched on. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee permeates everything around it, and the anticipation of the first cup builds to a climax. With the first sip, taste finally gets a part in the morning drama, and it is the most important one. The silky smooth overtones followed by the bitter tang makes leaving the sanctuary of the duvet worthwhile. Of course, if this all sounds like too much effort for you, you could always use my foolproof 5 step approach.
Step 1 – Walk into the coffee shop. Step 2 – Order “the usual”. Step 3 – Pay. Step 4 – Collect the freshly brewed coffee. Step 5 – Enjoy. While not as sensually fulfilling as the full meditative approach, it does have one advantage. I get an extra 20 minutes sleep.
This article is a guest post written by Victoria of Ratelines.com, a financial portal to find the best money market rates.
We all love it, its smell, taste, and the aura it produces when around us. We could be in the middle of work, sitting at home on our couch, sitting in traffic on the way to work or sitting by the beach. Wherever we are, the small and thought of it takes you to another world. That’s the feeling of the rich, strong, bold and sometimes sweet flavor of our beloved friend, coffee.
Since most of us aren’t coffee snobs, aficionados, etc. It’s helpful to understand the differences between the most common types of coffee. For example, the difference between coffee and espresso. Coffee is not as strong as espresso, and when brewed, espresso has a much richer taste than coffee. When espresso is brewed, it is pushed and padded into a small compression, and hot water is pushed through the pressed coffee, creating a strong, bold flavor, also called an espresso shot.
The Latte: Besides the cup of coffee (which is a very American thing), the latte is the most common type of espresso drink. Depending on the size, the smallest latte size (American small) has one shot of espresso, 3/4 a cup of steamed milk, and topped off with the foam from steamed milk. Sometimes people go the extra mile by adding a shot of vanilla or hazelnut syrup.
The Cappacino: Commonly confused with the latte, the cappacino is a widely-known drink in Europe. The smallest size comes with one shot of espresso, approximately ¾ cup of steamed milk foam, and about 1/3 cup of steamed milk. Again, the capachino is highly recommended plain, or with a shot of spice.
Caffe Americano: Not as common for the Starbucks lovers, but the Americano is rightly named for its founding in the American way – the love for a fresh cup of coffee. The Americano is probably the freshest ‘cup o’ joe’ you’ll order at Caribou or Starbucks. The rich, bold taste will enchant you but the way the Caffe Americano is made will shock you. A small Americano is made with two shots of espresso and the rest is hot water, mixed to perfection, don’t let the make of this bold cup fool you on the surprisingly robust taste.
Cafe Au Lait: Also called a “Cafe Misto” for the Starbucks junkies , the Au Lait is the perfect blend of regular coffee and steamed milk or cream with a small amount of foam on top. Usually not ordered with syrup, it also tasts nice with a shot of peppermint or raspberry.
Espresso Macchiato: More of a French espresso drink, this is ordered not by the size but by the shot of espresso. A double is two shots of espresso that is poured over not steamed milk, but just the steamed foam.
Espresso Con Panna: Again, another European language, this drink is served as a shot over whipped cream. Ordered by the shot amount, not by the size.
I’ve been looking at a lot of coffee related infographics and came across this stunning caffeine chart. It came from CoolInfographics.com and is worth a look. It charts the amount of caffeine in drinks from the common cup of coffee up to the most caffeine-laden energy drinks.
Got a death wish? Then check out the Death by Caffeine app. It shows how much caffeine it’ll take to kill you. Choose the energy drink of choice and enter your age. The app will tell you how many cans of your favorite energy drink it’ll take to kill you. But like they say, people can actually die from this stuff, so please don’t be stupid.
I saw this on CrunchGear this morning and thought it was too funny. It was created by Japanese designer Case-Real, but it’s not actually in production. This kitty-hammock-coffee-table will probably be very well received by your cat. The sound of coffee cups clinking on the tabletop will probably freak her out, so I’m not sure it’ll be her favorite hiding spot, but it’s pretty unique nonetheless.
I just read about this futuristic coffeemaker at TheAppliancist.com. It’s called “The Pure ” and it’s an induction coffee maker. The manufacturers says it is made of environmentally friendly materials. Its design helps speed up the brewing process it is quite easy to use. It has a ballpoint pen mechanism that helps control how much coffee is poured. Additionally it is made of double glass tubes which help insulate the coffee, and of course protect your hands from getting burned.
If you’re looking for a classic coffee maker, you need look no further than the Moccamaster. This hand crafted coffee maker, made in the Netherlands, has looked the same for over 40 years. It has many loyal fans in European coffee strongholds like Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands. Not only is it stylish, but it is a high quality coffee machine that holds a consistently high temperature, and brewing a good pot of coffee quite quickly. Just look at one of it’s fans had to say:
“can HIGHLY recommend this coffee maker–have had it for about 7 years.
LOVE it. we have the one with the thermos, which is just great. heats
up the water to a higher temperature than any other drip maker–it’s
terrific.”
This coffeemaker is certified by the Specialty Coffee Association of America. As noted in the comment above, it singular heating element in Scheuer is a Debruin temperature remains less than optimal 200°F throughout the brewing cycle. at one cup per minute, it can crank out 10 cups of high-quality coffee faster than most conventional home coffee makers. No wonder it’s a kitchen favorite for real coffee buffs.
Here’s a goofy article I read at the Miami Herald today about creative uses for the common coffee filter. Apparently you can use them for a lot more than your coffee maker. It’s not a particularly practical list, but there are some pretty funny uses:
• Coffee filters are great to cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave
• Coffee filters are lint-free so they’ll leave windows sparkling; use them for mirrors and chrome too
• Place a coffee filter between good china plates to protect them
• Put a coffee filter in a cast-iron skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust. (my wife just bought a cast-iron skillet and will love this tip)
• Use a coffee filter to recycle used cooking oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter
• Weigh chopped foods. Place ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale
• Line the pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes. This will help you stop the soil from leaking out of the pot
• Do you think we need expensive strips to wax our eyebrows? Use strips of coffee filters instead. Ouch!
• Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors
• Use filters to strain soup stock. Or tie fresh herbs in a coffee filter and put the bundle in soups and stews
• Show kids how to sprout seeds. Just dampen the coffee filter, put seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout
• Use as a disposable “snack bowl” for popcorn, chips, etc
Because grinding coffee can be an art in and of itself, here are a few tips that I found to help you make a great cup of coffee at home, especially if you grind your own beans.
Amount: If you don’t know how much coffee you want to grind, a good rule of thumb is to use 2 tablespoons of coffee beans for every 6-8 ounces of water. Of course, you can feel free to adjust it to your specific tastes
Timing: It’s best to grind your beans right before brewing, because the oxidation process begins immediately and can cause flavors to degrade noticeably in just a few hours. Make sure that you only grind enough coffee for one pot to make sure it is as fresh as possible
Water Temperature: Another tip I read about issues make sure that you always start with cold water. Cold water has more oxygen and helps to flavor of the coffee. But if you are using a French press or drip coffeemaker, put a small amount of hot water on the grounds for a minute so that the grounds swell just a little. Then you can poor the rest of the water
Use Egg Shells:Another little tip, and this is taken straight from the cowboys guide to coffee drinking, is to add eggshells to coffee grounds because it helps make a smoother cup of coffee
A Pinch of Salt: Some people like to add a pinch of kosher salt to their coffee grounds just before brewing, they say it helps take the better edge of the coffee and results in a smoother brew
Double-Up: Lots of people like using to coffee filters and brewing because it helps remove some of the oils which might cause bitterness but they still let the coffee flavor come through
Quick Bursts: If you using a blade grinder, make sure that you grinder coffee in short bursts. This prevents the coffee grinder from overheating and burning your coffee grinds. You should also hold it near the top and give it a good shake every few seconds so the grounds get mixed while grinding. Distal make sure you have a consistent grind throughout
One of the most important parts of making coffee, after choosing the right grind, is making sure that the water is the right temperature. The common electric coffee maker makes this a little bit tricky, so it’s important to understand what type of coffee maker will produce the best results. With a dizzying variety of carafes, filter types, aesthetics, and colors, it can sometimes be hard to choose the best one.
Coffee experts will tell you that the first criteria to look for in a home coffee maker is that it can produce the correct brewing temperature. If the machine cannot maintain a proper brewing temperature you should not buy it. Lower brewing temperature is caused problems like bitterness, because they take too long to brew, extracting the bitter flavor of a coffee bean. Another side effect is insipid coffee, which happens from lower temperature extraction. Inexpensive coffee machines have a smaller water heater. This results in less waterflow and longer brewing times. so you end up with bland bitter coffee.
High-quality drip coffee makers can reach a temperature of 200°F and brew in about 4 minutes. You can’t get that type of performance from most home coffee makers, but there are a few that do live up to have standard. If you prefer brewing at home, look for a coffee machine that can get to 200°F in 6 minutes or less. If you’re having a hard time finding one, Consumer Reports Magazine actually did a study in late 2009 where they researched 40 coffeemaker’s on several criteria. One of the criteriawas the ability to maintain proper temperature and brew within 6 minutes. They range in Price from $40 to over $250. The Technivorm KBT741 ($265) and the Mr. Coffee JWX27 ($40) both did quite well.
If you looking for at home coffeemaker, just make sure that you do some research. You can even through water and measure how long it takes and the temperature just in case you have to return it.
Here’s a little project we’ve been working on here at TheCoffeeMakerStore. It’s an eco-friendly coffee tips widget that displays ways to make your coffee habit more gentle on the environment.
Copy the text below and paste it in your blog or website:
<div id="content-wrap"><div id="main"><h2>Eco Friendly Coffee Tips</h2>
<p><br><iframe src="http://thecoffeemakerstore.com/widget.htm" mce_src="http://thecoffeemakerstore.com/widget.htm" width="160" frameborder="0" height="380"></iframe><br>More cool<a href="http://TheCoffeeMakerStore.com" mce_href="http://TheCoffeeMakerStore.com"> coffee makers
</a> and coffee tips...</div></div>
It displays 13 environmentally friendly coffee tips. Please add this to your website and tell your friends about it. It’s a great way to teach others how to reduce their toll on the environment.
Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa created this compact 6 cup tea and coffee maker combo. It uses a double activated charcoal filter and brews in less than 10 minutes. It’s been on the Japanese market since 2007 and is now being released to the US and Europe for about $240. It’s good for small, compact kitchens and living spaces and has a one hour automatic shut off function to prevent your coffee from burning. It may look no more complex than a Brita water filter, but its simplicity and clean design have won it (and this designer) a fair share of design awards.
This battery powered coffee maker has gotten a lot of attention online over the past few days, and for good reason. It’s made by Made In Design It’s actually an espresso maker and besides its sleek design, it’s coolest feature is that it’s battery powered, allowing you to take it anywhere you go. It’s nearly $300, but it’s still worth it if you’re interested in a new espresso maker.
We used to have fish as kids. Pirahnas, Oscars, Jack Dempseys, and Betta fish (aka Siamese Fighters) and the Betta fish were some of our favorite. The rub is that you can’t have more than one in a tank at the same time because they, well, fight. What you typically do is buy two small fish tanks and place them side by side, causing the fish to see each other and fan out their beautifully colored fins as a display of strength and authority.
If you have kids and don’t want to get them the same old tired gold fish, think about getting some Betta fish. Now for a creative way to turn an old coffee maker into a fish tank, here’s what you need:
old coffee maker
light fixtures
wires for electrical connection
wire nuts
craft iron
screw driver
glue
You’re going to use the carafe as the actual fish tank. For more instructions, check out this article.
I read about the iMaccoffee maker the other day and just had to share it. It’s totally handmade and all of the modifications were down by 53 year old German designer designer, Klaus Diebel himself. It’s made from the iconic iMac and is fully functional, including a screen that can be imprinted with an image of your choice, which also tilts open, allowing you to make your single cup of coffee. It has a bluetooth audio receiver and can be connected to you iPod as well. It is custom made and you can actually order one for yourself for roughly 300 – 400 Euros.
We’ve written about the usb powered coffee mug on this blog before, but this is just as cool. We read about it at the CNET gadget blog and were really impressed. The self-stirring coffee mug from ThinkGeek eliminates the need for spoons, straws, stirrers, sticks, and dare we say fingers. Just drop in the desired amount of cream, sugar, salt (hey, whatever floats your boat) and let this coffee mug do the rest.
The mug is stainless steel and features a snapping lid. It uses AAA batteries and a small fan-like device at the bottom of the mug to mix everything together. You simply press the button and let it go.
From ultra-luxurious to just plain weird, from insanely expensive to stunningly beautiful, these coffee makers are the coolest, most
innovative, weirdest, and most original coffee machines we’ve ever seen. This is the first in a 3 part series of posts about the weirdest, most innovative, coolest coffee makers ever. Part one of this series has 16 of the most interesting coffee makers we could find. Now we found 45 in total, and they’re all just as cool as these (if not cooler), but we’ll be blogging about them in the coming weeks. Some of these coffee makers might look familiar to you because we’ve written about them here on TheCoffeeMakerStore, but most of them won’t. Believe me when I say that they’re really cool.
Challenge: We worked long and hard to bring you this list of insane coffee makers, but it doesn’t stop there. After the conculsion of this 3 part series, anyone who can make a list just as unique will win a free Nintendo Wii or Flip camera from TheCoffeeMakerStore. So go ahead, send us the coolest coffee makers you can find!
This crazy looking coffee maker comes from ByteMods. It’s custom made from a Compaq Deskpro. The designer floppy drives and
put in a heating element by cutting the computer open in front. Incidentally, this interesting coffee maker actually brews coffee with
a VisualBasic script that enables a COM port on the pc.
This incredible coffee maker has been making a HUGE splash in leading tech and design blogs all over the world… and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a concept motion-activated coffee maker by Douwe Egberts and was presented at Dutch Design Week in the fall of 2009. The “BeMoved” coffee machine has an iPhone type of interface that features shooter-style games and a motion sensitive camera and touch screen. Not only that, but it displays weather, stocks, and traffic info.
Just like the last about innovative and uniquely designed “BeMoved” coffee machine this single serve coffee maker called the “Caffe Inn”, was created by French designer Charles Teyssier. It brews coffee and drips it from a spout at the top. You simply put a coffee mug right below and activate it. It comes in a variety of colors and just screams “chic”. Thanks to Naresh for blogging about it.
This Nespresso Crystal coffee machine is one the goofiest coffee makers I’ve ever seen. This $4,000 coffee machine is a real spectacle. It’s made from 3100 Swarovski crystals. They basically took a regular Nespresso machine and added a ton of crystals to the front and sides. I read about it over at UberReview.
Check out these Bugatti coffee makers. These Italian beauties are dripping style and classAt $1300-a-piece beauties are THE high rollers coffee machine. With slightly more capacity than a single serve coffee maker, they’re sleek and stylish and can make two cups of coffee at a time. It uses ground coffee and coffee pods. It also froths milk and can be used for coffee, cappuccino, and tea.
Need a shot of espresso? This pocket-sized espresso maker can literally fit in your purse and be taken anywhere. It’s probably the smallest espresso maker in the world. At 30 centimeters, the Mypressi Twistespresso maker is an award winning espresso maker and becoming popular with home espresso drinkers. It’s pneumatically poweredby an air cartridge that’s artfully lodged in the handle. It can make a double espresso or two singles at a time.
The Presso espresso machine is being touted as an eco-friendly manual coffee maker (which I guess it is) This little espresso maker just needs hot water; it produces enough pressure to make high quality espresso from the comfort of your own home. Energy-consumption wise, it’s really no worse than making a cup of tea. Most coffee makers still consume energy even when they’re in “off” mode. It’s relatively easy to use also. Just pour hot water in the cylinder and lift both lever arms. Then you lower the lever, trapping air and forcing the water past the coffee. This machine costs about $100. Thanks to Re-Nest for sharing this with us.
This espresso maker is super compact, giving you a chance to make espresso in your cramped kitchen. Designer Vincent Palicki created this concept coffee machine. This device allows you to make both coffee and espresso. You can switch whether it’s a coffee maker or espresso maker by rotating the upper part. You can see more pics here.
This high-tech looking espresso maker comes from designer Adam Zerbib. Its futuristic design is really cool. Part of its design is to include the coffee cup holder. It’s futuristic and modern but its tree-like design takes up more space than usual because of its cup holder. You can read more here
The Barista espresso maker is innovative and compact. Its circular design is definitely cutting edge and makes storing the small coffee cups easy and space efficient. It includes a brewing unit, docking station, and five espresso cups. In docking mode it attaches to a wall outlet and works like a normal espresso maker. When in docking mode, this machine is attached to the wall outlet and performs like a conventional espresso machine. When in portable mode, the coffee beans remain pre-grounded and the water is kept into a thermos pre-heated in order to enhance the portability of this machine and avoid unnecessary energy consumption. Many thanks to Tuvie for writing about this machine.
This medieval looking espresso maker looks like it can do quite a bit of damage. Modeled after the mace weapon of medieval times, the top part of the Etienne Louis coffee maker actually opens up, allowing you to add hot water to it. Brewing is pretty simple actually. Read more about this weird looking espresso maker at Luxury Insider
CoffeeGeek wrote about the Bodum coffee maker, which is about as basic as coffee makers get. It has a rubber grip that keeps you from burning your hands and a spout that prevents spills. It’s easy to use and to clean. But like French press coffee makers, this machine requires a coarser ground, which can leave sediment in your coffee. All in all, its a simple, basic coffee maker. What’s even better is that since it’s glass, you can recycle it when you want to get rid of it.
The Aerobie Aeropress coffee maker is good for a few reasons. First, it makes coffee incredibly fast because water and the grounds mix together for about 10 seconds. It then uses gently air pressure to push the mixture through the filter, taking only 30 seconds to brew your cup of coffee. Apparently “total immersion” of the coffee bean and the quick brewing time, in addition to the low temperature result in a smooth cup of coffee without the acid and bitterness of coffee brewed in a regular coffee maker.
If you’re interested in ice brewed coffee, the Coffee Snob Cold Drip Coffee Maker. Similar to the Aeropress Aerobie, coffee makeryields a smoother, less acidic brew because it uses cold water. Brewing coffee with cold water eliminates the undesirable oils and acids found in hot-brewed coffee that are not extracted at low temperatures.
I don’t really want to stare at two naked aliens brewing my coffee, but whatever floats your boat, I guess. Designed by Guido Venturini, this stylish and easy to use Inka French press coffee maker is definitely unique. These little coffee machines go for about $88 a piece.
The Imo coffee maker is pretty cutting-edge. It dramatically reduces the size and completely reinvents the shape of a traditional coffee maker. It was created by designer Alisson Wilson Ströher. It was designed to push the boundaries of design and function. It’s able to make coffee with a very small, un-noticeable water reservoir. What’s really cool is that it’s arm can extend and retract as seen in the picture.It only costs about $130.
Ok, so your coffee maker is broken and you need a little caffeine boost. Don’t worry pilgrim, making your own cup of coffee is simple if you follow these easy instructions. American cowboys are known as rugged outdoorsmen. The iconic image of a cowboy is with his horse beside a campfire in a desert valley. Being the tough guys that they were, they could whip up a cup of coffee with the bare essentials, a saucepan, water, and coffee beans. Here’s how you can do the same.
If you’re just making coffee for yourself, grab an old saucepan, and fill it with two cups of water. You’re going to add four or
five tablespoons of ground coffee for every two cups of water. Boil the water and then quickly take the pan off the stove. Then you’re going to let the grounds naturally settle to the bottom of the pan, which shouldn’t take more than five minutes. Next, you carefully pour the water into a cup, and whala, you have a cup of cowboy coffee! To make it even more fun, make it over a real fire.
The Original Cowboy Coffee is done like this:
4 quarts water
1 1/2 cups freshly ground coffee
1 egg shell
1/2 cup cold water
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan or coffee pot. Add coffee
grounds and egg shell to boiling water. Return to a boil, then remove
from heat and let stand for 2 minutes. Slowly add cold water to settle
grounds to the bottom. Strain if desired.
Useful Tips:
The key to any coffee is to make sure the water is hot, but doesn’t actually start boiling. Boiling might make the coffee bitter, so your best bet is to heat it enough so that the coffee grounds move throughout the water, without it actually boiling or bubbling violently.
I read a post online where someone asked what they can cook with a coffee maker. He moves around a lot and doesn’t want to buy a hotplate, he’d rather just use his coffee machine as a hotplate and cook something really fast. The responses were pretty funny, but essentially you can cook the following things on a coffee maker:
Ramen noodles
Macaroni and cheese
Frozen vegetables
Oatmeal
Canned soup
Rice
Hot cocoa
These are typical answers and you can easily imagine making them in a coffee maker if you were forced to live like a hobo for some reason. But what really threw me for a loop was the most creative answer… fish! Apparently, if you fire up your coffee maker, you can just melt some butter and place a thin piece of fish on the coffee warmer hot plate. Now if that isn’t a creative use of a coffee maker, I don’t know what is!
Here’s a list of unique coffee tables I read about the other day on a design blog I came across. There are 12 in total, but I’m showing the ones that struck me most.
This paper plane shaped coffee table is one of the most unique I’ve ever seen. Unless you have an ultra modern house, it probably won’t fit in with your current decor. Innovative nonetheless…
This coffee table is called the “Endless Nile”. It comes in white and a wood grain color and is just beautiful to look at.
This coffee table is really cool because it uses a technique of bending thin layers of wood veneer. It produces up to 10 times the amount of usable wood from a log. Not only is the design cutting edge, but so is the technique behind it.
What a great idea! An instant way to eliminate the clutter of coffee table books. You can easily store magazines and newspapers here too. I’d easily put this in my living room.
This coffee table would work great in a bachelor pad or college dorm room, but I’m sure my wife wouldn’t go for it. It’s still pretty cool.
This is one of the most chic coffee tables I’ve ever seen in my life. I would get it in an instant. The Virdo fireplace table only uses gelled ethanol fuel and produces a smokeless flame. Soooo cool.
This beautiful coffee table, called the Bone coffee table, is ideal for sitting on the floor as seen in the picture.
A little too ugly for me. No thanks…
This coffee table reminds me of a school desk. I can easily hide my books and magazines.
The Ferrari coffee table is ideal for Ferrari fans. It’s made for a BBS wheel with a Goodyear tire used by Michael Schumacher’s fleet in the 1997 F1 season.
Coffee makers keep getting cooler. From crystal studded coffee makers to touch screen coffee makers to voice activated coffee makers, manufacturers keep pushing the boundaries on design and usability. We’ve even written about foods that you can cook with a coffee machine on this blog from pasta to eggs to shrimp
But what about other things you can do with a coffee maker? Here’s a quick list of things you can do with a large 30 cup coffee maker:, especially at large gatherings:
Make Hot Cider: As the seasons change and the weather gets colder, hot cider is just the thing to keep yourself warm this winter. To make cider in a coffee maker you just need to remove the percolator stem and baskets and pour the cider into the canister. Add the desired amount of brown sugar and cinnamon and let it heat for an hour. Whala… hot cider in a coffee maker.
Cook Hot Dogs: Birthday parties and sleepovers aren’t the same without hot dogs, especially in the summer. The next time you have a bunch of kids over just throw some packages of hot dogs in your jumbo coffee maker. Cook them for about 30 minutes and you’re all set. That is if you like boiled dogs over grilled ones.
Drink Dispenser: Coffee makers aren’t just for hot drinks. Why not make lemonade or juice mix in your 30 cup coffee maker? As long as it’s unplugged it should be safe and your drinks will stay cool.
Hand Washing Station: I’ve been to plenty of picnics and outdoor gatherings where water to wash your hands was scarce. We resorted to using the water cooler to wash our hands before eating after a game of football. This is just a variation of that. You can fill the coffee maker with warm water and add a little soap. It might not be a bad idea to turn the coffee maker on and off intermittently. That way the water stays warm but never gets hot enough to burn someone.
Cooking at Camp: If you’re going camping, you could resort to one of those small portable coffee makers. Or you could really honor your coffee addiction and lug a huge coffee machine to cook for the entire camping crew. From pasta to soup to hot dogs to fish to warming water for instant oatmeal, the coffee maker is a perfect tool. If you’ve ever been camping in November, you know what I mean.
Wash Clothes: Ok, this is kind of helpful. Have you ever run out of socks and underwear at camp? The best way to get them clean quick is to heat up some water in a coffee maker, throw in a bit of soap and just let it simmer for a while. It probably wouldn’t hurt to open the coffee machine up and stir it around for a while. Why not put in some elbow grease and scrub them a bit. You probably won’t be able to use if for coffee later, but it sure beats being stuck without clean undies, doesn’t it?
What other creative uses for a coffee maker can you think of?
For those of us who sleep with a coffee maker on the night stand, this voice activated coffee maker is pretty handy. This cool coffee machine switches between manual and voice-activated at the touch of a button. It’s a standard 10 cup coffee maker and it uses a plastic filter. The filter is dishwasher safe and means you don’t have to keep buying disposable paper coffee filters. It’s companct stainless steel design fits in well with most modern kitchens and it’s moderately priced at $99 and available at Hammacher Schlemmer
Voice activated devices haven’t always worked as good as hoped, but the simple commands that this coffee maker should make it easy to work with. Unlike most other voice activated electronics, it talks back to you, confirming what you asked for. It’s ideal for the days when you just can’t wake up and have to hit the snooze button on your alarm. Maybe the smell of fresh coffee a few feet away is enough incentive to actually get up.
I visited my father the other day for dinner. When it was time for dessert, he asked if I wanted coffee so I said “yes”. When I drank it, it tasted a little different. It had the hazelnut cream and sugar taste I was expecting, but the flavor wasn’t quite the same. When we asked what it was, he told us he made black tea and added coffee creamer and sugar! Pakistani and Indian culture is known for its chai; tea brewed with half water and half milk, so he figured he was onto something here.
So when I read about red espresso, I had to laugh. Apparently it’s rooibos tea made into an espresso. You can make it in a regular espresso maker because it makes a crema like coffee espresso, except it has a deep red color, which can be attributed to the rooibos plant itself. Red espresso doesn’t have any of the caffeine of coffee and has almost ten times the antioxidants and minerals of coffee (and even regular rooibos tea because of the way it’s ground and prepared). Like traditional espresso, it can be used to make iced teas, shakes, mochas, etc.
Not sure if it’s your cup of tea, err, espresso, but it’s worth trying out.
We wrote about the touch screen coffee maker a few weeks ago and just stumbled across this cool little coffee mug. It’s a novel concept: email, stocks, weather, news, and traffic on your coffee mug. That’s what the Yuno PC mug promises. It was designed by California State’s Jason Farsai and got lots of coverage in tech blogs. Even though it’s a concept, and the fact that you can check the same info from your computer and cell phone, it’s pretty compelling just for novelty’s sake. How cool would it be if it played music too? Not sure if it’s on the market yet, but it’ll make a good gift and definitely be a conversation starter at the office.
This self-heating and self-stirring coffee cup is one of the more innovative devices I’ve seen in a while. Not only does it stir your coffee and keep at warm (about 40 degrees Celsius), but it’s USB powered and easily rechargeable. Available at usb.brando.com, it works at the push of a button. Just pour your coffee, cream and sugar then press a button and the lid will start stirring. It has adjustable settings: Stir, Heat, or Stir and Heat. It’s only $37 bucks, and if you’re trying to reduce the environmental impact of coffee, at you know you don’t need disposable cups, plastic stirrers, etc.
This company sells other cool USB related products like this coffee cup warmer as well. Again, it’s USB powered and acts as a 4 port USB hub. At $22, it also makes a unique gift.
This Tassimo coffee maker system is pretty innovative. Similar to coffee makers that use coffee pods, this machine uses “discs” with barcodes on them. The coffee machine will then read the barcode on each disc and adjust the amount of water, brewing time, and temperature to the specific blend. Because the brewing happens in a mini-brewing chamber inside the disc itself, and because it’s a single serve coffee makeryou can rapidly make drinks, one after another, with barely any cleanup. The discs come in a variety of flavors from Arabica coffee, tea, chocolate beverages, etc. Here’s a link to a demo of this ingenious device.
You probably already know that of the 2 million weddings that take place each year in the US, coffee makers are hands down the most popular gift, even if the couple isn’t necessarily known for drinking coffee. While we didn’t get a coffee maker for our wedding, we did eventually sign up for a Gevalia membership, and we aren’t even coffee drinkers! Either way, since coffee makers are such a popular item
Whether you’re buying a coffee maker as a gift or for yourself, you have more choices than ever before, including combination machines and high-quality models that can control the variables of brewing to extract the maximum flavor and aroma hout of the coffee beans. With the dizzying amount of features, here are a few tips to make it easier to choose your next coffee machine:
Look for a vacuum thermal carafe, it will keep your coffee hot for hours without the cooked taste that results from a glass pot kept on a warming plate.
Consider 10-cup machines that have a special 3- to 4-cup brewing cycle. Many people find that smaller machines are too hard to tweak to get the perfect taste and temperature. Alternatively you can think about coffee pod machines or single serve coffee makers that use a single coffee pod to make just one cup of coffee at a time. They’re a real time saver and are extremely popular.
Think espresso. A high-quality espresso machine can make delicious gourmet-quality, pressure-brewed coffee as well as a variety of your favorite espresso-based drinks. Some of the more noteworthy ones include the BMW espresso maker, the smallest espresso maker, and the eco friendly espresso maker.
Since the coffee maker is showcased on the counter and the carafe is an important serving piece in your dining room, look for coffee makers that offer stylish designs with high-quality materials such as stainless steel. May we suggest the “iced out” coffee maker or possibly the Buggati coffee maker to kick up your style?
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