Cost of coffee

Coffee sometimes has a bad rap for costing so much, but why is that? The process for getting coffee to your shelves of cafe cup is a long one that adds to the price. I've explained it here in a podcast:


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Top Five Fun Facts

A lot of information on this blog is educational (such as the history and types of coffee) and that can get a little boring. How about I spice it up with the top five fun facts about coffee! Everyone loves fun facts, you can share them and impress your friends, or just feel a little more well-rounded.

1. There is a lethal does of caffeine. A person hits that limit at about 100 cups of coffee. No, time does not slow down like in the Futurama episode, although that would be cool.

2. Coffee is psychoactive. If you drink too much, you could start to see things and become delusional.

3. Coffee is the second most traded product on Earth. It's only behind oil.

4. Hawaii is the only US state that commercially grows coffee.

5. The first ever webcam was invented...for coffee! At the University of Cambridge, students of the Computer Science department invented the webcam to monitor if the lounge coffee pot was full or not.

Coffee for gifting

The holidays are right around the corner...like 30 days around the corner. Eep! With about half of American's consuming a good amount of coffee, it's safe to assume that some of your friends and family drink coffee. I found the top five gift ideas (that aren't a gift-card or bag of coffee) that will keep your loved ones caffeinated.

5. Awesome and personal coffee mug - each person has their own style and taste, why not get them a mug that reflects that? There are thousands of mug designs that you can choose from, from funny to retro, to classic crude. The link goes to a list of popular funny ones. (Here)

4. Milk frother - If you have someone that loves lattes or cappuccinos, then this might be perfect. It's a small kitchen device that you put into warm/hot milk and it adds air to make the foam on top of popular drinks. (I personally have one and LOVE it). (Here)

3. Just Right Joe Temperature Regulators - These little beauties are awesome, throw a couple into your cup of coffee and they cool it down to 140 degrees (widely considered the best coffee temperature) and can keep your coffee warm. (Here)

2. Coffee plant - Have a gardener in the family? Think about buying them their very own coffee plant to grow. If they have a green thumb, they can actually harvest coffee cherries off of the plant. (Here)

1. Gold plated coffee filter - I know, just sounds fancy reading it. It is in fact gold plated (but still within budgets), but you'll never need another paper filter again. Gold filters out impurities in water and coffee while it brews. (Here)

Coffee Around the World

If you ever get the chance to travel, first off, always take the chance, and second, know what is good and what to order. Each country and region of the World has it's own version of the perfect coffee drink. Whether it be coffee with ice or just cream, or a little fancier, it's different from place to place. A couple counties even like something a little stronger added in (Italy and Germany).

I found an info-graphic about local favorites for a few countries:

DIY coffee scrub

Hello all! Today I tried something new and wanted to use the coffee grounds from a previous post, in a new way. I was inspired to try making a home-made coffee hand scrub and it turned out great! The ingredients might be stuff you have around the house right now!

All you need is:
1/4 cup of canola oil (or olive oil)
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tbs. coffee grounds (dry or used) and
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, then store in an air tight container. (how easy is that?!)
To use, apply liberally to damp hands and scrub in, then rinse off.

My top cafes in Topeka

There are many different places to get coffee here in Topeka (or wherever you are!) but my top three I mapped out for you.

1. The always popular Starbucks. I enjoy their refreshing iced coffee and changing holiday drinks (go try the Chestnut Praline! YUM.)

2. Blackbird Espresso Bar & Bistro. This is a cozy little cafe that serves delicious soups and coffee drinks. A personal favorite here is a cinnamon cafe ole.

3. World Cup Espresso. This is a college favorite. The atmosphere in here is unique and interesting. Their signature drink is the Snowball, white chocolate and caramel (and now you can add peanut butter to that as well.) espresso drink.




Let me know if you go out and try these places or what is your favorite cafe? What's your favorite drink there that I should go try?

Coffee Grounds

In the spirit of environmentalism, did you know that there are awesome ways to use left over coffee grounds? After you've had your lovely cup of coffee, save those grounds for a new way to use them! Or if there is a type of coffee that's expired or you didn't like it, you can grind it up and use the dry grounds as well. Here are a few different ways to use them:

Credit: http://www.coffeexperts.eu/wp-content/uploads
/2012/08/Coffee-grounds.jpg

Used coffee grounds:

• As a composer. Add used coffee grounds to you compost pile because there are minerals in the coffee that speed up the decomposing process.
• As fertilizer. Add some used coffee grounds to your outdoor garden or indoor plants because they contain potassium and nitrogen which helps perks up plants!
• Household scrub. Mix with cleaner or on their own and because grounds are an abrasive, they can help clean pans or stove-tops.

New coffee grounds:

• Deodorizer. Set a bowl of clean grounds in the back of the refrigerator or freezer and it will help take care of gross smells. You can also wrap some grounds in cheesecloth and hang in a closet to help with smells as well.
• Exfoliater. Add a few grounds to lotion or body wash and it helps slough off dead and/or dry skin.
• Natural bug repellent. Sprinkle some in your gardens or around your social areas outside to ward off bugs that don't like strong smells.

I have used coffee grounds as a deodorizer and exfoliater before and they work amazingly! At work we used the espresso grounds to wash our hands before throwing it away, it help makes our skin softer and since coffee can be absorbed through the skin, it also gives a little perk up.

Eating coffee

I hope by this point in the blog, I have convinced you to drink more (or even just try!) coffee and find a new appreciation for the bean. With the holidays coming up, why not try to incorporate coffee into your Thanksgiving after meal, or Christmas treats? The most popular and well known coffee dessert is tiramisu, but it's not the only one!

I'll post an easy recipe first for decedent coffee fudge. Yum!

Ingredients:
1-14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1-12 ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Heat the condensed milk in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add the instant coffee to the warm condensed milk.
3. Add the chocolate chips and stir until completely melted, but not too long else the mixture will scorch.
4. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

(credit to: http://www.cooktj.com/node/2494 for the recipe)

This is a perfect recipe that is quick and simple and would be excellent to show off to your family for the holidays.

Let me know how your fudge turns out!

Caffeine and the body

Now that you how caffeine effects your brain, what about your body? There's the obvious effects such as increased heart rate, easier breathing, shakiness, and increased energy and alertness.

Credit: http://www.ivy-rose.co.uk/HumanBodyScience-Images/
Effects-of-caffeine-on-the-body_400w.png

There is also the non-obvious effects: the health pros and cons.

PROS:

• Lower the risk for diabetes
• Lower the risk for heart disease
• Increase your metabolism rate

CONS:

• Can cause anxiety 
• Raises blood pressure
• It can make you dehydrated
• It blocks the absorption of vitamins

Want more information? Visit this FDA site for information.

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/UCM200805.pdf

Glorious Caffeine

Coffee has a lot of caffeine. That's why most people are addicted, and why some refuse to drink it.

My personal stance is bring on the caffeine! I am very pro-caffeine and consume about 250+ mg per day. I have drank so much coffee for so long, that I can drink it before bed and still pass out.

Caffeine is wonderful because it keeps you awake, increases adrenaline, and makes you feel happy. I found a cute video to explain this further.

Ignore the ad for books at the end, unless you need school books.

Tea time

Coffee's older cousin is tea. It's been brewed for centuries. There are hundreds of different types and flavors, but they all fall under six regular categories: Green, White, Oolong, Black, Herbal, and Rooibos.

From left: Black, rooibos, herbal, green, white teas.
Credit: http://www.teasentials.com/images/IMG_05572.jpg

Green tea: One of the oldest teas in the world, it was discovered in China, it is the most popular tea choice in the world. The tea has a low caffeine level. It is great iced or hot. Also wonderful mixed with flavors such as lemon, mint, or peach.

White tea: White tea is not fermented at all, which makes it look so light in the cup. It has virtually no caffeine. It can be mixed with lavender, violet, or fruit pieces to make a wonderful cup of tea.

Oolong tea: Oolong was also discovered in China, but the flavor profile is different because the tea is bruised after picking and the leaves are fermented. The caffeine in oolong is very low. It also is great mixed with a chai blend.

Herbal tea: Herbal tea is made from dried flowers, fruits, and herbs. They are mixed together so when they're steeped the flavors mix. Herbal tea blends have no caffeine in them which makes for a great cup right before bed. The most popular herbal blend is a chamomile tea.

Rooibos tea: Rooibos tea is made from the African red bush. The leaves are picked and fermented. Rooibos (pronounced Roo-e-bous) is a great tea to be mixed with herbal teas such as flowery or fruit based. It is caffeine free.

Black tea: The most popular tea in the US. It is a fully fermented tea. It does have quiet a bit of caffeine in it. It is great hot or iced and mixed with just about any flavor. The typical sweet tea is made from the base of black tea.

Have you ever tried tea? What was your favorite?
I'm partial to herbal teas because I love the flowery taste.

If you'd like to learn more about tea, you can visit one of the largest tea re-sellers - Teavana: http://www.teavana.com/tea-info/types-of-tea

No coffee? No problem!

What if you don't like coffee? That's okay! There are many different options for the non-java junkies out there who want to get their caffeine fix, if you go to a coffee shop or not.

If you aren't going to a coffee shop, there is regular options such as soda, tea, green coffee based drinks, energy drinks, or even semi-sweet chocolate has a little caffeine!

If you are going to a coffee shop, most have both iced and hot teas. Some tea has caffeine, but some do not. (I will address types of tea and caffeine levels in a later post). A very popular coffee shop that has a store everywhere in the world, has a green coffee based drink that tastes like a fruit juice. It has almost as much caffeine as a cup of coffee. Most mocha based syrups have a tiny bit of caffeine in them, so a cup a hot chocolate has a slight zing.

There's also a few options if you want to go out, that don't have any caffeine in them at all. There's lemonade, non-caffeinated tea, apple cider (try caramel apple spice at Starbucks during the fall, it's amazing!), and smoothies. All are great options if you're trying to avoid caffeine or getting a drink for a child.

Creative Ways to Brew

The last post was the common ways to make coffee at home, but what about those cool gadgets at that wonderful home store (you know what it is)? If you would like to impress your friends or feel like a real coffee connoisseur, maybe try one of these three methods.

1. Vacuum Pot - There are two chambers, a lower and upper. Coffee grounds are placed in the upper, and water in the lower. As the water is heated, it's pulled into the grounds on the top, thena s the water cools, it filters out of the grounds back into the lower chamber as coffee.

Vacuum Pot
Credit: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/30/
best-coffee-brewing-method_n_5233438.html

2. Aeropress - A very cool gadget that uses hot water, grounds, and air pressure to make your cup of coffee. Simply place the aeropress onto of your cup, add grounds, hot water and then the 'plunger' and begin to press down. The air pressure forces the first stage of coffee out of the beans without the oils.

How to make that java at home

There are many different ways to brew coffee at home to make it feel like you're having a fancy cup at a cafe. You don't necessarily have to go out to get your fix.  Below are the top 3 most common at home brew methods.

Top 3 brew at home methods for coffee:

1. Standard coffee maker (like a 12 cup Mr. Coffee maker) or a single cup coffee maker (like a Keurig). This is the most common and easiest in the brew methods because the standard coffee makers are so cheap, and the single serve is so easy.

Single serve coffee maker
Credit: http://mr-coffee-espresso-machine.
applianceschoice.com/keurig-k140-coffee-maker-and/

Standard coffee maker
Credit: www.viewpoints.com

2. French Press coffee - While this one is slightly more difficult, it is not so much so that it would be discouraging. Just place coffee grounds and boiling water into the french press device, wait a few minutes, press the filter down and you get a fresh brewed cup of coffee!

What does your java say about you?

I stumbled on a fun post from en.ilovecoffee.jp in which they stated that there was a experiment where 1000 people were tested to see what they drink and related it to that person's personality. Here's ilovecoffee's info-graphic.

According to them, because I enjoy lattes I like to please people and I am indecisive. I suppose that is slightly true. Although there are a few drinks that are missing on here. It's still fun. Is your favorite drink listed? If so, does it fit into your personality?

All Types of Fancy

Now that you should know where the coffee and beans come from, we'll look at the types of drinks you can make. There's a ton of combinations of tasty coffee beverages. A few popular ones are lattes, cappuccinos, and just brewed coffee.

83% of adults drink some type of coffee every single day in the US. Most of those households own their own coffee brewer at home and drink regular brewed coffee. Some add cream, some add sugar, some just like it plain. Brewed coffee is wonderful in its own right. It's the fuel that almost everyone needs. If you have any questions about how to make brewed coffee, please shoot me a message or comment.

The next step up from brewed coffee is getting into fancy drinks made with coffee. A cafe au lait (also known as a misto) is half brewed coffee and half steamed milk of any type, and sometimes a flavored syrup. (One of my favorite versions of this is medium roast coffee, vanilla soy milk, and a bit of cinnamon.)

Next are drinks made with espresso (do make sure to pronounce this right, it is spelled and pronounced with a 'c' and not an 'x'). There are a lot of options in this category.

Credit: annystudio.com

• Espresso - One shot of 30 ml (just over 1 ounce) of espresso.
• Dopio - Two shots (2 ounces or 560 ml) of espresso.
• Latte- Espresso with steamed milk and about a quarter inch of milk foam.
• Cappuccino - Espresso with steamed milk and 1-2 inches of milk foam.
• Mocha - Espresso with steamed milk and chocolate (usually sauce mixed into the drink). 
• Americano - Espresso and hot water (similar to coffee, but stronger taste.)
• Macchiato - One or two shots of espresso topped with a dollop of milk foam.

Any of the above drinks can be mixed with syrup, whipped cream, or spices to make other drinks such as a vanilla latte or dopio campana (two shots of espresso and topped with whipped cream).

Roasty Toasty

Coffee beans have to be cooked before they can be in your morning cup of joe. But did you know that there are different levels of coffee that all taste different? There is actually about 12 different roast levels and each of them come with their own distinct flavors.

I'm going to only focus on the three typical roast levels that are popular.

1. Light/Cinnamon
2. Medium/City
3. Dark/Italian/French

Credit - http://www.roberttimms.com/PurelyCoffee/
FromBeantoCup/tabid/89/Default.aspx

The photo above also includes the first stage that is not roasted, green level beans.

1. Light/Cinnamon roast coffee is the first stage of roasting. The flavor is very light but also very acidic as the acids haven't been cooked out of the beans yet. It also is still very hard, so it has a grain like flavor.

2. Medium/City roast coffee is the singular most popular roast in the US. Most coffee sold in packages in the grocery store. It's also known as a house roast. Still slightly acidic, but not overly so.

3. Dark/Italian/French roast is a darker roast. It is the lowest in acidic flavor and because it's a dark roast, there is a bittersweet taste. This is the second most popular roast in the US. French and Italian roasts are the most famous types of this bean.

Once a bean surpasses the dark level, it moves into espresso which is what you would get in lattes and the Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Where does it all come from?

With so much coffee being consumed from around the world, where do all the pounds of coffee beans come from? The answer is...duh, duh, duh...the coffee belt! No, it's not a fashion accessory but a slice of the world where conditions are just right to grow coffee plants. There are about 65 different countries that are included in this area.

Credit: http://www.quickbrownfox.co.nz/
wp-content/uploads/coffee_belt.jpg

There are two main types of coffee plants: Arabica and Robusta. Some countries grow all Arabica, some only grow Robusta, and some grow both. There are two countries that product more than their share, which is Brazil and Vietnam. There is a distinct flavor difference between the two types although depending on the roast (which I will go over in another post), some people might not be able to tell. 

Arabica coffee is the most popular worldwide because it has such a light and aromatic flavor. It does have less caffeine. Arabica coffee berries are predominately grown in Brazil, which produces 45% of Arabica beans. Arabica beans also have a high acidity to them and can have floral, berry, or sweet notes.

Robusta is the other popular type of coffee plant. This one is not as popular as Arabica for drinking, but does make it's way into cups frequently. Robusta coffee beans are darker in flavor and are usually a little bitter and more grain-like. The main growing region for Robusta is Vietnam, which produces about 39% of Robusta beans.

Credit: http://www.agritech.tnau.ac.in/horticulture/images/
plantation/coffee/coffee/coffee1.jpg

There are dozens of sub-categories of types of beans based on where the bean was grown and the change in flavor profiles. A couple of examples are Ethiopian Arabica or Sumatra Robusta. These sub-categories have a slightly similar taste, but different flavors.

Going back. Way, way back.

Where did coffee start, you may ask. It is such an staple part of many people's days, but not many stop to think about where the bean started.

It started a long time ago. Over 1000 years ago, in 900 AD, with a little goatherd named Kaldi. Kaldi noticed his goats acting more energize when they ate the berries off of a certain bush and tried them himself. The result was that he felt more awake himself. He brought this knowledge to the monks in his area and they are credited with being the first to grind and add hot water to the beans. Thus creating the first official cup of coffee.

Fast forward 500 years to around 1500-1600 and coffee beans had taken over the Middle East. In Yemen the coffee beans were first roasted to give the slightly burnt and dark flavor they have now. The first coffee houses began to spring up in the Arabian world where men would go to play games and drink coffee. Around 1600, the beans began to travel to Europe.

Europe accepted the drink at first and it spread like wildfire. By the mid-1600's there were coffee houses as far West as London and Paris. They became birthplaces of ideas. The London Stock Exchange was brainstormed at such a place. There was such a high demand, that more countries joined to grow the beans. The Dutch smuggled coffee sprouts from the Middle East and began to grow them locally. They became the first country to be an export for coffee beans.

Alas, in 1727 Brazil took down the giant Dutch and would soon become the world leader in the export. This move became the pentacle for coffee to go from a rich-man's drink to an everyday drink.

Fast forward another 200 years, during which time the espresso machine was invented (1900), instant coffee was invented (1901), the German's discovered decaffeinate (1900), and coffee filters were invented (1908). Coffee finally broke into the US mass market in 1938 right before WWII with instant coffee.

The rest is history. A lot of information, and a lot of years packed into a little post. Coffee has gone through so much to get from the goatherd to your cup. A journey of over 1000 years.

Crazy coffee lover introduction

Hello and welcome to my new blog! I'm Shauna. I've loved coffee since I was 13 and drink the stuff every day. I've turned my passion into work and I have worked as a barista in a couple different coffee shops for about three years now. I have a passion for the bean that I would love to share.

My favorite drink is either iced coffee with cinnamon and skim milk, or a regular cup of coffee with sweet cream creamer. What's yours?

In this blog I would like to share my experiences, tips, and tricks for anyone with a budding passion or interest in coffee to the next level

"I don't know how people live without coffee, I really don't." - Martha Quinn