Coffee usually tastes better with freshly ground beans. But, if it's not ground appropriately the coffee will taste off. The key to understanding how to grind coffee has to do with knowing how you're going to brew it. The grinding and brewing processes are connected.
Posts with tag Coffee
Tip of the Day: Grind your coffee to maximize its flavor
Continue reading Tip of the Day: Grind your coffee to maximize its flavor
Latte art: Is it the same if it comes from a machine?
The gorgeous, perfect swirls on top of a latte are an art form. It never ceases to amaze me what a good latte artist can make with the sinfully good coffee drink. But just like pretty much everything in history, a machine is here to up the ante.
The Kitchn has posted a look at a latte printer, one that can give you pretty much whatever art you want on your latte -- from crisp lettering to winged horses. While it's certainly a neat idea, it just isn't the same. What's so wow-worthy about a machine that makes the art? The real jaw-dropping comes from the perfection attained by hand.
But what do you think? Weigh in below!
The New York Times Dining & Wine section in 60 seconds: Snobbery, specialty coffee, slow-cooked beans
Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter picks up his second restaurant, Monkey Bar. His first, the Waverly Inn, has been luring a high wattage crowd for two years, despite not being officially open.
L.A.'s fast food moratorium raises questions about choice and personal responsibility.
The Minimalist makes chapati, Indian flat bread.
A recipe for slow-cooked green beans.
Eric Asimov sips the crisp white wines of Spain.
Specialty coffee roasters hit New York.
Coffee to Tea Convert Contest
Are you a writer who also enjoys tea? There's a contest going on over at Felicitea that offers an opportunity to showcase your writing talents for free tea and other prizes. There's only about a week left, so don't waste any time if you read about the contest and want to participate!Here's the overview, straight from Felicitea's site:
Write: We're looking for poetry, prose, whatever you like. Feel free to haiku or make up a limerick, or write out a concise little paragraph. Just write about tea and it's relationship to you, your friend, or your last cup of coffee.
We want to connect new drinkers to tea, convert a coffee drinker (or other non-tea drinking people) or two over (at least get them to try good tea!) and reconnect tea lovers with what it is they love about tea.
- Tea drinkers it is your responsibility to help the coffee drinkers of the world. You are charged with helping them understand the joy of tea. If you are a convert tell your story. If you love tea, but still enjoy an occasional cup of coffee it's okay, but what about the tea keeps you coming back to the pot all day? Share with the Internets why they should kick that coffee habit. If you have a friend you're nominating, be specific.
- Coffee/Non-tea drinkers this is your chance to tell us why you drink coffee (or something else) instead of tea. This is your chance to tell all us tea drinkers what it is that makes you go for the espresso instead of the Earl Grey. Did you have a bad tea bag experience? Convinced all green tea is bitter? Are you willing to give it a shot but don't know where to start?
Slashfood Ate (8): Gourmet coffee at home
This recent post about Starbucks - as with most posts about Starbucks - caused the typical coffee cacophony over price and quality. Although I happen to like Starbucks just fine, I certainly appreciate a good homemade cup. Unfortunately, quality espresso machines are pricey and people rarely use them enough to meet their ROI ('Fess up: How many of you have a schmancy DeLonghi at home, but still go to Starbucks every day?). As a veteran barista (of both indie and corporate coffeehouses), I've come up with a stock of supplies to help make gourmet coffee at home.
Espresso drinks:
- Moka pot (like this one from Bialetti): Many Italians still brew their espresso the old-fashioned way -- on the stovetop. The pot steeps espresso grounds in boiling water until the bubbles force the creamy coffee into the top of the Moka. Pour it out, and there's your shot.
- Milk Frother (like this one from Aerolatte): This bad boy has a high-speed whisker that whips any kind of milk into foamy shape. (For a cappuccino, use half steamed milk/half foam; for a latte, use mainly steamed milk, with a layer of foam on top).
Coffee: Suddenly, it's good for you!
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Over the years, I've had a love/hate relationship with coffee. On the one hand, when I worked in a cafe/bakery, the free, unlimited chocolate-covered espresso beans made it a lot easier to bake bread all night. On the other hand, when I developed acid reflux, coffee was the first thing that had to go. Over the years, I've repeatedly reunited with coffee, only to leave it again a few months later. Between warnings about digestion, blood pressure, and various other problems, I've learned to fight my deep love of the beloved elixir, settling instead for water or tea. Right now, I'm drinking one or two cups a day, which seems to be working well, although I have to fight my feelings of guilt and fear with every sip.Recently, however, a 24-year study by the University of Madrid has given me hope that coffee and I might be able to enjoy a rich, guilt-free relationship. According to Esther Lopez-Garcia, the lead researcher, the scientists have discovered that up to six cups of coffee per day may have a positive effect on one's health. According to their data, coffee seems to lower the chances of heart disease and other illnesses.
The study, which followed the coffee-drinking habits 84,214 American women from 1980 to 2004 and 41,736 American men from 1986 to 2004 showed clear linkages between reduced heart disease and coffee consumption, although it was also clear that decaf had almost the same results as caffeinated coffee. Although I won't be able to drink the full six cups of coffee that the study seems to endorse, it's nice to know that my little 2-cup habit may actually be good for me. The only question remaining is what I'll use to toast the researchers: French Roast or something a little milder?
Slashfood Ate (8): Cooking with Coffee
Man alive! I've been so busy drinking all of the coffee within a 10 block radius that I didn't even notice 2008's greatest trend: Cooking with coffee! Though long favored for desserts (such as the awe-inspiring, diabetic-coma-inducing Doughnuts and Coffee Cupcakes from Cupcakeblog.com, above), coffee had never really struck me as a viable ingredient for sauces, marinades, crusts and the like. But apparently, people are pilin' on the Columbian grounds like it's freakin' salt'n'pepper. Below, eight recipes I intend to take black:
Starbucks is bringing back the "burnt" coffee
There seems to be a lot of Starbucks news over the last few months. Here's some more, anyway.
It seems that Starbucks not everyone was happy about the switch to the Pike Place roast coffees. The Consumerist reports that the coffee chain got a lot of requests for consumers for the older, stronger roast coffees. Apparently some people likened the old roast style as having a burnt flavor, while the new Pike Place roast is much milder.
Anyway, the public demanded and Starbucks has conceded. They'll begin selling both varieties of coffee in stores that make fresh coffee all day. So if you're going to Starbucks for a leisurely weekend coffee, you can have your pick between the old and the new.
Boston Globe in 60 seconds: Cake, cafes, and Cook Farm ice cream
- How does your favorite cafe roast their beans? What beans go best with which roasting methods? (article complete with eerily magnified photo of coffee bean that looks more like...well, you figure it out)
- Grandpa's Dribble Cake is no easy task: two layers of cake and two kinds of frosting make this a daunting - but rewarding - task
- In the Boston area? In the mood for some ripe, juicy strawberries? Here's where to find 'em
- Forget vanchocstraw - instead, get a load of these Cook Farm family ice cream recipes: apple-blueberry crisp; coconut with chocolate and almonds; and - why not? - asparagus
- Organic spirits continue to gain popularity, so you can drink with a clear conscience
- Want to teach your old dog new tricks? Try one with homemade sauerkraut, or even pineapple
- A father, his road to chef-dom, and a really awesome recipe for fig, pear, caramelized onion and blue cheese pizza
Green Daily in 60 seconds: Bugs in cans, BioBags and bad burgers
- Do plants have rights? Yes, if Switzerland has anything to say about it
- A sweet BioBag discovery
- Some organic food options for your furry friends
- Brits throw about about 1/3 of all their food
- Want to volunteer on an organic farm? Here's how
- Vegan bodybuilding: yes, it exists
- More reasons to be wary of seafood (or to go vegetarian)
- Bizarre food news: China grows huge food in outer space; ready-to-eat bugs
- Is your twice-a-day cheeseburger habit contributing to climate change?
- Good news for eco-friendly coffee growers
- Apples getting a little soft? Here's how to use them up
- What's your favorite ketchup company doing to stay green?
- Grow your food in a box
Are coffee cuppings the new wine tastings?
There's a pretty interesting story in the New York Times about the prevalence of coffee "cuppings" - basically wine tastings for java, minus the spitting. Aficionados sit around discussing different roasts, trying to find the right words to describe the subtle flavors of a cup of Kenyan or Guatemalan roast.
Now, I drink coffee every day, usually multiple cups, black. Aside from water, it's probably the single consumable I have most regularly. But while I can certainly taste the difference between the watery, acidic, sewage brown stuff sold in most gas stations and a good French roast, that's about where it ends. When people tell me they drive half an hour for special beans or they 'hate' the (to me) perfectly ordinary cappuccinos at my local cafe, I just shrug. I mean, I'm willing to believe that other people have the ability to discern flavors I can't sense. But is a bag of beans from a single farm lot discernibly different than beans from a handful of farms in the same region? In a town with dozens of independent coffee shops, is it really plausible that one has the absolute 'best' coffee?
What do you think? Do you have sensitive coffee palates?
Eight types of annoying people at Starbucks
Do you visit Starbucks on a regular basis? If you do, you might notice one or more of the type of patron that Holy Taco names in its list of annoying Starbucks customers.I'm not a big coffee drinker, and I hate to sound pretentious, but I have been against the coffee chain since I was a teenager and I rarely go into one of their stores (though my parents love, love, love the place). What I'm trying to say is that I wouldn't be able to spot these customers at Starbucks, though, after reading the list you could say that it applies to customers in general.
The list is pretty funny. My favorite is the person getting coffee for the office, but because I absolutely hate that person. Also, the person making a complicated order and then expecting it, like, two minutes ago was particularly entertaining. If this kind of thing concerns you, there is some foul language in the post, so be forewarned. All in all, though, an amusing way to start your Sunday morning, and hey, maybe you can be on the lookout for types on the list.
Passion for Coffee, Cookbook of the Day
My passion for coffee has been well documented here on Slashfood. While I drink it every morning, I find that I don't often cook with it (other than when I put instant coffee in Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies). However, Patricia McCausland-Gallo's new book, Passion for Coffee is beginning to make me thing that I should change my ways. I always appreciate it when cookbook authors take the time to write a little something about why they chose to pursue the topic at hand. I look at it as their opportunity to gain my trust. If they seem genuine and honest in that introduction, then I can dig into the cookbook with a sense that they are a reliable source about baking, barbecue, or in this case, coffee. And from the looks of it, McCausland-Gallo is an extremely reliable source when it comes to all things coffee.
One of terrific things about this book is that it doesn't just deal with the sweet coffee confections (although the recipes for the sweet stuff look delicious. I think my first recipe stop will be the Pecan Coffee Tart on page 86). There are also a number of recipes for savory dishes like Flank Steak with Wine-Balsamic Glaze and Cornish Game Hem with Blackberry-Coffee Sauce. All in all, it has a number of yummy recipes and if you are a coffee fanatic, it might be a good volume for you to check out.
Buy some Green Mountain coffee for the "Goodall" of the chimps
Do you remember Jane Goodall and her work with chimpanzee's in Africa? Well, she's still out there, fighting for those primates and their habitat in Tanzania. Now she's partnered with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.
They've unveiled the first in a new line of products that will come with Jane's seal of approval, Tanzanian Gombe Reserve Coffee. It's made from beans, as the name implies, from in and around the Gombe reserve in Tanzania, which is where she has done all of her research on chimps.
The new coffee came from an effort to improve the lives of people around the preserve by turning them onto cultivating their land instead of clear cutting it. Jane Goodall hopes that by improving the lives of the people, the lives and habitat of the chimps will also be saved.
The coffee should be sold in major grocery chains. If you see some, consider buying some in order to help save vital habitat in Africa. I love that: coffee with a heart.
[Via AdFreak]
Woman fired for giving "Timbit" to toddler
The woman, an employee of a Tim Hortons coffee and donut chain in Toronto, gave a fussy toddler the tiny, 16-cent donut (called a "Timbit") to eat, and was promptly fired by her overzealous manager.The woman said she would have paid for the donut, but the store was busy and she had to work.
As soon as Tim Hortons' corporate offices heard of the firing, they quickly issued a statement that the firing was a mistake (it was implied that the woman was re-hired).
Seriously, though: who would want to go back and work for that maniac? Whatever happened to the customer coming first?
Hopefully, the woman will be able to get away from the boss with the anger management issues, and get a better job. Like at the local IHOP.
Chocolate-stuffed bananas on the grill
Tyler Florence welcomes new daughter
Beware kids' menus!
