"java" news and stories

Who ever said coffee should be restricted to bleary mornings and lingering after-dinner drinks? Whipping up some caffeinated dishes with java gives the bean a starring role.

Read on after the jump for ideas to help put coffee on your plate.

Whether you grow it, sell it or drink it, coffee is now more than just a hobby or your favorite drink - it's also your ticket to new friends, new information and a serious gateway to procrastination.

I'm referring to Barista Exchange and Barista Connection, two new additions to the sorta-recent explosion of social networking sites. But unlike Facebook and MySpace, these two cater to a specific audience, and the content revolves around everything java.

On Barista Exchange, you create a profile (first, define yourself by any number of coffee-related personas, including a barista, a farmer, or simply an enthusiast), and then gain access to thousands of similar-minded peeps. The name of the site describes one of its primary features: members can use their connections to facilitate an actual coffee exchange, which consists of baristas changing places for a week or so to experience the coffee culture in each others' city.

At the bar, shake up a Golden Orange Sake-Tini, Java Mojo and sip the Wine Pick Of The Week, a 2004 Torres Coronas Tempranillo, making sure to note How To ... Store wine better.

In the kitchen, the Seattle PI is quick cooking Quick Moussaka and seven different recipes, one for each day of the busy week, including Salmon with Lemon Olive Oil Sauce and Walnut-crusted Drumsticks. There's also a recipe for Catalan Fish Stew.

Ballerina Brunson doesn't give up good food for her art.

Even if you're not a real barista, you can pretend at home with Barista: The Game. Discovery Bay Games calls it "a strategic game of fresh-brewed fun," and it may be for the amateurs out there. But let's admit it: for hardcore baristas, we all know it's so much more than that. Like a bartender playing a drinking game, or a chef playing Wii Cooking Mama, it's a chance to show off your skills and prove yourself once and for all amongst your comrades.

For $14.95, you can roll the dice and flip the cards to "make" drink orders - but beware of fellow players spilling your drink or messing up your order! And don't get your hopes up when you win Barista of the Month, because with another card draw, your store can just as easily be sued for serving its coffee too hot.

Essentially, Barista is a card game, so you'll have to test your trivia and actual knowledge elsewhere (for a full list of rules, click here). But it's a cute idea, and a fun way to pass the time, for baristas and wannabes alike.

A group of scientists at Nestlé Research in Switzerland have come up with a machine that will rapidly taste and rate as many as eight different kinds of espresso. The ratings, they say, will be as accurate as if tasted by...well, actual people.

According to an article in Live Science, the machine analyzes the gases released by the espresso, and then interprets the data as "cocoa," "citrus," or "toffee," for example.

Sounds intriguing, and it could definitely save time. But do we really want to let a machine take the place of a task that people already perform well? It's not as if there is a sudden, increased demand in coffee taste testers, or that they are not adequately performing their jobs. ("Toffee?! No way. I distinctly detected citrus notes...you're fired.") I don't think that we're somehow missing out because our coffee isn't properly classified. Perhaps the machine is more discerning?

Cool invention, but for right now, I'm comfortable in the notion that my espresso has been categorized by humans, thanks.

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