5/29/2012

Water and Coffee

WATER....
It takes 35 gallons of water to make one cup of coffee.
Why?
Think of all the water used to cultivate the coffee beans.

Who knew, coffee is a health food?

Let’s have another cup of coffee. And while we’re at it, let’s have another, and another and another.

Yesterday morning as I was enjoying my second cup of coffee—or was it my third (I lose count)—I noticed a headline in the newspaper announcing that drinking as many as six cups of coffee a day can increase my life expectancy.

That’s good news—wasn’t all that long ago that another report indicated that drinking coffee wasn’t particularly good for you. I dismissed that report but enthusiastically embraced this latest one that supports a practice that I don’t intend to give up even if it doesn’t add years to my life.

I like coffee. I enjoy the aroma when I open the vacuum-sealed package that protects it from environmental degradation. I enjoy the rich, heady bouquet that emanates from the coffee pot as it brews and spreads throughout the house. I enjoy walking down the coffee aisle at the grocery store, mesmerized by the robust fragrance and the diversity of brands, types and places of origin—French roast, Columbian, Hawaiian and the ubiquitous Juan Valdez and his faithful mule.

I like the feel of a warm mug in my hand, especially on a cold morning but also on a blistering hot Texas day. I appreciate that first sip, too hot still to drink but too powerful a temptation to wait longer for it to cool.

I used to look forward to that unmistakable “plop, plop, plop” as the first spurts of boiling liquid splatted against the glass top of the percolator, an indication that my favorite hot beverage was just minutes away from drinkable. A bit of the romance, I think, has left coffee preparation with the advent of modern coffee makers. The trade-off is speed. I can pour in the water, add the correct amount of grounds, hit the on button and be sipping my first cup of the morning within five minutes. Percolators took much longer.

I like it strong. I have friends who hustle out of bed in the morning when we spend a week with them at the beach, hoping to brew a weaker pot of coffee than I make if I get to it first. They’ve insinuated that if I make coffee every day we’ll run out of grounds by Thursday. No problem; I’ll buy more.

I like it fresh. Micro-waved, left-over coffee is vile. Coffee that has ripened in the pot for hours will do to clean your barbecue grill but for heaven’s sake don’t drink it.

I like it pure. Strong, black, no sugar and please don’t ever adulterate my coffee with flavoring. Vanilla bean, Brazil nut, banana toffee creamers have no place in a good cup of coffee. If I want something sweet I’ll make hot chocolate.

Nor do I like “designer” coffee from those trendy stores that rely on basic French vocabulary words to entice you to buy a bigger cup of coffee that tastes like it was brewed sometime last week. And they charge you the better part of a five dollar bill for the privilege of drinking coffee out of a large cardboard cup.

I like mine in a mug, preferably a thick one like you might find in a diner that specializes in blue plate specials and apple pie. We own a few pieces of fine china, including flimsy coffee cups that encourage you to stick out a finger or two as you delicately sip. And the coffee is tepid by the time you drink half of it. We keep those cups on the top shelf of the cabinet, up where I’d have to drag in the step stool to reach them. I don’t bother.

I like it daily and I drink four or five cups most mornings, just enough, according to this recent report, to improve my life expectancy. Ten percent, I think is the figure they used. I don’t care, really. I like coffee and wasn’t planning on giving it up anyway. Now I can consider it health food. I feel positively perky.

Source: Western Farm Press

5/28/2012

K-Cups... people are waking up

     
May 04, 2012   Tea in k cups is the most ridiculous, stupid and selfish idea ever 
 by: Anonymous

You need a machine to pour hot water over your tea for you? Here's a revolutionary idea: someone should invent little perforated sacks and fill them with tea leaves so hot water can be poured over them in a cup. Oh wait, they've been invented - they're called tea bags!
But what about hot chocolate? Why doesn't someone make hot chocolate so that you can just stir the powder into hot water or milk? Oh wait, they do that too!!!


May 03, 2012  K cups - not just your health is at risk
by: Anonymous

 How hard is it to use a measuring spoon and measure out 3 tablespoons of coffee? Why does anyone need a little plastic cup that makes homemade coffee so expensive you might as well go out and let someone make it for you, let alone that could be giving you cancer?
Have you not heard what's happening in the ocean? Islands of floating plastic as large as California. Why? Because we keep buying products encased in plastic.

K cups are one easy way to eliminate some of this plastic. Get over the fact that you spent money on a silly machine and go back to a natural way of making coffee. You can buy a $10 ceramic filter holder on Amazon for excellent drip coffee (no plastic involved) or use a French press or a percolator.

'Comments from coffeedetective.com

5/04/2012

What's in a Cafe Latte, Americano or Cafe Mocha?

cafedrinksimage_041213.jpg




K-cups, Not Just Your Health is at Risk

K cups - not just your health is at risk
by: Anonymous


How hard is it to use a measuring spoon and measure out 3 tablespoons of coffee? Why does anyone need a little plastic cup that makes homemade coffee so expensive you might as well go out and let someone make it for you, let alone that could be giving you cancer?

Have you not heard what's happening in the ocean? Islands of floating plastic as large as California. Why? Because we keep buying products encased in plastic.

K cups are one easy way to eliminate some of this plastic. Get over the fact that you spent money on a silly machine and go back to a natural way of making coffee. You can buy a $10 ceramic filter holder on Amazon for excellent drip coffee (no plastic involved) or use a French press or a percolator.
Source: A Comment on Coffee Dectective