As a people we are powerless. It is our government that is causing this and they know it!

I rarely get Political on this blog.  However, I came accross this comment from steveola251c appearing in the Washington Post which sums up why we as a nation are hated throughout the middle east.

steveola251c wrote:

I am ashamed of myself, as an American, for what my government has done in our name in the middle east. There is no excuse for our occupations, killing of hundreds of thousands of innocents, inundating their countries with depleted uranium weapons, white phosphorous weapons, sex slavery, inhuman torture of prisoners and all. We have no moral high ground whatsoever. I can honestly say that America, as an organized terrorist organization, is the biggest threat to the world, financially (through Goldman Sachs thievery) and decimation (through the American military.) In our empirical interests we will destroy ourselves, and we have no one else to blame. May our children forgive us for what we have done to their futures.

Single Cup Coffee Maker that would do it ALL

I would like your honest answer to a question please...

Here at liQuid heaVen we've been discussing, and are in a discussion fact finding stage presently. We are thinking of designing and marketing a single cup coffee maker.

This single serve vehicle would have a permanent re-useable nylon filter basket for both coffee and loose tea. It's footprint would be minimal, allowing one to take it with you. It would be a work of art in chrome.  It would also take any form of  pod, ground coffee, loose tea, tea bags and provide a consistently fantastic hot cup of brew from it.

The question I pose to you,  would this be of interest to you?

What if it had a life time guarantee for say, oh just ...$59.95?

WE COULD include all the bells and whistles if need be, but- I DON'T WANT TOO! I contend that all that is needed is a lighted on/off button that when pressed within three (3) minutes brews hot, your favourite ground or pod coffee or tea or loose tea.

Must you have a removable water reservoir? I am thinking permanent. You remove things, things break.  However, it has to be accessible for easy filling.

What do you think? Please let us know.  We are serious as a heart attack about this.

Can you spare just three minutes???

My daughter and I were discussing coffee brewers. Not K cup brewers, she won't go there with me, it is a loosing battle. Yeah, I know they ARE POPULAR. It is the WHY that I just don't get .

Like I have said here on the blog, I have tried them three times. K-Cups produce a substance, all be it dark that tastes like it was filtered through a homeless man's underpants. Now I am reading that consumers are complaining of a plastic like taste that resonates and stays with them.  Could this be from the pressureized 198 degree hopefully filtered water being forced through this plastic recepticle in less that 45 seconds?  YEAH!  You don't get this with a pod and a pod is recycleable.

Ok, I went off on a tangent. Back to coffee brewers. Why do some brewers have all the bells and whistles? i.e..buttons, clocks, lights?

Have we all collectively forgot the purpose of a coffee brewer? It is to brew a consistent quality cup of coffee, if you are using a single cup brewer, or a carafe of 10 to 12 cups of coffee for a gathering.

The buttons are for programming. Programming your cup or carafe to be ready for you in the morning. Operative word is morning, like HOURS from now. Ok, I guess the majority of us don't have a measly three minutes to wait for our FRESH cup of coffee anymore, hence the popularity (added expense too!) of buttons, clocks, lights what have you.

I say FRESH, because evidently...the majority of us out there who probably buy a good quality brand of their favourite coffee only to put it OUT to have the air-the worst enemy of the coffee to bombard it overnight as it sits there in the filter basket awaiting the bells, and whistles to get it started at whatever time was programmed in! Some may say I am being ridiculous and overstating the loss of quality that a brew to be looses over this time span. Maybe, but I don't think so.

But I still have three (3) minutes to get a FRESH, not affected by the air cup of coffee, thank you. Bet many of you never gave this any thought, eh?
Then again,  how many of you think a k cup produces the best coffee ever?  Gotta love that plastic!

Please visit me on Twitter and leave a comment?

I am currently on a rant on my Twitter account.  I am 'factually' taking aim at the K-Cup.  What say you?  Please visit and comment.  Utmost thanks! 

Moderate Coffee/Tea Drinking Lowers Heart Disease Risk

Drinking coffee or tea in moderation reduces the risk of developing heart disease, and both high and moderate tea drinking reduces the risk of dying from the condition, according to a large-scale study from Dutch researchers.

The study, led by physicians and researchers at the University Medical Center Utrecht, examined data on coffee and tea consumption from 37,514 residents of The Netherlands who were followed for 13 years.

It found that people who had two to four cups a day of coffee had a 20 percent lower risk of heart disease compared to those drinking less than two or more than four cups a day. Moderate coffee intake also slightly -- but not significantly -- reduced the risk of death from heart disease and all causes.

Tea's performance was stronger on both counts. Drinking three to six cups of tea a day was associated with a 45 percent reduced risk of death from heart disease, compared to drinking less than one cup a day, and drinking more than six cups of tea a day was associated with a 36 percent lower risk of getting heart disease in the first place.

The apparent protective effects may be linked to antioxidants and other plant chemicals in the beverages, but how they work is unclear, according to researchers.

No effect of coffee or tea consumption on the risk of stroke was seen in the study.

Study authors found, however, that coffee and tea drinkers in The Netherlands had very different health behaviors, with more coffee drinkers smoking and having less healthy diets.

Read the rest of the article here.

Could a Coffee Maker Be Worth $11,000?

The following excerpts are taken from a column written by James Joyner which appeared in Outside the Beltway.

The machine in question, the Clover, isn’t aimed at consumers but rather coffee shops. And it sounds pretty spiffy:

It brews coffee like a French press, but it’s more dramatic to watch and much more precise. Unlike lesser methods of making coffee, which are no more reliable than their users and can’t be counted on to produce the same cup twice, the Clover is equipped with a “PID algorithm” for regulating temperature and “programmable workflow modes” to help micromanage the brewing process. Latourell enumerates six variables that contribute to the taste of brewed coffee—choice of bean, grind, “dose” of coffee, brewing time, temperature, and amount of water. The first three, for better or worse, are in the hands of the barista (“Call me when you get a better grinder!” Latourell half-teases the Grumpy staff)—but the Clover can precisely regulate the last three.

The result, apparently, is some pretty good coffee. More importantly, it’s a different idea of coffee.

Starbucks uses these in select stores as do many smaller coffee houses around the country.

You can read the low down on this high tech brewer here.

A K-cup challenge

Here's a challenge. A challenge to all you glorious and exuberant K-cuppers out there, stand up for your cups of mediocre, at best, and that's a very big stretch, insipid watery brew.

And for God's sake stop referring to them as PODS! They are not PODS! Pods contain anywheres from 9 to 10.5 grams of COFFEE. K-Cups produce a substance, all be it dark that tastes like it was filtered through a homeless man's underpants.

They are little plastic non-recyclable housings for ultra fine grind grounds that were once coffee before being subjected to obliteration and then being placed into k-cups.

K-Cuppers are happy to state it only takes 45 seconds or less to get a cup of  coffee -again, I can't bring myself to say the word coffee and k-cup  in the same sentence. Anyway...45 seconds...they hoop and hollar at this as being genious, when it is not.

Time for an educative moment... Dontchatink...something gravely has to suffer if water is pushed through a miniscule little shitty plastic cup no bigger than that little milk capsule that is brought to you in a restaurant where you peel the foil back?

In comparison, Pods produce coffee in 3+ minutes. If you get the right brewer it will have a spary head which evenly distributes your filtered water in, around, and through the pod producing a true cup of coffee.

It is unbelievable the enormous amount of people in this country who consume k-cups. Someone please tell me why?