Posts Tagged ‘Cup Of Coffee’

A Coffee Shop In Your Kitchen

At least here in the United States, a cup of coffee used to be a simple thing. Ya paid yr dime, ya got yr cup o’joe and that was it. Today, we choose from mica lattes, frocchopinos, double latte espress, and that doesn’t even count the basic espresso and cappuccino. I am reminded of Enrico Fermi, who, when atomic particles such as muons and kaons were being discovered and named in the 1930′s, remarked that”If I wanted to remember all that I would have become a botanist.” He must have understood, because he went on to develop the process that led to the Atomic bomb, but like him, I understand coffee but am overcome by all these varieties. With a grind and brew coffee maker, turn your kitchen into a coffee bar.

Here are but a few: We have the frappe, a popular drink in Europe and Latin America that we have recently adopted. Cold espresso blended with two teaspoons of sugar, milk and crushed ice. A refreshing drink made even more so if you add some brandy and cr?me de cacao.

If you feel like something completely different, try a Cappuccino Borgia. Borgia, if you will remember, poisoned anyone who got it his way. Luckily, the poison in this drink is orange juice. Six tablespoons of orange juice and a quarter cup of milk is blended into an espresso. For a real treat, be a true Italian and try it as a gelato: peeled orange and a half cup of chocolate ice cream.

Back to this century and this hemisphere, and you can try a Calypso Cooler. Add mashed bananas to chilled strong coffee and two cups of coffee flavored ice cream. Sit by the pool and relax. Or go off the deep end and add four tablespoons of rum.

If you like a little kick to your coffee, try Caffe Zabaglone. Place a quarter cup of dry Marsala, a quarter cup or sugar, a pinch of salt and four egg yolks in a pan and cook slowly over low heat until thickened. Add a cup of strong Italian blend coffee and you’ve got a drink that it breakfast in a cup. It is also said to cure a hangover!

The next stop on our world culinary tour of coffee drinks is New Orleans. A competitor in the breakfast as a drink category is the Mardi Gras. Mix eggnog, bourbon and heavy cream. Pour into a cup of double straight American roast coffee and you won’t know whether to wake up or go to sleep.

The Turks are purists when it comes to their coffee, so all you will find in a Turkish coffee is cardamon. But the Scandinavians decided to take Turkish coffee and make Cardamon Kaffee. To an eight of a cup of cognac, add two teaspoons of curacao, a teaspoon of sugar and a cracked, seeded pod of cardamon. Heat the mixture in the microwave for 10 seconds and then light with a match. Pour over double strength coffee, but wait until the fire is out before you drink.

Maybe these drinks aren’t as strong as atomic bombs, but they can rock your world!

Coffee Pods



A great day begins with a cup of freshly roasted coffee. And that you get from an excellent coffee pod. Pods or coffee pods or espresso pods are a simple way to get a perfect espresso and with excellent results. But for the beginners let’s answer a simple question first i.e. what are coffee pods? Coffee pods are freshly roasted coffee, ground perfect, tampered to the correct pressure and then encapsulated in a paper. It is the beginning of a rich experience of the way you drink coffee.

The original pod was first designed by Illy caffe around 10 years ago. It wa the year 1996 when Illy opened its idea to the coffee industry to bring a standard pod size to the market. Many coffee machine makers now offer adaptors with their machines to accept pods. By using pods in your machine not only can you guarantee perfect results, there is no mess and pods help to look after your machine. In fact used pods can even be used as fertilizer for your garden as well. That is why a rich coffee taste is always benefiting.

If you are an espresso connoisseur by heart you can find a great relief with the coffee pods. As an espresso lover you understand that there are many ways of preparation where the espresso can get wrong, the grind, the measurement, freshness, the roast, tampering, temperature, water pressure are some areas which one has to watch out to make that special cup of coffee.

Now if you wonder what the best kind of coffee pod is, the answer is the home made one. Don’t be shocked, it is true to the last drop of espresso. You can actually make the coffee pods of your freshly roasted coffee beans. Although it is nit that easy but it is sheer fun and little adventure to make a coffee pod in your kitchen itself. What you need is your favorite freshly roasted coffee beans perfectly grounded to fine powder, a sheet of filter paper and some kitchen tools. The first step to get a home made coffee pod is to get the correct measuring scoop for the size of the pod. Take the coffee style filter paper sheet and put it in the scoop. The next step is to find a glass bottle or something similar which can be used to pressure the paper in that scoop. If you have found the right size of glass jar (in most cases you will) center the filter around the jar and do it by putting the combination back in the scoop leaving a cup shaped filter paper in the scoop. Add one scoop, or about 2 teaspoons of your favorite ground coffee to this paper-filter-cup more or less to taste. The typical coffee scoops that come with makers hold about 7 grams of coffee which is just about right. Give the cup a slight shake to evenly spread the grounds across the bottom of the filter, and then use your finger to gently fold over the extra filter material, completely covering the ground coffee. For a really well-formed pod, you can place the jar into the scoop one last time and press down really hard with the palm of your hand.

At last your favorite coffee pod is now ready to be put into the espresso machine to enjoy that rich taste of coffee. And who said coffee is not about fun.