Planet Doppio - The Coffee Metablog

Hourglass Cold Brew System
On sale for $50.43 at Amazon. List price $59.95

It doesn’t seem like it can get any hotter, but August is right around the corner and the weatherman isn’t predicting any snow showers anytime soon. The best way to stay cool in these ninety degree temperatures is to stay inside with the air conditioning on high and sip on cold brew coffee all day long. This week, I’m going to make my cold brew coffee with the Hourglass Coffee Maker.

The Hourglass Coffee Maker produces hot and cold coffee, using a “cold water infusion” process. They say the process reduces bitter acids that upset stomachs by 69% and it removes unhealthy oils. They claim the resulting coffee has a smooth, delicious taste and only costs twenty cents per serving.

In the review process, I’ll investigate each of those claims, paying close attention to the taste, acid levels and overall value. Also, I’ll look at how easy is it to use and clean.

I’ll compare it to the cold brew coffeemaker that I reviewed earlier this month, the Toddy Cold Brew, to see which creates better cold brew coffee.

What would you like to know about this cold brew coffeemaker? What should I investigate further?

—

Fine Print.

Hourglass Coffee Maker Preview is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

Share and Enjoy:

'What's does "CC" mean? Subject: Blue Horse Coffee Location visited: Pittsburgh, PAFree WiFi ? : yesRating: 4+ [see key]Too often, coffeehouses seem locked into small retail spaces with no parking. Sure, the reasons can be rooted to lots of things like wanting to be trendy, needing cheaper rent or a fear of minivans. But in my simple observations, we exist as a country deeply in love

The Drink: Yellow Caturra Maui From The Coffee Adventures
Type: Single Origin Whole Bean
Overall Rating: 3.5 Out Of 5 Coffee Mugs

This morning’s coffee comes from Jamie, the blogger behind The Coffee Adventures, staff reviewer for Daily Shot Of Coffee and avid home roaster. She shared with me some of her Yellow Caturra Maui.

Kona may get all of the attention, but there are other types of coffees grown in Hawaii and Yellow Caturra Maui is one of them.

This Yellow Caturra Maui caught my attention with an interesting aroma. It had a nutty flavor, with a blend of wine meets floral to balance it out.

The coffee looks like a golden brown medium roast, but the first sip caught me off guard. It had a darker roast flavor, but that was followed by a lighter, almost wine-like flavor. It had an overall sweetness like honey and hints of oranges. The wine like flavor dominated the after taste.

Brewed in a french press, this coffee had a medium body.

Jamie also gets bonus points for putting a roast on date right on the bag. I’m not so sure why it’s so hard for other roasters to do the same.

Overall, this coffee earned an above average rating of 3.5 on the Daily Shot Of Coffee. Jamie produced a coffee that was loaded with flavor, complete with all sorts of twists and turns. I’d have no problem recommending it to friends, especially those who like a flavorful medium roast.

Jamie isn’t selling her coffee yet, but keep an eye on The Coffee Adventures, that’s where you can find out when she does start selling her coffee.

—

Fine Print.

Yellow Caturra Maui From The Coffee Adventures Review is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

Share and Enjoy:

A few people were asking on twitter about my iced coffee method (technique seems a little too much promise for something so simple).

I’m still trying to work out cold brewing (i.e. brewing using cold water), and since I read Peter Giuliano talking about the Japanese iced coffee method that has been a method of choice.

The idea with this is to brew double strength coffee straight onto ice.  As the ice melts it chills and dilutes the coffee back to more normal strengths.

Often this is done with pourover or filter brewers.  The problem I had with this is that as you double the amount of coffee to your amount of water then it is going to be harder to properly extract it as you have less brewing liquid.  You can certainly grind finer but I found the window of tasty a bit too narrow.

So recently I’ve been starting with a french press brew.  I like the french press for this because it isn’t as sensitive to dose because it is an infusion rather than a percolation.  You have a better chance of hitting a 19% extraction (in my very limited experience) with less brew water available, when working at very high ratios (120g/l).

However, I don’t really like sludge in my iced coffee.  So I’ve chosen to filter it before it hits the ice.  So for now here is the recipe I used today to make coffee for all of us in a very hot roastery:

- 80g of coffee ground coarsely. (But not too coarsely)

- Add 660g of hot water (around 92-93C is good)  I’d recommend preheating the brewer as normal.

- A quick stir then a 4 minute steep.  You could steep for longer if your grind is coarser but the heat loss starts to bother me.

- At 4 minutes stir the crust on top, then scoop off the remaining foam.  It may seem pointless to go through this if the brew is going to be filtered anyway – but you want the least possible fines to block the cloth and let that part be as quick as possible.

- Plunge and leave for a moment.  Again – fines settle and are less likely to clog up the cloth.

- Find a large vessel, and add 660g of ice.

- Find a clean cloth, like those used in woodneck drip pots.

- Pour the press pot through the cloth directly onto the ice.

- Clean the cloth.  Clean the press pot.  Enjoy the coffee.

You could use a paper filter to clean up the brew – a V60 or Chemex filter maybe.  I love cloth though – I love a cloth pourover already.  I love the enhanced mouthfeel and intensity – had a lovely, juicy sweet cup today that I really enjoyed.

I quite fancy playing with the aeropress next, which I haven’t really done with cold/iced coffee.

Thoughts?

This is a guest post by Kyle Simpson. Learn more about how you can guest post for Daily Shot Of Coffee here.

You may think that there’s no better use for your morning cup of joe than its recuperative properties. Sure you’ve used it in cooking (a cup of coffee in chocolate cake mix adds mocha flavor as well as moisture) and you even picked up some freezer forms to make coffee-flavored ice cubes for cooler versions of your morning fix. But coffee (the grounds, in particular) has all sorts of uses you may not know about, from cleaning and scrubbing to helping your garden grow. So rather than simply throwing away the leftovers of your morning brew, read on to find out how your coffee can be used and re-used in and around your home.

1. Put it in soil. Instead of tossing your used coffee in the trash, put your grounds in the ground as an acid-heavy fertilizer. You may notice improvement in the growth of many of your plants, but it is particularly effective for enhancing both the size and number of carrots and radishes. As an added bonus, it may help to ward off pests like animals and insects that can destroy your crops.
2. Use it as an abrasive. If you don’t want to use chemical cleaners to scour out pots and pans, scrub them with a sponge and some coffee grounds as a green alternative for cleaning your cookware.
3. Deodorize smelly items. Coffee is great for absorbing unwanted odors, so dry your used grounds thoroughly, place them in a breathable container (like old pantyhose or folded tinfoil with some holes poked in it) and put it near the trash to soak up stinky food smells. You can also place these odor-absorbing packages in your fridge and freezer in lieu of baking soda (although they probably won’t last more than a month). Or you can simply dump loose grounds in your garbage disposal for similar results.
4. Soften your skin. Don’t spend money on expensive scrubs to soften your hands, elbows, and heels. Simply combine coffee grounds with a bit of olive oil and rub the mixture onto rough or scaly patches to leave your skin smooth as a baby’s. You can also use grounds on your face as a mask (to reduce puffiness) by mixing them with an egg-white and leaving on for a few minutes.
5. Stain, stain, stain. You know what coffee can do to your teeth over time (as your dentist keeps telling you) so why not use the permeating effects of coffee as a natural dye for items like nude-wood furniture, homemade paper, and clothing. Just be aware that if you make coffee-stained t-shirts, the color will bleed, so you may not want to wash them with your whites.

*Don’t forget, you can also find many other uses for your coffee filters, as well, such as a lint-free cleaner for glass, mirrors, and lenses, a buffer between plates, a liner for plant pots, in place of cheese-cloth, to make a sachet, as a tea bag, or when packing delicate items like ornaments.

Kyle Simpson writes for Medical Billing and Coding Online where you can find more information about a career in medical billing and coding.

—

Photo by rjg329.

Coffee is Good for More Than Just a Wakeup Call is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

Share and Enjoy:

This is a guest post by Raza Imam, from The Coffee Maker Store. Learn more about how you can guest post for Daily Shot Of Coffee here.

Coffee, as legend has it, was first found by Ethiopian shepherds over 1000 years ago who noticed their goats eating the berries of a certain tree. They started to notice strange behavior from their goats, curiously becoming frisky and energetic. Before long, the shepherds’ curiosity got the best of them, and it became a favorite snack among the farmers and shepherds who spent all day in the pastures with their herds. They learned to mix it with goat fat to give them an extra boost of energy during their long days out; it was the birth of the world’s first energy bar! But the history of coffee was soon to be tarnished by the inextricably human vices of greed and betrayal, especially once its commercial potential was established. This multi-series article tells the untold story of the coffee bean…

Toward the end of the 1500’s, European scientists, botanists, and explorers heard of a new plant from Africa and the Middle East. As the word spread, European travelers and traders were turned on by its commercial potential. Having already established trade routes in that part of the world, they had an effective means of distribution for the new commodity. Procuring the coffee bean was the natural next step. By the early 17th century, the first shipments of coffee arrived in Venice. Providing coffee for the Venetians was the start of a very profitable export business, one that continues to this day.

Acutely aware of its massive potential, the Arabs guarded it jealously for almost a century. They went to great lengths to guarantee that no bean capable of germination left their plantations. To achieve this end, they made sure beans were either boiled or parched and vigilantly kept foreigners far away from coffee fields. For 100 years, Yemen remained the sole source of coffee for the entire European coffee trade.

Quick to adopt the trend, Dutch merchants got involved in the rapidly growing coffee business. Being quite industrious, they saw no reason that they couldn’t cultivate and trade the lucrative bean themselves. Not only did they have considerable trade expertise, they had highly trained scientists and botanists. The coffee plant was the missing ingredient to their plan. They already had the best merchant ships in the world and simply needed to secure the plant so they could quickly bring it to Europe. To no surprise, the Dutch managed to sneak into a coffee plantation and steal a live plant and bring it unharmed back to Europe.

Having stolen their very own coffee plant, Dutch traders began cultivation trials on the East Indian Dutch colony of Java, that’s why coffee is commonly known as “java”. By the 1690′s, coffee plantations had rapidly spread to nearby island colonies of Sumatra, Timor, and Bali. The Dutch East India company also began large scale coffee production in Ceylon, where the plant had been previously introduced by the Arabs.

In 1706, Dutch growers in Java sent home the first crop of beans to be planted in the Amsterdam Botanical Garden. This offering, despite its small size, was a critical point in the history of the coffee trade, making Amsterdam the commercial center of coffee grown in Dutch colonies. Seeds from the Amsterdam Botanical Garden were grown into seedlings which were planted throughout the known world. In essence, this project dubbed the Amsterdam Botanical Garden the title of being the birth place of the coffee plantation in the New World.

In 1714, the burgomaster of Amsterdam gifted the King of France (Louis XIV) a five foot tree from the botanical garden. Being quite sneaky themselves, the French were no strangers to the drink, and had managed to smuggle their own seeds from Mocha to a small island off of Madagascar. Since attempts to grow coffee in France were unsuccessful, they quite happily received the Dutch gift, where it was planted in a garden in a special green house constructed by the French royal botanist.

It was Louis XIV’s secret desire that from the seeds from this tree would emerge France’s own coffee empire. His wish came true when he was able to develop French plantations in their colonies. Not only did his ambitious wish come true, but it flourished, becoming the ancestor for coffee currently grown in Central and South America.

Slavery and forced labor was the only viable way to meet the world’s insatiable demand for coffee.

The Coffee Maker Store is on a mission to be the coolest coffee makers store on the planet. We write about coffee, coffee makers, and coffee culture. Check out our free coffee fat calculator and see how fat coffee makes you!

—

Photo by jakeliefer.

Greed, Trickery, and Deception: The Untold Story of the Coffee Bean – Part 1 is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

Share and Enjoy:

If you aren’t already reading/subscribing to David Walsh’s blog then this post should be incentive enough.

The Other Black Stuff – At odds with unevenness

We should (as suggested on twitter) try to convince David to join the coffee world, because if someone outside of coffee can teach us this much and share this much then think what would be possible if this were his day job!

You never know what is going to happen next in the coffee world. Fresh Brews is a weekly attempt to wrap up everything going on in the news and on the blogs.

Coffee Blogs

Confessions Of A Coffee Junkie Does My Coffee Smell Like Raisins?
Coffee Kween shares how anyone can smell and taste coffee, not to be like a pro, but to get more enjoyment out of your coffee.

Caffination CaffiNation Cooks! Steak
In this video, Pzul demonstrates how he makes and grills his coffee steak and sweet and spicy steak.

Starbucks Melody Organic coffees by Starbucks
Melody shares a list of organic coffees that can be found at Starbucks and attempts to eliminate some of the confusion about organic certifications, versus other certification.

Holgarific The International Prints For Coffee Beans Swap
What goes together better than coffee and photos? Ok, maybe a lot. But it’s still pretty cool that you can get world class coffee prints, for just the price of coffee and shipping.

Coffee News

New Guidelines Say Moderate Amounts of Caffeine Won’t Increase Miscarriage Risk
Another week, another news story about coffee and our health. This time it’s guidelines that are going to make a lot of pregnant women a little bit happier. Coffee in moderation is now safe.

Creative uses for coffee
Here’s five things you can do with your used coffee grounds instead of throwing them in the trash. Do you have any other great ideas to add to the list?

Starbucks results get a big lift from revamped Frappuccinos
Thanks to the however you like fraps and VIA instant coffee, Starbucks saw a huge improvement in their numbers last quarter.

Indonesian Muslims allowed to drink civet coffee
I know not everyone likes Kopi Luwak, but this is good news for those who like it or want to try it. Kopi Luwak is produced in Indonesia, a mostly Muslim country and if it was banned for consumption, it could’ve been banned for production too.

—

Photo by LabrosL.

Fresh Brews: Coffee Smelling Rasins? Coffee During Pregnancy & More is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

Share and Enjoy:

It isn’t often that a menu fills you with joy.  The current menu at Prufrock, however, does make me very happy, and probably a bit jealous at the same time.  There is so much I like about.

First of all – the simplicity.  How can you not like a menu with only 5 items?

Secondly – the honesty.  As an industry we struggle and utterly fail to define the drinks we serve.  What is a flat white?  What exactly is a latte?  We can barely agree on exactly how the espresso at the bottom of each drink is defined, let alone the rest of the recipe.

I like that the words cappuccino, latte and flat white have gone.  This morning I went and I wanted a 6oz milk drink.  Some would call it a cappuccino, while others would say that it is too strong or didn’t have enough foam.  But I got exactly what I ordered and the combination of carefully brewed espresso and well steam milk is delicious.  I was utterly delighted by it.

In fact whatever combination of coffee and milk that I enjoy – I can probably find it on this menu, which is quite incredible when you think about how complicated some menus get when trying to cover all the bases.  Apart from oversized drinks – is there anything you’d want that  you couldn’t get from this?

Some people, perhaps those across the Atlantic, might be surprised at how small the drinks on sale are.  I had to smile when Gwilym told me that now that he has a 6oz takeaway cup he feels the 8oz is too big…

This week’s poll is “Coffee Maker Or French Press For Reviews?” It has a lot to do with last week’s poll “How Do You Make Your Coffee?” The number one answer last week was the drip coffee maker. French Press, which is the standard that most coffee reviewers use, didn’t even come in second. It came in third. That started me thinking, would you find it more useful if I did the Daily Shot Of Coffee reviews with a coffee maker, since that’s what most people use to make their coffee?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I can’t decide. French Presses bring out more of the flavor, but if most people are drinking coffee from the standard counter top drip coffee maker, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to do the reviews with one of those? What do you think?

The results of last week’s poll were, drip coffee maker with with 41% of the vote.

dissident said:

Drip coffee contraption at work, Vietnamese percolator at home

Karen said:

I do it in several ways, sometimes I use my Tassimo and sometimes I cheat and use, dare I say, instant!!!. But I opted to select a Drip Coffee Maker, which I always think makes a nice coffee

Other had 30% of the vote.

howard said:

i use the family Keurig K-Cup system to make my travel mug coffee in the wee hours before i leave. it’s very quick, consistent and cleanup is minimal.

later, i have the time to setup and grind,brew,and savor a pour thru mug full with my lunch.

kekoa kai said:

I use a vacuum pot to brew. Once I tried it, I cannot go back. It just never fails to brew a great cup.

EnviroFusion said:

I use a stainless steel stove top espresso (Moka).

LatteRose said:

Bought an aeropress a few weeks ago, love it!

Paul said:

Lately I have been using the Clever Coffee Dripper. But I still like my Chemex, Aeropress, or Melitta pourover. Looking forward to learning the v60 Hario cone soon. I only drink machine drip from my Fetco brewer at our bakery, which took me 2 weeks to dial in.

Darrell said:

I find I’m using my moka pot most of the time. Although I did use the Aeropress for the first time in almost a month, the other day. And I started more cold brew in the french press this evening. I also used my little single cup french press to make a hot cup last week.

French Press finished up with 21% of the vote.

Ardee-ann said:

I am a French Press woman although I have been known to use the drip coffee pot on occasion. Drip coffee is easy to make, I will grant it that.

The espresso machine finished last with 8% of the vote.

Thanks to everyone that voted!

—

Photo by David Robert Wright.

Poll: Coffee Maker Or French Press For Reviews? is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

Share and Enjoy:

'What's does "CC" mean? Subject: Roast Coffee Company Location visited: Milwaukee, WIFree WiFi ? : yesRating: 5+ [see key]My final stop in lovely Milwaukee was a place called Roast Coffee Company. Having need for a good coffee stop for the road, Roast seemed like a fitting final stop for my short time in Milwaukee, as they have displayed their yearning for excellence through hosting

Warning: Division by zero in /home/coffee/public_html/wp-content/plugins/tla_85810.php on line 405

The girls got together for our day out. Our agreement is that this is a girls only day; no husbands, boyfriends, life partners, kids, parents or work allowed to intrude. It is time to take care of the women and enjoy one day without responsibilities. Thankfully, our families understand.

One of the girls mentioned that she recently had a meeting with a client. She walked in the door and as he spoke, she felt a bit dizzy. No, it wasn’t his gorgeous good looks that caused the
sensation. It was his coffee breath!

Most people are unaware that they have halitosis. Everybody gets them at some point. Coffee drinkers smell coffee on their breath and think absolutely nothing of it since they love coffee.

Unfortunately, the smell of coffee on someone’s breath isn’t always pleasant. Coffee is acidic. The acid combined with the bacteria in our mouth isn’t exactly the best scent around. The odor can ensure that people will give you a wide berth. Hmmm…not the reaction you want if you are running for Hunk or Babe of the Year.

Fortunately, there are some simple solutions that do not require you to give up your favorite coffee drink.

1. Develop good oral hygiene
• Brush your teeth properly and carefully twice a day
• Floss at least once a day before brushing
• Rinse your mouth with water especially after drinking or eating
• Clean your tongue well
2. Drink a lot of water. Two glasses for every cup of coffee is good for cleansing.
3. Add food that can help improve the scent of your breath to your diet such as apples, carrots and celery.

In a pinch, there’s always Altoids of course. People around you will appreciate it.

Share and Enjoy: co.mments del.icio.us digg Furl Ma.gnolia NewsVine Reddit TailRank YahooMyWeb

I am not a coffee snob but I do enjoy a tasty well brewed cup of coffee yet I must admit that that first morning cup, the one that sears my tongue and jolts me to a heightened state of awareness, can be swill if need be just to get me awake and functioning. Now I am not talking about microwaving a cup of coffee left over from the day before or heaven forbid instant, but it can be too strong and I will still drink it down to get some sense of being awake and functioning. After that first cup my taste buds get some consideration as does my sense of aesthetics. This is one reason I am glad I have a french press pot. If the first cup of coffee is “rough” I can make amends with the next cup of coffee.

My morning routine is so very set, get up, attend to bodily functions, turn on water for coffee, brush teeth, get french press pot ready to work its magic and then make that cup of coffee. After the blessed cup is brewed I drink it and feel a certain level of humanity seeping into my being, before the coffee there is this zombie like creature wandering through my house attending to the basic necessities of life.

Coffee is a wonderful gift from the Universe. It makes life more pleasant, brings us to wakefulness and helps us to move from the state of sleep to an awakened situation so that we can function through the day and get done the work and pleasure that make up our life. This is all made possible by that first morning cup of brew that gets us
motivated to move on through life with a gleam in our eye.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

Ciao!

The First Morning Cup of Coffee is a post from: Daily Shot Of Coffee

Share and Enjoy:

Seattle’s Best makes amazing Iced coffees and you can too. Their Secret is a Toddy home brewing System and their Beach House Blend. I recently made a batch of iced coffee concentrate using this method and I have to say the Beach House Blend is amazingly smooth and great just over ice. If you’ve never tried [...] Related posts:

1. Coffee-Snob’s Cold Drip Coffee Maker :: A Coffee Review Check all my coffee and coffee product reviews Thank you...
2. Cabaret Brewed Chocolate Review Cabaret Brewed Chocolate whole bean beverage Not a coffee but...
3. Coffee Crawl Seattle Style Its no surprise that Seattle’s Best Coffee Shop at Pike Market...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.