Saturday, July 31, 2010
What better way to say Happy Valentine’s Day than by saying nothing at all? A big cup of freshly brewed coffee served in this Hearty Mug will definitely make your valentine take notice, as the interior of the mug is heart-shaped. It’s a very cute idea and, frankly, one that would make me smile any day of the year.
One of the most memorable coffee experiences I’ve had was going out to visit the Greenwell Plantation on the big island of Hawaii. Not only did I get to taste coffee cherries right off the tree, but I got to taste some of my favorite Kona coffee in one of the freshest batches you can get. I got this batch of Greenwell Estate Private Reserve Kona Coffee from Sea Island and I have to say that they make very quick work of the shipping and – aside from the lovely Hawaiian weather – you’re not missing anything by making the coffee at home and not traveling out to the plantation.
The Greenwell Estate coffee is earthy, sweet and tangy. It is really rich tasting and full bodied, and actually reminds me a lot of red wine, although probably better. I’d make this a daily brew if only I could pick it up at my local store, instead of having to have it shipped!
For other fans of Kona coffee, I previously bought green beans from Greenwell Estate and roasted them at home with good results. A fun project if you have the time and outdoor space!
There are a lot of different things that you can go to school to study, from anthropology to virology, from auto mechanics to cooking. But some fields are best learned on the job – either because you need experience to achieve peak performance or because it just isn’t taught anywhere. Coffee falls into that later category, even though plenty of people specialize in it, since you can’t gain tasting experience from a textbook. Recently, however, I was invited to attend Starbucks Coffee College. The Coffee College was a day-long seminar hosted for several food writers courtesy of the specialty coffee chain.
Coffee College started with a quick trip through Starbucks history and a little tour of the store in Los Angeles that we met at. College was small, just myself and one other writer, and two members of the Coffee Experience (i.e. Education) team from Starbucks’ corporate office. Primarily, this portion of the day talked about how Starbucks started as a specialty coffee retailer, providing and creating blends of coffee beans that were representative of beans from a specific region of the world.
The Dirty Mug is designed to look as unappealing as possible to potential mug-snatchers, so that no one will every steal your mug off your office desk or out of the break room when you’re not looking. It comes with coffee and lipstick stains that definitely make the cup look less-than-clean, to say the least. If you’re not the lipstick-wearing type, of course, some eyebrows will be raised when people see you drinking from it, but otherwise you can sip mediocre office coffee confident in the knowledge that your cup will still be safe at your desk the next day.
Relatively speaking, there is a lot of discussion about wasted materials versus the necessary degree of insulation when it comes to paper coffee cups. Cups and sleeves made of recycled materials are great, but when the cups and sleeves are made thinner in an attempt to use fewer resources, many consumers feel the need to double cup – and sometimes add a sleeve on top of that. The best solution is probably a reusable cup, but following that, a reusable sleeve that can fit easily into a pocket or handbag is an excellent choice. Save the environment and your fingertips, right?
These Cup coats from Cup Couture come in a tremendous number of cute (and masculine) patterns, are very thin, reusable and will probably work out better than even a thick paper sleeve. I think they’re especially good for travelling, as some cities (and countries) seem to be a little less likely to provide sleeves or double-cups to begin with. They make really cute gifts, too.
