It’s official, buying the Toddy was a brilliant idea. Yes it’s basically a piece of plastic, a glass jar, a cork, and a round filter. But I stick some coffee and water in it and forget it for 12 hours and then I have a full container of coffee for the fridge — enough for the week. Any kind of coffee! I am in heaven. It may not be a “machine” in the traditional sense of the word but it’s by far my favorite coffee machine now. More so than my espresso machine or my Senseo and it doesn’t even take power!
Our locals Starbucks not only knows our names and orders but yesterday one of their employees announced, as we went to pay “It’s on me today, you guys are always in here”. Awww they’re so good to us. We are addicts. Random acts of kindness rock. heh.
Try Gevalia Kaffe for $14.95
You get two 1/2 pound packages of coffee + a 12 cup coffee maker. And you’re not obligated to buy any thing further if not happy with them. All of the fine print is available when you click on the link.
Alternatively you can Get the coffee lovers kit
Much like the first offer but a few dollars more and also gets you a stainless steel carafe and travel mug.
I admit it. I liked the N.O. Brew iced coffee extract, but the thought of having to order coffee online every week or two or buying it in bulk online = not so appealing. The coffee extract I’ve found locally is expensive. So I searched online. Of course I could cold brew at home (DUH) instead of making one cup of hot coffee in my Senseo machine and putting it over ice or worse, making a lot of individual cups then and then refrigerating them. Now I could rig something up myself but I’m not so handy in the kitchen. There are two home cold brewing options on the market:
and
Honestly? I wanted the Filtron. It seems to be older — “the original”, they make a commercial cold brewer. Their carafe is plastic and having MS and sometimes being unsteady = less chance of breaking that. The Toddy seems more well known as it’s sold in Seattle’s Best stores, but has a glass carafe. It’s also cheaper and had shipping that was less than half of the Filtron. I just couldn’t justify the added expense right now so I went with Toddy for now. I’m hoping it will sit / fit over a plastic container I have already or I can find ones that will fit with it.
If you like iced coffee, as I do, either of these could be a nice way to make it at home. I’ve always just brewed up hot coffee at home and refrigerated it. It’s a pain in the butt. Not that cold brewing won’t be — you’ll have to brew it for about 12 hours and then refrigerate it. But it stays in the fridge for 3 weeks or so. It can also be frozen for a few months.
Serving suggestions for iced = also freeze up some in ice cube trays, limiting that watered down coffee taste if you drink it slow or if you live someplace hot where the ice melts fast.
Of course you can rig something up with a jar and a sieve, but I’m not that brave and I’d probably make a mess of it.
Ohh and if you have a sensitive tummy but love coffee? This gets rid of the acidic flavors. So, it might not be for the die hard coffee drinkers who like that part. But I’ve had regular iced coffees and ones made with extracts / cold brewed both.. And I love it made this way.
In Malaysia as many as 9 coffee brands have been pulled from shelves when it was found they had dangerous chemicals in them — chemicals used to treat erectile dysfunction… I suppose that sound *cough* harmless enough except that if taken daily they have side effects and even cause death. I bet some guys are still not giving up said coffee if they have it in their houses. Story here.
It seems that Bikini Baristas will soon be appearing in Portland, OR. I hope they heat the places because having lived in OR and specifically Portland for some time, I have to say, it’s a bit cold to be walking around in bikinis except maybe in July and August.
It can apparently buy you enough time to get away from a robber too. A convenience store clerk threw two pots of coffee at a robber and then rant out of the store. It apparently didn’t stop the robbery however. Story here
Meth Coffee - Ok I get humor and I’m not easily offended, not so sure it’s wise to market coffee under the name of meth though. As someone who has personally watched up close what meth does to a family, I don’t find meth funny at all. I’m just lucky enough that the person I watched battle it survived and beat it and is meth free for quite some time now. Trust me I do get the humour in it, and to each his own, I mean to imply your coffee is that strong, tee hee… But the full on marketting it like it’s well… meth… eh good for a gag gift but as a serious coffee?
The full list of the Starbucks closures…
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/USStoreClosureInfo.pdf
Of course Starbucks says it is providing this list as general information only and not as an obligation on their part to actually close these stores. Perhaps because they knew some people would protest some of the closures? Seattle takes it’s Starbucks seriously afterall, they are collecting signatures to save a store there.
Want to save yours? Good luck, but here’s your starting point: Save Our Starbucks
Naked Coffee Drinker charged. LOL. Seems he slept in his van behind the firehouse, woke up, wanted to enjoy his morning coffee in the nude, and stepped outside. Oopsie.
Coffee Ain't Free: