Instant Coffee

Sunday Newspaper And Coffee

A lot going on in the coffee world this week and this doesn’t even include the news articles I lost when my computer decided it was a good time to crash. Of course, there’s more news from the coffee wars, but my favorite story is about attaching a coffee cup to the roof of a car.

How to attach coffee cup to car roof
I’m a huge fan of the NPR radio show Car Talk and this week Tom and Ray answered a question about how to attach a coffee cup to a car roof. Why? You have to read the article.

Zagat announces top 5 best fast food coffees
According to a survey done by Zagat, Starbucks has the best “fast food” coffee. Dunkin Donuts came in second, Peet’s next, followed by McDonald’s and Caribou rounds out the top 5. It’s only from a survey of 6,000 people, but within two days, Starbucks was already using it in their marketing. I can’t see how Peet’s and Caribou were ranked below Dunkin Donuts and McDonald’s, it almost seems more like a popularity contest than anything else.

Report finds Starbucks fans heading to McDonald’s
Another survey, this one finds that more Starbucks customers are heading down the street to buy at least some of their coffee from McDonald’s. The good news for Starbucks, is that the decline in customers is slowing down. Just another battle in the coffee wars.

McDonald’s marketing heft will hurt low-priced coffee sellers
The CEO of Second Cup Coffee Company believes that the places that will really be hurt by McDonald’s McCafe marketing won’t be Starbucks or gourmet coffee shops, instead it’ll be lower end places like gas stations and other fast food coffee places. McDonald’s is definitely a viable, much better tasting alternative, since a lot of those places don’t really serve anything that tastes like actual coffee.

Starbucks Coffee: Green or Greenwashed?
This article takes a look at Starbucks environmental practices. They’ve been a target for environmentalists for a while and this article attempts to answer the question of whether they really deserve all of the criticism. For more, also read Pickin’ On Starbucks Again over at Kettle & Cup.

Battle of the instant coffee sticks
Forget about the coffee wars with McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts; Starbuck’s latest competition is Nescafe’s instant coffee. I reviewed the Starbucks VIA and actually liked it. The results of this survey by the Chicago Tribune rate the Starbucks version as better tasting, but the Nescafe costs only 19 cents per packet, where Starbucks is 83 cents. I’d still rather have fresh brewed coffee, but I’d be willing to give the Nescafe version a try.

Bob Marley’s son launches new coffee company
Who knew that Bob Marley had a dream of being a coffee farmer? His son is making that dream a reality and started a new coffee company called Marley Coffee. I’m a fan of the music and the coffee sounds delicious, especially since it’s organic and sustainably grown. I’ve added it to my list of coffees that I want to try.

Green Mountain unveils daring new coffee flavor
Green Mountain Coffee is now making peach flavored coffee. Yeah, it sounds a little weird to me too, but I’m also adding this to my list of coffees to try.

The elaborate art of coffee cupping: Step by step
A photo gallery with step by step instructions on coffee tasting. I’ve never been to a coffee cupping but the more I learn about it, the more I want to attend one.

Top three ways to save money on your coffee habit
Three good ways to save money on coffee, of course they did miss one way – brew your coffee at home.

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Photo by Cafemama.

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Coffee Makers
Photo by Lotzman Katzman

Until I started Daily Shot Of Coffee, I only knew one way to make coffee – a drip coffee maker. Along the way and by doing research for the blog, I discovered that the drip coffee machine was just the beginning. I’ve seen some pretty wild and crazy looking contraptions in the last few months, so I thought I would share with you some of the most interesting methods that I’ve come across. The bad thing is that I want to try them all, but I don’t know if I have room in my cabinets.

Drip Coffee Maker

Drip Method

AKA the Filter Method
The drip method is by far the most popular method of making coffee. I can’t even think of the last time I was in a house that didn’t have a drip coffee maker.

How It Works: Water is poured on to ground coffee. The water filters through the coffee grounds into a pot or mug below. For more instruction please locate the nearest coffee maker and take a look inside.

French Press

AKA the Plunger or Cafetiere
The French Press extracts the most flavor from the coffee grounds and is currently the second most popular way to make coffee at home.

How It Works: Ground coffee is added to to the bottom, then hot water is poured in and stirred. The water saturates or infuses (the cool way of saying it) with the coffee grounds for a few minutes, then the plunger is pushed down to separate out the coffee grounds.

Turkish Coffee

AKA the Arab Method
It’s probably the originally way coffee was made and produces a dark and very strong tasting coffee. It’s not for everybody.

How It Works: Coffee is ground by hand, then placed in a pot called an ibrik with sugar and water. It’s brought to a boil three times than poured into a cup.

Percolator

Before the drip coffee maker, the percolator was the most common method of producing coffee, but now you’re more likely to see it in a retro movie than anywhere else. The reason that it’s not so popular anymore? The coffee it produced was horrible. Pretty simple answer.

How It Works: Water cycles through a heated reservoir at the bottom,then through grounds above, over and over until it’s ready.

It smells good, sounds good, but the taste isn’t so good.

Espresso

Same machine is used to make cappuccinos and lattes.

Espresso machines are becoming more and more common in households across the US. I know that an espresso machine is on my wish list.

How It Works: Hot water is injected through the coffee grounds into the cup below. Some espresso machines also includes a way to steam or froth the milk.

Vacuum

It’s slow and very unusual looking proccess. Once you see one, you’ll probably never forget it.

How It Works: Near boiling water is forced into a glass chamber with coffee grounds. The mixture steeps until the heat is turned off. As it cools, the water is sucked back into the lower chamber.

Cold Water Method

This is the method for those who don’t mind waiting a really long time for their coffee.

How It Works: Ground coffee is mixed in large container with water. Then it’s left at room temperature for 10 to 12 hours. Afterward the grounds are strained out, then the remaining extract is added to a cup with hot water.

Neapolitan Flip

AKA the reversible drip pot.

It looks like two coffee pots on top of each other.

How It Works: In between the two chambers, is ground coffee. The lower chamber is filled with water and brought to a boil. Then it’s removed from the stove and flipped over. The water drips through the grinds into the serving pot.

It might be the easiest type of coffee to make, just add water, but the taste is often lost in the process.

How It’s Made: Water is removed from the coffee grounds by heating or freezing it. That produces a powder that you can buy at the grocery store.

Single Serve Coffee Machines

Really don’t know how to explain this other than the obvious: a coffee maker that will make a cup of coffee. They use those k-cups, pods, discs and other futuristic sounding things. It’s another thing that’s on my wish list, especially for the first thing in the morning when I really need caffeine.

Photos from Amazon.

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