Archive for the ‘Coffee Maker’ Category
For most coffee connoisseurs, an espresso coffee maker and electric coffee grinder are indispensible kitchen accessories and I’m no different. In my house, there is constantly a pot of coffee brewing. Before I even wake up in the morning, the first pot of coffee is being brewed, so all I have to do is roll out of bed. But during the summertime, the last thing I want to do is drink a piping hot cup of coffee when the temperatures in the 90s.
To that end, during the summer I add one extra accessory to my repertoire of coffee countertop accessories: a blender. Since going without coffee simply isn’t an option, instead I create an assortment of blended drinks to satiate my caffeine cravings. And while I certainly enjoy a standard espresso, blended coffee drinks are in a league of their own. I love to experiment with different flavor profiles to see what I can create—from nuts and chocolate, to mint and vanilla.
If you’re a coffee addict like me, going without your daily caffeine fix is out of the question. During the summertime however, few people want to sip a piping hot beverage when the temperature outside is skyrocketing. Buying an iced coffee beverage from a local coffeehouse is certainly an option, but that gets pricey pretty quick—not to mention the fact that those frozen goodies are laden with saturated fats, sugar and artificial sweeteners. Here is a quick-and-easy iced espresso latte recipe that I borrowed from the Mayo Clinic. It tastes amazing and won’t ruin your beach body.’
Start by brewing two cups of espresso in your Solis espresso machine. Pour the espresso into a pitcher and add 2 Tbsp. of brown sugar, 1 ½ cups of fat free milk and 2 Tbsp. of sugar free syrup (the recipe calls for almond, but I like hazelnut. And, of course, you can experiment on your own). Add some ice and chill until cold. You can serve yours however you like; I top mine with some fat free whipped cream.
For many people the summer symbolizes a time of leisure, when you can spend long evenings chatting with friends beside a bonfire, enjoying outdoor barbecues and spending time by the lake. I certainly enjoy these pastimes, but I hardly consider summer a time for leisure. For a stay-at-home mom, summer certainly isn’t the offseason. In fact, by the time August rolls around I’m more than ready for the kids to start school so I can enjoy a nice respite from the constant fracas that ensues when they are home for three months on end.
There are, of course, a few perks that the summer season brings. For starters, I am able to turn off my alarm clock and set back the timer on my automatic espresso machine, as my kids enjoy sleeping in as much as I do. And although I enjoy having my free time while the children are in school, I take pleasure in taking them to the zoo, going to the park and going on other daytrips I would never embark on with children.
Different Coffees for Different Beverages: Part Two
True coffee connoisseurs may endeavor to roast their own coffee, but most of us are content to let the coffee shop or manufacturer do that for us. But just as there are several varieties of coffee beans, there are also myriad ways to have them roasted. Here is a quick guide to the most common roasts you’ll come across:
~Light: Lightly roasted coffees have a high caffeine content and are quite acidic, giving them a distinctly bitter taste. 
The beans are cinnamon in color.
~Medium: One of the most common roasts, it is generally used for drip coffee and in cheap dehydrated coffees.
~Dark: The darker roasts will have a sweeter, less acidic flavor; they also contain less caffeine.
~French: Darker than the dark roast, French beans are very brown and have an oily appearance.
~Espresso: The darkest roast and, as you can probably ascertain, the recommended beans for use in your espresso machine.
Different Coffees for Different Beverages: Part One
In previous posts we’ve explored the various factors that determine the quality of a coffee bean. While some coffees are unequivocally better than others, many times the coffee you select will be due to a personal preference flavor preference. And while it is certainly okay to have favorites, certain styles and roasts of coffee work better in certain applications.
Mild Arabica beans are the highest quality coffee you can buy, and if it’s within your budget, you should use them for all applications. If you can’t afford Arabica all of the time, at least use them when you are brewing in your Saeco espresso machine. Since espresso is so concentrated, it is particularly important to use high quality beans. Tomorrow we will talk about the various roasts and their optimal usage.
It’s no secret that Americans love their caffeine, but do you really know how much you are consuming? I was baffled when I recently discovered that a Venti latte from Starbucks contains over 400mg of caffeine; I used to be concerned about Red Bull, which in comparison has a paltry 75mg. As a frequent patron of Starbucks—I go at least twice a day—it became apparent that I would have to do something to curtail my coffee fixation.
Eliminating coffee from my daily routine was out of the question, so I decided to begin brewing my own java in order to monitor my caffeine intake. One of my friends had a couple of Solis espresso machines and offered to let me have the extra at a discount. Now I can brew my own coffee and carefully measure each serving.
Coffee makers have become so ingrained in American culture that it is often difficult to comprehend a time when the public wasn’t perpetually pumped full of caffeine. And while coffee drinking has been a popular pastime for centuries, it wasn’t until the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the art was perfected. Up until then, people would simply add ground coffee to boiling water and allow it to brew until it smelled right. This produced an extremely thick beverage that necessitated an excessive amount of sugar to counterbalance its acidity.
The drip coffee maker, which is the standard model in most homes, first emerged at the dawn of the 20th century. And despite its old age, the drip machine had changed very little since its inception. Although less common today, percolators came into vogue at about the same time. Instead of utilizing gravity like the drip machine, a percolator heats water, forcing it through a tube and into a brewing basket with coffee grounds.
For the last nine years I have spent my summers working as a cook at a local summer camp. Since I am an elementary school teacher, I was in need of some supplemental income during the summer hiatus, and this position combined two of my favorite things: cooking and kids. While some people will undoubtedly have negative connotations with camp food, I endeavor to alter the stigma of this cuisine.
When it comes to the campers, I am constantly altering my menu in an attempt to offer foods they all will love. At the end of each week, I have the kids fill out a survey and take their suggestions and criticisms into account heading into the next. Counselors obviously have slightly different tastes, so I set up a separate area for them at each meal, which includes a few automatic espresso machines and foods catered to a more refined palette.
Many people use the terms “coffee” and “espresso” interchangeably, but there is actually a distinction between these two beverages. Espresso is a variation of coffee that is much more concentrated and often has a slightly thicker consistency. Since it is more highly concentrated, the natural assumption is that espresso contains more caffeine, which isn’t necessarily the case.
After the beverage has been extracted from espresso machines, it is typically served in small cups, containing around 250mg of caffeine. While the caffeine content of an equivalent cup of coffee will be about the same, those who enjoy a latte or beverage from a coffeehouse often opt for a Venti or other large quantities. Coffee beverages of this stature can contain nearly 500mg of caffeine, about twice that of a typical espresso.
My sister is getting married in a month, and I want to get her something special to commemorate this momentous occasion. She and her fiancé are registered at several locations around town and online, but instead of selecting some run-of-the-mill product, I decided to find something with a more personal touch. Of course, since it is a wedding gift, it should also have pragmatic uses around the house.
I know, an automatic espresso machine doesn’t sound like a personal gift, but you don’t know my sister. She literally drinks over six cups of coffee each day, and she is always complaining about the exorbitant prices at coffeehouses. I didn’t buy her just any mundane machine; it has all the bells and whistles, allowing her to prepare a variety of premium beverages with ease.