A Nice Cuppa

When was your first chai? Was it a concentrate Tazo concoction at Starbucks? Or, slow-brewed and lightly sweetened at a fine Indian restaurant? I remember falling in love with the spicy honey infused cup at a small Indian restaurant in a strip mall in Boulder, Colorado. The tea was a perfect […]

Much ado has been made of the new Espesso, gelatin/foam-like espresso dish that you eat with a spoon, created by Ferran Adria and served in the Lavazza cafes in Chicago. But, really, nothing is new about espresso in semi-solid form. While the Espesso recipe isn’t exactly known, Moveable Feast has an approximate recipe […]

I was so excited by my new arrival of Peruvian Swiss Water Processed Decaf beans from The Merchants of Green Coffee that I toasted these babies up almost to the point of ash. Oops. Apparently, these beans don’t tolerate much heat and while they didn’t even get to the second crack (my usual […]

Downtown Chicago has no shortage of places to get coffee or tea for your morning pick-me-up. Like Seattle, there’s a Starbucks on just about every corner downtown, with signs for new stores going in all over the place. But, if you are looking for a better than average cup, you’ll have to do […]

I am not a boat person. And, although I travel a lot, I’ve never really pictured myself on a cruise. Until last night, when I stumbled upon this sweet looking cruise package: Coffee Cruises! You spend 8 days cruising the Mexican Peninsula, seeing sites and learning all about coffee from cupping […]

I’ve been on a bit of a food-lit kick over the last couple of months, so when I finished up my last one, Real Food by Nina Planck, I wasn’t sure where to go next. Then I stumbled upon The Devil’s Cup, a quick read on the history of coffee.

“Devil’s Cup” (Stewart Lee Allen)

In it, […]

If you keep on heading south on the highway past the bustling Bank Street of Vashon Island, you’ll soon come across one of the coolest little coffee shops around… The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie. It’s a quaint stop along the way and like much of Vashon Island, makes sustainability and quality top priorities. […]

I stumbled upon these little treats in a cute little cafe in Hannibal, Missouri called Java Jive (reported to be the first coffee shop west of the Missisippi.) These Java Pop lollipops, in an assortment of coffee-related flavors like Chocolate Raspberry, Cappuccino, Irish Creme, French Vanilla and Chocolate Almond, are like a cup of International […]

Even though I typically just brew a single shot of espresso a day, I find myself with a lot of left over coffee grounds. Luckily, I also have a garden, and the grounds make a great addition to the soil (as does my other vegetable-based garbage). But, as I found myself digging my […]

I am not a boat person. And, although I travel a lot, I’ve never really pictured myself on a cruise. Until last night, when I stumbled upon this sweet looking cruise package: Coffee Cruises! You spend 8 days cruising the Mexican Peninsula, seeing sites and learning all about coffee from cupping to optional excursions to […]