A Nice Cuppa

Coffee is a well-loved drink in Spain. Its popularity is, perhaps, second only to ???anything with alcohol.??? A Spaniard will drink a coffee for breakfast, at mid-morning break, after lunch and, quite often, after dinner.
Nearly every Spanish home has a chrome, art deco-style, stovetop coffee maker, but coffee is best ??? and most […]

I recently purchased a book on tastings. As a food writer, I’m always on the look out for ways to refine my sense of taste and to better turn the flavors on my tongue into words that my readers can relate to. Simply saying “it tastes good” really doesn’t cut it. So, […]

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 […]

Does figuring out how to make the perfect cup of coffee feel like an up hill battle? Have you ever been to your neighborhood coffeehouse, tasted their coffee of the week and liked it so much you bought some beans to brew your own at home but just could not get that same great […]

When you live in a climate like Northern California???s, Autumn really isn???t that much different from Spring or Winter. So, how do I know the season has changed? Just check out the menu at any coffee shop. Starbuck???s is featuring a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Pumpkin mixed with espresso, blended with classic […]

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 have heard many times that Hyssop tea is the way to go for a sore throat, no matter what the cause. Being a firm believer in “doctoring”, as my grandmother would say, I was a doubter. How could a simple herbal tea compete with the technology of modern chemistry? I’m not […]

Last week I noticed my coffee tasted a little??? off. I couldn???t really put my finger on how. A little stale, a little funky. I didn???t give it much more thought and went about my day. The next day, same thing. Coffee that tasted almost dirty. Strange. I […]

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 […]

You know how the old saying goes: bigger is better. And it???s fair to say that this is often true. For instance, in the case of airplane seats. Yet there seems to be a growing adoration these days for diminutive things. There has long been a love for mini bars, […]