Roasted - this is a term you can safely ignore. ALL coffee is roasted what differs is the amount of roasting time and the level of heat used to roast. Roasting, unless a company is boasting that they use some sort of renewable energy to roast with, is not a sustainable coffee term.

Natural - means nothing. All coffee is natural – well, until coffee companies mess with it, but the actual term natural does not mean you’re getting better, greener coffee. It’s a marketing term plain and simple.

Fair Trade – You should look for this term if you want brew that’s putting more cash in the pockets of the coffee maker – basically it’s coffee sold sans a trader. NOTE: it is very important to recognize the distinction between “Fair Trade” and an organizational term such as TransFair USA. The difference here is that “Fair Trade” does not guarantee fair wages for coffee harvesters while “TransFair USA” does. If you want ethical coffee, look for an organizational term that does mean fair wages and working conditions for workers.

Also important to note is that Fair Trade does not mean greener coffee. Sustainable and Fair Trade do connect on some levels but Fair Trade alone does not mean that a coffee is without pesticides.

Organic - Organic coffee that’s been certified by the USDA or the OCIA is green coffee in that it’s been grown and produced without the addition of pesticides or herbicides.

Sustainable – I consider this an iffy term as a stand alone. There is no official “Sustainable” label. However, if a company says they’re making sustainable coffee it usually (if they’re being honest) means they use green and ethical practices such as organic growing, Fair Trade, using renewable energy, reducing fuel consumption, using recyclable pacakging, and so fourth. The issue is that sustainable is very broad and since it’s not regulated you should check into the company background.

Rainforest Alliance – this label or certification, sometimes seen as shade-grown or bird safe is certified by the, yup you guessed it, the Rainforest Alliance. This organization works with farmers and other businesses throughout the world to ensure that their goods and services are environmentally and socially friendly. I’m personally not a fan of third-party certification because their criteria is usually too easily adapted to meet regional-specific needs which makes it fuzzy. However, the Rainforest Alliance is a trustworthy source in my opinion because they offer a lot of transparent info at their site so this is a good eco label to look for.

Besides considering all of the above, you should also consider packaging (is it recyclable, printed with soy inks, etc.). Normally I’d also say go local to keep your carbon footprint down, but as of right now, unless you grow coffee at home, local means Hawaii only. The rest of the coffee in the world comes from out of the states. Which sadly means I really need some coffee carbon credits to offset my addiction.

Later we’ll see some good organic coffee choices for the holiday – ooooo, and maybe some treats to go with said coffee!

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Grab Some Green Holiday Coffee

When I go to a coffee shop, it’s a little different. I might order a mocha or a latte, but I feel foolish saying words like “venti” or “grande.” Instead I say, “I’d like a medium-sized latte with nonfat.”

I had a boyfriend who would give  an order that went something like, “Give me a triple shot venti in your smallest cup….” I was confused by this because I thought “venti” referred to size of the cup. This man was happiest with a cup of coffee in his hand. He had a big fancy machine that he used to make coffee at home. He would bang and clang and make the noise of 5 of your average baristas. He was serious about coffee.

I found an article on coffee and horoscope, which I found to be entertaining, but not very accurate. Both the ex and myself are Leos.  Here’s what a Leo might order (or in my case, not so much)……..

Leo (July 23 to Aug. 22)
Face it. Every Starbucks customer knows there’s a whole other language being used beyond those clean glass doors. Leo thrives on the pseudo-Euro drink names and the insider’s jargon that rolls off their tongue with a seeming lack of effort. That’s why this dramatic, showy soul is more likely to order the Dulce de Leche Latte, Venti as a favorite drink than any other. Besides, with all that caramel and sweet milk, the big pussycat living inside every Leo’s heart will lick its whiskers with great relish!

To check out your sign, click here.

Image credit: Michelle Smith

Post from: Blisstree

Horoscope and Your Coffee Order

I had my boy in the car, so we hit the drive-thru. It took forever. Seriously. I think I was in that line for almost 10 minutes and my coffee cost almost $4, which I think is crazy and the main reason that I do not visit Starbucks very often.

Did you know that you can look up the nutrition information for the products that Starbucks carries? 

I chose a Grande size drink and it was made with whipped cream, although I did not order it that way. The whipped cream adds 7 grams of fat, with 4.5 grams of these being saturated fat and a total of 330 calories. Skip the whipped cream, order with fat-free milk and the Grande size reads more like this:

Calories: 260
Fat:0
Saturated Fat: 0
Protein: 14 grams
Calcium: 50% RDA

If you prefer your Pumpkin Spice in a Frappuccino, then here’s a peek at the nutritional information for a 16 ounce Grande without whipped cream:

Calories: 290
Total fat: 3.5
Saturated fat: 2
Protein: 6 grams
Calcium: 20% RDA

Image credit: Michelle Smith

Post from: Blisstree

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte & Nutrition

Bailey and I ordered half sandwiches and we split a Ginger cookie. I loved everything about the place. It was easy to park close, they were fast and friendly, and best of all, the food was fantastic. I can’t wait to take my friends over there to check it out.

Here’s what Bay had to say about her sandwich, “It was a ham sandwich, with a white cheese (I think it was Gruyere), honey mustard, capers, and a olive oil, garlicky-tasting bread.” 

I had a half of a Tuna Nicoise on a crusty bread. The texture of the bread was wonderful – airy with a chewy crust. The sandwich had thinly sliced pieces of boiled red potato on it, which is something that I’ve never tried before.  I definitely will copy that idea for my own tuna. The sandwiches are served with a container of pickles that tasted like they were in a rice vinegar mixture. Very good. Bay doesn’t like pickles, so I got to eat hers, too.

I’m going to work on a recipe that I hope will duplicate that Ginger cookie.  It had a nice spice to it and was somehow both soft and crisp at the same time. To go with her meal, Bay ordered an iced Chocolate Mocha with added caramel. I could tell that she loved it – this is her favorite sort of coffee – because she made a bliss-face with her first sip.

I don’t explore as much of the downtown areas of Chico as I’d like. It’s so easy to get caught up in the familiar and not branch out.  Take advantage of the local bakeries, cafes, coffee and tea houses in your area. There is life beyond Starbucks. 

If you are in or around Chico, California, then stop in at the Tin Roof Bakery and Cafe. It’s located at 627 Broadway St.

Image credit: Sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

Tin Roof Bakery and Cafe

The coffee maker in the background looks on disapprovingly.

One thing we came across that could be changed was our morning coffee preparation. I had always assumed that coffee was acidic, no matter how it came to be. However, regular hot-brewed coffee is apparently two times more acidic than cold-brewed coffee. But what’s cold-brewed coffee, you ask? It’s exactly what it sounds like!

Though not as fast as coffee made with an electric coffee maker, people claim that cold-brewed coffee is actually tastier and better for you — all you need is a little prep time.

Coffee grounds and cool water sit together for hours and hours (usually overnight) before being filtered or strained. The resulting dark liquid is a “coffee concentrate,” and all you need from there is hot water or cold milk.

Instead of using a contraption made just for cold-brewing and which really can’t be used for anything else, we opted for a cute little French press instead, on the recommendation of this blog post.

I set the water and grounds out overnight, and by this morning we did indeed have a very dark, strong “concentrate,” and the press made it virtually mess-free when I went to strain it. It might take another day or two of experimenting to get the ratios (concentrate, hot water and creamer) just right, but both my husband and I agree that it was a good cup of coffee!

More cold-brewing coffee info:

~ Cold Brewed Coffee at Macheesmo
~ Cold-Brew Experiment at Slashfood (I agree with missing out on the smell!)
~ Home Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee

Post from: Blisstree

Cold-Brewed Coffee

Naturally, my thoughts also turn to warmer fare, and what cooler evenings mean for dinners, and cooler mornings mean for caffeination!

One of my favorite ways to “celebrate” is to grab a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Starbucks usually rolls theirs out around September 1st, and many other more local coffee shops will follow suit. I actually don’t get many of these throughout the season — the flavoring is a bit heavy-handed for my taste — but they do help mark fall for me.

Oddly enough, though I do like to make as many things as I can on my own at home, I never thought to check into pumpkin spice flavoring syrup. The best part is, you don’t even have to buy it. Using what you’ve probably already got in the cupboard, the blog Think Inside the Icebox has a great recipe to make your own pumpkin spice mix at home.

Using a simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar) combined with typical pumpkin pie spices, the concoction is boiled together and then strained before adding vanilla extract. Keep it in the fridge and you’ve got an instant autumnal coffee flavoring.

If you don’t feel like making your own syrup, you can always pick up a bottle, such as Torani’s Pumpkin Spice Syrup.

[image: flickr]

Post from: Blisstree

Counting Down to Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Why purchase an expensive Coffee Roaster when you can buy this extremely easy to use and very inexpensive Coffee Roaster Kit to roast coffee beans with your Home Outdoor BBQ unit. Roasts up to 5 Pounds of Green Coffee Beans, as much as many Commercial Units! This Coffee Roaster Kit comes fully assembled and ready to go! Fits inside of your Home Barbeque unit and attaches to your existing Rotisserie unit (if you do not have a Rotisserie unit for your BBQ you can purchase one from Home Depot for only $34.). Complete operating and roasting instructions included, along with 1/2 cup unroasted green coffee beans to start you off! Can easily roast up to 5 pounds of coffee at a time, much more than other more expensive units. 100% metal construction.

Post from: Blisstree

Coffee roaster kit for your barbecue!

Vivabox, a Sodexo company (www.vivaboxusa.com) combines the gift of experience with the gift of choice. First, recipients get an immediate “taste” of their experience through the items in the box they receive. Then, the gift recipient selects the second half of their gift by redeeming a gift card included in their themed gift box.

You choose the theme, your recipient tries the samples and then your recipient chooses the gift. Vivaboxes are perfect for the hardest of people to shop for because you’re really letting them choose exactly what they want. It’s the perfect ‘out of the box’ Mother’s Day gift idea.

There are 8 different vivabox themes available, including gourmet food, wine, and tea. Don’t dispair, not only is vivabox giving away a free gift to one lucky mom, they’re also offering 25% off all vivaboxes until Mother’s Day (with the exception of the fragrance box). Please remember to get your order in by May 6th if you want your special gift to arrive in time for Mother’s Day! But no fear, your mom will appreciate a vivabox any day of the year!

Coffee vivabox ($37.13)
Coffee-drinking Moms can enjoy the jazz sounds of Lonnie Mardis on CD while enjoying unique coffees from 100% sustainable sources and delicious Torani Italian syrups before deciding which award-winning Jazzman’s® Café coffee blends and syrups to purchase with their enclosed gift card.

Tea Time vivabox ($37.13)
This vivabox begins when Mom opens the box to find a display of seven teas from Numi Organic Tea. She can experience the beauty of innovative flowering teas and sip on the purest tea on the planet. While exploring these exclusive teas, she can choose to redeem her enclosed gift card for a wide range of gifts on the Tea Time gift menu.

Contest is closed.

Congrats to Darija V for winning a Vivabox!

Post from: Blisstree

Giveaway: Personalized Vivabox Gift Box

Shortly after my son turned 4 we went to Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans and my son ordered a cup of the chicory coffee. Perhaps it was the elegant Frenchman who served the coffee from a silver pot, but my son just couldn’t get enough of the stuff. We had to cut him off after five cups.

Truman’s coffee habit has raised eyebrows, no doubt because of the caffeine. I have no problem with it. Coffee is plant-based, so it contains beneficial plant-derived chemical compounds with potential health-promoting benefits, according to the American Diabetic Association (ADA). A 2005 study by The Journal of the American Medical Association showed that drinking coffee actually has far-reaching benefits, such as reducing one’s risk of Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, alcohol-related cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Plus, there are plenty of cultures where children drink coffee on a regular basis. For example, children in the coffee-growing, southern Mexican state of Chipas drink coffee daily. It is so much a part of their culture that a Mexican coffee producer started fortifying its coffee with folic acid and other nutrients to help improve the nutrition of the impoverished kids who lived there.

The one concern that keeps bubbling to the top for both children and adults, though, is the caffeine.

Seriously, I don’t see it affecting my son, just like I don’t necessarily see it affecting me. Truman is overly energetic whether he drinks his morning cup o’ joe or a glass of O.J. (And far too often three cups of coffee fails to really wake me in the morning.)

So, focus on the benefits of coffee (as opposed to say, SODA) and go ahead and let your kids have a cup. After all, all things are good in moderation….right?

Sources:
The Daily Telegraph
Commercial Appeal
Journal of the American Medical Association
American Diabetic Association

JWJourney

Post from: Blisstree

Kids can reap benefits from drinking coffee

I started down this path because I don’t really enjoy coffee but have noticed that I love espresso, especially in fine restaurants. I started to drink 2, 3 even 4 cups a day. It was yummy, and I could have sworn that it has cured a hangover. Until…I crashed.

I’d never known what people meant when they said “caffeine crash”–now I do. My recent slide into hell left me feeling as if I’d gone down with the Titanic, then washed up on the shore, lifeless…like a dead beach ball.

I needed to invent a substitute…so I created another concoction: “TeaChino”…I make a cup of tea and hit it with a little whipped cream. Yum!

I mean bleechhh! I’m going to keep trying to find a way to perk up and not kill myself.

Post from: Blisstree

Espresso Overload