Give Your Twitter the Equivalent of a Caffeine Boost with InstaBG
Previous generations saw dads in the morning with a cup of coffee in hand and the day’s newspaper on the other. Today, this translates to a cup of coffee in one hand while surfing the Internet for news and checking Twitter for the latest tweets. If you are hooked to Twitter though, this probably means checking Twitter throughout the day. As for drinking coffee, no matter how much of a caffeine addict you are, the number of cups you down each day will never equal the number of times you go online to check your friends’ tweets and send out a tweet yourself. The good news is that even without a cup of coffee in your hand you can still be reminded of your love for coffee by using a customized coffee theme as your Twitter background.
Customizing your Twitter background need not be complicated. In fact, you can easily change your background, even have it automatically changed daily, by using a service called InstaBG. InstaBG makes use of Instagram photos to generate Twitter backgrounds that you can use to liven up your own Twitter account. To get free Twitter backgrounds from InstaBG all you need to do is log in to the website using your TwitterID, tweak the options, preview your background image, and click on “Set this image to Twitter” to see the changes on your Twitter page.
InstaBG-generated collage using “coffee” as tag
InstaBG-generated collage using “caffeine” as tag
What’s even better is that you can choose the theme/tags of the Instagram photos that will be used as part of your Twitter background, just like the caffeine and coffee photos I used to come up with collage above. You can also choose the background color, tile size, and spacing between photos.
So why settle for a boring Twitter page when you can liven things up with a coffee-themed background?
Twitter backgrounds generated using InstaBG
Extolling the Virtues of Home-brewed Coffee
In light of the coffee price hikes last year, and Starbuck’s own price hikes early this month for some of their products, it looks like brewing your own coffee at home is starting to make more and more sense. Savings aside, there are plenty of other reasons to just brew your own coffee instead of buying one every single day.
Obviously, brewing a fresh pot of coffee will entail a bit more effort on your part. You have to grind up the beans, scoop them into the coffee maker, and wait for the delicious freshly brewed coffee to drip, but if you think about it the time it takes for you to do all that is just about the same time it will take you to wait for your coffee in line at Starbucks during the morning rush hour. What’s even better about just having your coffee at home, is that you can spend your waiting time taking a shower or doing some other chore.
If you like drinking your coffee while on the go, there’s no excuse either because you can always just pour your coffee in a thermos and drink it at leisure. Another advantage to doing this is that you end up helping the environment since less disposable cups are used.
Last but not least, making your own coffee means having the liberty to always make it your own way. Sure Starbucks and most coffee shops are great at providing choices, even letting you give very specific instructions, but it still means having to pay extra for some things. And yeah, if you like one of Starbucks’ and other coffee shops’ particular blend, you can always buy them in packs, still saving you some money when you prepare them at home.
Photo via Kamlau.com
Coffee + Aspirin: Perfect Hangover Cure
It’s almost New Year’s Eve, and I’m pretty sure that the next day will see many suffering from too much partying; and by extension, looking for the perfect hangover cure.
There are so many hangover cures that have been debunked by science over the years, but coffee remains to be one of the most widely accepted hangover cures. Sure there has been studies explaining why coffee doesn’t really help anyone with a hangover. Some even say that it can make a hangover worse. Two of the main reasons cited for this is that it can make a person more tired after the caffeine boost wears off, and can make a person even more dehydrated since it is a diuretic.
Well the ever fickle science community (or at least researchers of this particular study) finally agree to what we coffee lovers have known all along, the combination of coffee and aspirin is really perfect as a hangover cure…at least if you are a rat. According to Professor Michael Oshinsky, of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, rats who were given doses of caffeine and anti-inflammatories responded well to the treatment and were relieved of the headaches. The headaches, which were induced by making the rats drink ethanol (a pure form of alcohol), is similar to the migraines we experience after having a drink too many.
So while the scientists get stuck debating on whether they coffee will cure a hangover or not, I will just have my coffee maker and a bottle of aspirin on hand day after New Year.
Photo via Fooyoh
Reusing Your Coffee Grounds
There’s nothing like a cup of freshly brewed coffee to start the day right, but once you’ve finished your drink, there’s also nothing like having to deal with the used coffee grounds to remind you of the rest of the day’s chores. If you are like me, you’ve probably felt at least slightly unhappy when doing the simple chore, and not only because you have to do it, but because of the wastefulness of it all.
The good news is that if you don’t like waste and want your cup of coffee to do more good than just perk you up, you can actually reuse those coffee grounds instead of throwing them away. Some great ideas for used coffee grounds include:
Ant repellent – Air dry the used coffee grounds and sprinkle them in areas where ants frequent. You’ll immediately notice that ants will avoid the areas where the coffee grounds are sprinkled. If you have an ant mound on your yard though, prepare to sacrifice an entire pot of coffee because the use coffee grounds won’t be enough to do the trick.
Hand deodorizer – Some smells are nearly impossible to get rid of with just soap and water. If you get smelly hands from handling food items like fish and garlic, wash the smell away by rubbing your hands with used coffee grounds instead of soap before rinsing with water.
Organic fertilizer – Mix used coffee grounds with the compost you make from your kitchen waste. The coffee grounds will instantly boost your compost’s nutrient level, since it is rich in Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Magnesium, and Copper.
Image via Missouri Organic
Coffee Storage Tips
You would think that storing coffee is a simple thing, which it really should be if not for the many misconceptions that surround the best way to do it. In fact, We are not exempt from having been misled into believing less than accurate facts, which we (with much apologies) unfortunately passed on as advice. But that was so 5 years ago, and now that our caffeine addiction has lead us to be more savvy in dealing with the multitude of different coffee that we’ve tried, we now know that glass containers definitely are NOT the best way to store coffee beans, whether ground or roasted.
In storing your coffee, you need to take into account the reasons that affect coffee’s freshness AND flavour. Coffee loses freshness easily when exposed to air, so this means always going for an air-tight container. Coffee also absorbs moisture easily, so this means no storing it in damp places like your freezer or fridge. Aside from absorbing moisture, it also absorbs the flavours of other food near it, again this means making sure that you get an air-tight container.
For soluble coffee (think Nescafe and Taster’s Choice), the above tips are enough to address their storage needs, since they have a very long shelf-life anyway. This means that the air-tight glass containers they come in are good enough, as long as you remember to keep the lid on tight.
When it comes to ground coffee though, you have to be extra careful about storage. Ground coffee loses flavour and spoils the fastest, which means that you should always keep it in air-tight containers that won’t let light pass through. The reason for this is that the coffee interacts with sunlight, making it lose flavour. The best containers in this case are air-tight non-reactive cans. Even if you do store ground coffee properly though, you can expect them to spoil in a week or two (if not days). So never ever try to store ground coffee in bulk.
You can store coffee beans in greater bulk than ground coffee, but again you have to make sure that they are stored away from the light. At the least, make sure your air-tight containers are stored in a cabinet or in the pantry where it is cool, dark, and dry. Do not open the container every day, but take a small amount and transfer it to a smaller coffee can to decrease the number of times you expose the stored coffee beans to the air.
If you follow the above advice, you can ensure that your coffee will give the full-bodied flavour every cup should give.
Fairmont and Main Script Coffee Storage Jar Courtesy of Coffee-Maker.org.uk
Boosting Your Income with Your Blog
Caffeine boost not enough to get your heart pumping? Well maybe the thought of dollar signs will do the trick for you.
I’m not talking about giving away money out of my own pockets, nor will I give get-rich-quick formulas that do not really work. Instead, I’ll be giving you some tips on how to promote your own blog and hopefully make some money while you sitting in the comfort of your own home blogging away and sipping on a cup of coffee in the wee hours of the morning.
Most likely you are not new to the idea of blog monetization, but if you are it simple means making money from your blog. You can do this several ways including selling stuff on your blog, asking for donations, offering paid subscription, becoming an affiliate site, and of course, the ever present ads. No matter what monetization tactic you use the one common thing they share is the need for a good sized traffic on your blog for you to make a significant amount of money.
The problem with this is that people won’t come to your blog without any effort on your part. They need to learn of your blog one way or another if you want them to come. The good news is that there are easy ways to promote your blog.
One way you can promote your blog without breaking a sweat is by submitting your blog details on web directories like Blog Search Engine. Not all web directories work the same way, with most providing you nothing more than a listing on the directory. The thing I like about Blog Search Engine is that it provides a review for your blog aside from the link for their basic package which costs only $14.99. Signing up for package upgrades will earn you even more links from their blog network, make you’re the featured blog, and place a banner ad of your blog on their homepage.
While I recommend their services though, I urge you to use other blog promotion strategies to get more traffic in your site quickly.
Can Coffee Help Control ADHD in Kids?
If you have a child with ADHD, then you’ve no doubt run into a wide array of advice and treatment recommendations to help modify your child’s difficult behavior. One of the most recent trends setting ADHD online forums afire is the use of coffee to treat ADHD symptoms in children. Sure, we know coffee is a common part of the daily routine for most adults . . . but haven’t we always been told to keep it away from the children? So, how does this coffee ADHD treatment work? Can coffee help control ADHD in kids? Before you run to the supermarket and stock up on Folgers, read on for some answers.
Stimulants and ADHD. As you probably know, most common ADHD treatments are stimulants – usually in the form of amphetamine and methylphenidate. That is because stimulants actually have a calming effect on children with ADHD. Therefore, it seems to make sense that caffeine might be useful for treating the symptoms of ADHD. Also, it is probably safe to say that most parents would prefer to give their children caffeine over amphetamines. Read more
5 Coffee Flavored Treats You Need to Try
If you are a coffee fan, then you know that coffee is not just a beverage or a morning wake up call. Coffee is so much more than that. It is a lifestyle. You are either a coffee person, or not – but never in between. The aroma of coffee can incite visions, memories and fantasies of coffee-centered moments . . . and, generally speaking, those who love coffee REALLY love coffee. For that reason, experiencing coffee encompasses more than that cup of piping hot joe; there is a world of delectable delights that feature coffee as their main star, and if you are a coffee lover, you absolutely must taste them. Here are five coffee flavored treats that you need to try.
Tiramisu. The next time you are out at your favorite Italian restaurant, you simply must try this classic coffee-laden desert. Featuring coffee soaked lady fingers, a sweet, creamy bed of mascarpone cheese, and chocolate shavings, this luxurious treat will change the way you see coffee forever . . . and may even haunt you in your dreams. Yes, it is that good. Read more
What on Earth is a Coffee Enema? Can Cost YA Money
If you have any “new age” friends, or are prone to the new age lifestyle, yourself, then you might have heard of a procedure called the coffee enema. Anyone who has ever had too much coffee to drink could probably assume that a coffee enema is the same thing. Well, it’s not. A coffee enema is like a traditional saline enema – only with coffee. If you are interested in learning more about what on earth a coffee enema is, then read on:
The benefits of a coffee enema. The caffeine, theophylline, and theobromine in coffee are the ingredients that make coffee enemas so effective. These substances combine to stimulate relaxation of the anus’ smooth muscles and dilate the bile ducts and small blood vessels of the anus in order to clear the body’s toxins out from the intestines and usher them out via the colon. Coffee is also very useful for stimulating the liver to release toxins – even more so than traditional enemas.
History of the coffee enema. Natural and holistic health practitioners have been administering and recommending coffee enemas for years. Coffee enemas were introduced in 1917, but they were brought into the public eye about seventy years ago by Dr. Max Gerson, who made it part of his “Gerson Therapy” program.
Read more
French Press vs. the Basic Single-Cup Coffee Maker
While we certainly love our coffee, sometimes we just want a cup to help us get through a hectic evening. Obviously this means brewing an entire pot of coffee would be a waste. Thankfully, there are several options on the market that make it easy to brew a single cup of coffee, but which one’s best? Two of the most popular options include the French press and single cup coffee maker. Is one option better than the other? Let’s take a closer look.
Price
A single-cup French press can often be purchased for less than $15. However, a single-cup coffee maker can vary in price from less than $15 to several hundred dollars. For the sake of this piece, we’ll stick with basic single-cup makers that can be purchased for the same price as a French press. These machines are just like regular coffee makers, only they make one cup of coffee at a time. Read more
