“Pumpkin Spice Up” Your Coffee
It’s Halloween! For sure, you have got your costumes ready, and you have all your candies and treats bundled up for the kids that will come knocking at your door. Perhaps you’ve even done your grocery shopping if you’re hosting a dinner or party of some sort. In any case, I think that your Halloween will NOT be complete unless you have coffee as part of the festivities. After dinner, some of your guests may want drinks with a little kick – wine and other spirits – but I am also sure that a lot would look for coffee at one point of the night or another.
Instead of serving good old brewed coffee or plain old espresso, why not spice up your Halloween party? For sure, you have seen all those Torani bottles of syrup that many coffee shops use to flavor their coffees. You can actually get one in pumpkin spice flavor! Try your local grocery store or supermarket OR you can do your shopping online (although it is quite impossible to have it delivered on time). I searched for pumpkin spice syrup online and found some options here.
Anyhow, what’s the trick to making pumpkin spiced espresso? There really is none. All that you have to do is make espresso the way you normally do with your machine. I suggest two shots for a bolder flavor. Pump one or two shots of the syrup (depending on how strong you want the flavor to be) into the coffee, stir, and then add your steamed milk. Optionally, you can add whipped cream (you might want to pass up on that if you’re on a diet) and some cinnamon or more pumpkin spice powder.
Buy Dunkin’ Coffee Online
Where do you buy your coffee? The chances are that you have your own supplier; your regular brand. I think I have told you this before – we buy our coffee straight from the place where they grow the beans. The coffee is fresher and I like this particular variety (Liberica). There are times, though, when I yearn for a different taste, and when I discovered that Dunkin’ Donuts sells coffee beans online, I got all excited.
Visit the online shop of Dunkin’ Donuts to get your own beans for home brewing. From what I have been seeing, they have five varieties: Original Blend, Dunkin Decaf, French Vanilla, Hazelnut, and Dunkin Dark. I’m leaning towards the Original Blend and Dunkin Dark. The former is made from 100% Arabica beans, and promises to give you that unique Dunkin’ coffee flavor. The latter is made from the same kind of bean, I think, but roasted more to give a stronger flavor. Both can be bought for $7.99 a pound – not a bad deal at all!
If you’re looking for something more than coffee beans, then Dunkin’ also has some equipment that can make you happy in the kitchen, making coffee. Their offerings are quite limited though – I only saw five products: two blade grinders by Braun and Krups, a Bunn brew kit (which, they claim is great for the office), a Bunn decanter, and some coffee filters by Bunn. I have no idea why they are selling these particular brands (although we know they are reliable). I think I’d get them at the store instead of the Dunkin’ shop, though.
Of Flavored Coffee
I went to Coffee Bean the other day to meet up with some friends, something which I hadn’t done in a while, and I was surprised at the fact that I got a bit confused as to what to order. I usually get something basic – brewed or a latte – but then I saw flavored coffees. I still got my usual – a latte – but it got me curious about how they make the flavored coffees, so I did some research.
Obviously, in many coffee shops, they add the flavor after brewing the coffee. The most common way is to add shots of syrup, depending on the flavor that you want. You can have vanilla, strawberry, hazelnut, and so on. Alternatively, you can flavor your own coffee by using natural products such as cinnamon sticks or its powdered form; same thing with nuts and other flavors that you may fancy.
But did you know that some people add flavor to the coffee before brewing it? Check out the coffee beans at the grocery store and you will find various packaging of flavored coffee beans.
What they do is to add the chemicals to the beans. The flavoring can take the form of either powder or liquid. These chemicals are usually added to the beans right after they come out of the roasting drum.
You ought to know, also, that purists simply abhor adding flavor to the beans while or after roasting. Some even hate the addition of flavors after brewing! While I am not particularly fond of flavored coffee, I am not really against it either. How about you?
Photo courtesy of http://blog.promoindie.net/
Protect Your Liver With Coffee
I bet you didn’t know that – I didn’t! I know how too much alcohol can damage one’s liver beyond repair, but I had never associated coffee with the liver. Then again, everything that we ingest goes through the liver so it makes sense.
Anyhow, a new study has found out that perhaps, coffee can help with the retardation of the damage on the liver caused by hepatitis C. This form of hepatitis is viral and can be contracted through infected needles, sexual activity, and mother to child. In a few cases, the virus does not cause much damage. However, in most cases, the infection stays and causes damage to the liver, including chronic inflammation, cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), and even cancer of the liver.
So what exactly did this new study find out? According to the researchers, their subjects who drank at least three cups of coffee on a daily basis were more protected against the long term damages wrought by hepatitis C. The figures play around 53 percent. Reuters has more details:
Freedman’s team found that the risk of progression declined as patients’ coffee intake rose. Compared with those who were non-drinkers at the outset, patients who had one to three cups of coffee per day were 30 percent less likely to progress. Those who drank three or more cups each day had a 53 percent lower risk.
Again, as with most other studies, the researchers have a standard disclaimer that they need further studies and analysis to have conclusive results. Still, even if you don’t have hepatitis C, you have another reason to drink more coffee!
Coffee Poisons Harvard Lab Workers
I have heard people say that coffee is a drug but I haven’t heard of anything about it being a poison, have you? Ask the six Harvard lab workers and I am sure they will tell you just how poisonous coffee can be!
Apparently, in August, these lab workers drank some coffee from a machine which was located near their laboratory. Soon after, they had to be taken to the hospital due to symptoms such as dizziness and ringing in the ears. One of them even passed out. While they were released not long after, the incident prompted an investigation.
The results were released just yesterday, and they showed that the coffee in the machine was tainted with a chemical called sodium azide. This chemical is commonly used in laboratories as a preservative. They don’t know whether its presence was intentional or not.
So who cares about this piece of news? I do! And people who drink coffee from their office coffee machines should think twice as well! Whether you are talking about those instant coffee machines or machines that dispense brewed coffee, it always pays to make sure that what you are getting is safe and clean.
Come to think of it, though, the story is actually a bit funny. I am sure the workers don’t think so, but who would have thought that such a chemical would find its way into the coffee? Anyhow, next time you think of grabbing coffee from “just anywhere,” you might want to think twice.
Pass Up On That Coffee…
…and donate the money to victims of Typhoon Ketsana (Typhoon Ondoy) instead! If you have been browsing news online or watching the news on TV in the past week, you would know all about the situation of countless people in the Philippines. Some of you might even have already helped in your own ways. For those who want to, but haven’t yet, here is an idea.
Why not pass up on your daily cup at Starbucks (or wherever you get your java fix at) for a day or so and donate that money to help people in dire need? Think about it, if you spend $5 a day on a cup of coffee, you can give up to $25 in one work week! This may not seem much to you, but 25 bucks can buy food, blankets, and some clothes for a whole family.
It has been a week since the typhoon hit, and the second typhoon that was expected to hit the same area this weekend changed its course and hit farther north. Still, some communities are submerged in water. More families have been left with nothing but the rubble of their houses. Still more people have been left with nothing but the clothes on their back.
Bottom line: these people need our help more than we need our specialty coffees. Convinced yet? If you are willing to extend a helping hand, click on the widget below. The proceeds go straight to the PayPal account of the Philippine National Red Cross.
