Coffee Aroma A Wake Up Call?
How many times have you woken up to the smell of good coffee? How did that make you feel? According to some Japanese researchers, the mere aroma of coffee may be enough to give you the jolt that you need to wake up. Fancy that – you don’t even have to drink coffee, just smell it and you’re awake!
They conducted the research on 30 rats, which they kept awake for 24 hours. After that, the exposed half of the rats to coffee – well at least the smell of roasting coffee. The result was that those rats which were exposed to the smell of roasting coffee were able to return to a non-sleep deprived state and were less stressed as well. Of course, this is not to say that the exact effects can be observed in humans. Still, we all know how similarly rats and humans react to many things.
In any case, how is this going to be useful to us? Hmm I can think of a couple of ways…if my partner wants to sleep in and I want to wake him up without having to argue, I’ll roast some coffee beans right under his nose. That should wake him up, shouldn’t it? Oh, and the Japanese researchers were saying that maybe, the smell of roasting coffee can be piped into factories to keep the workers up all night. Maybe the same thing can be used for office workers who seem to love taking naps at work? NOOOOO…
Photo courtesy of Tim
Easter and Coffee
Is there such a thing as Easter coffee? I don’t really know but what I am sure of is the memory I have as a high school girl living with my parents. Every year, when Easter came around, we would wake up at 4:30 in the morning so that we could attend the Sunrise Service at our local church. Me, the perennial night owl, waking up before the sun is way up in the sky? Well, yeah. I had no choice and actually, I got to enjoy it. Besides, it was not like I had to do it everyday.
One of the best things about it was the part after the service – when everyone would have breakfast together and the aroma of coffee would permeate the air. Even right now, I can still smell that aroma…as you can imagine we were just a small group, yes I grew up in a little town.
Going down memory lane like this, I realize that it is more than coffee that I am thinking about. It is about memories that resurface with such a strength at the oddest moments. Here I was, thinking of what to post for today when suddenly, out of nowhere, the smell of the coffee beside me brings back a rush of memories. Interesting, huh?
How about you? What kinds of memories do you associate with your brew?
Alternative Uses for Coffee
Did you know that coffee is not only for drinking but can also be used for a variety of other purposes as well? I am sure that some of you already have an inkling of what I am talking about but humor me and hear what I have to say.
The other day I was at one of my regular hang outs – the smoking lounge in our building. Unfortunately, our office building is a non-smoking one and employees can only smoke in the indoor café on the 11th floor. They serve coffee – which is not so good, to be honest – and some snacks and light meals. What I normally do there, though, is simply sit down and have a smoke.
Anyway, I noticed that their ash trays were filled with a thick layer of damp grainy substance. To my surprise, it was used coffee grains! I asked them about it and they said it makes for a good way to put the cigarettes out and keep the smell down to a minimum. I was not really convinced but I thought it was a neat idea.
I also read about using used coffee grains as a deodorizer. I don’t remember exactly where I read it but the author said to dry the used grains and then place them in small sachets or envelopes. You can then put these in drawers and cabinets and they can add a different character with regards to smell. I tried it and was it wonderful!
Do you have your own alternative ideas?
Vietnamese Coffee
The other week, a friend of mine went to Vietnam for a weekend trip. Every one of my close friends go on trips, I look forward to their coming back because they normally bring presents. Not necessarily big expensive gifts but unique tokens of their destination. This time, she brought us some Vietnamese coffee.
She knows I am crazy about coffee – most any kind of coffee, in fact. When she presented the bag of beans to us, she was all excited about it. She was raving on and on about the aroma and how it would drive us coffeholics crazy. Skeptic me, I just said yes, ok, thank you, I’ll try it later, I’m busy – or something to that effect.
Of course, she couldn’t be stopped and went on to grind the beans. I had a short whiff and I was in love. I have never heard of Vietnamese coffee before then. I didn’t even know that they had a special kind of coffee beans. The smell was awesome - thick and strong yet creamy and sweet at the same time. I believe they call it mocha coffee beans.
The way it is brewed is quite particular as well. They have this tin strainer like things that you place the grinds in. You then need to place some hot water and the cover the tin and wait for the coffee to “brew.” The special thing about Vietnamese coffee is that they use condensed milk instead of sugar. The result is a very sweet and creamy concoction.
In this characteristic lies the coffee’s success and failure at the same time. If you are in the mood for something really sweet then you’d love Vietnamese coffee. On the other hand, if you prefer it black then I suggest you skip it.
As for me, I just had a huge tall glass with lots of ice.
Preserving the Quality of Coffee Beans
The quality of coffee beans depends on how people would store them and be sensitive to the various forces that would allow it to lose its fine quality after harvesting. A good thing to note is that exposing these beans to open air contributes to losing its actual quality. This is why it has been a practice to keep coffee in tightly sealed containers so that people can consume them at any time they would wish.
Storing them as well in cold temperatures, help retain its level of freshness. Freezing them is a good practice especially for coffee beans that are not immediately consumed and are meant for storing. This allows people to consume them at any time they wish wherever they are.
It should also be good to note not to place them beside aromatic food such as garlic and onions. Coffee beans absorb odors and once placed beside high aromatic elements, chances are that the coffee beans would solicit their smell.
Technorati Tags: coffee, storage, aroma, quality
How People Brew Their Coffee
There are various ways to which coffee drinkers all over the world prepare their favorite hot coffee drink. Some would use the traditional autodrip where the proper coffee machine maker will spell the difference between a good coffee brew and plain coffee as acceptable.
There is also the known use of percolating where continuous brewing of ground coffee beans are placed in boiling water which becomes the boiling coffee brew those coffee lovers would usually order in food establishments and coffee shops.
The Turkish or Greek manner of preparation entails boiling the finely grounded coffee beans that are brewed. In this type of preparation, sugar can be added once boiled or not, depending on the preference of the one making the actual brew.
Finally there is also the concentrated way of brewing where coffee preparation calls for large amounts of coffee brewed into small amounts of water brewed to make concentrated coffee. People who would want to drink a cup simply have to add some hot water to enjoy their coffee drink which can be hot or cold.
Technorati Tags: coffee, caffeine, coffee preparation, coffee beans
Choosing Between Espresso and Infused Coffee Brewing
For the coffee veterans, the manner of preparation of their brewed coffee means a lot. Brewed coffee is entirely different compared to the usual concoction that people consume from the manufactured coffee powder anyone can buy in the nearby stores and supermarkets. Espresso and infusion of quality roasted coffee beans offers a more delightful experience for the top tasting coffee that every coffee addict is looking for.
The beauty of espresso is that aside from it regular preparation, it can be combined with other drink such as latte and cappuccino. Espresso preparation pressures the heated water through the coffee grounds and producing the said espresso brewed coffee drink.
Infusion is where the coffee grounds are saturated with fine water to produce the soluble flavors that brewed coffee preparation has today. Infusion caters more to the standard manner of preparation where coffee maker machines are used to produce the quality coffee drink in most homes and some establishments as demanded by the avid coffee drinker today.
Technorati Tags: espresso, infusion, coffee, coffee preparation
Coffee in the Afternoon Meeting
Busy people would usually find themselves headed to the nearest available coffee shop to meet up with business associates or acquaintances to discuss matters regarding business or compare notes. Coffee has been known to be an identified factor with regards to ambiance and business since it is always present in offices and business meetings for important matters for anyone.
Coffee with meetings has become a tradition for people. Some consume if because they have inherited it or actually see it from big-time executives. Individually, a person can resort to juice, tea or soda, but coffee has the distinct taste that people have identified as of late. And so in most coffee shops, this has been the sight.
Business professionals meeting up and talking, or even some doing paper work as they prefer to garner that tag of being a businessman at work aiming for the top and higher positions of the organization he is in.
Technorati Tags: coffee, caffeine, business meeting, ambiance, coffee shop
Matching Aroma when Tasting Coffee
The tempting smell of brewed and prepared coffee would usually set the stage for coffee lovers to start sipping from their cup and satisfying the coffee taste that they have once the scent sets in. The process is only normal. Matching aroma and taste should produce one common output, both satisfying the expected taste of coffee as they perceive it to be.
In most instances, the actual aroma and smell of freshly brewed coffee would invite and tempt the normal coffee enthusiast to grab his cup and incrementally consume it at his desired intake. Most of the time, the expected taste that will satisfy the taste buds of a caffeine addict will be settled at approximately more than 80% most of the time.
Coffee aroma can also be tricky. The expected taste may find its way towards the sense of smell but not the sense of taste for some people. This usually occurs for people who are not well educated on the manufactured coffee beans, since they would either be to strong or too bland, depending on the preparation done for it.
Technorati Tags: coffee aroma, blends, taste, coffee beans
Coffee Inside or Coffee Outside
The desire of people who look towards coffee as a means of making their day can either be appreciated from the coffee shops or from their homes. Of the two, the common sight is to see people preferring to sip their brewed hot drinks at the nearest coffee shop such as Starbucks or the Coffee Beanery. The reason for this may include lesser worries of having to clean up, ambiance and relaxation.
Some would even consider it as a form of status symbol since being able to afford to have coffee outdoors may not sit well with people who are careful or are on a budget. While immediate preparation from their homes can be done, there is a certain something that people see when they buy their drinks outdoors in coffee shops.
This has been the traditional practice which would bring together people for a light moment or business meetings where they can use ambiance and the tempting aroma of roasted beans for coffee to go with their agenda for doing so.
Technorati Tags: coffee, aroma, blends, brewed, coffee preparation
