The girls got together for our day out. Our agreement is that this is a girls only day; no husbands, boyfriends, life partners, kids, parents or work allowed to intrude. It is time to take care of the women and enjoy one day without responsibilities. Thankfully, our families understand.

One of the girls mentioned that she recently had a meeting with a client. She walked in the door and as he spoke, she felt a bit dizzy. No, it wasn’t his gorgeous good looks that caused the
sensation. It was his coffee breath!

Most people are unaware that they have halitosis. Everybody gets them at some point. Coffee drinkers smell coffee on their breath and think absolutely nothing of it since they love coffee.

Unfortunately, the smell of coffee on someone’s breath isn’t always pleasant. Coffee is acidic. The acid combined with the bacteria in our mouth isn’t exactly the best scent around. The odor can ensure that people will give you a wide berth. Hmmm…not the reaction you want if you are running for Hunk or Babe of the Year.

Fortunately, there are some simple solutions that do not require you to give up your favorite coffee drink.

1. Develop good oral hygiene
• Brush your teeth properly and carefully twice a day
• Floss at least once a day before brushing
• Rinse your mouth with water especially after drinking or eating
• Clean your tongue well
2. Drink a lot of water. Two glasses for every cup of coffee is good for cleansing.
3. Add food that can help improve the scent of your breath to your diet such as apples, carrots and celery.

In a pinch, there’s always Altoids of course. People around you will appreciate it.

Most people will tell you that a good cafe must have great coffee. That is true. How can you call yourself a cafe and not serve a good cup of joe?

A good cafe will have a great variety of brews. Remember that nursery rhyme: “peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold”? That’s what a good cafe would be like. It will have coffee that is hot and coffee that is cold. Espresso, cappuccino, machiatto should be on the menu. They’ll most likely have a special house recipe that is uniquely their own and a crowd favorite.

A great cafe will also have a variety of beans and blends. You’ll have a choice of drinking the familiar Arabica or Robusta. You can also choose beans you’ve never tried: Brazilian, Columbian, maybe even the rare Jamaican Blue Mountain.

A good cafe isn’t just about the coffee though. It’s also about the ambiance. A good cafe has a relaxed feel to it. It feels homey and is a great place to sit and chat. The aroma of coffee subtly, deliciously scents the air, giving everyone a chance to unwind.

A good cafe is busy but not noisy. There is a fluid flow of customers yet people aren’t deafened by the sound of everyone coming and going. People can have a decent conversation, a heart to heart or a casual chat as they feel like it.

In this day and age, a really good cafe isn’t just a place to have a cup of coffee. It is also a great place to work as a second office. This usually means having a wifi connection since most people will need to be able to keep in touch with their offices and clients no matter where they are. Wifi zone cafe’s are truly a blessing. You can have a space to work that serves great coffee and have meetings in a relaxed atmosphere at the same time.

Have you found a good cafe in your area yet?

The making of espresso is both a science and an art. Over the years they have found that precision is required to make a great espresso. There are four factors that affect the making of a great shot. They are also called the four M’s.
The first factor is Macinazione or the proper grinding of the beans. Great baristas in fact will only grind beans for an espresso right before using them. 30 seconds after they have been ground, the beans are already too stale for a good espresso. The proper grind is between fine and powdery. The grind has to be uniform in order to insure the best taste. Instant powder will definitely make an awful espresso.

The second factor is Miscela or the coffee blend. Good beans means better tasting coffee. Perfectly logical, right?

The third factor is the Macchina or the espresso machine. Thanks to many inventors, you now have eay to use tools to help you make your espresso. But it will not magically make perfect espresso if you don’t know how to use it properly. The Rancilio Silva is considered the best by most espresso lovers but feel free to shop around til you find the machine that you are comfortable with.

The last factor is Mano or the skill of the barista – that means you. More than half the battle is knowing how to use your equipment properly. You need to know how to properly fill your filter basket. Some espresso lovers will tell you to tamp the ground coffee, others will tell you not to. Like all skills, making the perfect espresso takes practice so that your every espresso shot has that beautiful crema that is the mark of true espresso.

Most people are familiar with coffee. If you ask them to describe it, they’ll probably describe their cup of coffee as putting a teaspoonful or sachet of coffee powder and sugar in their favorite mug and mixing it with water and milk. Others may describe their coffee as freshly brewed referring to coffee made by drip using their coffee makers. This is the most familiar way most people make their brew.

Many have heard the term espresso. They may have seen it on the boards or menus but not knowing what it was, have never tried it. Little do they realize that they may already have had some with their favorite cappuccino or other mix they bought in the coffeeshop. You are not a true coffee lover it is said unless you have tried espresso.

Espresso was first made in Italy. It is formally called Caffe Espresso. Unlike in any other part in the world, espresso is not just a beverage. In fact in Italy they make time to drink their espresso. This is one brew that is an experience, not just a drink.

Espresso is drunk in shots and is usually served in glasses. It is a rich tasting brew that has a great aroma. Hard to explain its taste but it is rather like dark chocolate though definitely not the same.

Espresso is made with hot (not boiling) water being pressured through ground coffee beans. It has a distinctive reddish-brown color and a delicious aroma. It should also have crema – the tan colored foam found on top of every good shot of espresso. If it has no crema, it is a bad shot. Have it replaced immediately.

If you’re the type who enjoys sipping on a nice hot coffee drink while drinking in words from your nifty e-book reader, then I suggest you head on over to the nearest Barnes & Noble branch. They have an ongoing promo where they will give a tall cup of coffee for FREE to any customer who shows a server an open e-book.

Which readers are qualified? Thank goodness, Barnes & Noble isn’t being nitpicky about this – they’re not limiting e-readers to their own Nook. You can use any of these e-e-readers and still qualify for that free cup of coffee:

• iPad
• iPhone
• iPod touché
• BlackBerries
• HTC HD2 devices
• portable Mac or Windows computers

Isn’t that nice of them? Oh, there IS a catch. The software that you must use to read e-books is the BN e-reader software, of course.

So what’s the point of offering free coffee to those who read e-books in the store?

It all points back to the use of the BN e-reader software. They have been on a campaign to push the use of this piece of software, along with the Nook. One cool thing about the software (aside from the free coffee that you get if you use it) is that you can read selected titles in the store for free for an hour everyday!

Coffee + free books = heaven!

So anyhow, when I got home, I decided to pass by the grocery store to get some stuff for dinner. I knew I had a steak or two in the fridge, but I wanted to spice it up. Guess what I found? Some Jack Daniels hickory BBQ sauce! Needless to say, I am STUFFED.

That hasn’t stopped me from browsing through some recipes that I somehow stumble upon online. (Seriously, they just seem to pop out. It’s not like I purposely seek them out!)

Here’s one that I think you will love – Texas hickory smoked brisket with coffee barbecue sauce. Now doesn’t that sound heavenly? I found the recipe at CTNow, and the image and words combined just made my mouth water despite the really good meal I just had. Here’s the recipe for the sauce, which I think will be an excellent partner for any other roast meat:

Southwestern barbecue sauce and assembly:
1 large onion, thinly sliced, top to bottom
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 jalapeños, seeded and diced
2 poblano or pasilla chiles, seeded and diced
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1 beer, preferably ale
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups ketchup
1/4 cup maple syrup, preferably Grade B
1/4 cup molasses
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon New Mexico chile powder
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
Prepared smoked brisket

1. In a heavy-bottom 4-quart pot, combine the onion, garlic, jalapeños and chiles with the coffee and beer. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in the tomato paste, ketchup, maple syrup, molasses, cumin, salt, chile powder and red wine vinegar and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and blend the sauce using an immersion blender or in stages in a stand blender, until fairly smooth. Set aside.

3. Remove the brisket from the foil and slice across the grain into thin strips, reserving any pooled juices and leftover bits. Stir these drippings into the barbecue sauce. Serve the brisket warm with the barbecue sauce on the side.

If you’re in my neck of the woods, you have probably had it with the heat. I love the sun and the heat when I am at the beach, but when you have to trudge to work in the temperatures we’ve been having in the past months, you’ll want to die! Worse, you can’t even really enjoy that steaming hot cup of coffee!

Of course, there’s always iced coffee, which you can also make at home. If you need to keep your cool and have your java as well, here are some tips that help you whip up the best iced coffee you can ever have.

Choose a dark roast – the darker the better. Even if you do not like this type of roast normally, it will make your iced coffee much better. That’s because the coldness will lessen the flavor, and when ice is added, the brew will get diluted anyway. Alternatively, if you prefer a lighter roast and I can’t persuade you to change that preference, make coffee ice cubes and use that in your iced coffee!

Use sugar syrup instead of regular granulated sugar. This is because the latter does not really dissolve well in cold liquids. If you must use granulated sugar, make sure that you add it to the coffee while it’s hot. An alternative is condensed milk. Vietnamese coffee lovers will swear by this sweetener.

Get some flavored syrup. You can buy flavored syrups at any grocery store, and you will have the freedom to spice up your iced (even hot, actually) coffee.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

I am not a mother, neither am I a mom-to-be (for now), but I raise my coffee mug in salute to all the women who have brought life into this world. For many of these modern day mothers, they couldn’t have done it without coffee, could they?

If you think I am exaggerating, think about your own moms. Think about your friends who have kids and who have jobs at the same time. Heck, think about yourself. How could you function without coffee?

Seriously, though, I read this article written Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. Titled “Mother’s Day: Caffeinated Mom Power,” the article basically examines the link between coffee and motherhood. I lover her anecdote about her little girl:

Yesterday, I asked my eleven-year-old daughter what she thought moms needed for Mother’s Day. She replied, “Moms need two things: 1-Coffee, and, 2-A day for themselves.” I couldn’t help but ask, “Why coffee?” Her answer: “They need help coping with their day with their busy schedules of picking up kids, dropping them off all over the place, and working.”

Indeed, moms are always juggling at least several things: work, the children, her husband, housechores, etc. Without their morning cup of coffee – at least for many moms – they would probably not be able to keep going. I think about my colleague, a mother of 5 children. She works two jobs – one from home – and does everything at home. She needs at least 5 cups of coffee a day. I think about my boss, a mother of one, and wife to a local celebrity. She works more than 9 hours every single day, and she needs her several cups of coffee as well.

To all the moms – cheers to you and everything you stand for (with or without your coffee)!

I just realize now that I have been scammed. For all my talk about being street smart, and being able to smell a scammer from a mile away, I somehow always end up being ripped off one way or another. I don’t get scammed big time, but I do tend to fall for small scams – which have a way of adding up.

Anyway, when I was in Saigon last month, I was hell bent on buying as much coffee as I could. I didn’t particularly like the mocha coffee that my friend brought home last year, but I knew that Vietnam had more coffee to offer than the kind I originally tasted. So on my last day, I went around Ben Thanh market to take a look at the plethora of coffee beans that they sold there.

I should have known – when I saw practically every stall selling “Weasel Coffee” – that the stuff was probably not the real thing. Still, I disregarded my instinct and bought bags of the “awesome” coffee anyway. I was thinking, this is Vietnam. Everything’s cheaper here.

Now that I am drinking my nth cup of Weasel Coffee, I think that I might have paid good money for a fake. Everywhere online, I keep reading about the elusive weasel coffee and how replicas are sold all over Saigon and Hanoi; how tourists are being scammed every minute. Unfortunately, I think I am one of them.

So how do I get my hands on the real deal? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

How many cups of coffee do you need during the day to function well? This figure will definitely vary from one person to another, not to mention the kind of coffee that one drinks. But, I am sure that you will agree with me when I say that there are days when you simply have to get more than what you usually have. You know those days when you can’t seem to get your act together?

What do you normally do to deal with those days?

Here’s something that can help you from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters: revv and revv Pulse K-Cups. Just one look at the name and you know that you’re in for something GOOD!

These products can give you that energy jolt that you extremely need without packing on the calories. They can be used with ANY Keurig single-serve brewers and are made of 100% Arabica. Now, I don’t have to tell you that what this means, do I? Energy and LOADS of it!

What’s the difference between revv and revv Pulse? The former is more conventional – coffee, plain and simple – while the latter has a twist to it, courtesy of the added Ginseng and Guarana. These two ingredients are commonly found in energy drinks, as they are naturally occurring energy boosters.

The only downside I see is that if you do not own a Keurig single-serve brewer. That can be easily remedied by buying one, of course, but perhaps you can find a way around it. To buy the coffee, visit Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.