Coffee Etiquette In Italy
I sure am not headed to Italy any time soon (though the partner and I are planning a trip next year) but I found this blog post on The Road To The Horizon very informative and funny as well.
Did you know that Italians mostly drink their coffee at the bar standing up? If you drink your coffee at the table, then you are probably marked as a tourist (not always a good thing in my book).
How long does it take you to finish off an espresso? For me, it depends. Sometimes I finish it off really fast, sometimes I take my time. In Italy, espresso is meant to be drunk in a jiffy – 3 sips at the most.
As I was reading these interesting bits of trivia, I was thinking – would anyone really care if I didn’t follow the Italian customs when it comes to coffee? Well, I suppose that when you’re in Rome, you have to do as the Romans do. The blog post explains:
It is a habit, no, more a culture, strong: a religion, in Italy, not to drink any coffee with milk in it after breakfast. Cappuccino or Caffe Latte orders after 11 am are often laughed at or joked with.
While coffee bar tenders in the big cities will frown when you order a Caffe Latte in the afternoon, and exchange a glance of “Ah, tourists!” with the people standing at the bar, they will still serve you - all be it - reluctantly.
In restaurants, though, you might get occasions where the waiter will simply not serve you a coffee with milk in the afternoon or evening. The more remote the place, the more “mama and papa”-type the restaurant, the more chance of getting accused for “sacrilege”, turning that ‘friendly hospitable waiter’ into a rude tiran who wants nothing better than to see your backside as you walk out of the restaurant, while all you wanted was a “Cappuccino”.
Ok, ok I get it. Well, not really. I have to read this blog post over and over again – and take notes – before I even think of going to Italy.
Home Roasting
What? That may be the first thing that came into your mind when you read the title for this post. I am talking about roasting your own coffee beans at home as opposed to merely buying ground coffee beans from the supermarket or your coffee shop.
So why should you even think about roasting your own coffee beans? Why go through all that hassle? To be honest, I have not even tried it for myself yet but from what I have been hearing and reading from others, you do not really know what good coffee is until you make a batch from freshly roasted beans. I do not know how true it is but being the coffeeholic that I am – always in search for the best coffee – I am more than willing to give it a try.
You may be thinking that home roasting would entail a lot of effort, time, and money. Well I found this really great post from the CoffeeGeek which will allow almost anyone to roast his own coffee at home. Guess what his main tool is? A popcorn popper!
Ingenious, isn’t it? Seriously, I might not have thought of this idea had I not ran into the CoffeeGeek’s post. Well, I would suppose that a popcorn popper is not a difficult thing to acquire – plus the fact that it is quite affordable. You may even already have one at home!
If you are interested in trying this out, you should pay a visit to the step by step guide on how to roast coffee beans at home using a popcorn popper. Here’s to a successful endeavor for all of us! Happy New Year!
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?
Iced Coffee Not Hot?
Coffee is usually known to be best served when hot. But for the innovative and creative minds of coffee lovers, the prickly heat of seasons such as summer would get them to think of new ways to enjoy the usual hot beverage that opens the eyes of sleepy people. That has totally changed today in the world of coffee.
Everyone is aware of such new brews, especially for people who have tried out the cold Starbucks drinks like frappuccino and ice blends. These are clear examples of new ideas brought out in the market. To top it all off, they are hits in the regions and have made other coffee manufacturers and shops create their own drinks as well.
Hence the initial notion of coffee being solely good when hot has been slowly disintegrating. Hot or cold, coffee can be enjoyed depending on the preference and want of people who love to drink a good coffee brew.
Technorati Tags: coffee blends, coffee, iced coffee, frappuccino
Where’s My Coffee?
Just how do you want your coffee? What kind of coffee beans would you want? Where does it come from? All these questions would normally be in the minds of coffee addicts and most of them look towards the web to find them mainly through search engines optimized as specialized by groups as the Los Angeles SEO specializing in affordable search engine optimization practices.
While most people could care less, there are people who put premium on their coffee. Most of them would normally go through all the trouble and look for the best manufactured and produced coffee beans there is today. The main source for searching they use to find them is the Internet.
With a whole space of web and a lot of websites catering towards providing information and pertinent links towards their need, surely the best sites to soothe their demands will always come out on top of the next query they make using the web.
Coffee Crumbles from Attention
Coffee is one thing that people have gotten used to having and a lot of them are made all over the world. While they can be easily found, especially for coffee manufacturers who have employed the use of affordable search engine optimization as offered by Los Angeles SEO, people who have taken this practice over the web for granted have been left out in the dust. They can be seen scratching their heads on why their acclaimed good products are not getting the attention that they should be getting.
Is it any wonder why? The Internet is the prime source of information today. The broad scope is able to reach billions of people in one sitting and perhaps this is what puzzles them. There is more to websites than just being put up. The marketing aspects of making them found is another and site owners should be open to that, including coffee manufacturers today.
Wake-Up Call and Coffee
All people have to sleep some time and all people have to stay awake as well. This is what the caffeine in coffee brews offer, especially the black brewed coffee known to give that extra kick to wake up the drowsy eyed person.
Offices store coffee for a reason. It is not primarily because your boss would want a cup every time he walks into his office. It is a necessity for people who need to work hard on routine work and at times during extended hours to get the job done. Deadlines are the easiest underlying culprits to which people need to resort to drinking coffee to keep them awake.
It has been proven over the years that coffee wakes up minds. But the consumption level should also be monitored since excess intake may lead to nervous misalignments and may be bad for the overall health of a person especially if he abuses his health and lacks the necessary sleep to recharge his normal stored energy.
Technorati Tags: coffee, caffeine, black coffee
Gourmet Coffee Secrets: Soil and Altitude
Gourmet coffee beans originate from proper care and selection in the harvesting process. The secret behind their fine quality manufacturing lies heavily in their environmental surroundings. It has been proven that the processing of such fine coffee beans owe it a lot towards where it comes from, that of which is usually in the slopes of volcanic mountains that offer high elevation and fertile and rich soil.
The high elevations is good for coffee beans since it offers a more moist surrounding coming from the cloudy attributes that the atmosphere provides at such elevated levels. This also minimized the need for excessive sunlight rays that may ruin the quality of the coffee beans if they are not placed in the right amount of temperature.
The fertile soil where coffee beans are laid comes from the hot lave that are emitted from the earth�s core, full of nutrients from centuries before being brought to the surface. If there is one thing that should be taken into consideration, it is the fact that quality does have a price. In this case, having to harvest them from steep slopes of volcanic structures is a hard effort on the part of the people who would have to farm them out of their locations.
Technorati Tags: gourmet, coffee, blends, brewed coffee
Coffee Cups and Work
Employees would usually see the usual Styrofoam coffee cups at work. Usually a person would need a wakeup call of sorts since chances are, people would start a day slow before their adrenaline would start pumping and energize them to perform their assigned tasks and move through the motions of taking part in a hyperactive working environment.
Coffee is believed to make people awake, get them on their feet and continued to perform duties as needed. This especially holds true for people who need to put in the extra hour to accomplish work, notably the people who need to perform overtime work to meet deadlines.
So what does a coffee in coffee cups bring? It offers a formula for being awake and get on with the job expected to be delivered. Caffeine may be bad for the body, but in times of need, the human mind and body will need all the assistance it would need from any source available and possible.
Technorati Tags: coffee, caffeine, work, office, organization
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.
