Check out this antique coffee paraphernalia

Old hand cranked coffee grinder. I am happy that mine has a plug.

Supposedly this was the original espresso machine at the original Starbucks... Talk about history.

Very old-school coffee pot. Ill stick with my trusty Mr. Coffee thanks! (how does this even work?)

More antique grinders.

 I thought it would be cool to feature a little coffee history, aren't you glad its not so hard to make a latte anymore. These would be fun pieces to use as decoration though.(but it bet they are expensive)

French Press To Go?

This is definitely a cool and novel idea and it will probably make this company a bit of money but it seems so wasteful. Do we really need another type of disposable coffee cup (on with more parts that is more complicated.) I mean if you want a cup of french press coffee to go... order a cup of french press coffee to go. The barista will make a regular pot of french press coffee then pour it into a to go cup for you. easy-peasy.

I think the real cool idea here is a French Press Cup... lets make a reusable one! that I would buy and it seems like it could be made just as easily as this, just make a ceramic version. It would also be infinitely more useful than just a new type of lid. Come on guys!

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Edit

Okay so right after posting that I went searching (it didn't take me long) and I found this... There are a huge amount of french press travel mugs available at pretty much any store that sells regular travel mugs. This makes the above invention a little useless. Maybe they should make a reusable french press lid for those disposable coffee mugs but you can still just get french press coffee made and poured into a disposable cup or travel mug. I don't know what do you guys think?

Cherry Nut Coffee Cake Recipe

Here is a tasty sounded coffee cake from allrecipes.com. I bet it would go great with a hot cup of Moka Joe Sumatra.

Enjoy

Ingredients

• Topping:
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds or other chopped nuts
• Cake:
• 3/4 cup Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 medium eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups dairy sour cream
• 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
• Glaze:
• Milk
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan with CRISCO® No-Stick Cooking Spray.
2. For topping, combine sugar and flour in small bowl. Mix in Butter Flavor CRISCO® Shortening until crumbly.
3. For cake, cream Butter Flavor CRISCO® Shortening, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Add eggs, beating well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream.
4. Spread half the batter in greased pan. Cover with half the cherry pie filling, spreading as evenly as possible. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with nuts and topping mixture.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes or until top is brown and wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool until slightly warm or to room temperature.
6. For glaze, add enough milk (about 1 tablespoon) to confectioners' sugar to make desired consistency. Stir in almond extract. Drizzle over cake.

The art of the coffee stain

While poking around on the web this afternoon I ran across a very interesting trend. A lot of sites have been posting coffee stain art. Some of these submissions are stains made with coffee cup rings, some are paintings with coffee and brush. Either way, I found some cool pieces. I continue to be amazed at people's creativity and originality on the web and off.

enjoy!

http://www.3roadsmedia.com/blog/101-incredible-and-useful-photoshop-brush-sets/?replytocom=52

http://canteen.tumblr.com/post/1516689901/design-challenge-2-coffee-stain-art

http://canteen.tumblr.com/post/1516689901/design-challenge-2-coffee-stain-art

http://acavill.com/2006/11/15/the-coffee-solution/

http://canteen.tumblr.com/post/1516689901/design-challenge-2-coffee-stain-art

Honestly that last one is my favorite.

Some tips and tricks to make your coffee be all it can be!

This article comes from Phil Lempert of supermarketguru.com and is chocked full of good advice.

Coffee Tips as Prices Rise

Baristas and coffee aficionados worldwide bring style, ceremony, and coffee-making theories to each cup they make, but all agree on one thing: the freshest bean makes the best grind which begets the freshest-tasting coffee. Sounds easy enough, but what are the guidelines for the freshest cup, especially at a time when coffee prices are at the highest they have been in years? Here’s the SupermarketGuru’s Freshness 101, making each cup really worth it.

Buy Small and Buy Often
In an ideal world, you might roast the beans at home for the ultimate in freshness but that’s a difficult and often time-consuming process. The easier route is to buy coffee in small quantities and use promptly. Even though the flavor of coffee begins to fade after roasting, beans will certainly stay fresh for several weeks, especially if kept in a can or canister with a tight-fitting lid, away from heat, light, and dampness.

Grind the Beans Yourself
Grinding beans only when you need them avoids staleness, contributes to a more flavorful cup, and of course, offers you the indelible fragrance that whets the appetite of even the most blasé coffee drinker.
Use the Right Grinder for the Brew
Use a burr grinder, which is better for grinding the beans evenly in size and texture. This is a key to releasing the volatile flavor oils into the cup. Blade grinders are best for coffees that can benefit from their “smashing” technique, namely Turkish coffees or some Chemex pots.

Choose the Brewer that YOU Like Best
It’s your palate, your satisfaction, and your enjoyment that count (and by the way your money!), so if you like that ‘50s percolator taste, go for it. If it’s a French press, automatic drip pot, or the battered metal moka you’ve had since college, stick by it. Nobody knows what type of coffee brew tastes best to you more than you!

Use the Right Filter
Using filters? Buy the best if you like paper ones to avoid clogging, or opt out of paper (and its waste) and go for the gold, a Swiss gold filter that has very fine holes that do not clog, rinse easily, and can be used for years.

Use Good Water
The choices for water are wide and wonderful these days: purifiers that fit on your kitchen sink faucet, bottled spring water delivered right to your door, and “gourmet” spring waters available at your local grocer. Waters to avoid are soft waters, regular tap water in most communities, and distilled waters. Remember, the freshest-tasting cup relies on the water as well as the bean.

Temperature Matters
Boiling-hot coffee burns the tongue and the fingers holding a cup, so imagine what it does to the bean. Forget about boiling (212°F) water, which cooks the grinds. Instead, use slightly cooler water from (195 to 200°F). If the water boils, take it off the heat, let it cool down about five minutes to the recommended temperatures, then brew as usual.

Timing Is Essential
The one criterion important to all brewing methods is to make only the amount that you will drink now, and re-brew as desired. Believe us, the extra effort to brew more often is worth it and respectful to the bean! Keeping that pot on the burner for more than 18 minutes only means one thing: instead of warming the brew it burns it. In fact, most coffee tastes freshest when consumed within 10 minutes of its brewing.

Use Enough Coffee!
Although this isn't technically about freshness, using the right amount of coffee gives you the best, deepest, most flavorful cup. Don't be stingy. You're worth the best. Two level tablespoons to a six-ounce cup or four level tablespoons to a twelve-ounce mug will be perfect for most palates. Adjust to your taste.

Keep Your Tools Clean
Nothing can contaminate all your best efforts better than a dirty pot or cup. Residue from the oils and the grinds builds up in mugs, filters, and brewers, so take the time to clean your tools regularly. Your coffee will definitely taste better, richer and fresher!

and remember for the best coffee you should probably get it from Moka Joe Coffee. Hey you can even order from our website at shop.mokajoe.com

until next time

cheers and enjoy

Should coffee shops turn off the WiFi?

While clicking through the various other Seattle area coffee blogs, searching for inspiration this morning, I came across an interesting debate. That was, should there be WiFi in coffee shops? The first thing I thought was "Yeah of course there should be!" I mean if people couldn't access the internet in coffee shops how would they get any work done there, but then it occurred to me (mostly because I read more of the blog posts and understood the argument better). Maybe people shouldn't be going to coffee shops to "get work done". A coffee shop should be a place of COMMUNITY interaction.(that is, local community not web community)

When WiFi first became available to the public, coffee shops were naturally one of the original public WiFi spaces. I mean who doesn't want to sip their coffee and cruise the web,  read blogs and check out whats happening around town. However, these days free WiFi is everywhere. You can get it in McDonald's with your BigMac for Pete's sake. (who is pete anyway)

So now some of our local coffee shops are championing a return to the simpler, WiFi-less times. Some of these crazy places think that people in their shops should be meeting each other, talking and sharing stories FACE TO FACE. An outrageous idea I know, but it is one that might catch on.

One of the problems with this is that a lot of customers do not want to go to coffee shops without free WiFi. So when these shops ax the internet they are also axing a good chunk of their customer base.

It's hard to say if a coffee shop would be better with or without internet access. In my opinion people would be better if they could just turn off the computer every once and awhile and talk to their neighbor face to face. In my experience, however, this might just be wishful thinking to the point of foolishness.

Anyway here is a video which sums up pretty much everything I just said.

Enjoy