Drink Coffee or Die!

Maybe you should go ahead and take him up on that cup of joe after the turkey…

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

National Geographic Traveler’s 1st Annual Food Issue

I wanted to drop a few kudos to National Geographic Traveler on their first annual Food Issue for the awesome coffee representation. The issue is on the stands now, so run out and grab it. If you miss it, be sure to drop them a line and ask for more coffee-centricity in next year’s issue as well.

 

 

 

 

The Flavor Bible (book review)

This article was originally published in my coffee column Tales of the Bean that appears in Parent News magazine each month…

Tales of the Bean- The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

It’s not that often that I’ll review a book instead of an actual food item for this column, but I felt that The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg was worth the departure. Seeing as how I’m a coffee guy, cookbooks just don’t really tickle my fancy. As an armchair chef, meaning I watch tons of cooking shows but don’t cook at all, my only foray into the kitchen is for coffee or the microwave. My wife tries to keep me out otherwise for fear I might break a dish or burn something down.

I first heard of this book in Food Arts magazine, where it received a positive review. Then I noticed that it was a James Beard Award winner. For those of you who don’t know, James Beard Awards are like the Nobel prizes of the food industry. It’s a really great honor for an author to win one.

The book is just the right size for the kitchen. Not too big to lift from the shelf but big enough that if you lay it out on the counter it’ll stay open without setting a huge can of refried beans on top of it. It is billed as “the essential guide to culinary creativity, based on the wisdom of America’s most imaginative chefs.” It’s absolutely true. If you’re a person who likes to experiment in the kitchen or would like to, this book is perfect for you.

For example, say you’d like to jazz up a lamb dish. You simply go to page 192 and there are four pages of things you can do with or add to lamb, including various spices, herbs, and seasonings. There are even flavor affinities listed that complement each other such as “lamb + cinnamon + prunes”. Or you could approach a dish from the opposite direction and start with the extra stuff. On page 214 I found marjoram and a long list of dishes that are enhanced by it. In addition to the encyclopedic style listings for each item, there are also a large number of entries by chefs all over the world on their particular uses and likes for particular items.

Now, I can talk a great deal about food and never handle it. I’ll be honest. I absolutely hate the look and feel of raw meat. Too much time in the autopsy lab on my previous career I guess. In case you’re wondering how I’m going to use the book,  I’m going to concentrate on coffee. I’m a coffee mixologist. I love experimenting with coffee and the different flavors I can achieve with various off-the-wall ingredients. I’m going work my way through the book discovering new additives to try out. What’s first…maybe I’ll try the Chinese Five-Spice Powder.

For the book… The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs.

Chocolatey Sleep Squares (Review)

                As a brief aside from my coffee-centric ventures I thought I would review an item near and dear to many coffee lover- chocolate. This spring I once again visited the Hotel, Motel & Restaurant Supply Show of the Southeast hosted annually right here in Myrtle Beach. I always enjoy browsing the booths and checking things out to see what’s new, what’s changed, and who has the best free samples. As The Coffee Scholar I always zero in on the coffee-related booths to see what’s going on. Unfortunately, it’s usually the same brown water that passes for institutional coffee in the majority of hotels and eateries. I like to zero in on the foodie booths as well for the tasty treats.

                One of the many booths that caught my attention was Sleep Squares. Well, I admit, it was the chocolate that caught my attention. Then, once it drew me in, I checked to see what it was actually about. Chocolatey Sleep Squares from Slumberland Snacks is a chocolate supplement that purports to be “the bedtime delight that helps you sleep through the night.” I didn’t actually try a sample myself but I asked for several boxes to use for a review.

                According to the website Sleep Squares are a sugar-free, non-habit forming supplement “developed to help you fall asleep fast, maintain sleep throughout the night, and wake up feeling rested and recharged without any grogginess or side effects.” The ingredients list reads like that of a standard multivitamin, so like many supplements, I imagine that it’s the particular concentration or mixture of the ingredients that causes the intended action. The website isn’t very clear about how it works, which I can understand to a degree because of proprietary information. Still it would be nice to see some kind of study or scientific information to back up the claims.

                I enlisted my good friend Shane Watson for a little experiment. Watson is a master’s degree student at Coastal Carolina University in the teaching program. He also assists one of the professors. He also works fulltime. He also works as a student teacher at a local high school. You get the idea? He’s a busy guy and when he gets the chance to sleep, he really needs it. He’s also someone who has trouble sleeping anyway, despite the added burden of the hectic non-stop schedule. The perfect guinea pig to try my Sleep Squares experiment.

                I asked Watson to keep a journal for two weeks. The first week would be his normal sleep habits and the second would be using the Sleep Squares. His normal habit is to use Unisom when he has trouble sleeping. The first week he proceeded as normal and used a sleep aid on four out of six nights. He slept a total of 50 hours the first week under normal conditions. Sleep journal comments ranged from “slept through night again, woke up generally mad at the world” to “good sleep, thought I woke up once at 0300.”

                The second week I asked him to use the Sleep Squares and see if there was any discernable difference. The recommended amount is one to two pieces per night. He started out with one piece early in the week and progressed to two pieces at the midpoint of the week. The first night’s comment was “Went with one for first day. Will do more if needed. Slept well, not groggy in morning.” He slept a total of 53 hours that week, not a huge difference but a slight one nonetheless. His last night’s comment was “Slept fine. Woke up feeling awake.”

                Although my experiment was not a controlled scientific endeavor I would say that it does reveal an indication that Sleep Squares work as well or better than a standard non-prescription sleep aid, or at least they did for Watson. With that said Sleep Squares also pose several advantages over pharmacological sleep aids. Natural ingredients versus chemicals and tasty chocolate versus a pill. In other words, it’s definitely worth a try if you either have trouble sleeping peacefully or would like to try an enhancement to sleep better. Or if you need an excuse to eat chocolate.

Honduran Cafe Oro Coffee

One really nice perk about being a coffee expert and writing monthly reviews is that I get awesome coffee from all over the world that I normally wouldn’t have access to. Some companies send me samples to review and my network of world-traveling friends also send me goodies from time to time.

My good friend and fellow life coach Tim West sent me several packages of Honduran Cafe Oro coffee. It’s one thing to buy single origin coffee from the grocery store. It’s quite another to get it from the source. If you enjoy good coffee I always recommend buying some on your vacations. You’re also more than welcome to send me some as well. Not only is the coffee closer to the farm but the packaging is also cool. After I emptied them out I framed the bags for my coffee wall.

Thanks Tim! You can check him out right HERE.

Would You Like E Coli with Your Coffee?

I published a photo on Facebook yesterday of the in-room coffee and coffeepot at a Sleep Inn in Sumter SC where I stayed while attending a homeschool conference. It brought in quite a few comments, so I thought I’d reprint everything for today’s el blogo.

The question I posed was, why do hotels have such nasty coffee? I was mainly just thinking about the brown water that passes for coffee, but, as you can see, it went in a different direction.

Brian C- Because they know you’re going to Starbucks anyways.

 Crystal C-  Well think about how much bacteria is on the coffee pot itself…. and then to think most coffee pots are where? in the bathroom “by the toilet” eewwwwwwwww

I responded…I was just thinking nasty coffee, but now the germ side of things raises it another notch.

Crystal C- Yep think about it… or maybe not… are they EVER cleaned?

Teresa P (my mom)- It isn’t the coffee that is nasty, it is the coffee makers. I never use them. I take my own 4 cup maker and use their coffee in it. Of course I could drink coffee if it was made from swamp water so what do I know?

Chris F- It’s like they’re saying that they’ll feed you but feed you lousy!

David E- ‎= Cheap

Janice G- They are supplying it out of obligation…?

Jake W- Well, if they provided good coffee, then they would have people excited to come back and make reservations for another trip . . . oh, wait, I have no idea.

What do you think?

Is Snapple Overdone?

I bought a Snapple today, the first one that I’ve purchased in a long time. Snapple used to be the cool drink that was a little hard to find but worth searching for. Now it’s everywhere. Snapple is just like a Coke, Nestea, or any other drink I can grab from the convenience store shelf. What exactly does that mean for Snapple?

I don’t know, but it just seems a little less cool. Ubiquity might have upped the gross profits, but it changed the reputation. Now Snapple is just another bottle in a sea of bottles.

Think about this, especially the scale of your product or project, as you make strategic plans. Of course, you have to start small and cool, but do you want to remain that way? Or do you want things to blow up so big that they become second nature? Take time to think about it now and decide what is best for you, your business, and your family. Otherwise, a huge opportunity may come up that steps outside your plans but speaks to big-ness. Do you take it? Do you leave it? The decision can make or break you.

Oh yeah, the message from my Snapple bottle cap…”Real Fact” #739 You transfer more germs shaking hands than kissing.

Sounds good, but I think I’ll still greet folks with a handshake and be sure to keep the alcohol wipe close by.

My Review of PF Chang’s Freezer Meals

Here’s my review of the new PF Chang freezer meals. Hope you enjoy it!

Here’s a couple of before the chow-down pics…

The Birth of a Coffee Mixologist

I have now made the jump from simple coffee expert to Award-Winning Coffee Expert. Now, it doesn’t make my coffee concoctions taste any better. They already taste great (you should try them). What it does it make people, restaurants, and businesses more likely to have me host coffee parties or make appearances. And with that thinly veiled sales pitch over, I’ll present the recipe that earned me a mention in Weekly Surge’s first ever mixology contest where I was pitted against a slew of alcoholic beverages and prevailed.   

                 

Kona Egg Bomb Coffee

Buy Hawaiian Kona coffee beans. The real thing is best, but a Kona blend will do in a pinch.

Grind the beans right before brewing for the best smells. Brew the coffee. Any manner will do, although a French press is the recommended method for maximum flavorability. A drip machine will work fine also. A Chemex pot could be used for maximum aesthetic sexiness.

For the coffee, go with one tablespoon of grounds for every two cups of coffee for medium strength. Use less or more grounds for your own preference.

Once the coffee is made, gently drop in a Cadbury egg. Allow the egg to sit for about 10 minutes in the coffee. Then gently stir to spread the sugary goodness evenly.

The floral undertones of the Kona coffee combined with the chocolate and fondant crème of the egg combine to create a concoction that works great as a before dinner palate awakener or an after-dinner dessert drink.

That’s it. The best drinks and meals are often the simplest. The only hard part may be finding Cadbury eggs in various times of the year.

No Sex on the Wedding Night without Starbucks

I was perusing the latest Brides magazine for a fashion review when I found this stunner of a question.

What if your wife said “no” on the wedding night?

The answers stunned me even more. I mean seriously, Wesley, Starbucks wasn’t created because you’re wife isn’t excited about your lack of manliness. Andrew’s answer smacked of marital rape. I think Dev’s answer was the best. Understanding, but honest.

What would your answer be? Give me the male or female version. I can take it.