Category Archives: Fun

Festive Christmas Coffee Drinks to Make This Holiday Season

Posted on by

The holidays are upon us and that means it’s time to get into the festive spirit! One of the best ways to do that is by cozying up with a delicious Christmas coffee drink. Here are 5 recipes for festive Christmas coffee drinks that will get you into the holiday spirit in no time.

1. Gingerbread Latte: This classic Christmas drink is made with espresso, steamed milk, gingerbread syrup, and a touch of cinnamon. It’s the perfect way to warm up on a cold winter day.

2. Candy Cane Mocha: This drink is made with espresso, chocolate syrup, candy cane syrup, and steamed milk. It’s a delicious combination of rich chocolate and minty flavor that’s sure to get you into the holiday spirit.

3. Eggnog Latte: This festive twist on a classic latte is made with espresso, steamed milk, eggnog, nutmeg, and cinnamon. It’s the perfect drink to enjoy while curled up by the fire.

4. White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha: This flavorful drink is made with espresso, white chocolate syrup, peppermint syrup, and steamed milk. It’s a delightful combination of sweet and minty flavors that will leave you feeling merry and bright.

5. Gingerbread Cookie Latte: This delicious latte is made with espresso, gingerbread cookie syrup, steamed milk, and a touch of cinnamon. It’s the perfect way to enjoy your favorite holiday cookies in liquid form!

These five festive Christmas coffee drinks are sure to get you into the holiday spirit! So grab your favorite mug, cozy up by the fire, and enjoy one (or all) of these delicious drinks. Happy holidays!

Share

You can still have a cup of coffee when there is no coffee maker available!

Posted on by
Reply

Coffee drinkers can be faced with challenges to get a cup of coffee at times. Generally, there is an espresso shot provider on every other city block corner. Being in the woods, camping, can present some challenges though. When the need arrises, the only real mountain to climb is the hot water part of the coffee. The rest is just an opportunity to be creative. For me, spending the night at a friend’s house that doesn’t drink coffee is more of a reality. Sure, it’s hard to believe that I hang out with anyone that doesn’t know their way around an espresso machine, but I never think to ask when forming friendships.

I used to carry a little hand-pump pressure coffee maker, but found I most often didn’t need it. Now, just a bag of the latest fun beans are packed in the luggage. The biggest hurdle is hot water. So, when at someone’s house, the rest is no problem… well, not as impossible like when there is no hot water. This all came top-of-mind today when Tonx mentioned they had a fun infographic about this exact challenge… how to make coffee when there is no coffee maker available!

Remember Tonx? The subscription coffee bean company that brings our household beans from all over the world. Thus, we have hand picked flavors from around the world, helping to expand our enjoyment of beans from places we may not have otherwise thought of visiting.

The infographic is part of the Tonx Coffee Hacks contest. I have not seen the other entries, but this one really hits home. There are a lot of options once you look around to get beans into grounds as well many ways to filter the goodness from the grinds into you cup. The infographic will be a handy reminder of some options when realizing your ‘friends’ doesn’t share all of your likes.

Continue reading →

Share

The caffeinated world of owls

Posted on by
Reply

Some people share photos of holiday things, others share cute kitty movies. I’m more of a coffee related images sort of posting fool.

Last week I stumbled upon a fun bit of coffee humor art. We all know Owls for their big eyes. Well, how would those eyes look if our friends of the late night drank coffee or espresso? Not just one grind, but a variety of coffees. Maybe what makes it a bit more fun is I have co-workers with similar reactions to the many coffees available in the kitchen.

The above is just two of the full graphic, which is available from the artist to have printed. Making a nice gift for the coffee fan in your life.

Share

Coffee in the History of America

Posted on by
Reply

The folks at Lumin Consulting has released a inforgraphic after our heart, Coffee!!

The subject is How Coffee Changed America. But, really, it’s about How Coffee Has Been Involved in the History of America. The information most likely wont change your view of coffee or change your coffee drinking habits. What it will do it give you a bunch of fun info for the next time your hanging with friends and someone brings up the Boston Tea Party or wonder about…. well, how coffee was involved in the History of America.

Click ‘More’ to view the full diagram:

Continue reading →

Share

Starbucks Espresso Christmas Blend – Did we enjoy it or should we pass this year?

Posted on by

Throughout our travels we find we drink a lot of coffee from many different places. Every place has a preferred bean or drink or mix of drinks that the locals feel is better than the rest. It may just be because the locals love the owners which can have a lasting effect on a cup of coffee’s taste. Others have beans they mix to their own special family recipe, though we always wonder how many generations has been importing beans from a particular mountain’s growing fields. No matter the reason for the provider’s labeling of their signature drink, it is important to remember a few key fact because we may be coming back this way in the future. There is nothing worse than settling down for a relaxing cappuccino to remember the second sip in why you didn’t enjoy the drink last time.

Being a self labeled ‘geek’ family, we turned to our mobile devices and set up a little database to track what was good and what was not. Using a simple app, Bento, we are able to make quick notations about the location and what we liked and didn’t like. The next time through, a quick search reminds us if we should grab the special or make an excuse for the daily grind. Using this solution does mean we are dealing with basic pull downs and boxes for entry, with very little effort we were able to sync across all of the family mobile devices so the knowledge is shared.

When talking about the Starbucks ‘Espresso’ Christmas Blend in this mornings espresso, we thought about the need for something a bit more ‘nice to look at’ and graphical that anyone could just load and use. A quick search and we found Coffee Cellar. An app for the iPone and iPad that lets you quickly name a drink, assign an icon to remember the drink by later and then rate via sliders what your tasting results where. Currently there isn’t any way to note a location so the app is really best to use with beans you bought and are using at home. Maybe it will work with something like the FourSquare app in the future. We do like how fast it is to rate a drink then find it later though.

Back to Starbucks Espresso Christmas Blend – this is different from their normal holiday red bag Christmas Blend, most noticeable by it’s purple bag. The beans? A strong smell from the grinder let us know this wasn’t a coffee bean, and it is truly a espresso mix. The taste is not bitter, though there is a burnt taste that lingers after drinking in the back of our mouths. Not a bad experience at all, but much different from the year round Starbucks Espresso coffee option. Very enjoyable as a seasonal treat, though marked in our log as not an every day drink. We like to keep the unique spoils of particular blends for an occasion rather otherwise we might be setting our standards too high for the small stand on the corner and their great grandmother’s secret bean mix.

Share