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Fun with Coffee Art… yup, there is an app for that

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When a friend told me about the Caffeine tracker app for my iPhone, I spent some time looking around and found a fun Coffee Art app. A glance around the internet finds many food sites that show how creative people can be with their coffee art.

There are books and YouTube videos on how to do those fun bits of art too. All of which are great when sitting on the couch, but when in the kitchen or on the go, you need an app for that. I found one! The iPhone app is called Art of Coffee. And, as the name implies, the application shows you step by step how to create an extra dimension to your morning express0. If not for you, it’s a nice thing to do for someone else you might be pulling a shot for.

The Art of Coffee is only about creating a visually pleasing presentation and not about the actual action of pulling a shot. That said, there is coffee and milk tips in the app, but the 30+ pour instructions are the reason to take a look. Use Art of Coffee for a few tips then choose a design and learn step by step how to make bits that jump out of the cup.

From the software creator:

The designs in the Art of Coffee are divided into two sections and listed as follows:
Essential Art: Chasing Hearts, Four Leaf Clover, Dotted Flower, Seagulls, Etched Rosettas, Simple Heart, Layered Heart, Cradled Heart, Rosetta, Hanging Heart, Rosetta with Heart, Tulip, Smiley

Advanced Art: Butterfly, Ghost, Rabbit, Monkey, Pig, Dragon, Seahorse, Fish, Cowboy, Double Heart, Heart within a Heart, Swan, 6 Leaf Tulip, Double Rosetta, Phoenix, Rosetta with Double Heart, Wreathed Heart, Rosetta with Tulip, Double Heart Double Rosetta.

 

 

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Martha Stewart plus New Coffee Filters = Holiday Fun Craft

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Martha Stewart to the rescue for the holidays. A particularly great idea if you just went from a drip coffee maker to a single cup pod machine… what to do with all those paper filters up in the kitchen cabinet. Why not make a holiday wreath out of them?

The project is actually pretty quick and takes the filters, something to poke the holes with, a bit of ribbon, a paper plate (read the directions, you can substitute for different size wreaths) and a glue gun… the ever crafty ‘glue gun’. She frowns on people taking her plans from her sites and books, so the next step is to jump over to her site and see the ‘very’ simple instructions. The only age restriction is the need for the hot glue gun… maybe a kids glue stick could be used, will have to play with that.

 

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Espresso with the speed of a puck machine but still real frothed milk!

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You love the speed of a puck coffee maker but don’t like the ‘pucks’ of so called milk. You enjoy espresso but have a time keeping fresh beans in the house. If this describes you, I have a find you will be interested in. Personally, I was excited.

Illy has several pre-packaged coffee ‘pucks’ options. Their new style, I have mentioned here before are little plastic single use Capsules. And, the long term solution are their E.S.E pods, which are individually wrapped coffee in what looks like filter material. The E.S.E Pods can be purchased from a variety of stores and online suppliers. E.S.E Pods come in Medium, Dark and Decaf.

Their new machine, Mitaca POD1 Espresso Machine, uses these E.S.E Pods. And also has a milk frothing steam nozzle! This is big if you like the speed of the k-cup style machines but don’t want to use the ‘milk’ pucks like in the Tassimo or Dolce machines. The manufactures make an attempt at filling the need of frothed milk but it tastes very different from the milk in your fridge. Interesting enough, from the circle of friends I chatted with about the new Mitaca POD1, they all found it easy to keep fresh milk on hand but difficult to store and grind beans for a quick espresso or cappuccino.

The Mitaca POD1 has the option of the monthly service too. Currently, the machine is just under $400 dollars, but if you go for the monthly coffee delivery option they sell you the machine for $175 US. They also throw in four of their Illy espresso cups on the monthly package.

Particulars from the IllyUSA site:

  • Electronic low water level alarm
  • Steam nozzle makes frothing milk easy
  • Hot water dispenser
  • Adjustable tray for small and large cups
  • Automatic pod ejection
  • Aluminium thermoblock
  • Pump pressure: 18 bars
  • Water tank: 50.7 ounces
  • Weight: 8.6 lbs.
  • Available colors: Red, and Silver

Measures: 8.6” w x 11.4” d x 10.2” h

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Dolce Gusto Circolo – where modern art meets retro coffee making

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Not long ago, we mentioned that NESCAFE’ was producing a very stylish line of ‘capsule’ based coffee makers (NESCAFE’ has coffee makers and they need to be on my counter!). These where labeled as Krups on the devices but are referred to as the Dolce Gusto line.

The word must have gotten out because a relative put one under the Christmas tree for us, the Circolo model. Winner of the International Forum Design award & Red Dot Design honorable mention. Like pictured below, with the satin red finish!

What is interesting about this particular coffee maker from the Dolce Gusto line is the lack of modern automation. Keurig and Tassimo go more and more automate where other than choosing which coffee capsule and keeping the machines full with water, the rest of the brewing is figured out for you. In the case of the Tassimo, it even changes it’s brewing and steeping time based on the unique barcode on the coffee puck.

The Circolo also has capsules and a water container to fill… but with the exception of the on/off button changing color to say when the water is ready, there isn’t much automation going on.

The chrome flip top front lever raisses to release the pull out drawer for the coffee capsule. When you insert your flavor choice, return the drawer, the lowering of the leverl pokes a hole in the top of the capsule much like the other makers. Then, it is up to you to choose cold or hot water from the knobbed lever at the back upper edge. Sliding the arm in either direction starts the water flowing and will continue till you either return it to it’s centered position or the machine runs out of water.

How… How… uh, increadably great!! Since we make so much coffee with the other machines, we know of their tendancies to put out less water than we were expecting from time to time. Resulting in a cup half full. Or, the times where there is an issue and you can see grounds flowing in the water, normally you wait for the process to end. With the Circolo, you just move the lever back to the center postion.

This does mean that you have to be aware of what coffee capsule you put in the machine and not try to make a 16 oz cup of coffee out of a espresso capsule.

The machine sits solid on the counter and feels very well made. It is actually smaller than you would think it would be, but all variety of cups we have fit in the center opening. The nicest size surprise was how thin it is. Sitting on the kitchen counter, it leave much more room on the counter available than when we have the Keurig or Tassimo in the same location.

Coffee capsules come in a large variety of coffee drink types. All from the single source of coffee manufacture currently though. The drinks requiring milk come with ‘milk’ (contains sweetened, hormone-free whole milk) capsules and instructions on how much of the cup to fill with it versus the coffee capsule. We have never been fans of the ‘milk’ pucks in our Tassimo machine, the NESCAFE’ options are not any better. One ‘feature’ we have seen mentioned with these capsules is that the coffee never touches anything other than the container it’s self – other machines push coffee through channels after it leaves the capsules.

To wrap up, we really like the look and feel of the Dolce Gusto Circolo. And, we love the fact that with all of our need for automation, we have a bit (outside of our true Espresso Machine) of coffee creation we can control.

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