Last weekend we found these ‘vintage’ looking espresso cups. The site they are offered through was a new find for us as they sell all kinds of retro items that are made today in yesteryear’s designs. Sadly, we have to wait for these little cups and saucers just a bit longer as they are out-of-stock. The site, Retro Planet , does have many other fun items to look through till the cups come back into inventory.

Retro Planet says:

* Made of Designer Stoneware
* Microwave and Dishwasher Safe
* Includes 4 Cups with Matching Saucers
* Includes 1 Cup and 1 Saucer of Each Color:
- Light Green
- Light Blue
- Orange Red
- Brown
* Cup Measures: 3 Dia. x 2H inches, Holds 4 oz.
* Saucer Measures: 4.5 Dia. inches

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.

The group doing the project has done another Kickstarter game project successfully, and this one is already funded, closing in a few days. That means, anyone who dives in now gets a pre-release game without risk of the project going unfunded.

Board games… remember those? Friends/Family get together and sit in the same room playing a game, no electronic game consul needed. Fun stuff… VivaJava.

VivaJava: The Coffee Game is all about finding that perfect blend of beans to create the next best-seller in the coffee houses and kitchens of the world. Players will travel to exotic coffee-producing nations around the world to collect beans and gain fame and fortune.  But, in order to be successful, players will actually have to work together. Mostly.

The app, Caffeine Zone2, has you enter when you drink things with caffeine in it… mostly in the area of coffee and tea based drinks. From that information, you will be alerted when the caffeine (per the apps calculations) in your body has dropped down and a coffee might get your energy back up. Note that Caffeine Zone2 does have a disclaimer saying the apps recommendations comes from calculations and no real blood testing is done.

Along with when you might want to drink a cup of coffee, Caffeine Zone2 will also calculate when the last cup of coffee for the day should be based on when you plan on going to bed. The app will warn you when you enter the drink information… so to make a decision from the information you should enter your caffeine intake prior to drinking.

The app uses your body weight to help make decisions, but there is no way to enter if you where (or what) eating when drinking your coffee. The presets for drinks in Caffeine Zone2 include 3 drink sizes and defaults for how long it took you to drink. If you are drinking espresso drinks, there is an option to put in the mg of the drink… I looked around and found “The USDA value for Espresso coffee is 64 mg caffeine per fluid ounce.” on this site.

You do get a nice graphic that shows a rise  when you drink, tapering off over time. A downward line crossing the center line will be an impact on your energy and the blue area is sleep time. Use your finger to slide left/right through time.

Looking around the US, they appear to be available from Parthenon Foods, selling through Amazon. There are two versions, a Coffee and a Espresso version. Both are listed as having chocolate included. Of course, we had to order a couple of both to see if they are good by themselves and how they are over our ice cream. Heh-heh…

Pocket Espresso:

225g, 18 pieces of Pocket Coffee with real Italian espresso coffee inside and covered in a chocolate praline. This candy starts out with a caramelized sugar pocket for a sweet espresso liquid. The caramelized sugar is coated with European milk chocolate. The manufacturer (Fererro) claims that eating three pieces is equivalent to a shot of espresso

Pocket Coffee:

Ferrero Pocket Coffee is a bittersweet chocolate tasting exactly like an Italian espresso. 3 pieces of Pocket Coffee is equal to 1 Cup of Espresso. The chocolate taste Like a liquor chocolate, but with strong espresso in the middle instead of liquor. Pocket Coffee is a delectable combination of espresso filled dark chocolate that combines a gourmet chocolate experience with an authentic espresso taste and energy boost.

Illy sent an email today giving their recipe for a Marocchino Caldo. It is a pretty simple drink to make and was oh so good this morning! No special equipment needed.

Of course, illy does mentioned they have many more coffee drink recipes in a book they have for sale. Since it was a light mention of the book and they didn’t make the email a pressure sale, I feel good about passing on the recipe and passing on an unsolicited mention they offer many more in a 44 page hardcover book. Keep it fun!!

At the bottom of the graphic is a t-shirt image and the link to the jpg is for a threadless.com subpage. But, I have searched the site using the number in the graphic’s URL and for espresso/coffee… nothing. If I find the actual items with the graphic printed on, I’ll post later. For now… enjoy.

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.

The first was a group of designers doing a ‘espresso cup of the day‘. Which you can purchase individually. The cups are all over the place in what makes each one unique, here is one that looks like a cupcake!

If your a technology fan as well as an espresso fan, you will be interested to know that the ones you can order are made when you order – “The cups are printed in Glazed Ceramics by Shapeways.” You can read more about the concept and info on each of the cups on the cunicode site.

So many to choose from… where to start?

The second was a postal print mailer I received from Illy USA. It was full of their coffees and coffee makers. A couple pages had their new espresso cup ‘art’. They looked like a lot of fun so I buzzed to the illy USA site to see more information. Sadly, the site has must smaller images and less info than was even in the mailer. I scanned the printed page to share with you so you can see the art much better if your a fan of fun like I am.

The text from Starbucks:

“Grab a friend and head to a participating Starbucks® store – because November 17-20 from 2-5 p.m., when you buy one holiday drink, you’ll get another one of equal or lesser value for free. Take your pick of your most-loved holiday beverages, including Peppermint Mocha, new Skinny Peppermint Mocha, Caramel Brulée Latte, Gingerbread Latte and Eggnog Latte.”

See ya there… friends…

Photo created on an iPhone using Hipstamatic