Burr Coffee Grinders

One of the best way to improve the coffee and espresso that you make at home is to have some of the right coffee making accessories. Things like a water filter to improve the water, good storage containers for keeping your coffee beans fresh longer are simple additions that can make a good coffee even better.

Another upgrade that can make a huge difference is your coffee bean grinder. Most inexpensive grinders are blade type grinders. These grinders spin very fast and this can actually cause the coffee grinds to become burnt during the grinding process if you aren’t careful. A burr coffee grinder does a MUCH better job of grinding your coffee beans. With a burr grinder you also have better control of the size of the grinds so you can adjust for different styles of brewing.

Mochas – One of My Favorite Espresso Drinks

I caught myself going to the local coffee shop quite a bit this week. The weather has ranged from cold and rainy to sunny and mild but I have been in an espresso mood even on both types of days. This week has been all about mochas! When I got one in the morning it was an grande fully spiked. In the afternoons they tend to be tall decaf to not wind me up too much

I think the mocha espresso is my favorite espresso drink. It seems to be my default when I am trying out new coffee shops to test them out. I have found some great cafes based on my simple espresso test method.

I haven’t started into the iced mochas yet this year but it is just a matter of time before my mood (and the weather) swing in that direction!

Coffee Desserts

An after diner coffee and dessert make a mighty fine combination. With the large number of espresso drinks and dessert types there should be a combination to satisfy any urge you my have.

My favorite espresso drinks for after diner are espresso drinks that have some added flavor. Whether it is a standard mocha or a syrup spiked concoction the decadence of a sugar boosted drink just seems to fit my mood the best. If I pair the espresso with a nice desert then I like to go with an non-spiked coffee drink.

Chocolate covered strawberries are one the best desserts due to the chocolate and fruit combination. Sweet for sure but also not too heavy compared to a lot of other deserts. You just can’t go wrong with any chocolate based dessert and the freshness of the strawberries balances it out very well. I may still indulge in a mocha if the mood strikes me but I don’t find the double chocolate dose to be too much.

More On Coffee Makers

Coffee Makers come in a huge variety of types, sizes and costs. To get the perfect coffee maker for you will actually take quire a bit of time to research the options available to you, to make trade off decisions about feature wants versus needs and to finally balance all of that against price and convenience of use.

My recommendation is to take all of the time necessary to make a good decision for your next coffee maker. You really want to get one of the best coffee makers that you can. Let’s face it, you start every day with your coffee maker already so you really do want your day to start off right. This IS a good place to splurge on yourself.

Once you get a great coffee maker the next thing you want to do is to again indulge yourself by buying GREAT coffee beans. Experiment on different types of beans, different roasting levels and different types of coffee drinks. You will soon find a few favorites and even some coffee drinks that are suited to a particular mood.

Gourmet Coffee Makers

Here is a nice article about different kinds of Gourmet Coffee Makers. The French Press gourmet coffee maker sounds like an interesting one to try out. It sounds like it can’t be simpler to use. Just add the coffee grounds to the container and then the hot water. Let it sit for 5 minutes to brew and press the plunger – strainer down to separate the grounds. At that point you just pour out the coffee and enjoy it.

I have a couple of espresso makers but not a french gourmet coffee maker. In this day and ago of super modern and automatic machines, having a hands on coffee brewing experience could be a welcome change of pace. I do believe that I will have to look more into getting a french gourmet coffee maker for myself.

If you have any advice on this type of coffee maker, or on a variation similar, please let me know in the comments!

A couple of interesting Coffee Sites

Being an internet savvy espresso-aholic, I am constantly looking for new information about espresso in particular and coffee in general. I came across a couple of interesting sites this weekend that I want to share with you because both of these sites contain some interesting information about coffee.

The first is a site about organic coffee called The Coffee Mug. You are doing yourself and the world a big favor if you buy and use organic products and your coffee isn’t any different. Organic Coffee is the way to go for a better planet. The organic certification process is is worth reading about. One of the more interesting facts I learned is that organic decaf contains virtually no caffeine. I find this amazing because I remember see in TV news show about the fact that the major coffee house serve decaf coffee that has tons of caffeine in it. They even have instant organic coffee available these days. Like I said, interesting little tidbit of information about organic coffee.

The next site is one that overs both coffee and tea and it is cutely called Coffee, Tea and Me. I particularlly enjoyed the post about coffee beans, coffee roasters and coffee grinders. It is a short article but I learned a couple of new things. The most interesting of which is that the coffee bean isn’t a bean at all! If you search around the site you will othe cool coffee and tea information. I think I most enjoyed learning about all of the unexpected coffee deserts like the different kinds of coffee candy! The author of the site is form the Philippines and it is interesting to hear about his perspective on coffee and tea from there.

If you have any other cool coffee and espresso related site that are worth sharing, please let me know. I especailly like learning about the background abouth how and why things work and are made. Epresso is my current passion but I am open to all coffee related information.

Porcelain Espresso Cups

There are a couple of types of porcelain espresso cups.

Common porcelain cups – These are the most common cups for sale at your local discount store. Good all around performance as long as they have thick walls. They usually can be found for very reasonable prices for sets of 2 to 6.

Bar sets -These are heavy duty designed cups of the kind that you are likely to find at your local cafe. More durable for sure but often manufactured to slightly lower finishing standards.

Designer espresso cups – These are high end cups that have a known artist (or other celebrity) designed art pattern on the cups and saucers. They are often very collectible and can come numbered and signed by the artist.

Types of espresso cups

The common types of Espresso Cups that are available today are:

Stainless Steel Espresso Cups – As previously mentioned, these are my favorite do to the very modern look and feel of the stainless steel. These types of espresso cups are usually made with double walled construction to aid in heat retention. Glass espresso cups are usually double walled as well.

Porcelain Espresso Cups – These are probably the most common, and certainly the type of material that has been used the longest in the making of espresso cups. The thinker the material the better the heat is held.

Glass Espresso Cups – Espresso glasses are simialr to the stainless one in the fact that they are double walled to retain heat. The glass ones are often hand blown so they aren’t exactly the same from glass to glass. Very cool.

Place to talk about Espresso Cups

Intro post to my new BLOG! First time blogger, long time espresso lover. I love sipping a great espresso even better when it is in a fun espresso cup!

My favorite kind of espresso cups are the stainless steel doubled espresso cups. They just look sexy cool to me. Here is a photo of a stainless steel espresso cup…

Stainless Steel Espresso Cup

I will create another post soon about the different kinds of common espresso cups that are available today.