3D Latte Foam Art Hits the Mainstream



Now you can make cute latte foam kitties at home... if you're into that kind of thing.

Omake Gif Real Life - Time Lapse Making Coffee

I got a new camera, and the mount I want to use with it comes in next week, but I just had to test it out. So, here I am, makin' coffee, using the time lapse setting on the camera. Then I made an animated gif out of the series. Each picture is taken at 30 second intervals, which means I set up the coffee pot for tomorrow morning in about 5 minutes. Whew, exciting...

Pantone 1767 ties many things together.

According to Elcyclista, Pantone 1767 is the color of an eraser, a cherry blossom, and the leader's jersey in the Giro d'Italia. And now, available in coffee cups!



Love Pantone via Elcyclista

Omake Gif Anime - Golden Time - Episode 5

Golden Time - Episode 5

Look! Look at my ridiculously sweet latte! Vanilla syrup, whipped cream, caramel, and chocolate!

Now this is a cycling and coffee post!

El Cyclista provides some great photos of a coffee truck in Ireland. That is a very cool looking truck! A Citroen H Van ready for a Giro d'Italia start in Ireland.

Donut. Bacon. Egg. Oh yes!

Now, just add some cheese *drool*.

AP Photo/Dunkin' Brands, Inc., James Scherer

My favored calorie bomb is a Jimmy Dean croissant scrambled egg cheddar cheese sausage sandwich. I may have to make an adjustment.

This photo is relevant to my interests.

 

via Brian Ashcraft.

 

Either that steamed milk is extremely hot, or that coffee is going to be on the tepid side.

Japan takes coffee pour latte art into the 3rd dimension.

Aw, kawaii!

via Brian Ashcraft.

Decaf Doesn't Matter

Just drink coffee: Coffee buzz: Study finds java drinkers live longer:

Even in the new study, it first seemed that coffee drinkers were more likely to die at any given time. But they also tended to smoke, drink more alcohol, eat more red meat and exercise less than non-coffee-drinkers. Once researchers took those things into account, a clear pattern emerged: Each cup of coffee per day nudged up the chances of living longer.

 So, don't listen to those busybodies telling you that coffee is bad for you. Enjoy your fresh brew!

I Guess That Wasn't Fair Trade

FT Alphaville » The 6am Cut London: Robert Stiller has been stripped of his chairmanship of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters after a margin call — triggered by a very steep fall in the company’s share price — forced the sale of 5m of his shares in the company in violation of internal trading policies, says the FT. Stiller remains on the board.

Latte Art – Cycle Edition

I’ve posted before about free-pour latte art, and there were some very interesting variations on leaves and ferns and fronds. Now, I can’t vouch for how this latte imagery was created, but it does mash together the two eponymous themes for this blog.

 

via Riding Pretty

Fear Big... Coffee?

I fear that all they have done is to awaken a sleeping giant...

Vienna Coffee Day

Cathedral Cafe: Hey, it's only for one day, but I wonder if that's something that some of our taller cathedrals here in America can try? Just don't use the holy water to brew the java!

Latte Art 2.0

There's modified applications for any technology. Proof? From artisanship to mechanical mass production.

Electronic Espresso Snob

We've already seen the development of a wine sniffer, so it was only a matter of time before chemical sniffing technology was applied to coffee. It seems that the Nestle researchers are more interested in the data than the aesthetic, since the Japanese winebot is way cuter.

Coffee Woke Up European Industry

A book translated from German in 1992, Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants and Intoxicants, has a chapter on how the introduction of coffee in the late 17th century, literally roused European mercantilism from its beer soaked diet. Just take a look at the recipe for the German breakfast of choice up until the 1700's, beer soup:

“Heat the beer in a saucepan; in a separate small pot beat a couple of eggs. Add a chunk of butter to the hot beer. Stir in some cold beer to cool it, then pour over the eggs. Add a bit of salt, and finally mix all the ingredients together, whisking it well to keep it from curdling. Finally, cut up a roll, white bread, or other good bread, and pour the soup over it. You may also sweeten to taste with sugar.”

Now, I've had beer for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but that was during a college camping trip with the guys. That was a total dude fest, and nothing beat pouring Weinhardt's dark ale in your frosted flakes. Would I do that again? Um, no comment.

High School Athletes Can't Have Java

Earlier, high school athletes couldn't have wings, since they banned all the active ingredients in those "energy" drinks except caffeine. Well, they just closed that door. You know, I didn't begin to drink coffee regularly until I got to college, because it was common knowledge that the amount of caffeine in cup of coffee was bad for developing children. Nevermind all the cola we drank, but whatever. Then Starbucks came around, and then all the little high schoolers wanted to look grown up next to the college kids studying at cafes. Starbuck's grew so fast that they had a little stunt of closing their stores for three hours a couple of days ago to teach the staff how to make espresso. Um, weren't you supposed to do that when you hired all those part-timers? I'll drink Starbuck's bagged coffee, but I'll never drink espresso at one of their stores. Well, at least the investors were fooled by that PR gimmick.

So, caffeine reappears as a banned stimulant in athletics. I remember when it was banned in international sport. Olympians were always yawning, cyclists were sleepy, and they all had to worry about how much chocolate they ate. Well kids, grow up fast and get to college! Then you can have a morning cup of joe before your next track meet.

Caffeine To Require Warning Label?

Here in California, under Proposition 65, we are required to slap warning labels on any products or containers which have chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm. Now, because some review board doesn't understand the difference between correlation and cause, caffeine has been added to this year's list of chemicals under review. The panel claims that natural sources, such as coffee or tea, would not require the label, because they're considering caffeine as an additive in energy drinks, but if you drink a quadruple espresso everyday, I think you may be in the same ballpark as Monster or Red Bull. According to some nutritionist, caffeine at high doses has been linked to "reduced birthweight, miscarriages, and infertility." I guess men don't have to worry about the extra caffeine in Excedrin, huh?

Just what we need, more warning labels, even on something that most obstetricians already warn pregnant women about: reducing your caffeine intake to keep your blood pressure down. It's not the caffeine specifically, it's any kind of stimulant that makes your heart race. Are pregnant women going to be really this stupid, where they won't drink coffee, but they'll down Red Bull any chance they get? Puhlease. Including caffeine in this round of chemical reviews seems to be reactionary to all the recent alarmism on how much of these energy drinks kids seem to be slugging down. Well, with the first increase in teen pregnancy since 1991, I guess we have to do something. For the children, you see...

Coffee Gets a Bad Rap

Coffee is included in a list of five foods that have bad reputations, but are actually good for us. Those foods are peanut butter, eggs, avocados, mushrooms, and coffee. The CNN-hosted story lists a few of the beneficial studies that have come out during the last year, mainly crediting coffee's antioxidants. I'm not convinced yet that antioxidants do all that much for us, but it sure keeps the homeopathic and herbal medicine markets happy.

Godspeed Alfred Peet

One of the originators of the coffeehouse craze, and original supplier and mentor to Starbucks Coffee, Alfred Peet, of Peet's Coffee, died today at the fully roasted age of 87. I enjoyed sipping espressos and cappuccinos at the original shop in Berkeley. It was a nice walk uphill from my apartment, in a quiet neighborhood away from the usual bustle of Southside. Somehow, the coffee there tasted better than at any of the franchise locations. If you want to know how Peet's caramel macchiato is supposed to taste, next time you're in Berkeley, order a tall from the stand near the tennis courts.