Archive for the ‘Coffee & Tea’ Category
Coffee for a Better Life
Coffee, a drink cherished by many; a drink avoided by others. Tea, its main rival, seems to offer a bounty of better health benefits; a drink for the New Agers and those who want to escape the decadence of the brown, caffeinated drink. The fact stands that tea can only be as beneficial as its preparation, which in some cases may have as much sugar as a can of soda. To understand coffee, one must understand the core value of tea: that the brewed leaf itself is the only healthful component. Everything else is decadence.
To that, the coffee bean itself contains a number of benefits to health. But the culture of coffee, like the tao of tea, contains a lot of excess trimmings. Espresso machines, for example, produce a highly concentrated form of ordinary coffee. And then the all-consuming vice: sugar. Along with cream, sugar waters down the benefits of coffee, where it turns the brew into drinkable candy. But all of this remains unchanged from tea. The bean is the important part.
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Roasting Coffee At Home
Millions of people around the world have discovered the enjoyment experienced by drinking a cup of fresh-brewed coffee first thing in the morning, whether they make it at home or stop at the local coffee shop on the way to work. In fact, millions of people repeat that experience two or three more time throughout the day.
So many people enjoy their coffee that there is at least one Starbucks in most cities worldwide. Whether you enjoy a latte, cappuccino, espresso, or a favorite flavor of coffee such as Vanilla or Hazelnut, and whether you are enjoying your cup surrounded by friends at a coffee shop or alone at your desk, coffee is truly one of the pleasures of life.
Now that we can buy our own roaster, grinder, coffee maker or espresso machine, we can enjoy our favorite coffee right at home for a fraction of the price. With so many options available you can even enjoy gourmet coffee more and pay less for the privilege by starting with whole beans and grinding them yourself with a $20 coffee grinder and then using a $20 coffee maker.
You can go one step further and purchase your own roaster. Roasting your own beans provides coffee beans that are even fresher than buying them roasted. Roasting is not hard, and you are free to roast a short time for a light coffee, a longer time for a dark coffee, and everywhere in between.
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Tags: espresso machine, Roasting Coffee
How To Make A Better Cup Of Coffee With White Vinegar
You know it’s time to do something when your coffee maker takes forever to make the coffee and sounds like it’s about to burst while it’s doing it. Odds are it simply is crying out for a good cleaning and this article will tell you how to do that and more using the amazing green cleaning power of undiluted distilled white vinegar.
Cleaning the coffee maker is a snap. Simply pour in a cup of vinegar into the pot and fill with cold water. Pour this mixture into the reservoir and turn the coffee maker on. As the vinegar water solution passes through the maker it will cut the oil left by coffee and eliminate lime deposits left by tap water.
Once the water has cycled through, dump the water and let the pot cool. When it has cooled off fill it with fresh cold water and cycle that through the coffee maker to rinse the last of the vinegar. If it has been some time since you last cleaned the coffee maker you may have to repeat the process. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: White Vinegar
What Kind of Espresso Do You Enjoy? Choose the Right Espresso Makers for Your Taste
If you are tired of trekking to the coffee shop every single time you decide that you want to enjoy a cappuccino, a latte
, or an espresso, then you may want to consider purchasing your very own home espresso maker. In addition to being able to bypass the hassle, you will be saving money if you visit the coffee shop often. There are plenty of home machines to choose from, and one of the things you will have to decide is just what beverages you want to be able to make.
Some espresso makers are specific to making only the one drink, however, other machines can make a variety of beverages, making them more versatile but also more costly. Before you spend any money, think of the drinks you could make with various machines, and decide which ones you want to be able to make. This way, you will be able to buy a machine that suits your needs without going overboard with features and cost.
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Espresso
When you have decided to purchase The Best Espresso Maker, may these requirements as your consideration; temperature control, extraction time and pressure. From there requirement you can look at other functions that will add to your enjoyment of the machine, and help you identify the best espresso maker for your needs.
If the Espresso Maker can’t produce a minimum of 9 bar pressure, can’t extract in about 25 seconds, or can’t maintain a water temperature of about 95 (C) cross it off your list.
Do you know stove top espresso makers? This machine does not make espresso though. This machine makes a wonderful cup of Italian style coffee, but the name is misleading. Also may you know automatic, semi-automatic and super-automatic. These are not the type of Coffee Machines. But these design describe the features of the machine. They are all pump controlled machines.
There are three types of Espresso Maker available in the market:
1. Manual Espresso Machine
2. Steam Espresso Machine
3. Pump Espresso Machine
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Chinese Herbal Teas – a unique and perfect drink
Chinese herbal teas are considered to be part of the sum total of Chinese medical theory and practice, referred to as Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM. Unlike the West, where scientific investigation produced a powerful body of knowledge and careful correlation of theory and fact, TCM is a loose collection of accumulated and practical lore considered proven by the test of time.
In this body of knowledge, theory begins with ideas of “chi’ and “yin and yang.” The practical application of medical treatment is based on the observations of my healers over the course of centuries. The application of TCM and Chinese herbal teas, while not offering the detail of scientific studies, is most assuredly based on long histories of successful treatments.
For the Chinese, tea from the leaves of the Camilla Sinsensis tree is a unique and perfect drink that slakes the thirst and eases the minor sufferings of the body. There are entire books of poetry dedicated to the varieties of green tea and its cousins, black tea and oolong tea! Chinese herbal teas, however, are placed almost entirely in the “medical” category.
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Tags: Chinese Herbal Teas
7 Practical Ways to Use Tea for Diet
Weight loss has always been a challenge for a lot of women and even men. Tea is and has always been one of the best solutions for losing weight that we want to find practical ways to use tea for diet purposes. Since weight loss is our main concern let us take a look at how we can use tea to promote our weight loss plans and reach our weight goal in the process.
1. Drink tea pure. Drinking tea as plain as can be, no milk or sugar, will give you all the beneficial properties it contains in all its purity. Tea has been known to increase metabolic rate and burn fats in order to promote weight loss. If you would like to drink tea sweetened, use honey for its health benefits and enhance the tea’s properties.
2. Brew fresh tea leaves. Using tea leaves instead of processed tea bags in brewing your tea will supply you with a mega dose of catechins and polyphenols which you need to boost your metabolism and burn fats.
3. Drink tea daily. Three to four cups of tea a day is the recommended intake however you should take note that the more you increase your tea intake the more antioxidants will be available in your body to promote your weight loss.
4. Use tea as your soda. The diet sodas or zero calorie drinks that you are taking does not really lessen your calorie intake so instead of drinking sodas use tea as your soda and carry a bottle of refreshing tea everywhere you go. Tea is a better thirst quencher than any other drinks because like water it does not contain sugar which does not refresh but makes you crave for more sweetened drinks. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Diet
Green Tea for Good Health?
Good health, fitness and weight loss? Green tea could be the answer you are looking for. For thousands of years it has been known to promote good health in nearly every possible way. Research has found time and again that it can lower cholesterol, reduce heart disease, fight cancer, boost immunity and give you great skin!
How is this possible you might ask? Well, research has shown that green tea burns more calories and is a powerful anti-oxidant. That it not only inhibits the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.
More importantly green tea is known to calm the mind. What could such a mind achieve? Anything! Think about it. We could set our minds on what we want to do and achieve it. Even if the day is hectic, one doesn’t feel it. You have the energy to finish all the office work, ordinary chores and go to the gym or for a long walk. A combination of the right food, right exercise and the right mind-set can achieve wonders. Any thing that one does is with the right focus and the results speak for themselves. The Zen monks call it mindfulness. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cancer, cholesterol
Can Coffee help you to enhance Your Beauty?
A well blended coffee is always a pleasure to have. Coffee has been as a popular beverage from so many years and till now when there are so many beverages in the market, it has still not loose its charm and taste. In the market there are many renowned brands like Nestle, Bru, Illy coffee, which care about nothing but the taste and quality of coffee beans. Besides being a good beverage it is also a terrific beauty secret and is very good for your skin. It has many natural properties which will make your skin smoother and charming.
1) Coffee is known for its anti-ageing qualities. Anti-oxidants attack free radicals that run extensively & attack the cells. These anti-oxidants destroy our cells which further lead to ageing and damaged cells resulting in wrinkles. By drinking coffee you will add antioxidants which help you to escape these wrinkles and thus have a beautiful and younger skin & complexion.
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