Coffee and Tea

I found this on youtube - a nice how to make mocha video! The mocha coffee recipe is both tasty and easy! Basically, it is how to add the right amounts of chocolate and spices in your coffee so they mix well, don’t clump and don’t overpower each other. The coffee video doesn’t make fancy coffee like in the earlier videos on this site, however, it tastes great.

Actual mocha recipe used is:

Mocha about 4 servings What you need:
1 1/2 cups strong coffee,
4 teaspoons chocolate syrup,
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon,
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg,
1 tablespoon sugar,
1/2 cup whipping cream

Put 1 tsp of syrup into each coffee cup, Mix cream, with 1/4 tsp of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.
Place the last 1/2 tsp of cinnamon in coffee, and stir.

Pour coffee into cups, stir to mix in syrup, top with whipped cream mixture

Remember, the quality of your mocha will depend on the quality of your ingredients!

Technorati Tags: how to make mocha, mocha coffee recipe, coffee video, mocha recipe, mocha

If you love coffee, you know how delightfully delicious it can be. What you might not know, though, is that there are many ways to use coffee in cooking. Recipes containing coffee can offer you whole other ways to enjoy your daily coffee fix.

When you are cooking with coffee, remember that, as with any recipe, fresh ingredients are important. You should always buy freshly ground coffee at the store or grind the coffee beans yourself at home. Once the coffee ground, you should use the coffee as quickly as possible, before it loses flavor. Also, if your recipe happens to call for brewed coffee, you should be sure to brew it immediately before you cook with it. It’s also important for you to remember that, when you cook with coffee, you generally want the coffee to be a few times stronger than coffee that you would drink.

Coffee is often used in desserts, but it can be used in other foods as well. Here are some of our favorite coffee recipes:

Espresso Brownies:

In a sauce pan, heat a quarter teaspoon of salt, a stick and a half of butter and a cup of sugar. Then add four ounces of chopped, semi-sweet chocolate and a teaspoon of vanilla and stir the entire mixture until it is melted. Then add a tablespoon of your favorite dark roast or substitute two teaspoons of espresso granules if you like. Then stir everything until it is well mixed.

Next, transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and allow it to cool just a bit. Then, while it’s still warm, fold in a cup of flour and three eggs. Then, pour the entire mixture into a baking pan and bake it for about 30 minutes. When done, allow it to cool a bit and then enjoy!

Black Russian Cake:

Add a cup of vegetable oil, a package of chocolate pudding, a half cup of creme de cacao and four eggs to your favorite dark chocolate cake mix. Then, add half a cup of Russian coffee (1 oz of vodka, 1/2 oz of Kahlua, 5 oz of hot black coffee) to the mix.

Then simply beat the mixture until it is smooth and pour it into a tube pan. Bake it for 45 minutes in a 375F (190C) oven and there you have it!

Coffee Meatloaf Sauce:

If you think coffee is only good in desserts, think again.

To make a coffee meatloaf sauce, which is becoming increasingly popular in Australia especially, blend 1/4 cup of water, a tablespoon of instant coffee and 1/2 a cup of ketchup with equal amounts of your favorite dry red and Worcestershire sauce. Then, add an ounce of margarine, two tablespoons each of lemon juice and vinegar and finish up with some brown sugar.

Meanwhile, cook the meat for 30 minutes. Then add the well-mixed sauce and bake everything for another 45 minutes at 375F (190C)

Aside from these simple coffee recipes, you can even mix a cup of sugar and a cup of double-strength Columbian coffee and heat it in a sauce pan and stir constantly to create coffee syrup.

Whether you like muffins, breads, candy, cookies, ice creams, cocktails or pies, there’s a recipe out there for you. Don’t be afraid to experiment a little and do some research to come up with your own personal favorite coffee creations!

Technorati Tags: coffee recipes, simple coffee recipes

The history of black tea could rightly start with the debate of what could be the ancient beverage. Tea, beer and wine could fight for the first place. Countries like United Kingdom, that are popular with huge consumption of tea, are only recently associated with tea on a historical basis.

Who had the idea of putting the leaves of Camilla sinensis into hot water to make a brew is better left unanswered? Perhaps it could have been an accident or some experiment.

History of Vedas of India, the most ancient literature of world and Ayurveda textbooks along with ancient Chinese texts are replete with the use of other herbs as hot infusion or decoction. Historians suggest the great likelihood of the start of use of black tea in China almost over 5000 years ago.

The fondness of black tea spread rapidly because of its good taste and health benefits. The Ch’a Ching, written by Chinese ex-monk Lu Yu, has the mention of various popular methods of preparation of tea of 800 A.D. Gradually Buddhist monks, particularly Yeisei, spread the word about tea in Japan and it soon had royal favor.

Seventeenth century witnessed the black tea conquering the globe. The Portuguese and other western voyager came in contact with Oriental shores. They delighted with this all new beverage unheard of in their native countries. When they returned home in early 17th century, their treasures included the precious tea leaves. They multiplied their fortune rapidly with the then-expensive novelty.

During mid 17th century, Britain finally joined and imported tea from China and the East Indies. As is obvious now, it became so popular that afternoon tea is now strongly associated with that Britain.

With the merger of both the major importers of tea, John Company and the East India Company, tea reached every nook of the globe with their monopoly. By the end of the 17th century tea imports were 40,000 pounds.

Gradually with increasing popularity, the novelty had become a commodity. Over 240,000 pounds were imported into England in 1708 and the leaves were being sold in common food shops in Holland and France. Most of Europe doesn’t have the right climate to grow its own tea. The drink that had been imported and made popular by royalty was now consumed by nearly everyone.

At the same time, tea was becoming popular in other nations around the world. The Russian Tsar Alexis received several chests as a gift in the early 17th century. By the end of it the Russians were engaging in regular trade with China across their common border. The price of tea had been very high due to long travel of thousand of miles. Despite all odds, the practice spread throughout society and tea could be found in every samovar.

The United States had a little ‘ceremony’ called the Boston Tea Party. As an act of protest against the heavy-handed British government, Americans protested by dumping large quantities of the good into the Boston harbor. In reaction, the British government closed the port and troops occupied the city. The resulting revolution changed the history of world as we all know.

Be a part of history and delight yourself with fine cup of tea today!

Technorati Tags: history of black tea

Have you ever wondered how healthy your coffee-drinking habit is? The answer may lie in how much you drink.

In the last twenty-five years there’s been a major increase in research about the effects of coffee on the body. Most likely, this research boom has been caused by a rapid growth in the amount of coffee being consumed throughout the world. Amazingly, over 400 million cups are consumed around the world daily.

There’s been a decades-old debate about whether coffee is hazardous or beneficial. The old concerns mostly revolved around the fact that coffee is a stimulant, so it can potentially cause slightly increased heart rate and irregular heartbeats. New research shows that, actually, those effects are short-lived and the benefits could far outweigh the risks.

For instance, some research shows that if you drink more than four cups a day it could reduce your risk of colon cancer. That could be considered good or bad though. Drinking that much coffee may reduce your cancer risk, but it may also create other issues. Luckily there are other health benefits to coffee, which don’t require you to drink quite as much of it.

For example, the antioxidants in coffee can reduce the risks of heart disease. While that’s a good thing, scientists point out that the same effect can be gained from eating fruits and vegetables and the fruits and vegetables also provide key vitamins and minerals, which coffee does not.

Studies in China and America, as well as Scandinavia, show that drinking coffee can possibly reduce the effects of such things as Parkinson’s disease, type-2 diabetes, and asthma. Similar studies also indicate that coffee can reduce the risks of kidney stones, gall stones and other digestive problems. Drinking coffee in moderation can even assist fertility a bit because studies have shown that sperm swim longer and faster when exposed to small doses of coffee.

Like many other things, coffee is good in moderation. However, there are usually risks involved in having too much of a good thing. Drinking too much coffee does have some possible side-effects.

While drinking a little coffee can possibly help your fertility, drinking too much coffee can actually cause fertility problems. Drinking too much coffee can also increase your risk of developing coronary heart disease because coffee adds homocysteine too your bloodstream. Homocysteine, recent studies show, increases the possibility of coronary heart disease.
Similar studies have also shown that coffee increases the bad cholesterol in your bloodstream (LDL-cholesterol). Coffee contains cafestol, which raises cholesterol levels. The good news is that cafestol is mainly a concern for those who drink coffee that has been made by the European method of boiling coffee beans in water. Most Americans prefer to percolate or filter their coffee. If you are among those, you do not need to be as concerned, because those methods help to remove cafestol.

If you happen to be a female coffee drinker, you should definitely be aware that drinking coffee can cause you to lose more calcium. Losing calcium can cause you to have less dense bones. Drinking too much coffee can also increase your risk of developing urinary incontinence problems.

If you feel that you are drinking too much coffee, you may want to substitute herbal tea for a cup or two a day. Green Tea is said to have beneficial side effects while still having some caffeine. If you want less caffeine, try drinking decaffeinated coffee or herbal tea.

The bottom line is that it’s up to you to decide if the benefits of coffee outweigh the risks to you personally. There are many factors that can come into play when you make that decision. So, as you drink your morning latte, ask yourself how it makes you feel.

Technorati Tags: health benefits to coffee

Have you ever considered the long and daunting process involved in making your favorite coffee? You may be surprised at just how many conditions have to be met and how much work people have to do to present you with your daily coffee fix. You may think that coffee is fairly common and easy to come by. It’s true that it is grown in over 70 countries around the world, including Columbia and Brazil, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to grow. Producing the perfect coffee ‘bean’, which is actually a type of seed, requires very exact conditions.

Coffee ‘beans’ actually come from fruits, which grow on trees that can reach heights of forty-five feet in the wild. However, domestic coffee trees do not usually grow over about twenty feet tall. There are many varieties of coffee, so the plant sizes vary greatly.

Most of the world’s coffee supply is grown between 25 degrees north and south of the equator, in damp, warm regions. That is due to the fact that coffee plants like a warm climate, usually between 60F (15C) and 70F (21C). Coffee plants also like plenty of moisture. Generally, they grow well if they get at least six inches of rain a month. Most coffee plants also thrive in shady areas with light winds.

Robusta, also known as coffea canephora, is the more common type of coffee. It is easier to harvest because it grows well at lower elevations. Coffea arabica, on the other hand, grows in much higher elevations. Coffea arabica is what goes into a gourmet cup of coffee. It tends to be more expensive because it takes longer to grow in the higher elevations and is more difficult to process.

Locating the perfect place and conditions to grow coffee is just the beginning of the battle. There is no instant gratification. Once a coffee crop is planted it generally takes around five years before it is ready to be harvested. Even then, each plant will only produce about two pounds of coffee (1 kilogram). Therefore, many plants are required to make a harvest worthwhile.

From the point that the coffee plants start to blossom with Jasmine-like flowers to the point of harvesting can sometimes take as much as nine months. The process will repeat every year for the coffee tree’s entire life, which is usually around twenty or twenty-five years.

Once the coffee crop is ready for harvesting, even more work begins. Each coffee ‘bean’ has to be hand-picked by workers. The standard equation is that each coffee plant will produce about 2,000 ‘beans’, which all need to be hand-picked by the workers. It may sound to you like picking coffee ‘beans’ might be mindless and simple, but it is an art form. The most skilled coffee pickers learn how to distinguish between good and bad coffee ‘beans’ at a quick glance.

Another thing. which can make a coffee picker’s job even more difficult, is the blossoming period in a particular region. In some areas, such as Brazil, the coffee trees blossom over a six to eight week time frame. In others, such as Kenya, the blossoming period is so long that mature ‘beans’ can be on the same tree as new ones. That means that pickers need to be even more skilled at discerning between good and bad ‘beans’.

The skill and time involved for each coffee ‘bean’ to be hand-picked by a worker is just one of the many reasons that most coffee is expensive.

So, the next time you take a sip of one of the world’s major commodities and wonder why it’s so expensive, take a moment to appreciate how it got to your cup.

Technorati Tags: Coffee plants, grow coffee

Senseo Coffee makers are wonderful for making single serve cups of coffee. If you love your Senseo Coffee machine, but want different variety sometimes — you can make your own coffee pods. They take less than a minute to make, but you do need to be careful when using them.

If you are looking for a great coffee maker gift, we recommend this Senseo Coffee Machine Gift Pack

Technorati Tags: Senseo Coffee makers, making single serve cups of coffee

Coffee is one of the most diverse beverages you’ll ever find. It has been enjoyed by such a diverse group of people around the world. The diversity of coffee drinkers has also caused the number of ways to prepare and drink coffee to increase throughout the years. Let’s go over just a few of the many coffee recipe possibilities.

Mexican Mocha, as the name suggests, is a mixture of chocolate and coffee. To make a Mexican mocha all you have to do is mix a quarter of a teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg with a teaspoon of chocolate syrup. Then add a cup of coffee. You can also add sugar if you want to. If you enjoy whipped cream you can take things a step further by either blending the entire thing with whipping cream or topping it with whipped cream.

For the more adventurous coffee drinker, there’s Cubano. Like tequila, Cubano coffee is meant to be consumed straight. Although, if you aren’t feeling quite so adventurous, you can add rum to the Cubano. You could also add some milk, if you prefer, but adding more than a tablespoon of milk will completely change the effects of the process.

If you’re up for an entirely different experience, try Caribbean coffee. Caribbean coffee is made by baking a coconut at 300F (134C) for half an hour. Once you’ve done that, let the coconut cool down a bit and then break it open. Then you’ll need to remove the coconut flesh, grate it and mix it with a half cup of cow’s milk. Then take that mixture and heat it up until it gets thick. Once you’ve done that, strain the excess coconut granules and mix the rest with a cup of coffee.

If you’re looking for more of a holiday treat, try grog. Start by peeling both a lemon and an orange and separating them into slices. Next, put a peel that is about the size of one orange slice into the bottom of your coffee cup. Add a tablespoon each of butter and brown sugar and a pinch each of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. Pour in a half a cup of coffee over all of that and then add heavy cream if you want. Prepare yourself for grog, an excellent holiday drink!

Viennese coffee, which is made by melting an eighth of a cup of dark chocolate and a tablespoon of light cream in a sauce pan, is also an excellent international coffee option. After you mix the chocolate and cream with half of a cup of your favorite coffee, add a sprinkling of cocoa and cinnamon on the top and enjoy!

Turkish coffee is, again, a completely different coffee drinking experience. It is made using special “džezva” pots which boil the coffee. To start, you have to mix a cup of water and a half teaspoon of sugar in the pot and allow the mixture to boil. Then take the pot away from the heat, add a teaspoon of Turkish coffee, stir the entire mixture and place it back on the heat. After that, wait for a layer of foam to appear in the pot and then let it cool. The result is an extremely strong and unique coffee.

Vietnamese iced coffee is also an experience that you should try not to miss. The most important part of making Vietnamese iced coffee is to find a Vietnamese coffee press. Once found, put ground coffee in the press. Fill a cup with a tablespoon of condensed milk. Then pour boiling water over the press and allow it to drip through into the cup. Next comes the most important part. Just stir it up and add ice. Enjoy!

If you try all of these unique coffee options, you’ll feel like you’ve just completed a world tour!

All of these recipes require great coffee beans. So if you want the best tasting coffee, use quality ingredients no matter which recipe you choose.

Technorati Tags: coffee recipe, Mexican mocha, Cubano coffee, Caribbean coffee, grog, Turkish coffee, Vietnamese iced coffee

Can green tea prevent Cancer? No, yes it is NO despite all the shouting and roaring of marketers and supplements manufacturers. Then isn’t there any truth in these claims? Yes, the truth is unlike the claims of marketers but they are as a growing body of repeatedly affirmed clinical studies. More work is still needed to accept them as medically acceptable truth.

Cancer is simply the uncontrolled and unregulated growth of cells that in later stages begin to spread in other parts of body. Studies and researches are still going on to understand its pathology, its occurrence, prevention and treatment. Adding to complexity is another fact that several organs can suffer with cancer like lungs, prostate, breast, bladder, bones, blood and brain.

Tea offers its widely popular cancer prevention benefits along some specific lines – the antioxidant properties, immunity boosting effect, antiproliferative effect. Studies all over the world have suggested the benefits of tea for cancer along one of the above properties.

Several ingredients of tea have demonstrated antioxidant property – EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) and Catechins. Antioxidants are free radical scavengers that slow down the growth of cancer cells in tumor.

As little EGCG as in three cups of Green Tea per day have shown to slow down the cell growth of lung cancer cells in a recent study at Kyushu University of Japan. The test tube studies with EGCG confirmed the inhibition of an enzyme present in cancer cells that is required for cellular growth and division.

The ideas have been further supported by a Spanish-British co-study and researchers found that EGCG of green tea prevented cancer cells from dividing by inhibiting its growth to reach an optimum size. This effect of EGCG might result from its ability to bind with a specific enzyme Dihydrofolate reductase whose presence is essential for cellular growth.

Another important ingredient of tea, Catechins is also found to inactivate harmful oxidants and to diminish the size as well as number of cancer cells in a study conducted by U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Researchers of USC (University of Southern California) found similar beneficial results associated with the use of green tea in breast cancer. Regular green tea drinkers had significantly less incidence of having breast cancer even if they adjusted other data like family history, exercise and diet.

They suggested that Green tea might reduce the growth of new blood vessels in tumor. Cancer cells, just like any other, need nutrients from blood to grow. They stimulate the growth of blood vessels in order to get supply of nutrients. Tea jeopardizes the chances of getting nutrients by inhibiting growth of new blood vessels and thereby creating conditions for poor growth of tumor. These results have been reaffirmed by a joint study by the University of California and the University of Texas.

The adaptogenic or immunity boosting properties have been found in studies with five cups of tea per day. The toned up immunity helps to prevent cancer by helping the body kill emerging cancer cells. Alkylamine antigens may be responsible. Consuming them by drinking tea helps one’s body fight off against tumors.

In a green tea research study on bladder cancer, an extract created from green tea changed the actions of actin, a structural protein required by cancer cells to function. A process called ‘remodeling’ allows cancer cells to invade nearby healthy tissue. A compound made from green tea modified the cancer cell’s ability to carry out this process.

While research continues, many studies demonstrate tea’s ability to help in preventing cancers. As drinking a few cups of tea per day looks to be beneficial with no drawbacks. Give it a try!

Technorati Tags: green tea, green tea prevented cancer, green tea research study

Good guys wear white hats in Western movies, but the opposite is true when we consider Black tea. Here black tea is certainly the good guy among all the varieties of tea.

Botanically, the leaves of Camellia Sinensis plant produce all kinds of real tea. Among four popular varieties of tea, black tea is the most oxidized of all followed by Oolong, Green tea and White tea. What a great difference can be brought about by a little variation of oxygen and sunlight! Western shores are mostly ignorant about White tea.

In whatever form the leaf makes it to market, the flavor is largely the result of the region from which it came and the processing used there. The leaves of black tea are plucked, washed and dried and then packed in bags either as a whole leaf or in parts.

The biggest producer of tea is China near Mount Wu Yi, in the Fujian Province. One style, the Lap Sang Sou Chong, is dried by holding the leaves over burning pine. The result is a delightfully strong, smoky flavor. Another style, the Yunnan hails from the Yunnan province and this variety has rich flavor and is dark and malty.

India is one of the largest producers of tea for centuries with two prominent varieties – Assam and Darjeeling. These two places are equally famous as the tea from them. Assam is full-bodied and with a distinctive astringency that prompts many to dilute it with milk. The Darjeeling from West Bengal is more delicate, but still a very robust tea. It makes a perfect breakfast drink due to its slightly spicy flavor.

Initial efforts to grow tea in Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka) in the 18th century were met with utter failure. But the growers persisted and tea drinkers around the world are the beneficiaries. The black Ceylon teas grace many fine tables in their home country and throughout the world.

Vietnam has recently made efforts to join the ranks of major producers. The light aroma of a Vietnamese black is deceptive. This dark brew has a wonderful taste that is the real deal.

The black tea of Turkey would be the delight of every aficionado. This mahogany colored brew hails from the Rize province on the eastern coast. It is prepared in a samovar and served up ‘koyu’. Why not get a few sips of it and get the flavor translated to you and get ready for a sweet jolt!

Several traditional and modern blends also partner in an excellent way with Black tea. A favorite is the famed Earl Grey Tea (named after its 17th century promoter) is a fragrant, slightly sweet blend that obtains its distinctive taste from tasty bergamot oil.

You have the opportunity to enjoy every flavor, so try many types of black tea either straight or flavored. Enjoy!

If you’re a big coffee drinker, there are few things that are worse than breaking your beloved coffee pot. This seems like an exaggeration to someone who doesn’t enjoy coffee, but those who rely on their morning cup to get them moving will agree. Some of these people will stumble into the kitchen looking for that first tasty cup. If they were to break their coffee pot, they’d probably be saddened. If this happened, they’d go without their morning coffee and they’d probably be pretty grumpy without the caffeine and coffee they’d gotten used to.

Now it is easier to find a coffee pot replacement than in previous years. However, it may take some time to arrive at your home. If someone who is a coffee lover breaks his or her coffee pot, they’ll oven leave the house immediately in search of a coffee pot replacement. Some of the bigger retail stores don’t offer a coffee pot replacement. Instead, they want you to buy the whole machine all over again. You may be able to find a coffee pot replacement if you search in one of the smaller shops in your town that are run by small business owners instead of giant corporations.

Now that the Internet is so popular, you can search the Web for a coffee pot replacement. The only problem is, your replacement may take a few days to arrive at your house. Shipping is often a concern since the replacements are so fragile, so it is often easier to buy from a company who will ensure that the replacement is packed securely instead of an online seller who will just toss it in a box and hope it doesn’t break during shipment. If you do choose to buy a coffee pot replacement on an auction site, make sure you tell the seller beforehand that you want the replacement packaged correctly.

You can also look for a coffee pot replacement in many stores, even though you may need to search several stores before finding one. If you have any special features on your coffee maker, your coffee pot replacement will need to be exactly the same or the special features will not work. If you have to buy a replacement pot that is not the same as the one you had, make sure you watch carefully when you first use it to keep everyone safe.

Technorati Tags: coffee pot replacement, coffee pot