Coffee Break

From the Guardian’s Data Blog page comes this scary question: Can a coffee have as many calories as a Big Mac? Can I just say  - well, duh?

According to figures compiled by World Cancer Research, a lot of those yummy coffee frappe drinks that people adore (watch Morning Joe sometime to see what Joe Scarborough considers “coffee”) are seriously bad for you. The report has some great ammunition for Mika Brzezinski, co-host of Morning Joe, who often rags on her cast-mate about his sugary, whipped-cream laced drink and how bad it is for him. According to the chart found at the Guardian, a Venti Dark Berry Mocha Frappuccino blended coffee with whipped cream has a whopping 561 calories - topping Big Mac’s 495 calories by almost 20%.

Note however, that a Starbucks iced black coffee - even a Venti - has 5 calories. And coffee - at least caffeinated coffee - gives your body an adrenaline-laced metabolism boost. Your body actually burns more calories for the same activities after drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee.

Of course, you do sort of negate that effect when you add things to your coffee like cream, milk, sugar, whipped cream, heavy syrups and the like. You should also keep in mind that when you drink coffee, the caffeine tends to encourage dehydration, in part because of that same metabolism boost. And I can attest to this personally. A while back, I started making a point of drinking a glass of ice water for every cup of coffee that I drank. The difference in my skin was incredible - I hadn’t realized how dry and delicate it was until I started properly hydrating my body. Within just a few days, my skin was younger, firmer and definitely more healthy.

The bottom line is this: coffee offers a lot of health benefits, but common sense is important here, too. When the studies suggest that 5 cups of coffee a day (and remember that those are 6 ounce cups) seem to be good for you, they’re not talking about 5 coffee milkshakes. Indulge once in a while if you want, but keep the junk out of your coffee - and remember that you also need to be aware of the other effects that coffee has on your body.

I just did myself up a cool new Twitter avatar and page background over at MadMenYourself.com. That’d be me there on the left, holding the steaming cup of delicious coffee.

Why does this rate mention on a blog about coffee? Well… because the ap to design your own MadMen avatar is fueled by Eight O’Clock Coffee– and I found out about it when it was tweeted on @8OclockCoffee. It’s just one more thing in a long list of cool things I’ve discovered through Eight O’Clock’ GR8 PR stuff. 8 O’Clock is especially good at using Twitter - which is why I keep on following them.

Among the things I’ve learned or discovered from following 8 O’Clock Coffee on Twitter:

• The Discover the Difference $10,000 contest (I entered. I didn’t win. I hope Miss Edna wins because I think intergenerational programs are hugely important - every kid can use an extra grandma.)
• The great rewards in their Accumul8 Rewards program (like my cool 8 O’Clock Coffee Mug)
• Some incredible dessert recipes - 8OClock tweets GR8 Taste links to all sorts of recipes, even if they don’t include coffee
• Off the wall fun stuff - like the day that 8OClock coffee tweeted “virtual cups of coffee” to anyone who asked for one. No real coffee exchanged hands, just tweets and fun.
• And now this - a very cool avatar that feels “me” and that was very easy to adapt into a Twitter background. (Really, easy. I’ll post how-to on how I made mine at chameleonsdream.wordpress.com later this morning so you can do it yourself, kay?)

Every once in a while, I do a post about the searches that bring people to my coffee blog. This morning, I got to wondering something a little different. What pages do people visit when they get here to Coffee Break?  Easy enough to figure out - I just hit the stats pages to check out where people land when they come by here. Here’s what interests people the most here at Coffee Break blog.

The big surprise - one of my most searched phrases is “is coffee good for your skin?” but my two coffee blog posts about coffee soaps aren’t on the list of top 10 coffee blog posts. Not so big surprise - posts about brand name coffees are high up on the list. Marley Coffee, Eight O’Clock Coffee, Starbucks coffee and Port City Coffee are all up there on the list. So is Dunkin Donuts - but it’s hiding. Can you tell which blog post is about Dunkin Donuts coffee?

I’ve got a new poll up - finally! But before I go into that, let me give you the results of the Coffee and Romance poll… it’s been up so long that you might not remember it at all. That’s because it took so long for people to respond to it - but FINALLY I think there’s enough responses there to report the results on “What’s the most romantic coffee moment? “

It’s pretty clear that the biggest response is watching the sunrise from the patio together over a cup of coffee. Morning, sunrise, patio, coffee, true love - what could be more romantic? According to you guys - nothing else even comes close. But I noticed something even more interesting - with one exception, all of the romantic coffee moments that y’all chose happen AT HOME. Out of 11 responses, only <b>1</b> of them was for something that happens outside your home - meeting someone for the first time over coffee.

The rest of the answers are all for moments in the home - romantic coffee at sunrise, second cup of coffee in bed and reading the paper together over coffee on Sunday morning. How cool is that? Coffee makes your special moments more romantic, see?

Our new poll in the sidebar is “Where did you get your favorite travel coffee mug?” I’ve gotta tell you that with very few exceptions, my favorite travel coffee mugs have all come from Dunkin Donuts. I have a whole collection of DD travel mugs, including the iced coffee travel mug that I’m drinking out of right now. DD tends to put out fun, stylish coffee travel mugs that have all the features I want - tight-fitting cover that keeps spills to a minimum without making it impossible to get a sip, a good grip and a good size. They’re also funky and fun - my summer iced coffee travel mug is bright orange with a surfboard graphic on it in pink, turquoise and bright yellow. It’s an eye-poppingly bright wake-me-up right mug.

How about you? Take the poll and tell me where your favorite coffee mug came from - and if it’s not on the list (convenience store, for instance?) write it in and leave me a comment!

Is your coffee drive-thru habit becoming an endangered species? The National Highway Safety and Trade Administration has released their list of the top ten foods to avoid while driving - and coffee tops the list of dangerous driving food habits. The list was reported in Motor Trends last week, and the motoring mag made special note of coffee’s place at the top of the driving food no-nos list.

In fact, the article made it sound like it was a no-brainer that you should avoid drinking coffee while driving - which could be a surprise to places like Dunkin Donuts which sells millions of cups of coffee at drive-thru windows every morning.

The issue, of course, is that coffee is HOT, and coffee cups are not infallible. A splash of hot coffee on the back of your hand, or a lapful of scaling coffee is certainly enough to distract you from the road. All it takes is hitting a bump at the wrong time, and you could end up swerving unexpectedly. So what’s the solution? Here’s a few random thoughts to make your coffee on the go habit safer.

1. Black coffee is obviously hotter than coffee with milk or cream. Drink your coffee with cream!
2. Make sure that the cover of your coffee cup fits right and is securely on the cup.
3. Get your to-go coffee in your own travel mug instead of in a takeaway cup - it’s better for the environment, too. Just be sure that you wash it out before handing it over. Many drive-thrus have a policy of only refilling clean travel mugs.
4. Only sip when you’re at a standstill - red lights, stop signs, etc. Much less chance of hitting a bump and spilling when you’re not moving.

Got other travel coffee tips? I’d love to hear them!

Today, I’m hitting the coffee search questions that bring people to the coffee break blog. Some of them are real doozies - I still get people here looking to find out if you can lick your own elbow (you can’t unless you’re one heck of a contortionist, but if you tell people it’s impossible, you get the fun of watching them try). Most of them are a lot easier to answer. And since one of my aims is to help people enjoy their coffee and give them what they want in a coffee blog, here we go.

1. Mike asked how I got a Green Mountain Coffee catalog, and how he can get one too.
   • You can request a Green Mountain Coffee catalog by clicking on the link and telling them where to send it.
2. Is coffee good for your skin?
   • While there’s no absolute proof that coffee is good for your skin, there’s a lot of research that suggests it’s true. Caffeine does tighten pores and encourage your skin to shed old cells faster, which leads to younger looking skin, and there’s a good possibility that the antioxidants in coffee might give your skin a bit of protection from the anti-aging effects of the sun.
3. How do you steam milk without an espresso machine or steam wand?
   • Easy-peasy, baby. If you want steamed milk for your coffee but don’t have a steam wand, try this. Pour ice cold milk into a jar with a cover. Cover the jar and shake it until the milk is doubled in volume and has lots of tiny little bubbles in it. Uncover the milk and heat the jar in the microwave or in a pot of boiling water for about 30 seconds. Pour on top of your coffee. Voila! Cappuccino foam without an espresso machine.
4. Do Keurig coffee makers contain lead?
   • Apparently, yes, they do - so do many other coffee makers. The lead, however, is in a part of the machine that never comes in contact with the coffee or the water that makes it.
5. Where can I find 8 O’Clock coffee codes?
   • You need 8 O’Clock coffee codes to earn cool stuff in their Accumul8 Rewards program - you know, cool stuff like my two Eight O’Clock Coffee mugs. You’ll find the coffee codes on the bottom of the coffee bag. The website shows you exactly where and which numbers to enter. If you’re looking for coffee codes without buying the coffee - well, I can’t help you there. I’m one of those play-by-the-rules folks.
6. What’s the proper pronunciation of Gevalia?
   • According to the coffee company’s web site the proper pronunciation for Gevalia is jih VAHL yuh.
7. Will milk break my coffee machine?
   • If you’re thinking of putting milk through your coffee machine to make, say, hot chocolate with hot milk, or to make your coffee with milk instead of water - eh, probably not such a great idea. Heating milk solidifies proteins in that will glue themselves to the inner workings.
8. Can you really roast coffee in a popcornpopper?
   • Yep, you sure can!

Lovely surprise in the mail this morning - I got my Green Mountain Coffee catalog and it’s a delight. There’s lots more than just coffee to love here - the Summer catalog features some of the most gorgeous coffee mugs I’ve ever seen. Y’all know that I love coffee mugs, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that these hand-thrown Dan Lasser coffee mugs caught my eye immediately - just look at how gorgeous this is:

Every single Aurora mug is by Dan Lasser is hand-crafted and - according to the catalog - takes at least a week to create. That makes the $21.95 price tag seem like a bargain.

Oh - and not only is each mug unique, each mug is also dishwasher AND microwave safe.

There are other beautiful coffee mugs as well - including a travel mug that’s styled perfectly for me - but the other mug that caught my eye is a completely green travel mug. It -is- green both literally and metaphorically. The mug is made of food-grade pre and post consumer recycled content - and is fully recyclable where #5 recycled plastic is accepted.

The Green Mountain coffee catalog also introduces the newest Keurig coffee maker, the Breville Keurig , with some pretty sleek styling. Check it out - I’ll be looking at it a little more closely later this week myself.

Latest news on the Big Green Monster…Starbucks is apparently going undercover in Seattle. According to the Seattle Times, Starbucks is hiding its name on at least one of its stores in the city. The 15th Avenue store of the Seattle-based company was slated to be one of the stores that closed last year. Instead, the company is apparently trying a new marketing strategy. After years of working to build their logo and name into a household equivalent for “neighborhood coffee shop”, Starbucks has pulled its name and anything identifiable with Starbucks off the store and renamed it the 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea shop. They’ve also remodeled the store, using local stone and local suppliers for furnishings and supplies, and will repackage Starbucks coffee in “15th Avenue Coffee and Tea” bags.

A couple of local coffee shop owners went on record with the Times to talk about Starbucks employees descending on their shops en masse to “do research” - without even buying a cup of coffee, one complained. As the owner of one of the shops pointed out, you can’t “research” authenticity and recreate it - it grows organically. The whole thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth that’s - for once - not related to the over-roasted coffee. Does anyone else feel like this “experiment” - which is supposed to move to other cities if it succeeds - is meant to trick us into drinking Starbucks coffee without knowing it’s what we’re drinking?