Beverage

Better Coffee While On The Road

June 24, 2014 by Michele Neylon 2 Comments

If you’re a lover of coffee you probably start your day with a coffee. However not all coffees are equal and when you’re travelling you’re pretty much at the mercy of your hotel’s facilities and those of its surroundings. While some hotels, notably the Radisson chain, provide proper coffee machines in their rooms, many, such as the Hilton, only give you horrible instant coffee. (Admittedly some of the Hilton properties in the US do provide Kreug machines, but it’s not a given that you’ll get one).

A few weeks ago I decided to rectify the problem once and for all and purchased an Aeropress coffee machine.

The Aeropress system

It’s not too big to fit in my suitcase and the coffee it produces is significantly better than the rubbish I’d have been stuck with in some of the hotels (Hilton London Metropole I’m looking at you!)

So when you fall out of bed in the morning instead of making a barely drinkable instant coffee you can start your day with a rich fresh coffee!

Tracking Coffee Consumption With Up Coffee

March 15, 2014 by Michele Neylon 3 Comments

I love coffee. However I’m also conscious that I probably drink a bit too much.

But how much coffee and caffeine am I consuming every day? What kind of impact does it have on me?

While the new app from Jawbone “UP Coffee” might not be able to able to answer these questions with 100% accuracy, it does a pretty good job of trying to.

The app is pretty simple.

You log the coffees and other caffeine beverages that you consume throughout the day (including the time you drank them) and the app calculates how much caffeine is in your system and how soon you’ll be able to sleep:

So after two cups of coffee I should be able to sleep again after 4pm.

The app can hook into your Jawbone UP, if you have one, and if you tie the two together you should be able to access more data about things like your sleep quality. As I’m a Fitbit user I can’t take advantage of those options, but I can still use it to track coffee consumption over time and compare my habits to those of other users.

Of course the problem with this app and most other apps that track food etc., is that you have to remember to log what you consume. Sure, you can go back and add things “after the fact”, but you still need to do it.

The app’s a nice idea and if I was seriously concerned about my coffee consumption or suffered from insomnia I might use it more.. As it is it’s a bit of a fun gimmick.

You can grab the app via the Apple app store.

Up Coffee is Jawbone’s solution for America’s caffeine addiction (theverge.com)
‘UP Coffee’ App Measures Caffeine Consumption, Impact On Sleep: Could An App Help Treat Caffeine Addiction? (medicaldaily.com)
UP Coffee app helps you track and understand caffeine consumption (flowingdata.com)
Control Your Caffeine Jitters with the ‘UP Coffee’ App from Jawbone (ireport.cnn.com)
App helps the caffeine addicts (news.optuszoo.com.au)

Godiva Hazelnut Crème Coffee

December 8, 2013 by Michele Neylon Leave a Comment

I love coffee. Nothing new there.

Last week I was in Brussels for a meeting, so I stopped off in the duty free shops on my way home to get a few bits and pieces. Of course “duty free” isn’t true these days, as you only really get those kind of prices when you’re flying outside the EU. Brussels airport may not be my favourite airport, but it’s got a fantastic selection of chocolate and other gourmet products to tempt you. One of them is Godiva Hazelnut Crème Coffee.

It’s not cheap – if you buy it online directly from Godiva it’s about 15 Euro for a packet – but it is a wonderfully tasty way to spend a few Euro 🙂

Jokes aside, if you like coffee it’s worth it to treat yourself from time to time.

Hazelnut coffee and other flavours may not be acceptable to “purists”, but nobody is forcing them to drink the coffee!

At work I’ve been buying a variety of different flavoured coffees to try out.

Some of them have been very good, while others, like the Christmas pudding flavoured one, were “odd”

Gourmet Coffee

May 27, 2013 by Michele Neylon 2 Comments

English: A photo of a cup of coffee. Esperanto: Taso de kafo. Français : Photo d’une tasse de caffé Español: Taza de café (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Good quality coffee is worth paying that little extra for.

Unfortunately most Irish supermarkets don’t stock much beyond the mass produced coffees from the big brands, so I usually pick up “nice” coffee when I’m travelling.

Luckily there are a growing number of specialised shops popping up in Irish towns and Carlow is no different. “Tea & Coffee World” in Carlow opened a few months ago and offers a very nice range of teas and coffees, including some very tasty flavoured coffee.

I’m currently drinking a nice mug of hazelnut coffee 🙂

Glass Coffee Pots Do Not Bounce

November 24, 2012 by Michele Neylon 1 Comment

I am a self-proclaimed coffee addict.

In order to feed my addiction I have several coffee making devices at home, including the plunger style cafetière from Bodum.

Unfortunately one of them met with an accident in the last week or so. The “beaker” was glass and it appears to have been dropped (not by me oddly enough) and of course it’s now broken.

Fortunately I had a spare Bodum cafetière that someone gave me as a present (I like presents!) so I can still make myself a decent mug of coffee.

So the obvious thing to do was to look into getting a replacement beaker.

Bodum sell spare parts for all their coffee makers via their website and a lot of other sites also offer them. The odd thing, however, is that the cost of replacing the beaker is almost as much as the cost of buying a new coffee maker! The cheapest coffee maker is about 20 euro, while a replacement beaker is about the same price.

So what are the other options?

Chatting with a few people via Twitter and Facebook I discovered that there are cafetières with plastic beakers. I’m not 100% sure if that would be a good idea, as the plastic might mess with the taste.

The other option is to use an unbreakable coffee maker. There’s a few on the market that are made of stainless steel or similar material including the Bodum Columbia:

Of course there is a bit of a jump in price and a couple of people have reported that they can’t really see how much coffee is in the pot!

Nice to know that there are options out there though!

Beverage

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