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Tuesday, January 9th 2007

8:00 AM

January is International Gourmet Coffee Month

January has been declared the official "International Gourmet Coffee Month".

After all the spending for Christmas in December - and all the partying - a nice, strong cup of coffee seems like a great idea to get us all 'back into the groove'.

Video: How to make designs in the foam of your coffee - fantastic!

How to Brew a Great Cup of Coffee

Most of us drink coffee every day, and we know how close our favorite coffee shop is to our homes, places of business & even the hotel we're staying in for the night. So doesn't it seem strange that everyone doesn't know how to brew a great cup of coffee? If you want to know how to make a great cuppa java at home, here are the easy steps.

Start with great water. It has to be fresh and cold. (Hot water loses oxygen so its tastes flat.) Tap water just doesn't make great coffee. Use bottled spring water (not distilled), and it will taste much better. When making the coffee, the water should then be heated to 200 F (93 C), which most home coffee makers can do.
Of course, you need great coffee. Start with coffee that has been stored properly. It needs to be kept away from light, heat, moisture & oxygen, so store it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. (Some people prefer the freezer.) After it is ground it begins to lose its flavor, so it is highly recommended that you grind your own beans at home. Use 2 level tablespoons of ground coffee for every 8 oz. of water - 2.5 tablespoons if you like it strong.
Use a clean coffee pot. Do you really expect that just rinsing that stained pot and using it again will produce a great cup? Don't pass on the bitterness left behind by the oils & residues in that last pot of overheated coffee!
After brewing, put coffee in a vacuum thermos so the second cup tastes as great as the first. Coffee left on the burner becomes stronger and more bitter.

To learn more, here are some books recommended by the Deschutes Public Library:

Coffee from Around the World

If you travel throughout the world to countries where coffee is the beverage of choice, you'll find that the tastes vary greatly. (Information from How Stuff Works)

America - Most Americans still prefer a light roast; but with the popularity of Starbucks, darker roasts are becoming more common. Americans generally like their coffee with cream and sugar. Flavored coffees (which "taste" flavored only due to the aroma of the additive, not because the beans themselves are flavored in any way) are also popular.
France - The dark roast called, appropriately, French roast, is popular. The French also like café au lait, a half-milk, half-coffee mixture.
Austria - Viennese roast is a blend of two-thirds dark-roast beans and one-third regular roast (what's known as "European roast" flips those proportions).
Italy - Italy is the home of espresso, which is coffee brewed by forcing steam through finely ground, dark-roasted coffee beans. Espresso is very strong. By adding frothed milk, espresso becomes such variations as cappuccino, macchiato and cafe latte.
Turkey - A Turkish proverb calls coffee "Black as hell, strong as death, sweet as love." Turkish coffee is very finely ground (finer than espresso) and is brewed in little pots called ibriks or cezves. Turkish coffee is often spiced with cardamom, chicory or coriander.
Cuba - Similar to espresso, café cubano is an extremely strong coffee that is not sipped -- it is shot, like tequila. In restaurants, Cuban coffee is served at the end of the meal in tiny tacitas, cups smaller than demitasse cups.
Thailand - Thai coffee is a strong, chicory-tinged coffee served with ice and sweetened, condensed milk. To make it at home, add a tablespoon of sweetened, condensed milk to a 6-ounce cup of strong coffee and throw in some ice.

Try some for yourself with the Gourmet Coffee of the Month Club:

Why Coffee is Actually GOOD for You!

It lowers the risk of heart disease.
Two to six cups a day can protect from diabetes or be beneficial to those who have the disease.
It can protect against liver disease.
It keeps you alert.
It protects against gallstones.
Three cups a day could lessen dementia.
Regular coffee drinking can lessen liver damage from alcohol & heart disease from smoking.
Two cups a day may result in a 25% reduced risk of colon cancer.
It enhances athletic endurance and performance.
It reduces the risk of Parkinson's Disease.

Celebrate Your Love of Coffee with a T-shirt!

Coffee Time

Our Coffee Time T-shirts & gifts for him, for her, for the office, for home.

My Sign

Our My Sign T-shirts & gifts for him, for her, for the office, for home.

Ra Buck Coffee for the Mummified

Our Ra Bucks T-shirts & gifts for him or her in 2 styles & a mug.

Coffee Connaisseur

Our Coffee Connaisseur T-shirts & gifts for him or her, caps, vinyl sticker & a mug.

January 9th in History

1788 --- Beside a long tidal river, or in the language of the people of the area, Quinnehtukqut, is Connecticut, the state that entered the United States of America this day. Hartford, the capital of Connecticut ... and of the insurance industry ... boasts having the oldest newspaper, "Hartford Courant", which has been publishing since 1764. Many of the state’s symbols have been there as long, if not longer: state fossil: eubrontes giganteus; bird: American robin; flower: mountain laurel; tree: white oak; animal: sperm whale; mineral: garnet; shellfish: Eastern oyster; insect: praying mantis; hero: Nathan Hale. Other symbols came later: song: "Yankee Doodle" and ship: USS Nautilus. Nicknamed the Nutmeg State, Connecticut, the fifth state, also has an official designation: the Constitution State. Easy to figure out: In the 1630s, the English settlements along the tidal river gathered together to form the Connecticut Colony and wrote the first constitution in the new world, "Fundamental Orders". Connecticut’s motto: He who transplanted still sustains, or in Latin-speak: Qui transtulit sustinet.

1793 --- Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first successful balloon flight in the United States. Blanchard’s balloon, filled with hydrogen, took off from Philadelphia, PA, soared to 5,800 feet and eventually wound up some 15 miles away, in Woodbury, New Jersey.

1848 --- The first commercial bank was established in San Francisco, CA.

1894 --- The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company put the first battery-operated switchboard into operation in Lexington, MA.

1902 --- New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.

1951 --- The United Nations headquarters officially opened in New York City.

1956 --- The first "Dear Abby" column was published.

1959 --- CBS-TV premiered Rawhide, starring newcomer Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates, Eric Fleming as Gil Favor, Sheb Wooley as Pete Nolan, and Paul Bringar as Wishbone. The western lasted 7½ seasons.

1961 --- The play, Rhinoceros, opened on Broadway, starring two of the theatre’s true stars -- Eli Wallach and Zero Mostel.

1969 --- The supersonic aeroplane Concorde made its first trial flight, at Bristol.

1972 --- Reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking to reporters by telephone from the Bahamas, said a purported biography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake. Irving and his wife had received a $750,000 advance from the McGraw-Hill publishing house for the book. Clifford Irving was eventually imprisoned and ordered to repay the advance, plus damages.

1979 --- A benefit concert called A Gift of Song was held at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The performers were Olivia Newton-John, Rita Coolidge, the Bee Gees, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, John Denver, Kris Kristofferson, Abba and Earth, Wind & Fire.

1982 --- The Johnny Cash Parkway was opened in Hendersonville, Tennessee.

1993 --- Responding to a sensor alarm, Mission Control at Cape Canaveral scolded space shuttle Endeavor astronauts to please remember and put the toilet seat down.

2002 --- The U.S. Justice Department announced that it was pursuing a criminal investigation of Enron Corp. The company had filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.

2003 --- U.N. weapons inspectors said there was no "smoking gun" to prove Iraq had nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons.

Chart Toppers
January 9

1945 Don’t Fence Me In - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
There Goes that Song Again - Russ Morgan
I’m Making Believe - Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots
I’m Wastin’ My Tears on You - Tex Ritter

1953 Why Don’t You Believe Me - Joni James
Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Perry Como
Glow Worm - The Mills Brothers
Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Skeets McDonald

1961 Wonderland by Night - Bert Kaempfert
Exodus - Ferrante & Teicher
Will You Love Me Tomorrow - The Shirelles
North to Alaska - Johnny Horton

1969 I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
For Once in My Life - Stevie Wonder
I’m Gonna Make You Love Me - Diana Ross & The Supremes & The
Temptations
Daddy Sang Bass - Johnny Cash

1977 You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show) - Marilyn McCoo &
Billy Davis, Jr.
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer
I Wish - Stevie Wonder
Broken Down in Tiny Pieces - Billy "Crash" Craddock

1985 Like a Virgin - Madonna
The Wild Boys - Duran Duran
Sea of Love - The Honeydrippers
Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind - George Strait