Single-serving coffee seems to be all the rage these days, with Starbucks’ VIA being the prime example.
Iced coffee, too, is a popular product, so it follows that single-serve pouches of iced coffee powder would be a natural. And they are.
But check this out:
It’s a single-serve pouch … and a straw!
Oh! So! Clever!
You can even see if in action, in a video:
Caution: Not yet a real product, just a very cool idea.
(via Yanko)
One of my favourite parts of Calvin and Hobbes was when Calvin’s dad would “explain” something to Calvin in a convoluted, completely wrong way. Remember his reason for why old photos were in black and white? Classic.
Now there’s a blog that gives you pseudo-scientific explanations for everyday experiences in that same, completely wrong, spirit.
Check out Fake Science — and see if you can spot the fake!
I’ve got four more of my favourites, after the jump:
Click to continue reading “Fake science is more entertaining that real science”
If anyone ever wants to buy me a classic Braun Aromaster KF20, they can do so, no questions asked. The real problem is finding one of these classic 1972 beauties.
(pic from one digital life, originally a screen grab from the Braun website)
Fear not, though, coffee-and-design-loving people! If life goes as planned, we’ll soon see a revised version of this mod classic.
For Richard Wilson has designed the KF 2010. And she’s a beaut:
Wilson’s a design master’s student at the University of Leeds, so it’s not an official Braun design, but once can hope! Can’t you just imagine that red light going all Knight Rider when the coffee’s brewing?
According to Appliancist, you can email him at [email protected]. So if you’re reading, Mr. Braun, email him.
(via Gizmodo)
Every morning, if you like, you can imagine me, crouched, staring blank-eyed at the drip-drip-drip of coffee being brewed, just like Amy’s photo, above.
Of course, these days, we have an insulated carafe, so we can bring the coffee upstairs and satisfy our internet and caffeine addictions at the same time. But, for me, part of the coffee experience is the sense of anticipation. Actually, because I have kind of a sensitive mouth, and I don’t use any cream, the coffee is generally too hot when it’s first poured, so I have to sit there, fuzzy-headed, while it steams away some of that heat.
Then I can drink it.
It’s strange to remember that, until relatively recently, I didn’t drink coffee in the mornings. For most of my life, still, I didn’t drink it at all. Then I started going out in the evenings, with friends. We had sort of an artistic salon thing, going on, at a 24-hour restaurant. I preferred soft drinks, but coffee was half the price — and free refills, all night long. I soon switched.
Now, strictly because of Amy, I’m a morning coffee drinker. I used to let the shower wake me up, but my morning routine has changed. Coffee has changed me — in some subtle, some important ways.
But hasn’t it changed all of us?
That’s what a great three-part series (1, 2, 3) on Anthropology in Practice is arguing. Says Boing Boing, summing it up:
In 1991, coffee-drinking seemed to be on its way out in the United States. From a peak consumption of 3.2 cups per day per person on average in 1962, coffee consumption was down to measly 1.75 cups. There were good reasons for this: Nobody liked the cheap, nasty sludge generally available and the entire experience reeked of Grandma.
Enter advertising giant Ogilvy and Mather, working for Maxwell House.
Their suggestion: Segment the product by quality, value and personal image—ideas that all ended up leading to the thriving coffee market of today. Just when we thought we were out, they sucked us back in. (Meanwhile, the parallel rise of coffee and decline of tobacco could be a sociology thesis, in and of itself.)
Part One of the series looks at how coffee stormed back to become one of the world’s most vital drinks.
Part Two, structured like a flashback, I guess, tackles the history of the bean and its trade.
Part Three, which I find most interesting, explores coffee’s role in the rise of our “culture of productivity.”
The cultural aspect really intrigued me, and I could have easily read a post four times as long. Consider this, for example, in which coffee is compared and contrasted to alcohol:
Perhaps we can apply [the] term “ritualized inebriation” to coffee consumption as well. We consume coffee as a means of performing the tasks we need to complete in the setting of the workplace. And if we all do it, then it normalizes the behavior and helps us believe that we are achieving optimal levels of productivity.
Coffee and booze. Two sides of my favourite coin.
Interestingly, I remember when I lived in Quebec City that there was a nearby Subway restaurant that featured this famous photo as a huge wall mural:
Now I see in today’s New York Times that life is imitating art: Contractors building the replacement World Trade Centre have welded together nine cargo containers, installed a Subway restaurant, and are hoisting it up the building to provide lunch to the workers.
It cost $3 million, but is expected to more than pay for itself in saved time. The Times reports that half-hour lunch breaks can stretch out past an hour as workers queue up for the elevator and head down to street level and back:
The sandwich shop is one of four movable “pods” on hydraulic legs sitting on either side of two tower cranes; the other pods house offices, a shanty where workers can change clothes, and bathrooms for men and women. The bathrooms alone were considered a breakthrough for workers who previously had used bottles and slop buckets. …
It is no different from any other Subway, with a kitchen, a walk-in freezer, a service counter and refrigerators for drinks. One level down, there is a heated and air-conditioned lounge with tables and chairs. A compost tank and an evaporator in the bottom container take care of all the solid and liquid waste.
What I find interesting is that they scouted for possible restaurants and Subway wasn’t their first choice.
The story says a local deli was the first choice, based on taste alone. After that, they looked at “a Canadian company” says the story. Unfortunately, they don’t mention which one, but I’d like to know, because apparently their “coffee was deemed too weak for New York taste buds.”
Judging by that throwaway line, I would wager it’s Tim Hortons. The ubiquitous Canadian coffeeshop last year launched a huge push into New York — and the Times panned its coffee in a review.
I drink coffee — I drink a lot of coffee. Most of it I drink from ceramic mugs, to which I have an unhealthy addiction (attention readers: I would love to collect coffee mugs from your hometown newspaper).
Sometimes, I take my coffee in an insulated, stainless steel travel mug. I also have a combination travel mug and coffee press which I absolutely love and which is, to be honest, pretty sweet.
But sometimes I get a coffee from a coffeeshop. And, inevitably, they serve it to me in a paper cup, with a cardboard sleeve.
Many coffeeshops tout the fact that their cups are made from recycled paper and cardboard. The better coffeeshops even mention the amount of “post-consumer” recycling there is.
Unfortunately, once they’ve been used as a coffee cup, that paper is at the end of its run. There’s no more recycling.
The people at Betacup want to change that. They’re offering $20,000 in prizes to people who can design a better coffee cup. The best idea gets $10,000, and another five will divide an additional $10,000.
Perhaps someone will come up with a paper cup that can actually be recycled. Or, perhaps a reusable coffee cup that people will actually tote with them and use.
Check out the promo video:
Betacup from the betacup on Vimeo.
Then, go to the website and poke around.
I’m not sure that I have an idea just off the top of my head. But I’m sure thinking about it.
by Amy Breen
At some random Starbucks, the baristas are having a lot of fun with the suggestion sign:
Whoever’s behind them is actually a decent drawer. And it is a Canadian Starbucks:
Check out the entire list at Geekologie. I particularly like the one where the barista is the Borg.
(via Ryan’s facebook!)
I’m sitting at my desk, not drinking coffee, because I’ve been too busy/lazy to go out and buy some new stuff. And what do I happen across online? Coffee mugs, of course.
The universe tempts me.
But oh, what nice coffee mugs! They’re clean, classic-looking mugs, but the handles add a touch of personalization. Amy will be the first to jump in and say that we already own too many coffee mugs, but if I saw these in a store, I can’t promise that I wouldn’t buy them.
(via Beautiful Life)
by Amy Breen
I always got the sense that Dave Grohl was manic. Now I know why.
“Fresh pots!” is going to be my new cry to Grant when I want coffee.
(via)
This is the perfect gift for your photographer friend who also likes coffee — so long as that friend isn’t a Nikonista, I suppose.
I read somewhere that these coffee travel mugs — shaped like Canon telephoto lenses — were handed out as swag to official photogs at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. But they proved so popular (and went viral) that they’re being released to order for the general public. I want.
You can pre-order one from Vistek.ca for $30 Canadian. (I’ve ordered from Vistek before, btw, with no issues.) Their estimated released date is the middle of April.
Or, if you want one faster and free-er (but also more expensive) you can order $200 of stuff at the Canon Canada e-store, and they’ll throw one in for free. But hurry — that offer ends March 23.
Hopefully they are electronically stabilized to prevent motion blur and spills.
I like my coffee black black black black black. I don’t let sugar or artificial sweeteners touch any mug I might someday use. And when well-meaning baristas ask me if I “want room for cream?” I snarl at them, “Cream is the devil.”
They recoil — horrified, yet impressed despite their horror — and bring me my coffee, which is black black black black black.
And yet, I can appreciate the art of a good experiment. Once, as a child, I figured that since I like both sandwiches and stirfries, perhaps lunch that day would be a sopping soy sauce sandwich.
It worked out better when I attempted to combine my love of sandwiches with my love of refined white sugar.
So, knowing that you win some, you lose some, in the game of culinary invention, I was intrigued to read of the exploits of one brave soul — a man who goes by the alias Phronk — putting weird stuff in his coffee.
He’s got a whole blog devoted to it here. He’s tried cake, banana, peanut butter, peanut butter and jelly, smoked salmon cream cheese, and even bacon, as above. His rule? “The things I put in coffee must be things that I would tolerate eating on their own. So no, I will not put dog poop in coffee, but you’re right that it would be very weird.” A fair rule.
So, how did bacon coffee taste?
This project was a little daunting at first. The world of meat-based coffee additives is, as far as we could tell, completely unexplored. It could have turned out disgusting. But to be honest, it wasn’t. The bacon added a subtle smokey flavour that did not clash at all with the dark roasted coffee. The bacon grease left a beautiful sparkly film on top and gave the coffee a creamier texture than usual.
At the bottom of the mug is a beautiful puddle of bacon-wrapped coffee.
The only problem is that you’re left with a large chunk of bacon sitting there, which makes it hard to drink the last bit. And what do you do with the bacon? While bacon flavoured coffee is quite delicious, coffee flavoured bacon is bland at best.
If you’re into watching someone else drink weird things, then Putting Weird Things In Coffee is a blog you should follow. Hey Phronk — if you’re reading this — videos!
Often imitated, never duplicated, this video FINALLY shows people what goes into a proper cup of coffee.
How to Brew a Good Cup of Coffee from Ben Helfen on Vimeo.
(via BB)
C4 is a common military plastic explosive that, according to Wikipedia, detonates at a velocity of nearly 30,000 km/h. If you don’t use a blasting cap or detonator to set it off, though, you can light it with a match and it will burn.
This guy says you can use spitball-sized pieces of C4 to heat up your coffee:
As one ball would burn out, you rolled another up next to it, so it would ignite. We used a modified C-ration can for a stove. One side was cut open, so there was plenty of air for the ‘rapid combustion.’
The trick, apparently, is not to stamp out the fire.
So, how many cups of coffee do you drink in a day? I tend to drink upwards of three or four regular-sized coffee mugs full of black (no cream or sugar or girlaccinos), but I’m never sure how many “cups” that is. When I make coffee, for example, I make either eight or 12 “cups” — according to the carafe. But I sure don’t get that number of mugs out of it.
I suppose some simple experimentation would answer my question. But I drink coffee when I am tired and unmotivated — hardly the best time for a science project.
For more on the health benefits (alleged) or concerns (even more alleged) that come from coffee consumption, you should check out the extensive Wall Street Journal article I pinched the chart above from.
