The Story of Coffee: Iced Coffee

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

Hot times! Summer's finally here and we can't help but think of swimming holes, shady porch-swings and a tall cup of coffee.

Coffee?
Sure! Coffee's not just for breakfast any more... or the blustery days of winter, either. When the mercury climbs – or whatever that stuff is they put in thermometers today – all you need are a few handy tools and a little know-how and you can make easy and refreshing treats to see you through the summer heat.

The tools.
You may think you need a fancy blender to make a smooth iced coffee drink. Not so! Our favorite drinks require little more than ice, coffee and some kind of leak proof container to shake ‘em up. Of course, there's really no better tool for the job than a cocktail shaker... We like those that are made of durable, dishwasher-safe stainless steel, and feature a built-in strainer.

For drinks that are stirred, not shaken, you might also consider ice-cube trays. Even if you've got one of those automatic ice-maker gadgets in your freezer, the humble ice-cube tray has its uses... and one of those is to freeze coffee into cubes so that as the ice melts it doesn't dilute your lovely iced coffee beverage.

The ingredients.
We like our iced coffee with a little bit of creamy dairy goodness (Vermont is a dairy state, after all!) and a little bit of sweetener. Having said that, you've got a lot of options... you can use skim milk, or heavy cream, or anything in-between. (Heavy cream often has carrageenan, a natural thickener, added to it to give it added body – this is especially nice in frozen coffee drinks!) As for the sweet stuff: sugar is fine, honey is heavenly, but calorie and carb-neutral sweetening products will work as well – sometimes better. (More about that in a moment.)

The basic technique.
Brew fresh coffee. This is important! Who wants to drink coffee that's been left to cool (and loose its aromatics and flavor?) We like coffee that's to be iced brewed strong... even double-strength.

If you're adding sweetener, add it to the just-brewed, hot coffee and stir to dissolve. Neither sugar nor honey are soluble in cold liquids (but many sugar substitutes are, and can be added directly to your cocktail shaker.)

Fill your cocktail shaker with ice. Don't skimp... too little ice will leave you with a luke-warm, watery mix.

If you're adding dairy products, pour them over the ice in the cocktail shaker. It's a good idea all around to keep cold with cold until we're ready to bring them all together.

Shake, shake, shake! Add your hot coffee to your cocktail shaker, top with its lid and shake vigorously, all at once rapidly chilling the hot coffee, mixing coffee, sweetener and dairy, and frothing the whole mixture. Shake for no less than ten seconds and rarely more than twenty. Shaking done, simply strain your coffee concoction into a tall, cold glass – maybe even a classy martini glass or two – and enjoy.

With the basics in-hand, you can make iced coffee treats tailored to your tastes. To help you get started, here are some of our favorite coffee cocktail recipes.

Here's to a sweet summer!

Read on...

Keurig to release Mini Machine

Keurig B30 based on Keurig's hotel model B130

Keurig has announced that it will introduce a new home brewer with the smallest footprint yet. With an estimated footprint of just seven inches, the upcoming Keurig B30 will be perfect for the RV, dorm room, or corner of your office desk.

What makes this machine perfect for those road warriors among us is that the Keurig B30 has skipped the large reservoir, and opting instead to heat and hold only enough water for each cup. This means you would pour in 8 ounces of water, and three minutes later a delicious 8 ounce brew of K-Cup coffee is ready to enjoy. No water is left in the machine to slosh or spill while traveling.

This machine will be available in black and white from most retailers, with red models available through the Keurig website, beginning in late summer/early fall 2008.

Read on:
http://www.singleservecoffee.com/archives/018787.php

Health Benefits of Coffee

Plenty of health benefits are brewing in America's beloved beverage.

Want a drug that could lower your risk of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and colon cancer? That could lift your mood and treat headaches? That could lower your risk of cavities?

If it sounds too good to be true, think again.

Coffee, the much maligned but undoubtedly beloved beverage, just made headlines for possibly cutting the risk of the latest disease epidemic, type 2 diabetes. And the real news seems to be that the more you drink, the better.

Read On:
http://men.webmd.com/features/coffee-new-health-food

CoffeeGIANT.com launches automatic reorder site

(PRLEAP.COM) Carrollton, TX — CoffeeGIANT a leader in online coffee, tea and office consumables is pleased to announce the launch of a new automatic reorder website.
Consumers and business customers that want brand name coffees, teas and office consumables delivered at specified time periods can now set up an account on their new site easygiantexpress.com.

The customer has complete control over reorder groups, quantities and delivery schedules. Additionally, orders can be paused or deleted through an online control panel.

CoffeeGIANT considers this a signifigant breakthrough as their automatic order system has eliminated the need for customer intervention such as responding to emails or clicking links to complete customary reorders as some other services require. Automated reordering saves time, money and prevents order delays when an employee is out sick or on vacation.

For more information, contact CoffeeGIANT at 1.800.480.8071, or visit EasyGiantExpress.com

Finally, a diet you can raise a cup to

Study says coffee consumption, in moderation, can perk up health

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Coffee not only helps clear the mind and perk up the energy, it also provides more healthful antioxidants than any other food or beverage in the American diet, according to a study released Sunday.

Of course, too much coffee can make people jittery and even raise cholesterol levels, so food experts stress moderation.

The findings by Joe A. Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania, give a healthy boost to the warming beverage.

"The point is, people are getting the most antioxidants from beverages, as opposed to what you might think," Vinson said.

Antioxidants, which are thought to help battle cancer and provide other health benefits, are abundant in grains, tomatoes and many other fruits and vegetables.

Vinson's team analyzed the antioxidant content of more than 100 different food items, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, spices, oils and common beverages. They then used Agriculture Department data on typical food consumption patterns to calculate how much antioxidant each food contributes to a person's diet.

They concluded that the average adult consumes 1,299 milligrams of antioxidants daily from coffee. The closest competitor was tea at 294 milligrams. Rounding out the top five sources were bananas, 76 milligrams; dry beans, 72 milligrams; and corn, 48 milligrams. According to the Agriculture Department, the typical adult American drinks 1.64 cups of coffee daily.

That does not mean coffee is a substitute for fruit and vegetables.

"Unfortunately, consumers are still not eating enough fruits and vegetables, which are better for you from an overall nutritional point of view due to their higher content of vitamins, minerals and fiber," Vinson said.

Dates, cranberries and red grapes are among the leading fruit sources of antioxidants, he said.

In February, a team of Japanese researchers reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that people who drank coffee daily, or nearly every day, had half the liver cancer risk of those who never drank it. The protective effect occurred in people who drank one to two cups a day and increased at three to four cups.

Last year, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that drinking coffee cut the risk of developing the most common form of diabetes.

Men who drank more than six 8-ounce cups of caffeinated coffee per day lowered their risk of Type 2 diabetes by about half, and women reduced their risk by nearly 30 percent, compared with people who did not drink coffee, according to the study in Annals of Internal Medicine.