Espresso Cups: Quick Guide for Coffee Lovers

Are you a loyal coffee lover? What better way to energize yourself every morning than sipping a cup of coffee. Coffee has the power to boost your mood and make yourself active the entire day, thanks to its unique aroma and taste. Besides the quality and kind of coffee you're drinking, the kind of cup you're using can make your coffee experience even better. If you like drinks with strong flavors such as espresso, then you'll enjoy it all the more if you drink it in espresso cups.

Also known as demitasse cup, an espresso cup is a very small cup that can hold two to three ounces of liquid. Its size is ideal for holding an espresso shot. Why use a cup made exclusively for espresso when any kind of cup will do? Coffee still tastes like coffee no matter where you put it-in a teacup, mug, or even paper cup. However, using an espresso cup can make a big difference when drinking coffee. It also serves both aesthetic and functional purposes.

Typical cups for espresso are good at maintaining the heat of your drink for hours, meaning you can have your espresso steaming for a long time while you're having a business meeting or a casual meeting with your friends at home.

Coming in various designs, an espresso cup can make your coffee drinking a very exciting daily habit. Also, you'll love serving your guests with your special blend of espresso when it's served in stylish espresso cups.

Espresso cups are made of different materials to suit every coffee lover's taste. You can choose from cups made of ceramic, stainless steel, and glass, among others.

The most widely used cup is the ceramic espresso cup. You can pick a set of ceramic cups with either classic designs or beautiful art prints or paintings. If you prefer elaborate designs for your ceramic cup, your choices include Dutch blue, Italian, and Victorian styles.

Stainless steel espresso cups are for those who favor functionality over appearance. Cups made of stainless steel are becoming popular, as they can keep coffee hot even if you leave it for quite a while.

You may want to get an espresso cup made of glass, which is available in different colors and accents such as chrome-plated handles.

Whatever material of espresso cups you select, ensure that you get only the best ones. Also, make sure that the cups you'll purchase have excellent features such as durability, fade resistance, and double layering for keeping liquids hot for a long time.

May 27 2009 | espresso | No Comments »

How To Use A Coffee Percolator

The coffee percolator is a coffee brewing device that looks like an urn. Coffee percolator, or caffettiera in Italian, got its name which means to percolate. The percolator was really the first device invented for brewing coffee. Today they are no longer commonly seen and were mostly replaced by drip coffee makers.

Coffee percolators made less refined coffee. Most of the time it exposes the coffee grounds to higher temperatures causing a burning of the coffee. This may cause the already brewed coffee to circulate again through the beans. Over extraction caused coffee to be bitter and burnt. Coffee percolator ruined the essential oils in the coffee. This may result to a release of pleasant aroma during the brewing process but resulted in a much less pleasant flavor.

Coffee brewed using percolator has a quite distinctive flavor that some people consider as an acquired taste. The proper use of percolator takes a lot of talent so as not to ruin the taste of coffee. Coffee percolator enthusiasts laud the hotter and more robust coffee brewed from this device. They defend that the potential drawback of this method can be eliminated by controlling the brewing process carefully.

There are several parts of a coffee percolator. Starting from the top, it has an opening or spout where it lets someone to pour coffee to a cup or any other container. The lid along the spout is usually made of clear material so you can check on the coffee while it brews. The percolator also has a perforated chamber for the coffee. And finally, a tube attached to bubble the hot water.

There are two basic types of percolators. The first one pushes pressurized boiling water through the coffee grounds into the chamber. The second one uses gravity in continuously moving the brew through the grounds until the preferred strength is reached. When using percolator, the required quantity of water is poured into the lower chamber and the desired amount of ground coffee is put in the top chamber. The water level must be lower than the bottom of the chamber for ground coffee.

Place the percolator closest to a heat source such as stove or campfire. The temperature rises making the water in the chamber boil forcing the water up the tube. The hot water goes to the top through the perforated lid of the chamber. It then seeps through the grounds and leaves the chamber through the bottom, going back into the lower part of the percolator. The whole cycle repeats continually.

The overall temperature reaches boiling point while the brew continuously seeps through the grounds until you hear the perking stop. Some percolators have a built-in electric heating element that automatically reduces the heat, keeping the coffee warm but not boiling.

That is it with a coffee percolator. If you ever want to brew the old fashioned way, this is it.It may need some experimentation in brewing the perfect coffee through the use of coffee percolator, so be patient and prepare on having aborted tries.

March 15 2009 | coffee | No Comments »