Every once in a while an out-of-the-box thinker will dream up a way to truly revolutionize a product. The Twist espresso maker is just one of those ideas. If you had asked most engineers a few years ago to take an espresso machine, a large complicated device filled with scalding hot, highly pressurized water, and turn it into a handheld device, they probably would have thought you needed to have your head examined.
But that’s exactly what The Twist is, an espresso maker you can hold in one hand. Just put grounds in one side, water in the other, assemble and pull the trigger to get fresh, hot espresso. The Twist is powered by small gas cartridges of the type available at most kitchen goods retailers.
You can read more about The Twist, or buy one for your very own at www.mypressi.com.
One of the most important parts of enjoying a delicious espresso drink is having something to drink it out of. Pulling a shot directly into your mouth is generally a bad idea, unless you’re a big fan of second-degree mouth burns.
The mugs people drink espresso drinks vary widely, from tall and clear to wide and colorful and just about everything in between. But if you’re still drinking out of a mug that’s just a mug, you’re missing out. Over the past few years, a large number of incredibly creative and clever coffee mugs have come on the market.
From mugs that double as brass knuckles or look like part of your camera to saucers that double as air-tight lids these are just some of the inventive and unique designs out there. See these and twenty others collected on geniusbeauty.com.
If you read the last post, you now know all about latte art, as created by both humans and robots. Now it’s time to try it for yourself!
Making latte art may seem intimidating, and many of the more advanced designs take many hours of practice to master. But the design that most latte artists cut their teeth on is one that’s perfect for Valentine’s Day: the heart.
Because making a heart requires a minimum amount of movement, it is one of the easiest shapes to achieve. But to quote Levar Burton, don’t take my word for it. Heres a video to take you step-by-step through the process of creating the most romantic of latte art shapes:
Now get out there and make your honey a valentine’s day latte!
If you’ve spent much time around local coffee shops, you’ve probably run into the phenomenon that is latte art.
By precisely pouring white milk and foam through the dark espresso, baristas are able to stain the foam, creating images from simple hearts to leaves, plants, even animals.
But just as inkwells and quills gave way to Microsoft Word, the future of latte art may be machine-assisted. A company called OnLatte has developed a machine that “writes” on foam using a computer-controlled mechanical arm. The machine can produce stunningly detailed images, with precision even the most talented latte artists could only dream of.
Of course, like all machines, the latte art machine is only a tool. The images it creates are only as artistic and creative as the designs it is programmed to reproduce.
Here’s a video demonstrating what the machine can do:
(P.S. Apparently the company has discovered the machine also works on the head of dark beers like Guinness!)
All espresso drinks start with coffee beans. After all there is no such thing as an “espresso bean”. While some coffee bars may use a certain type of bean roasted in a certain way for their espresso, the term “espresso” actually refers to the way the coffee beans are prepared, forced through the beans under pressure to create a much more concentrated drink.
With that in mind, it’s worthwhile to an understanding of espresso drinks to learn a little something about coffee. There’s a great, informative and humorous comic that tells you everything you wanted to know and more about coffee on theoatmeal.com called 15(ish) Things Worth Knowing About Coffee.
It also breaks down some of the basic espresso drinks, including the caffe latte, mocha, the cappuccino, the americano, and the breve.
Oh, and as for the goats, it turns out that coffee was first discovered when Ethiopian shepherds noticed their goats becoming energetic and even “dancing”. The comic is full of great tidbits like that. It’s definitely worth checking out.
