Conversations with Coffee

Free time is so hard to come by anymore, but when I do have some I love spending time with my friends and family. I especially love visiting my older family members as they tend to have the best stories as well as the best coffee to go with our conversations.

A month ago I was visiting my Great Aunt Doris. She was sharing some stories with me about her days of youth that were spent living on the family farm. It was the late 1930s, the Great Depression was taking place, their home had no running water or electricity and the area they lived in was a very poor part of the country. But as children they didn't realize it. There wasn't internet or television with which they could compare every aspect of their lives to others. Because of this they were content. Their homestead had a creek that ran through the backyard and they used the water to drink, water the garden, cook, clean, and bathe with.

Doris shared a story with me about a day when her mother had her helping to wash the family's laundry. They used a big metal wash tub and washboards to clean their clothing. They owned two washboards, a large one for outer clothing and a small one for underwear and stockings. Since Doris was just a small thing then, she used the small washboard and took care of washing the unmentionables. The wash tub they were using to do their laundry in was the same one that they used for baths, being poor they were unable to afford two separate tubs for these chores.

Doris wanted to wash her own clothes in addition to the underwear she was assigned. She had a bright red sweater that she adored and wore everywhere. It was her nicest piece of clothing. She wanted to hang it up on the line all by herself as children are want to do. While she was trying to hang that sweater up, one of their turkeys must have decided that he did not like the sweater as he came full steam ahead and flogged Doris pretty good. Doris screamed and dropped the sweater and the turkey continued the attack on the sweater, shredding it to bits. Doris's mother started laughing, and laughed herself all the way into the creek. This racket brought all of Doris's siblings and her father running to see what had happened. Doris's daddy started laughing so hard while trying to help her mother up out of the creek he wound up tumbling in with her. Everyone had a good time, except for Doris, who was heartbroken over her little red sweater. To this day Doris despises a turkey.

Dying Fabrics with Coffee

Not only do I love drinking coffee, but I also enjoy using my left over coffee in various crafts. Coffee makes a great dye, it has been used over the centuries as a way to dye fabric, textiles, clothing, and hair. Dying with coffee works best with fabrics that are natural, such as cottons. 

The first step to take when dying with coffee is to crack out your coffee maker and make a pot of coffee to dye with. 

Dying Clothes, Fabric, & Textiles With Coffee:

At this point your coffee should be brewed and cooled. The other materials you will need for this craft are:

• A  washtub or other container big enough for the fabric that you are dying, your fabric needs to be able to float, not be crammed into a tiny bowl. (I bought my washtub from http://www.bucket-outlet.com/Galvanized-Tubs.htm )
• Water to fill your washtub with.
• Fabric you are dying. If the fabric is new you will want to wash it prior to dying as the sizing that is in most fabrics may cause the fabric to either not dye at all or dye unevenly.

Fill the washtub with water. Mix your coffee into the water. Test a small area of fabric so that you will know how quickly the coffee will dye it and if it will soak into it properly. To test the fabric follow the directions below for dying the fabric.

Instructions for dying fabric:
Use clear water to get your fabric damp. Then submerse it into the coffee water mixture. Be sure that you keep your fabric moving so that no folds sit for too long, this can cause uneven dying. You will also want to keep an eye on your dying so that you can see when the color is dark enough for your project.

Once the fabric looks like it has achieved the shade that you need, take it out of the container and rinse it with clear water until the water running out of the fabric is clear.

Wring out your excess water and allow fabric to dry.

When washing your coffee stained fabrics you will want to avoid detergents that remove natural stains or your dye job might just disappear.

Make your own Coffee Ice Cubes

I found a really awesome blog on how to make iced coffee cubes. These ice cubes are to help keep your iced coffee from diluting when it starts to melt. And the heat we have had this summer, my coffee drinks have been getting watered down really fast! 

I snagged this recipe from:  http://coffeemakeroutlet.blogspot.com/2012/06/keep-iced-coffee-from-diluting.html visit their site for lots more coffee and tea ideas.

Make coffee ice cubes. Making your own coffee ice cubes is a fairly simple process:

1. Brew your coffee of choice.
2. Wait for the coffee to cool down.
3. Carefully pour coffee into an ice cube tray.
4. Place ice cube tray into your freezer.
5. If you will not be using the ice cubes right away, you may want to put them into a zip-lock bag so that you can use them later and free up your ice cube tray for other uses (or to make more coffee ice cubes).
6. Use in your iced coffee.

Fairly simple process right? And this will keep your iced coffee from becoming too watery as the ice cubes melt.

So fire up your Black and Decker coffee maker (or your coffee maker of choice) and create some coffee ice cubes and let us know what you think! 

I personally cannot wait to try out this idea from Coffee Maker Outlet! Has anyone else tried it? 

Sharing another Blogger's Work

I came across a really neat little coffee blog and I wanted to share one of their posts with you. (With their permission of course). So here goes (anything italicized is my thoughts or additions):

Paper coffee filters can be used for more than just filtering coffee.  Here are some uses and ideas that we have come up with for coffee filters.

1. Kid's crafts - with some markers, paint, and a wood clothespin, you and your children can make some neat butterflies using coffee filters. This would be great at a daycare or elementary school
2. Apply shoe polish. Lint free coffee filters will leave behind no lint pieces on your shiny shoes. This one I've actually tried, it works!
3. Sprout seeds. Use a damp coffee filter, place seeds inside, put inside a zip lock bag and leave until they sprout.
4. Out of cotton balls? They can be used to remove fingernail polish.
5. Use to clean LCD screens.  Comes in handy if you have misplaced your lint free cloth that typically comes with these electronics. Hmmm...I'm gonna start keeping a few coffee filters in my laptop bag.
6. Use as a disposable spoon rest while cooking. No counter mess, and no extra dish to wash.
7. Put baking soda in one, close with a twist tie, and use in closets, shoes, etc. to keep down odors.
8. Use them in a plate to soak up grease from foods. (Bacon, Fries, Chicken Nuggets, etc.)
9. Use while sewing as a backing for appliques, etc. It is easy to tear away when you are done. Need to tell my mother about this one! It'd come in handy with her quilting.
10. Cover dishes when microwaving food, no splatter to clean up!

So that is coffeemakeroutlet.blogspot.com 's big list of things to use coffee filters for. What do you think? Have you tried any of these tips? Or have any tips of your own to recommend?

Source for paper coffee filters and other coffee accessories: http://www.coffeemaker-outlet.com/Coffee-Maker-Accessories.htm

How to Grow a Coffee House Plant

I want to put a little green liveliness into my living-room and I have decided that as much as I love my coffee that I might as well invest in owning a coffee tree as a houseplant. Now, I know that it can take several years for the coffee plant to mature enough to start producing beans (well actually they are technically fruit), but I’m not so much into harvesting beans as I am just wanting something green and growing in the house. And for me a coffee plant just makes sense.

I have found some wonderful info on ehow.com about growing your own indoor coffee tree:

1. Have patience. The most important thing to remember about growing a Coffee Tree is that it takes years to mature to a bean growing state.
2. Enjoy the dark shiny leaves of the Coffee plant. When taken care of properly, the tree grows beautiful fragrant white flowers.
3. Plant your Coffee Tree in a good potting soil. Keep the soil moist, but not over watered. Pot in an ordinary planter with good drainage is best.
4. Keep the plant in 60 to 70 degree F. temperatures day and night. Live in a warm climate; keep the Coffee Tree outside during summer months.
5. Fertilize your Coffee Tree every 2 weeks from March to October. Continue fertilizing monthly during the rest of the months. Use of an all-purpose fertilizer is fine.
6. Prune your tree if it gets too tall for your home. The Coffee Tree can grow 10 feet tall in a large pot. Reduce its size to the height you want by pinching it back or by cutting branches down near the base.
7. Pick coffee berries when they are dark red. Berries will not ripen if picked when green.

Tips

• The Coffee Tree takes six years to mature enough to grow bean producing berries.
• Each Coffee Tree berry contains two coffee beans.
• Roast beans before grinding them to make coffee.
• If leaves turn yellow or fall off, the container you’re growing your Coffee Tree in is too small.

I’m hoping that my coffee plant will work well in the large white planters that I have, they are urn planters and are very beautiful I love the antique feel that they give to my sunroom, but I’m tired of them being empty. Time to plant some coffee!

Retro looking Gourmet Coffee Grinder

My sister saw my last post which was about the Mr. Coffee Coffee Grinder. She informed me that I hadn’t experienced freshly ground coffee until I’ve tried her coffee grinder. So she invited me over and off I went, camera in hand.



Now how cool does that grinder look? She keeps it in her kitchen on the counter because it is so pretty. She said it is called a Gourmet Coffee Grinder, and is made by Universal.

After talking to my little sis some more I found out that the Universal Gourmet Coffee Grinder:

• Grinds your coffee beans from course to very fine by the metal adjustment knob on the side of the unit. Grinds coffee for all types of coffee and espresso makers.
• Also grinds nuts, spices and other beans
• Made from cast Iron and Wood for long lasting use
• Just dump your coffee beans into the cast iron covered bean hopper it‘s perfectly sloped chamber
• Allows the beans to be to be evenly and efficiently loaded for perfect grinding
• Ground coffee empties into the wooden drawer and allows enough ground coffee for up to 10 cups of fresh brew.

• 
• Also makes a beautiful addition to your kitchen with its antique look there’s no need to hide it in the cabinet.

Directions For Use
This unit comes to you pre-assembled just place the oak handle onto the cast Iron Wheel and tighten with a straight screwdriver. Fill the hopper with your favorite beans. You should do a practice run first to get the adjustment knob were you need it for your preferred type of ground coffee (if it is to course you can run it back through so there’s no waste) The further out you adjust the knob the courser the coffee will be; the further in the knob is the finer. Just adjust a little at a time till you get it were you want it. You can grind a hopper full in under three minutes with continuous turning of the wheel. Occasionally, a whole been will slip through when you stop grinding before the hopper is empty.

I've found this coffee grinder online at http://www.coffeemaker-outlet.com/Universal-109-Gourmet-Coffee-Grinder.htm

Mr. Coffee Coffee Grinder

While I love any and all coffee, there is just something even more special about freshly ground coffee that just gets my senses up and going.  While this isn't something that I do very often, I know some of you are curious about grinding your own coffee and may even be curious as to which coffee grinder is my preferred weapon of choice.  Well that would be the Mr. Coffee Coffee Grinder.  Let me tell you a little about it:

This small but powerful coffee grinder has three grind settings: Fine, Medium and Coarse to grind your coffee just the way you like. The exclusive chamber maid clears grounds from the chamber walls. Grind 4-12 cups for brewing. The press and pour wide opening lid makes fill and dispensing easier and less messy.

Dishwasher-Safe top and grinding chamber for easy cleaning. With its auto off feature it automatically stops when grounds are ideally prepared. The convenient cleaning mechanism clears grounds from the side of the grinding chamber after each use for no messy residue and less coffee waste.

It easily adjusts for different cup settings with its easy touch buttons operates with the touch of a button.

 And it features built in cord storage in the back to neatly tuck away the cord when not in use for a tidy kitchen. Small and compact at eight inches high and three 7/8 top diameter this item is compact enough to take with you on your travels or to help maintain roomy counter top in your kitchen or break room with its 120 Vac 60 HZ 130W motor it’s powerful enough to take on any coffee bean.

Review

This thing is fast and that’s perfect for us we are busy parents who can’t survive without our morning cup my beans are ground in seconds and I think its easy to clean up, I like that the buttons light up so I can see them when I am half asleep in the morning and that it only requires one finger to operate since most of the others are busy with getting the kids ready in the morning.

I would recommend it to anyone I am very satisfied with it and it has earned a permanent place alongside my coffee pot every morning.