How to Reuse Coffee Grounds

As our family gets deeper and deeper into environmental alternatives and a greener lifestyle, I’m learning so many super cool things. One thing I recently learned about was how to reuse coffee grounds. We don’t make coffee very often in our home—usually when I have to be up for a long time, or if we have company—but when we do, we have plenty of grounds leftover to use in these projects…

Fertilizing Plants: Apparently the makeup of coffee grounds makes them an excellent fertilizer! As a bonus, they’re not as stinky as many other fertilizers, either (though I will argue with you to the death over the beautiful aroma of our earthy compost!).

Kiddie Projects: You can actually make play-dough with coffee grounds, though I’m not sure my kid would enjoy that. She would, however, enjoy using the grounds as a base for pictures of trees or dirt, I think, by sprinkling it on top of glue, much like glitter. We could also use the coffee as a stain in our wood projects or a watercolor paint, I bet.

Body Scrub: Some people say they re-use their coffee grounds as an exfoliant. That is a pretty creative way to use them up!

Cat Repellent: Some experts say that if you put coffee grounds in your garden, it’ll keep stray cats from visiting (and pooping!) in it. Other pests, such as ants, may be deterred by coffee grounds as well.

Cleanser: When you get strong odors on your hands—think onions—coffee grounds can help you get rid of them. Simply rub the grounds over your hands beneath running water. You can even use them in your hair to make it shinier! (They’ll also dye hair, however, so be careful.)

Natural Sachet: In addition to getting rid of smells on your body, coffee grounds can help eliminate odors in the rest of your home. Just put them in a small mesh bag, a bit of pantyhose, cheesecloth, or other thin material and hang them in your closet, your refrigerator, or put them in your drawers. Imagine having your clothes smell like the coffee aisle of the supermarket—yum!

Flea Deterrent: Massage your pets with coffee grounds and apparently pests might leave them alone!

Coffee! Yep, you can reuse the grounds by letting them dry out, then mixing them with fresh grounds. If you don’t like the flavor, at least you can say that you tried doing it!

It's Iced Coffee Season!

Hooray for summer!  Here in the Pacific Northwest, summer doesn't really get under way until July 4th, so this weekend is the official start of our season.  Although I realize that in a lot of the country, it's been over 80 degrees since March or so.  We start the iced beverage season late up here.  But since we invented coffee, what we say goes, right?  (Kidding!)

There are a lot of subtleties to making a good cup of iced coffee.  As you may have noticed if you ever tried to just pour day-old brewed coffee over some ice and call it "iced coffee."  (Surely I'm not the only one who has tried to do that?)  

When you make coffee using hot water, the heat extracts alkaloids from the coffee grounds.  These alkaloids, in combination with the oils that are also extracted, are what turn bitter after the coffee cools.  Of course, this bitterness isn't the end of the world.  And it's not against the law to save yesterday's leftover coffee in the fridge, and drink it cold the next day.  But the flavor can definitely stand up and do some talking.

A secondary problem is that, thanks to the effects of the melting ice, cold coffee should ideally be made to double strength.  This is a lot of why your leftover coffee never tastes quite right as iced coffee later - it started out too weak.  Then it got bitter!  That's a recipe for disaster.

A somewhat better method is to make double-strength coffee or espresso shots, and pour it directly over ice.  This at least cools the coffee quickly, and reduces some of the alkaloid bitterness that develops over time.  Without the oxidation that takes place over the hours of sitting, this "fresh" method of making iced coffee is a big improvement.  

However, it's still a bit much sometimes.  I typically like an Americano with just a splash of milk - but I take my iced Americanos with extra milk and two sugars, to help balance out the flavor.

The best method of all is not only the most delicious, it's also the easiest.  I first heard about Cold Process Iced Coffee in the New York Times.  That's a fancy name for "make it double strength and let it steep overnight."  You can make it easily in a French press, if you have one.  I broke mine years ago and never replaced it, so I "brew" my iced coffee in a Mason jar.

My procedure in summer is to mix grounds and water in the jar in the morning, let it sit at room temperature all day, then pop it in the fridge overnight.  The next morning I strain it using a coffee filter in a strainer.  And voila - unbelievably sublime, delicious, and un-bitter iced coffee!  

For a real treat, add a spoonful of sweetened condensed milk, which is the "secret ingredient" in Vietnamese iced coffee.  Just don't blame me if you get hooked on this preposterously delicious summertime treat!

Image credit: Flickr/thebittenword.com

France Football Public Flogging

"Shame, eternal shame, nothing but shame."

The French are engaging in public flogging.

I read in a report this morning in Bloomberg that the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, is not happy with the performance of the French national team in the 2010 World Cup. And last week following, what all France has declared to be the teams "shameful performance,"  the French President said the government wants to review how the country’s sports federations are managed -- Suggesting that public flogging of the the national team officials is called for and is justified. The French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, who lists sports within her portfolio, said in an interview on RTL radio last week that Jean-Pierre Escalettes, president of the French Football Federation, resignation was “unavoidable” -- Pointing at the top of the shameful mess, where the flogging should begin. Yesterday, the gentleman resigned.

FIFA’s President Sepp Blatter -- this is the little squirt, who after apologizing to England and Mexico -- should have apologized to the USA too -- for bad refereeing at the World Cup -- shrugged his shoulders and said it's a game -- This old coot said, yesterday, in so many words, that the government of France needs to back away from any involvement in the public flogging of the national team officials, for if the French government is deemed to be interfering with the country’s soccer federation, it risks the suspension of France’s national team from international competitions. French government officials have made no comment concerning the FIFA warning.

The French coach, Raymond Domenech, who is resigning, if he hasn't resigned, lost the respect of his players and of the French football supporters. At the end of France's final game, in the 2010 World Cup, against South Africa, Domenech refused to shake hands with opposing coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who guided Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title. Shame!

French football fans expected better. France won the World Cup in 1998 and was the runner up for the Cup in 2006, was booted out of the 2010 games, by losing under this coach Domenech, to South Africa, to Mexico, and by drawing a weak tie with Uruguay. The French National team hasn't won in an international competition, since its 1-0 victory over Portugal in the 2006 World Cup.

Today, a French parliamentary committee is scheduled to call Escalettes and Domenech in for a few questions about the shameful events that went on at the 2010 World Cup. May the flogging continue.

5 (Other) Ways to Green Airline Travel

I’m traveling today, so I’m thinking a lot about airports. I’ve always wished that airports were more fun- like, there could be a climbing wall, or a slide or something (actually, I saw a slide installed at an airport in Europe as part of a guerrilla marketing campaign, so there’s hope!). But today I’ve been thinking more about how they can be greener. We all know that airplane travel is one of the most impactful things that someone can do on the Earth, that it is a gigantic part of your carbon footprint- like this is the arch, and everything else you do is the toes. But there are countless ways to make the act of flying greener without waiting around for bio- to make it into jet fuel. Here are a few thoughts:

ON THE PLANE:

  1. The beverage cart. Can you really not afford to give people a whole can of soda or juice? A whole bottle of water? We are paying you hundreds of dollars to fly the friendly skies, and you get a 5 oz. cup of something. But even more than being cheap, this is the kind of thing that creates double the waste. All those 5 oz. cups end up in the trash, And all those little napkins they hand out. Just give people a can. Skip the cups and the napkins. It will not cost any more. And it will net out zero waste, as long as you recycle the cans.
  2. PROVIDE LITERATURE. If there is one thing airplanes are missing, it’s something good to read if you forget your own. That skymall catalog is good for maybe 2 pages. Nobody looks at the rescue card with the really cool pictures (that could each be a successful t-shirt design in the right hipster neighborhood), and there’s just nothing else available. Why not print up some articles with green travel tips, or with articles about the cities you are flying to and from and what they are doing to be green.

AT THE AIRPORT

  1. COMPOST. In Denver I saw recycle bins, which was awesome. But still, there could be compost bins. Maybe I’m totally showing my San Francisco-ness here, but imagine the amount of compost you could generate at the airport. There are dozens if not a hundred restaurants in the standard airport (the International ports, anyway.) and they throw away literal tons of food everyday.
  2. WALKWAYS. I know I’m going to make enemies on this one- but those sped up walkways where it’s like a flat escalator? They can go. Yes, they’re really fun, and I had a great time walking back and forth on them in Denver, but are they really necessary? Is it really that far to walk in an airport? Think of all the electricity it would save. (And restaurants- it will be something to make people hungrier and thirstier!).
  3. CARBON FOOTPRINTS. This is the kind of place where people are just looking for things to look at. Why not get local schools to figure out the carbon footprints of everything in the airport and post them. Good for everybody.

Photo Credit: Olastuen

The New Starbucks Frappuccino

I could tell today was going to be a lovely day, so I packed it up and headed to Starbucks for my first Frappuccino of the season.  I was excited about the nice weather (72 and sunny, does it get any better?) and eager to try the newly overhauled Frappuccino.

Truth be known, I don't understand why they decided to overhaul the Frappuccino anyway.  People who wanted it customized could ask for customizations.  I never heard anyone complaining about how "those darn Frappuccinos are just too restrictive!"  In fact, it's my observation that people in general suffer from a surfeit of choice.  Few people cry out for "more bewildering options, please!"  And yet, that is exactly what Starbucks has chosen to deliver.

Once I decoded the new procedures, they amount to the following: you now order a Frappuccino the same way you order an espresso drink.  Instead of a tall nonfat latte with sugar-free vanilla, you could order a tall nonfat Java Chip Frappuccino with sugar-free vanilla.

The main difference with the new Frappuccino is that in the past, they used three drink bases.  Now they start with any fluid you want (soy, whole milk, nonfat milk, whatever) and add ingredients plus a drink mix powder.  It's true that in the past you could have added a shot of sugar-free vanilla to a Java Chip Frappuccino, but you couldn't have had it made with nonfat milk.  Or extra-strong drip coffee.  Or decaf.  Or OH WHO ARE WE KIDDING WE'RE ALL GOING TO ORDER THE EXACT SAME THING WE ALWAYS DO.

Here is what happened: I walked up to the counter slowly, gawking at the signs, trying to figure out how the heck to get my regular Frappuccino.  Then I asked the barista, "Can I just get a tall mocha Frappuccino with an extra shot of espresso?"  And she said "Sure," and that is what I got.  The same thing I always get.  I like that thing I always get.  That is why I always get it.  LIFE'S FUNNY THAT WAY.

I have to confess that, not having had a Frappuccino in almost a year, I couldn't detect much of a change.  Frappuccino fans are wailing and rending their garments in grief over the new formulation, but it seemed pretty much the same to me.  How do you judge a Frappuccino to be "too sweet," anyway?

One difference is that it seemed to be foamier than I remembered.  As if the magic powder included a stabilizer which lets them make the same volume of drink with less ingredients, thus saving money.  (Funny, that.)  It also lacked a lot of the ice chips which always annoyed me in the previous incarnation.  

Did the sweetness and flavor linger longer than in the past?  Maybe, but then again, I've quit smoking since the last time I had a Frappuccino, so maybe I just taste it better.  (I find that Frappuccinos - and most things, really - taste a lot better when you don't follow them up by licking an ashtray.)

Just like the old Frappuccino, you are left with a delicious sludge at the bottom of your cup which cannot be slurped up with a straw, unless you are prepared to make disgusting noises in public.  It's nice to see some things never change.

Starbucks Doubleshot Energy Drink

I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical about the Doubleshot energy drink.  I imagined it being something like that wretched coffee flavored cola they came out with a few years ago, Coke Black.  OH GOD IT WAS AWFUL.  It was literally Coke with the flavor of coffee added.  VERY BAD.

And thus you can imagine my trepidation, imagining something like Red Bull with the flavor of coffee added.  But I desperately wanted a coffee drink, and I wasn't in a position to get a proper coffee, so I was planning to buy one of those bottled Starbucks Frappucino drinks.  Which are okay, I guess, if you like that sort of thing.

Then I spotted a display of chilled, large cans of "Doubleshot Energy+Coffee" priced at literally half that of the bottled Frappuccino I was about to buy.  My frugality got the best of me, or maybe I was just addled from lack of caffeine.  At any rate, I put back my bottled Frappuccino and gave the Doubleshot a try.

The first thing I want to point out is that this is a 15 ounce can.  Not a 16 ounce can, like you might expect.  I suspect Starbucks is keeping these cheap by shaving off an extra ounce, as if no one would be the wiser.  Given the amazing number of people who think they're paying $8 for a pound of Starbucks coffee at the grocery store (when really they are paying $8 for a 12 ounce bag), maybe they have a point.

I bought the Mocha flavor, because I like things that are Mocha flavored.  When I cracked the can, I smelled coffee (good) and chocolate (good) and also a strange little undercurrent of that funny flowery perfume-y flavor you find in energy drinks (not good).  This undercurrent continued, fading in and out of the flavor as I sipped. I could never quite pin it down, but it was definitely there.  Faint, but there.

I could even detect the smell when I sniffed the empty can the next morning.  (Out of scientific curiosity; not because I'm inclined to do that sort of thing.)  Overall, it tasted like a bottled Mocha Frappuccino, with a little dash of Red Bull.  


I realize that "it's not as bad as you think" is hardly the strongest recommendation for a beverage.  But it's not as bad as you think.  Should you be a hater of energy drinks, but desperately in need of one, then I would definitely suggest the Doubleshot.  And should you be a lover of energy drinks, then I suggest you try the Doubleshot just because it's something a little different.  Let's face it, despite the plethora of supposed "flavors" on the market, all the darned things taste the same.

As for how it measures up against the competition, aside from its paltry (and weaselly) 15 ounce size, the Doubleshot has a pretty decent amount of juice.  The larger can contains 1,500mg Taurine, 450mb L-Carnitine, 325mb Panax Ginseng, 90mg Guarana, and 180mg Inositol.  Your basic Monster (my personal favorite) has less taurine, over twice as much ginseng.  So pretty well equivalent.

Bargain Coffee Round-Up

You know I love a bargain.  (I'm not cheap; I'm THRIFTY.)  Unfortunately I also love good coffee.  And sadly, good coffee is usually pretty expensive!  Here's a run-down on some of my bargain coffee experiences over the last few years.

The following entries are graded on "bang for your buck."  The game here is to find the best coffee for the cheapest price.

Grocery store bags of name-brand beans: F
Tullys, SBC, Peet's, and Starbucks have all been selling their beans and pre-ground coffee at the grocery store for years now.  The coffees are pretty good, as long as you stick with a mix you recognize.  I bought two pounds of Starbucks "breakfast blend" (which I've never heard of before or since) at Costco.  It tasted exactly like Folgers.

BEWARE the price, though!  Note that the pre-packaged bags ARE NOT A POUND OF COFFEE.  I see people fall for this all the time.  It's priced at $9, what a bargain!  But it's only a 12-ounce bag.  You're actually paying $12/lb!

Folgers: C
Speaking of Folgers, they actually have some pretty decent coffee.  If you're suffering some severe cash flow problems, you can do worse than one of their 2lb plastic tubs of French Roast for $8.  They also have smaller tubs of "premium coffeehouse blends."  I've tried most of these, and I don't think any of them are good enough to warrant the extra cost.

Java Delight: F
I don't know where Java Delight comes from, but I heartily wish it would go back there.  A friend quipped, "Neither java, nor a delight."  Java Delight is a super bargain brand, a store brand from the Supervalu line which has since expanded beyond the borders of Albertsons and other Supervalu stores.  

I bought a one pound bag at the Grocery Outlet for about $3.  My first cup had me checking the bag to see if I had accidentally bought decaf.  There is little in the way of coffee flavor, no bite, and has the musky, dusty overtones of mouse droppings from the attic.  I couldn't even finish the bag, although I put up the remaining beans in a mason jar as a stash for the impending zombie apocalypse and/or WWIII.

Millstone: A-
Millstone Roasters is based in Edmonds, WA.  Did they pioneer the "buy it in bulk and grind your own at the store" display, or just perfect it?  Millstone has a bad rap in some circles, but they have some really good blends.  Their French Roast and Espresso Roast are always reliable.

If you want to have your prejudice against Millstone blown away, try their Shade Grown Organic Black Onyx mix.  It's seriously delicious, socially and ecologically responsible, and only $10/lb!

Cascade Pride: A+
This is a new one for me.  I bought half a pound of Espresso Blend at Winco Foods, where it was priced at $8/lb.  Not bad!  The beans had a great flavor, color, and oiliness.  Strangely enough the coffee it produced didn't have the kind of oomph I would have expected, from inhaling the scent from the bag.  

This is a perfectly serviceable coffee, if somewhat uninspired.  But hey, for that kind of price, getting something that's even drinkable is nothing short of astonishing!

Starbucks Via Instant Coffee Surprisingly Non-Terrible

Starbucks recently announced that they will be pushing their Via instant coffee out to grocery stores and other retail outlets.  Prepare for the Via onslaught, people!

Now a lot of people like to hate on Starbucks just for being Starbucks.  That's fine.  It's like a political position.  I can hardly blame someone for taking a stand on something.  And if you are fortunate enough to live near a small local espresso house, then you should count yourself lucky.

But even a few Starbucks haters I know have sheepishly confessed that the Starbucks instant coffee is not entirely terrible.  It may not compare well to your hand ground French press coffee, but compared to other instant coffees, Starbucks Via is a clear winner.  Heck, compared to their own drip coffee, Starbucks Via is a clear winner.

The only thing not to like about Starbucks Via is that it leaves behind a distinctive sediment in the bottom of the cup.  If you have a very powerful imagination, you can imagine that you are drinking French press coffee, and this is the leftover "texture."  If your imagination isn't up to the task, then I recommend just pitching the last half inch or so.  It hurts to discard coffee, I know, but that bit at the bottom kinda makes me gag.

I have become a semi-regular purchaser of Starbucks Via in the past six months or so.  At first I bought a three pack to keep in my emergency supply stash, for winter storms.  I live in a fairly remote rural area, and winter storms are a fact of life.  In the winter of 2008 I was stuck at home for 17 days because of the snow.  5 of those days I was without running water.  3 of those days I was without electricity.

You can see how a really good instant coffee would be an excellent addition to my emergency stash.

I have a part time job in an office after hours on Sunday afternoons.  They don't have a coffee maker there, just a water cooler with a hot water tap thingie.  (I guess everyone in the office drinks tea, the freaks!)  It isn't easy to find a cup of coffee in that part of town late on a Sunday afternoon, you're talking about walking down the three flights of stairs (no elevator for this historic old building) and driving 15 minutes to the nearest coffee place.

Presto, the Starbucks Via!  Instead of making this big huge slog, or trying to pretend like I don't really need that afternoon shot of caffeine (who am I kidding?) I just tap the magic powder into my coffee cup and add piping hot water.  You barely even have to stir it, which is good, because there are never any clean utensils in the kitchenette.

The final and best use for Starbucks Via is for travel. Having had my share of terrible airport coffee, and having been stuck in a hotel without an in-room coffee maker, AND having had to work at a conference where the nearest coffee was a half mile walk away in the other wing of the conference center?  Let's just say I'd never leave home without it.

Creative Commons-licensed image courtesy of Flickr user abaranda

Two Coffees: One Free, One Ridiculously Expensive

Today I bring you the tales of coffee at two remarkably distinct price points.  The first is FREE COFFEE yes that's right FREE at Starbucks on April 15th if you bring a reusable cup.

This is apparently NOT a tie in with the American tax day deadline.  Even though lots of other places are offering free stuff on the 15th.  (Dunkin Donuts offers free doughnuts, and if you're clever and geographically lucky I guess you can score an entire breakfast this way.)  

According to the Starbucks website, this is part of their "The Big Picture" project to encourage people to bring their own reusable cups.  And more power to them!  This is fantastic, frankly, because disposable paper coffee cups are something of an ecological blight.  I predict that once we've weaned people off those terrible plastic grocery bags, single use disposable coffee cups will be next.  

Starbucks has already had great success with a "free coffee if you bring a travel mug" day in New York City in March.  They're rolling it out to the rest of the country - and the world - tomorrow.  There aren't a lot of details, but I assume that the free coffee is just their regular drip.  Not terribly exciting, but I like the idea of pushing reusable cups.

And now on to the ridiculously expensive coffee!  According to this mind blowing article at The Consumerist, a coffee shop in Baltimore is offering a Very Special Coffee for $13 a cup.  According to the Baltimore Sun, the coffee shop - Spro - slapped this price on a 12 ounce cup of Aida's Grand Reserve.

According to Spro's owner, Aida's Grand Reserve is "It's very juicy, fruity, good mouth feel, medium bodied."  I think we can agree that's all well and good, but $13 for a cup of drip coffee good?

For once in the entire history of "comments on newspaper articles online" found more value in the comments section than in the article itself.  For one thing, it seems that the owner of Spro is some kind of notorious troll on the Baltimore Sun's food articles.  That's pretty funny, honestly, and an excellent example of why you should keep your private and public/professional life separate.

Then a commenter asks if it's true as they heard, that Spro insists on putting the milk and sugar into your coffee for you.  Someone else (who sounds like a shill to me) answers that "The baristas usually dose the cream and sugar because the coffee is of extremely high quality and it's encouraged that the customers taste it first and then can ask for more, in an attempt to preserve the drink that has been made for them."

Ooh la la!  Heaven forbid we, the unwashed masses, should be left to our own judgment as to the amount of milk to put in our coffee!  Seriously, this $13 coffee story gets better and better.  It makes me wish I lived closer to Baltimore, because I would definitely give that $13 coffee a try, if only for the bragging rights.

Creative Commons-licensed image courtesy of Flickr user bethany actually

Heatswell: Crazy Creepy Self-Inflating Coffee Sleeve

Via the outstanding coffee news website Sprudge.com comes this hypnotic and also creepy video of a breakthrough in scientific coffee sleeve technology.

As you can see from the video, the clever inventors of the Heatswell cup have found a way to attach a thin layer of substance (plastic? Polymer?) to a disposable paper coffee cup.  When the cup is heated (as when you pour coffee into it) the layer self-inflates.  It's a cup and a cup sleeve all in one!  Except icky and weird, and oddly bumpy.

One marketing gimmick is that the sleeve can be made to self-inflate in the logo of the company.  The video includes a self-inflating sleeve that pops up a version of the Starbucks logo.  I say "a version" because it's kind of a Rorschach test, trying to decipher the logo from a bunch of spiky bumps.

Will these sleeves be cost-effective for coffee companies?  Maybe.  It's difficult to imagine how a pre-attached self-inflating coffee sleeve could be cheaper than a little ring of corrugated cardboard, even though the website says that it does.  Will it attract attention at trade shows and other special demonstrations?  Absolutely.  In fact, I think if you tried to deploy these in an actual coffee shop, you would quickly end up with a zombified knot of customers, transfixed by the self-inflating action.

Frankly, my gut level reaction to this is that it's going in the wrong direction.  Paper coffee cups, not to mention paper coffee cups with bizarre high-tech self-inflating sleeves, are an appalling waste of resources.  All the fuel required to harvest the trees, all the chemicals required to bleach them into pulp, all the transportation costs - if most people could see the actual carbon footprint for their wee little paper coffee cup, they would be horrified.

And all this for a single-use item.  You use the cup once and throw it away.  All that use of materials and resources and fuel consumption for something that holds a hot beverage for what, maybe 15 minutes?  I know I sound like a cranky old loon, like a female Andy Rooney reborn as a member of the ecological mafia, but that is exactly the kind of unquestioning, self-centered behavior that is sending our planet to hell in a handbasket.  

I appreciate that the Heatswell is "recyclable and biodegradable," according to its inventor.  I'll just take that at face value and assume that (unlike so many other things labeled either "recyclable" and/or "biodegradable").  What I'm pushing back against is the single-use cup culture as a whole.  Why make a better or easier single-use cup?  

I think what we need is a better repeated-use cup.  Personally I think that someone should set up a system similar to milk bottles.  A local dairy here in Skagit County sells their milk through several local stores.  The first time you buy it, you pay a $2.50 deposit for the bottle.  When you finish the bottle, rinse it out and turn it in with your next milk purchase.  I don't understand why we can't do this for coffee cups, too.

I'm sorry.  Let me climb back off my high horse.  Anyone got a stepladder?

The name "Heatswell" is a master stroke of genius.  I definitely have to give them credit for that.  You've got Heat + Swell, and Heats + Well, all in one.  So there's that.

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