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Ever wonder how coffee is grown?
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Starbucks VIA . . . not bad

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

There has been a sample pack of Starbucks VIA in my pantry for quite some time. And this morning, I decided it was time to break it out - I needed that morning coffee kick and I overslept my alarm, therefore this was the perfect solution.

These instant coffee packs are exactly like the lemonade/iced tea/Gatorade packs you can add to a bottle of water so you don't have to drink just plain water. You simply dump this little pack of coffee into a mug, heat up eight ounces of water and add that in! It doesn't get much simpler.

Like Coffee? Try some tea.

Image via Wikipedia

Putting tea on our blog may be a mistake. 

We love coffee and thinking about drinking tea seems like cheating on the boyfriend you've been dating since high school. Some will say "go out with different guys, see what else is out there." But we know what is out there, and we are passionately in love with what we have. 

The purpose of this post is two-fold: to give our non-coffee drinking readers a taste goodness and to give some options if your current coffee relationship is on the rocks. 

Sometimes it only takes one date with a new cup and you remember why you liked the old one. 

Enjoy! 

Here are comparable coffees to tea. 

Thank you I Need Coffee!

Espresso - Imperial Gunpowder: tightly rolled full-potency green tea leaves explode with a complex flavor spectrum.Lapsang Souchong - a smoky tea that has a wonderful leather smell.


Kenyan, Zimbabwe, Ethiopian -Earl Grey:  a rich body (usually a Darjeeling base) with a penetrating taste and oil of bergamot.


Guatemalan, Sulawesi- Keemun (fancy or Lion Mountain): a deep, mellow black China tea.


Tanzania Peaberry, Ethiopian Sidamo- Assam (Goldentip, or extra fancy): a full-bodied malty tea.


Puerto Rican Yauco Selecto, Papua New Guinea- Formosa Oolong: pleasant smooth aftertaste
China Gui Hua -black tea with pieces of dried kwei flowers.


Sumatran- Jasmine blossom (fancy or Yin Hao) - Green tea: with a floral scent and a pleasant aftertaste, Ti Kwan Yin - a fruity, oolong tea.


Brazilian, Kona- China Rose Petal: black tea with dried roses added.

-Becky

Oh, Coffee Information

I just discovered the coolest book ever. It's called The Visual Miscellaneum and it is filled with a myriad of info graphics.  It's so informative. The Author also of has a blog The Visual Miscellaneum, so check it out.

I want to put this coffee graphic on my wall as a constant reminder of how to make good coffee. I love it how well explained the graphics are, you could be your own Stovetop Barista.

The best part is that the pronunciations are underneath each cup, so scary hipster coffee shops can't judge when you pull out your Italian accent.

Enjoy!

-Becky

Coffee Straight from Guatemala

Every summer for the past five or six years my roommate travels to Guatemala with a group of people from her church. They work with orphanages down there, and she actually sponsors one of the girls herself. I absolutely love hearing her talk about her trips there (she loves it so much) and seeing her pictures, and the other day I fell in love with something else about her trips - the coffee.

The other day was one of those typical winter days in Northwest Ohio - gray, windy and plenty cold. In other words, it was the perfect weather for a mug of coffee. I offered to pull out the Folgers in my cupboard, but she offered something better - coffee she had brought back from Guatemala. Thank goodness she offered.

The coffee had a deliciously rich flavor and it was extremely smooth. It was a little bolder than I thought it would be, but it was a pleasant surprise. For some reason it struck me as the perfect winter coffee - the bold richness was warming and helped get rid of those winter doldrums. It was also a great coffee to give me that kick I needed to get through the day, I was most definitely awake when my mug was empty.

My roommate better be careful, she's going to spoil me with her great coffee taste.


--Alissa

Make-at-Home "Snowflake Lattes"

The weather in Bowling Green has been pretty typical of Ohio lately - it's 64 degrees one minute, and 45 the next. So with the onset of cold weather and winter, we have been dying to make peppermint mochas because what better to welcome one of the more brutal seasons with?

We decided to consult our handy "I love coffee!" book, and discovered a recipe for a "Snowflake Latte." We made it in our kitchen as per usual so we could share it with you here. We hope it warms up your day (or night) as much as it did ours . . .

What you'll need:
-Vanilla-flavored syrup
-Peppermint-flavored syrup (or peppermint extract and sugar, we'll get into that later)
-A strong pot of coffee
-Milk
-A stovetop and some pots (of course!)