Hacked Gadgets has posted a link to the "Internet Enabled Coffee Machine" – essentially, if you’ve got a hankering for coffee, you can tell your coffee machine to make it. Just access it from your computer. This could also mean that, if preloaded with coffee, you could message from your mobile phone on your way home to start the brew – and have it ready when you walk in the door.

Tags: internet enabled coffee machine, coffee, coffee gadgets

1. Bodum Chambord 8-Cup Coffee Press – the cheapest, easiest and best way to make coffee at home.
   
2. Zassenhaus Coffee Grinder – better than most electric grinders in the same price range
   
3. Nissan 14-Ounce Leak-Proof Insulated Travel Mug – my favorite mug and most highly recommended product.
   
4. Bodum Pavina Double-Wall Thermo Glasses, Set of 2 – these are great to drink coffee at home on the weekend.
   
5. Chocolate coffee beans – they make a great stocking stuffer
   
6. Espresso 101 Barista Training DVD – for any aspiring coffee guru
   
7. Bodum Columbia Thermo Press – another fabulous way to make your coffee in a stylish Bodum
   
8. Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World – for those who want to feel the history of coffee
   
9. Braun WK600 Impressions 7-Cup Electric Kettle, Brushed Stainless Steel – the right water is essential to a good cup of coffee – good filtered water, just before the boil if you use a French Press
   
10. Aerolatte Original 18/8 Stainless Steel Frother with Stand, Chrome – for those latte lovers
    

And for those of you who can’t decide, there are always Amazon Gift Certificates to give your coffee lover the choice of which machines, gadgets or gizmos they want to buy.

Don’t forget that Online Shopping will be great on Monday – it will be “Cyber Monday” in the US, after “Black Friday”, so be ready for some great deals!

Tags: coffee, coffee lovers, coffee gadgets, bodum, gifts, christmas, holidays, gift ideas, top 10, top 10 gifts, shopping, online shopping, gadgets, kitchen

From the BBC:

"The shells were dropped in Ethiopia during the war with Eritrea. They were dropped so people hid them in their homes and now they sell them," Mr Azmeraw says.

… He then transforms the cylinder to channel the water, coffee and milk…

He uses old mortar shells, which stand about one metre high, to make his coffee machines.

He cuts off the pointed ends, seals them and puts holes into the aluminium cylinder. The cylinder channels the water, coffee and milk…

"Sometimes I think about the fact they were used for war but I want to change them to do something good. They could be a symbol of war but I am doing something good out of the bad."

Since he started production five or six years ago, Mr Azmeraw has sold hundreds of machines – he cannot remember exactly how many.

Each one costs about $1,300. Most of them have been sold to people in the Mekele area.

Via boing boing ; Tags: coffee machines, mortar shells, ethiopia, coffee, innovation, war, bombs

The Perfect Pod Maker alows to to easily make your own pods using any coffee you like. So, you can choose a great roast, fresh, and make your pods in small batches. The machine will heat seal the pods, so no mess.

Makes pods for most brands, including Senseo, Melitta, Simple Human, Juan Valdez, Bunn Home Cafe, Bunn-o-matic, Mr. Coffee, Hamilton Beach, and more.

Via boing boing & popgadget

Tags: coffee pods, pod coffee, perfect pod, coffee, coffee machines

Ianiv has been making coffee before leaving for work, around 8 am, for the both of us in our 8-Cup Bodum and taking it in his Thermos Nissan Travel Mug (we both have them now, because they are the best mugs ever).

However, as the afternoon goes on… such early coffee means it runs out earlier. We are both used to our coffee around 11am when I finally pry Ianiv from his email and beg for him to make it. Now, he does it regularly. So, to give him a little jolt at work, he can now brew a second cup all to himself.

Only problem, Ianiv will have to grind and measure his coffee before going to work every day. Oh well ;)

Tags: coffee, bodum, french press, travel mug, mugs

Features include “brew-pause function allows for pouring a cup midbrew, and its clock display automatically springs forward, falls back, and resets after a power failure. Other highlights include a water reservoir with a large viewing window, high-quality stainless-steel grinding blades, a permanent stainless-steel filter basket, a warming plate with automatic shut off, and hidden cord storage.”

But the feature I like the most is “In addition to its optional sleep function, where if the unit is idle for a period of time an animated, napping cat appears”.

You can buy it from Amazon.

Via BoingBoing

Tags: coffee, espresso, commodore, computer

Anyway, if you think you can roast beans good enough for your taste, then hop on over to engadget for the step by step instructions. And be prepared – it looks like you’ll need to be quite specific about your parts and on how to put it together properly.

I know Ianiv wants to blog about how it works, so I won’t say too much now except that I was very impressed with it.

The clover is a per cup brewing system. An impressive system, considering that. And it uses a new technology to do the brewing.

The coffee was like what you get from a French Press, but in a portion of the time, and far easier to clean. More from Ianiv later.

Read more about it on this review from Victrola coffee or go try it yourself at the Elysian Room or Caffe Artigiano (not sure which one).

Tags: clover, coffee, vancouver

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Rancilio Classe 10 SDE, Automatic espresso machine, stainless steel casing, with two filter groups, manual steam and automatic TSC, two hot water nozzles.

This machine is less than a year old, purchased December 2004 and used moderately for nine months in a small independent coffee bar. It has been well taken care of, cleaned every working day and serviced recently to replace rubber seals in filter group. Unfortunately, we had to close our shop and want to find a good home for our baby as we simply don’t have space for it at home.

Hooks up to water supply, drain hose at bottom to drain into catch bucket or hook up to drainage system. Runs on 220 V power supply.

Comes complete with three (3) chrome-plated copper portafilters – two double, one single, filter cleaning discs, cleaning brush, TSC cleaning hose, and instruction manuals.

What is the TSC?

An automatic steaming wand, with separate buttons to produce steamed milk for lattes or cappuccinos. Just put the right amount of milk into the steaming pitcher, place the pitcher on the rack with the TSC in the milk, and press the desired button. The machine will even remind you to purge the TSC afterward, which is accomplished by pressing either of the two steaming buttons.

Is it easy to clean?

Extremely! The Classe 10 has automated cleaning cycles, eliminating a lot of the tedious manual work. Most notably, the automatic backflush feature… load the cleaning discs right into the filter holders, add a bit of Purocaff coffee cleaner (or equivalent) load them into the groups and start the cleaning cycle… the machine will clean each group in alternating cycles.

Cleaning the TSC is also easy. You attach the small cleaning tube to the intake nozzle, add cold water to a 1 litre pitcher, add Purocaff (or equivalent) dairy cleaner, place the tube and the TSC in the pitcher of water, and start the TSC cleaning cycle. After a moment, you just need to replace the used water with fresh cold clean water for the rinse… and a couple of minutes later you’re done!

What is this machine worth when brand new?

The Classe 10 SDE normally retails at about $8500 US/$10,000 Canadian.

Contact Mike for details.

Roast Master Michael Hartkop wanted to create a truly organic roasting method and with the help of his brother David they built Helios.

Helios uses a 10 foot solar collector to focus the sun’s rays onto a drum roaster. This is enough to reach temperatures of 600 degrees Farenheit. The mirrors automatically track the sun, using solar power for the electronics, making roasting possible all day long. Of course, this only works on sunny days, so roasting during winter in the Pacific Northwest is a bit of a challenge.

They have a nice list of single origins and blends, but they seem to be out of stock right now. I’ll give them a try in a few months, when the sun comes out again.

My take – very cool looking bad coffee! Don’t waste your $259 (CAD)

Nespresso

Nespresso has revolutionized the way of preparing coffee to deliver the ultimate coffee experience for each one of life’s moments of indulgence.

At the heart of this concept is the unique Nespresso trilogy: the hermetically-sealed, iconic capsules with the large variety of Grand Cru ground coffees, the state-of-the-art, easy-to-use, sleek-looking coffee machines, and the Nespresso Club which offers unmatched personal service…

The Nespresso Grand Cru coffee has the best in-cup quality due to unmatched crema, body and taste. And, the great assortment of coffee blends enable Club Members to select the coffees that match their personal taste preferences, thus creating very individual moments of pleasure and indulgence time and time again.

So, you have to not only buy the machine but join a ‘club’ because you are locked into the coffee they provide, and no others. And, crema? I doubt it. Oh, and it’s from Nestlé. Mass market does not equal quality.

Via gadgetryblog

Technorati Tags: espresso, crema, nestle, nespresso, gadget, coffee,

Technorati Tags: http://www.technorati.com/tags/coffee, http://www.technorati.com/tags/crema, http://www.technorati.com/tags/espresso, http://www.technorati.com/tags/gadget, http://www.technorati.com/tags/nespresso, http://www.technorati.com/tags/nestle

The coffee available was:

Folgers coffee served in the Home Café from Black & Decker
Nestle Coffee-mate Caramel Flavoured Coffee
Barbarba Caffe
Level Ground Trading
Ethical Bean
Salt Spring Coffee Co

In all honesty, I think there might have been others that we just neglected to get brochures of or take pictures of. Overall, there were good, bad and really bad coffees available. But, you can tell I was pretty highly caffeinated after all of this.

Check out each of my above reviews to see what I think.

The machine features a pod system – water is forced through the pods at high pressure to create the coffee. The tagline for the system is “The One Cup Coffeehouse.”

If this were a coffeehouse cup of coffee, I would not return to the cafe. It was watery and completely lacked flavour (although who would want to drink Folgers anyway). So yes, bad. Very bad.

I’ve not read much about the pod system, but can’t imagine why it would make a good cup of coffee. There is a sheath of material between the water and the coffee – wouldn’t the material impede the oils from coming out?

Bodum Chambord 8-Cup Coffee Press

I’ve asked him to bring it home for weekends. Truth be told, we have a really crappy assortment of espresso machines at home. No plain old coffee machines. A stovetop Moka, a ‘lovely’ Mr. Coffee so crappy it’s not even on their website, and a small pot to make Turkish coffee. It’s quite sad, we know. A nicer espresso machine is high on our wish list – it will be included in our wedding registry. But, for now, we think this will be a vast improvement.

Now, Arieanna and I are not hardcore outdoor types. We go “camping” a few times a year with out friends, but it’s not like we go to the backcountry for a weekend just with a backpack on our backs. We take stuff like a two burner stove, an air mattress, things to make our life easier. But that coffee maker is really pushing it…

According to the Senseo site, the claim is for a “frothy coffee layer that seals in aroma and taste” – basically, the definition of crema, right?

Well, a couple of points need to be made. First, the Senseo machine uses a pod system. That should flash some warnings. The coffee is already prepackaged in little filters – meaning it is not freshly ground by the time it hits your machine. Combine that with the fact that it’s not a fine espresso grind to begin with and the pressure of the system is not strong enough to release the oils needed for true crema, you get a coffee that cannot be called espresso.

Ok, so Senseo first doesn’t push enough pressure through to create the crema oils, and any oil that does get created is sopped up in the filter. Great design for an espresso-like machine, heh? Well, they do call it a coffee machine, not an espresso machine… but still, they have gone to the trouble to approximate the look of an espresso. The final coffee created looks like an espresso with crema, but the “stuff” on top is actually just foam.

Second, the stuff on top of the Senseo-produced brew is not crema. They use a little nozzle to drive pressure out to create lots and lots of bubbles to approximate the look and feel of a true crema.

This whole rant is thanks to the great post over at Bloggle: The Coffee Odyssey.