Cold-Brew Coffee

After reading a magazine about cold-brew coffee, I thought it would be an interesting project to try. The article boasted of a less-acidic/bitter brew, yet still strong and tasty - but noticibly smoother. With a few batches under my belt, now, I think I can share some information.

I knew there was an appliance (called the Toddy Maker Cold Brew Coffee Maker) that I could purchase to make the coffee, but decided to take a more rustic approach. If I can accomplish a decent cold-brew coffee without spending any money or cluttering up my house with yet another appliance - I'd be a happier woman.

There's instructions out there, most conflicting. So I below you will find instructions to how I made cold-brew coffee.

I put coffee grounds (nothing special - store bought) into a glass measuring cup. The ratio I used was 3:1, water:coffee. I stirred it, though others will say not to. I don't see how letting dry coffee sit on top of water is going to do anything for you, hence my decision to stir the mixture, making sure all the grounds get wet.

So, after stirring I covered and put it in the fridge for minimum 12 hours. Filtered it.

To prepare the coffee I used a similar ratio, but that will depend on your own tastes. I put the concentrate in my mug, and put some fresh water on the stove to warm. I didn't heat it to boiling, but to the point where steam is escaping. Poured this over my concentrate.

That's it. Very simple. I used 1 cup coffee to 3 cups water and it makes enough concentrate for a day or two. You can store this in the fridge for up to a week.

Bottom Line:
I like cold-brewed coffee. It is simple, less waste (I don't like coffee that has been sitting on a heating element) and the smooth taste very much appeals to me. This would be a great way to make coffee while camping or traveling.

Misc. Findings:

- Preferred type of coffee grounds used is a coarse ground, the better the coffee, the better the end product
- "Brewing" coffee more than 12 hours (I went as far as 22) did not alter the taste of the concentrate
- "Brewing" coffee at room temperature rendered a more bitter coffee, though some might like this more, I preferred the refrigerated version
- To strain I used a tea strainer, you can use cheesecloth or whatever strikes your fancy

If you have suggestions or tips, feel free to contact me.

Napster Sucks

Napster

Based on the title, you can probably pretty easily figure out my impression of this product/service. Listen, I'm sure there are many happy people with Napster, however my experience was terrible.

Napster came as a bonus with a player I purchased. Free usage for a limited term. Good and dandy. I love music and figured it would be great to just download the songs I liked rather than buy the Cd's. Figured it would be more cost-effective. So I went to Napster, downloaded the program, entered the information and kept getting an error message. Entered my code again. Error message. Repeat many times, still... error.

So I contact "Customer Service" explain my situation. After doing so I decide to go ahead and sign up for the free trial since I already downloaded the stupid software I might as well get some use while I await a response.

A response that never came, and weeks later I am still waiting on.

The code would have given me more than the 7 day Free Trial did, but something was better than nothing at that point. Everything seemed fine and dandy, downloaded a couple songs, transferred to my player. And it was all downhill after that. Subsequent songs I was able to download but not transfer. Once again, error messages. Beyond that it was now asking me to pay for the tracts. Even though I had signed up for the Napster to Go. I went through their Help section over and over again. Could find no answers.

Contacted "Customer Service" again. I explained my initial issues, the ones I received no response from, and then went on to explain my additional issues with their product and asked for a timely response.

That was... oh, a little over a week ago. Have I heard back? No. So screw it. I cancelled my trial and went to remove the product. Only there's no Uninstall tool. And believe me, I looked. Maybe it is a glitch on my personal system, but I couldn't find it. So I had to manually delete it.

Occasionally I think companies rig their product/service to sucker you into subscribing. I had that impression with Napster. Their customer service is absolutely TERRIBLE. Just terrible. I'm assuming they think their product will sell itself. Well, not with me. If anyone has an alternative that they are happy with, I'm all ears.

Bottom Line: I'm a stubborn consumer. There's too many alternatives to everything that if I'm not worth a response or your service sucks, I'ma go somewhere else. And I'm more than likely going to tell someone about it. Napster, you need to try harder.

Rating:

Link: Napster

Gmail Delete Button

OK. I don't know if I have been living under a rock (as far as Gmail is concerned) but I just noticed there is now a DELETE button for deleting mail.

Can you hear the chorus sing from the heavens?!!

What a thrill. So now instead of doing the whole tedious, cumbersome drop-down delete routine I can simply hit the delete button.

Ah, the simple pleasures.

FoodTV

So I'm watching SNL and in one of the skits, the Food Network is called "ESPN for fat people" - busted my butt up.

I love Food TV. It is one of my favorite channels. I like Paula, Unwrapped... the goofball that always digs into the science of things, Emeril (a bit, but sometimes he bugs me), and a slew of others. I am starting to like 30 minute meals, though Rachel Ray kinda grates on my nerves. I thought maybe I was the only one, but apparently there's a whole blog about it.

Where was I? I have no idea. Don't even know what my train of thought was on any of that. I do wonder how much the Extra Virgin Olive Oil that Molto Mario uses costs. I can't help but wonder that. Don't know why, don't ask. But he always talks about "a good Extra Virgin Olive Oil" and I can't help but wonder what his shows budget is and what he spends on olive oil. And does he ever get irritated when his small panel of guests tries to get their little spotlight moment on his show? The chick today was asking question after question and I thought he was going to throw the pot of boiling water at her to get her to shut up.

But he didn't.

Maybe the producers came in during the break though and told her to zip it.

Flavor of Love

You've got to be a special kind of someone to go on a show hoping to win this as a prize. I know a lot of these chicks want their 15 minutes of fame, but good gracious has it come to this?

Note To Self

Note to self: if going to Wal-Mart to return a bra - bring the bra!!

What a waste of time. I am a time-waster today. If time managing were a job, I would be fired on the spot. It is a sad situation. First of all, to start my Monday, I overslept. Then I took the kids to school, figuring if I had to drive them, I might as well run some other errands to save gas. Errands turned into errand and the errand was to return the bra, grab some deodorant and other necessary things.

Forgot bra. Did U-turn on highway and never looked back. So now I'm home with the same ill-fitting bra and no deodorant. What is wrong with me?

Besides that I checked out my To Do list and only got to check off ONE thing on it. It is 2:00 in the afternoon and my kids have been in school all day and I checked of ONE thing?

L - a - m - e. Lame. I need to light a fire under my lead behind.

But not now. I'll do that later.

Pssst... on a side note, check out these Curvation bras from the Queen Latifah collection. Too lazy to do a full review on them but I bought a pink one a couple weeks ago. Love it. Inspired me to seek out another Latifah bra. However, the second one I picked up was terrible compared to the first, what's up with that I can't tell you. I blame the bra people, not Latifah. I luuuuzz me some Latifah don't say nothin' bad about Ms. Latifah. But that second bra was whack. I'm out.