What's Balls Got to do with Preparing Coffee?

Rollin' Justin Robot can play catch with you. And 1:50 secs later in the video, he makes a fresh brew of coffee too.

Your very own personal Barista.

Cold Brew System

While exploring the nooks & corners of Portland's suburbs, I came by a kitchen appliance store - Williams Sonoma. A very well-stocked variety of appliances, displayed with matching elan, got me interested to inspect every display area. And is the case, a house is always wanting for a new accessory; I picked a pair of tongs.
The warm-hearted lady at the counter cited at the booklet I'd picked up from their coffee-pot section. Believe you me, they have the largest variety of brewing devices (not electrical machines) in one place I have ever seen together. French Press, Single Cup Filter, Chemex Brewer, Vacuum Pot, Italian Moka Pot, Hand Drip Coffee Maker, even a Turkish coffee grinder.
I promptly signed up for their email newsletter. And glad I am; their earliest update had a new coffee brewing system which needs no hot water. Known as the Toddy Cold Brew Coffee System, it uses a large carafe to let the coffee slowly bloom; you can leave it overnight too.

Courtesy williams-sonoma.com

I recently acquired ingenuiTEA Loose Leaf Tea Teapot from Vat19. Although the product demo clearly uses tea leaves, I wanted to hack it for making medium-ground coffee, without the hassle of changing filters each time. I (16 oz), and is mobile enough for me to keep in the fridge. The next morning, I drained out the coffee, and stored it in a small jug. With brewed coffee readily available to drink, I merely heated the milk & water mixture to mix with a small portion of the cold brewed coffee.

If you are deuced with a delicate stomach, or suffer from acidity frequently, this would be the solution for enjoying your coffee without all that heartburn.

I found the cold brew coffee strictly okay. I tried increasing the proportion, but never got the caffeine kick, nor the enticing whiff of a freshly brewed cup of coffee. Once the concentrate was over, I am happily back to brewing steaming cups of coffee.

Do you have an ingenious hack  for coffee-making? Please share it in the Comments.

Sips of joy

I can never make up my mind when I go out to eat. Not because I love to eat, and am unable to choose one dish over the other. I'm very picky about what my mind perceives as yummy. This is mainly determined by smell, and then by how it looks. 

My mom knew how to play these 2 factors to get me to eat a lot of things, mainly vegetables like gourd, cauliflower and cabbage. Once cooked, the stench of these nasty veggies can wake me from the deepest slumber. So she would mash them and stuff them into parathas along with delectable potatoes and mint chutney.

The same is true for the other end of the spectrum. On a lazy Sunday, the only way to get me down from my room (I lived in the loft), was to fry a Pomfret fish or juicy pieces of goat liver. The lure that they won't taste good once cold, would bring me to the table in a jiffy.

You must be starting to wonder why I am rambling about food in the Qahwa Room, which is devoted to the pilgrimage to Perfect Coffee Land. 

I have made a recent pit stop in Portland, Oregon which has a local coffee chain Dutch Bros and they lured me fast and dirty, so that I am now their avid devotee. Driving on the highway, I first noticed a standalone cafe, with half a dozen cars driving through for coffee. The size of an outhouse, the popularity of this tiny coffee shop caught my fancy. It was after several hit and misses, as it is just before a major freeway entrance, and needs a whole bunch of convoluted turns to enter, that I finally got to sample their brew.

You will notice that unlike conventional coffee cups this one has a protruding sipper, which is super-convenient, as it allows small sips, and avoids spills. 

Their tagline makes a tall claim - Guaranteed to satisfy" - and they did. The white chocolate mocha I ordered was Delicious, to the last sip, even after I'd let it sit and get cold! With a courteous Barista each time I've driven through (and its just one guy running the show at any point), I scheme plans to get to the other end of the highway to relish their fresh brew. So far, I've only managed to get one visit per week. But that will change soon. How soon? As soon as I have my license to kill...I mean drive.