COFFEE NEWS

Many of us Frugal Forcers have a love/hate relationship with coffee. We love to suck down loads of it but hate the detrimental effect it can have on our wallets, especially if it’s from a high-priced coffee shop. Fellow blogger Cheap Kate has blogged frequently about her attempts to save money by making her own coffee here at work.

Mercifully, Consumer Reports is coming to Kate’s rescue. The magazine has tested 34 different coffee makers and have found the one they say is best: The Michael Graves 12-Cup Coffeemaker, which retails for a relatively inexpensive $40 (some of the “best” coffee makers are priced $100 or more). The magazine cites the coffee maker’s high temperature, programmable features and coffee quality.

Consumer Reports also recommends the Melitta Take2, retailing at $25, for an even more frugal cup of coffee.

The always-caffeinated Frugal Force salutes Consumer Reports for its commitment to investigative coffee journalism!

Do you have a preferred coffee maker that’s frugal friendly? Are you willing to compromise on price and the quality of your cup of Joe?

Source: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/business_frugal_force/2009/02/michael-graves-coffee-maker-rated-best-deal-by-consumer-reports.html

No, it’s not a steampunk chemistry set. That picture is of the United States’ only halogen-powered siphon bar. Imported from Japan after years of negotiations, the $20,000+ machine is housed at San Francisco’s Blue Bottle Café. Each “pot” consists of two globes. Water vapor evaporates from the bottom globe into the higher globe to meet the grounds. The coffee is then stirred with a bamboo paddle, removed from the heat and siphoned back to the lower globe (minus grounds). It sounds delicious…and totally worth whatever it costs per cup. Hit the NYT for the full mad scientist process in photos.

Source:
http://gizmodo.com/347967/the-siphon-bar-pours-a-20000-cup-of-coffee

Lina Fischer’s coffee maker design is scrumptious and works rather like an espresso maker would, but is better looking (although less iconic than those little moka pots caffeine heads go bubbly over). It comes with its own induction-powered table station, but what really sets the Kahva apart from other coffee makers is what happens to the Joe when it’s brewed.

As the water heats, the rising air pressure makes it flow upwards from the glass water chamber into the metal brewing unit. Once the coffee is ready, take it off the heat and the coffee will return through a filter into the Kahva’s glass bottom via a vacuum that has been created by the cooling of the coffee maker. To pour, simply turn the grip and let the coffee flow.

Source:
http://gizmodo.com/371768/kahva-coffee-maker-design-is-classy-glassy

Thanks to a reader who likes iced coffee as much as we do, we’ve found out how to save some money and conserve energy this summer. Its so low tech we’re sure Sony could never figure out how to make one. So low in energy consumption, the electric company probably hopes TreeHuggers don’t hear about it. Had to have been invented by a college student. It’s the Toddy cold brewer. The Toddy extracts the delicious flavor from coffee beans, with no energy consumption at all; and leaves behind undesirable bitter acids and fatty oils. As our reader Chris points out: “…instead of brewing with hot water for 30 minutes, you brew at room temperature for 12 hours. The result? A low-acid concentrate that can be added to hot (or cold) water (or milk) to make the coffee (or tea) drink of your choice. The concentrate can be refrigerated for up to two weeks”.

Perfect for dorm rooms, big-city hideouts, and tiny hobbit holes: a $44.95 instant kitchen that comprises a time-controlled oven (complete with broiler tray), a four-cup coffee maker with a reusable filter, and a non-stick griddle. Although the three-in one measures only 9.4×16x8 (HWD) inches, mini gourmands can rest assured that it runs on more than a light bulb and a dream.

Source:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/09/instant_kitchen.php

A metal coffee-maker packed with explosives has exploded in the doorway of the Italian Culture Institute in the centre of Barcelona, slightly wounding a policeman.

No one has claimed the blast in the centre of Barcelona

Although no one claimed responsibility, police were examining recent explosions by anarchists using similar devices for clues, the top representative of the Madrid government in the Catalan region said on Tuesday.

“In Barcelona, there have been some protests from support groups of prisoners of the same ideology in Italy,” Joan Rangel told local radio.

But police in the northeastern Spanish port city said they could not confirm anarchists were behind the blast and were keeping an open mind in their investigations.

“The police were warned of a suspicious looking coffee-maker in the doorway of the Italian Institute in Barcelona … when police were investigating the device, it exploded, injuring the policeman and killing a sniffer dog,” a police spokesman in Madrid said.

Spanish national radio said the policeman was hurt in the arm and witnesses said an employee of a medical institute next door had alerted the police after seeing the coffee-maker with wires protruding from it placed in front of the Italian centre.

Anarchists suspected

Italian anarchists claimed responsibility earlier this year for a wave of letter bombs that exploded outside police stations in northern Italy.

Italy has been plagued in recent years by a series of small-scale bomb attacks blamed on shadowy anarchist groups bent on undermining the country’s government.

Italian police carried out more than 100 raids in May and said they had uncovered a “vast and dangerous” anarchist network which had orchestrated the bombing campaign.

Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu has compared the anarchist movement to Italy’s Red Brigades, a 1970s Marxist guerrilla group that orchestrated bombings and kidnappings.

 

Now that’s a computer-mod I can get excited about! (not that I’d actually take the time to do it. Hey, I’m not *that* nerdy! (Just nerdy enough to upload a computer espresso maker. :))

Video Link ->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0QjZ6DY3xc

Just to show how much we care, Crave does its level best to provide constant updates on superficial household appliances as the news breaks. Just yesterday, for example, we offered up the Porsche-design toaster. But in the last 24 hours, sources close to our sink have passed along word that said toaster is just one of a line of Porsche kitchen products, which include a kettle and coffee machine. We ask only that you remember where you heard it first.

Source:

http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9732-1.html?tag=bl

The Melitta Smart Mill & Brew Coffee Maker, which hit stores Thursday, has an FM receiver that works with MSN Direct’s data service. The latest gadget using Microsoft’s Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT), the coffee maker displays regional information on the current weather, daily forecast, chance of rain, and sunrise and sunset times. It sells for about $200.

Source:

http://www.news.com/2300-1041_3-6136198-1.html?tag=ss