My husband recently started a new job, and one morning during his first week, he called to tell me the office has a Keurig coffee maker, which I have been secretly coveting for months.

Apparently at his office they have the B3000 Keurig Brewing System, which features use of K-Cup® with automatic ejection and storage; direct line water plumbing for high capacity brewing; unlimited back-to-back brewing every 60 seconds;  four brew sizes – 4, 6, 8, 10 oz; and it’s also vending compatible with full featured coin changer (thankfully it’s free at my husband’s office). 

They stock assorted Tully’s K-Cups at my husband’s office, but there are many other lines Keurig sells.

Until I get my own Keurig, I guess I’ll have to start dropping by my husband’s office…

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Ed's home roast (photo courtesy of Storygoil/Today Is Pretty at Flickr).

Remember when I told you about Ed?

Well, he’s back, and he’s got the hand-crafted, home roasted beans to prove it. He’s been busy roasting Finca Mauritania beans lately, with the promise of a spring roast in the near future. To read about why he selected Finca Mauritania coffee, click here.

In today’s economy especially, I’m a big advocate of supporting the “little guy,” as he is least likely to get a handout bailout from the government. And what better way to do just that, than by buying beans that have been roasted to perfection by someone who really knows and cares about coffee beans?

To read more about Ed, including tips on brewing the perfect cup of French press coffee (complete with sketches!), click here.

His blog, Coffee is Food, also offers more insights into the wonderful world of coffee roasting.

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Save On Crafts has a really cool DIY Christmas Ornament project involving–you guessed it–coffee beans!

The required materials are:

Styrofoam Ball–any size, as long as you’re prepared to cover it!
Acrylic paint in dark brown
Glossy acrylic sealer
Whole roasted coffee beans, enough to cover the ball
1-1/2″ ribbon, at least 1/2 yard in any color you’d like (red or green , perhaps?)
Tassel and cord in matching color
Metal ornament cap with wire hanger (easiest to get from any ornament you already have on hand)
Small paintbrush
Rags or paper towels
Craft glue
Low-temp glue gun and glue sticks
Scissors

Most of the materials, if not all, can be found at your local craft or fabric store.

For step-by-step instructions on how to make the ornament itself, click here.

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Besides the obvious (grinding and drinking), there are many other uses for coffee beans.

• To freshen your breath, you can suck on a coffee bean for a while.
• To remove odors from your hands, put some whole beans in your hands and rub them together, and when the odor is gone, wash your hands in warm, soapy water.
• If your refrigerator or freezer smells funky, add a bowl filled with some coffee beans.
• Clean greasy pans with coarsely-ground coffee beans.
• To control ash dust, toss wet coffee grounds over the ashes in your fireplace before cleaning it.

Of course, if you plan to use coffee for cleaning purposes, it’s best to buy an inexpensive brand and save the “good stuff” for drinking!

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Photo courtesy of INeedCoffee @ Flickr

According to Natural Solutions magazine, one way to reap the benefits of caffeine, a natural skin firmer that stimulates fluid flow, simply fill your tub a couple of inches high with ground coffee, add warm water, put on some panty hose (to create a D-I-Y wrap) and soak away.

If that sounds like too much work (or mess), grab an anticellulite cream with caffeine in it, like one of these:

Lancome Body Sculptesse 
Gingko and caffeine increase circulation, while a compound called Par-Elastyl claims to restore firmness to skin’s surface by preventing collagen breakdown.

Neutrogena Anti-Cellulite Treatment
Combines seaweed extracts and caffeine to reduce the appearance of cellulite, leaving skin looking smoother and less dimpled. Features a patented retinol formula that helps to improve skin elasticity and reduce the appearance of “orange-peel” skin.

L’oreal Sublime Slim Patches
Made from concentrated caffeine cx agent and body smoothing complex–great for targeted firming to fight cellulite. The patches contain concentrated caffeine cx which helps to eliminate the appearance of cellulite; and an ultra-cooling hydro-gel body smoothing complex to smooth skin.

Fat Girl Slim
Bliss’ formula delivers qusome encapsulated caffeine molecules beneath surface cell layers — stimulating lipolysis of unsightly adipose “padding” into free fatty acid chains.

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I recently stumbled across Kikkoman Pearl® Soymilk, which is made with real, brewed organic coffee and tastes great hot or cold.

Pearl® Coffee Soymilk is made with preservative-free organic soybeans, organic cane juice as a natural sweetener, and fortified with calcium and vitamins A and D. One 8-ounce glass yields 6 grams of protein, and it’s low in saturated fat, cholesterol-free and lactose-free. 

Pearl® Soymilk is ideal for use in your favorite recipes. It can be used whenever a recipe calls for dairy milk. (In some recipes that rely on milk to “set-up” or thicken, you may need to add cornstarch to chilled soymilk before cooking to achieve a smooth, creamier consistency. Because soymilk is lower in fat, it will not thicken like dairy milk.)
 
Like most soymilk products, Pearl® Soymilk is available in “aseptic” cartons. These cartons keep the soymilk fresh without refrigeration until they are opened. An aseptic carton is a sterile, airtight specially-produced package made for keeping food products fresh without refrigeration. (Once a carton is opened, soymilk must be kept in the refrigerator.) Pearl® Soymilk will maintain its freshness and flavor for 7-10 days after it is opened.
 
Pearl® Soymilk is a product made and distributed by Kikkoman, a global food company. To find out where to buy Pearl Coffee Soymilk, click here.

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If you were always told that nothing good is ever free, think again.

Check this out–complimentary (yep, FREE) holiday coffee tastings at your local Peet’s.

Saturday December 13, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Free tastings of three coffees featured in Peet’s Holiday Coffee Gifts: Holiday Blend, Major Dickason’s Blend® and Arabian Mocha Java.

Saturday December 20, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Free tastings of Holiday Blend and Major Dickason’s Blend® paired with Peet’s Sweets.

Find your local Peet’s here.

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Chemical engineers at the University of Nevada say they’ve made a high quality biodiesel from coffee grounds. The researchers estimate their process could produce about 340 million gallons of biodiesel from coffee world wide, and they could make about $8 million in profits just from Starbuck’s coffee grounds.

Here’s the full story from the University of Nevada press room:

In the not-too-distant future, University of Nevada, Reno researcher Manoranjan Misra can envision a day when customers might pull into the drive-through at Starbucks for a cup of coffee … and then fill their cars with biodiesel made from the same coffee grounds that produced their tasty latte.

Misra, a professor of chemical and metallurgical engineering, has developed a novel process – believed to be the first of its kind in the country – to extract high-quality biodiesel from spent coffee grounds.

Misra’s process has important implications in the world’s efforts to combat global warming through the creation of alternative fuels such as biodiesel.
What sets his work apart from other biodiesel efforts is the high quality of the biodiesel extracted from coffee grounds. The process also utilizes an inexpensive waste product, thus reducing overall cost.

“We have found that biodiesel created from spent coffee grounds is stable over a longer period of time than other forms of biodiesel that have been created from feed stocks such as soy and corn,” Misra said. “Biodiesel from spent coffee grounds is a low-cost ‘green’ form of fuel that shows a significant reduction of carbon dioxide emission. It’s an excellent source for biodiesel.”

Using Starbucks as an example, Misra said that the coffee-making giant generates more than 200 million pounds of spent coffee grounds per year in the United States.

“We estimate that this could produce almost 3 million gallons of biodiesel per year,” Misra said.

Misra’s process, which has been patented, involves two simple steps: the extraction of oil from the spent coffee grounds, and then the conversion of the oil to biodiesel.

He said that the produced oil is a triglyceride, which is the chemical form in which most fat exists in food. The triglycleride-rich oil easily lends itself to biodiesel conversion, and serves as an agent to reduce carbon dioxide emissions when it is burned as fuel.

Removal of one pound of triglyceride from coffee grounds would reduce about three pounds of carbon dioxide, making it a highly effective agent in battling the continued accumulation of greenhouse gases, Misra said.
Worldwide, the potential for the new “coffee” biodiesel is great, Misra said.

He noted that about 15 billion pounds of coffee is consumed in the world; of this, the new technology could potentially produce more than 200 million gallons of biodiesel. In northern Nevada alone, about 70 million pounds of coffee is produced at the Starbucks roasting plant in the Carson Valley.

Misra said he created the technology almost by accident.

“I had left my coffee out one night, and the next morning, I noticed that there was a kind of oil around the edge of the cup,” he said. “Every cup of coffee has it. I decided to do some tests on the oil.”

He discovered that the oil, rich in triglycerides, could be easily converted to biodiesel.

“The oil still smells like coffee,” he said. “It doesn’t change a lot during the process.”

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Since I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, I am constantly amazed at what artists come up with. That’s why this new find has me beaming ear to ear.

Kentucky artists Josie Lamb Williams and Mark Williams of Mayapple Creations say they are driven to build a stronger connection between the natural and human world, and their organic, intricate jewelry is a manifestation of this desire. All of the shapes in the jewelry are based on ancient symbols, and shapes found in nature.

Kentucky Coffee Bean Necklace (pictured above)
This necklace features a Kentucky coffee bean enclosed in 100% recycled sterling silver wire sculpture. It is accented by Fair Trade recycled glass, Fair Trade pearls, and tiny Czech glass seed beads.
Necklace is 17″ long, and the pendant is 2.5″ long

Earrings
Coffee Beans A (pictured above): Kentucky coffee beans accented by recycled sterling silver waves

Coffee Beans B (pictured below): Kentucky coffee beans accented by recycled sterling silver spirals

Josie carefully designs and creates each piece from 100% USA refined recycled sterling silver, accented by Fair Trade recycled glass. Mark finishes the necklaces with sweatshop-free Czech glass, and custom designed recycled paper tags. Every silver shape and finding is crafted with traditional hand tools, eliminating the need for toxic soldering and finishing chemicals.

For more information, click here. For where to buy, click here.

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I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was in my 20s. Of course, growing up in the 80s coffee wasn’t the phenomenon it is now. Kids didn’t have to “get their Starbucks” before school, and my only experience with coffee was the bitter stuff my Dad drank.

So how young is too young?

Here’s one informal poll that surprises me.

Here’s a peek at the dark side of coffee and kids.

And one from the retailer’s perspective.

So who’s right?

I don’t have the answer. But I am glad I don’t have kids–no “but so and so gets to drink coffee!” fights.

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