We have a finely-tuned selection of beans and blends especially crafted for Espressos, check out: http://buycoffeecanada.com/espresso

For people who don’t like the jolt of straight-up espresso, they have several other choices. Two of these drinks are extremely popular in trendy coffee houses all over the country: the latte and the cappuccino. The latte is simply one or two shots of the strong coffee mixed with steamed milk and a layer of steamed foam on top. Some lattes are made with an even mixture of both.  The cappuccino is much like the latte, only there a great deal of foam in it instead of milk. When people want extra milk in their cappuccino as well as the espresso base, it is called a cappuccino wet, whereas one with steam is known as a dry cappuccino. Many people enjoy adding more milk to their latte to cut down on the strong taste of the drink. Some baristas see a wet cappuccino as being very similar.

For chocolate lovers, one handcrafted coffee drink that is very popular at a number of coffee houses all over the world is the mocha. This is the espresso drink for those with a sweet tooth, as it is made with steamed milk, chocolate, and usually includes whipped cream and sometimes thin but delicious chocolate shavings to top it off. The chocolate cuts down the strong taste of the bold coffee while the chocolate makes it sweet, creating an irresistible combination. There are also different flavors of mocha that are usually available, such as peppermint or vanilla. These drinks are the perfect choice for an after-supper treat, especially when the weather is cold. No matter which espresso drink you choose, you will discover a wide variety of delicious flavors and blends that are sure to thrill the coffee connoisseur inside you.

The product is Justin’s brand Honey Peanut Butter Blend, which are 0.5oz packages with a Best By date of 7-14-13 through 8-30-13. The package was used in Starbucks Protein Bistro Kits with Best Before dates between 12SE29 to 12OC07, and were distributed across the country.

For more information, visit the release at: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2012/20121011be.shtml

Ingredients

• 6 oz. Steamed Milk
• 1 oz. (Shot) Espresso
• 1 oz. Torani Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Instructions

Steam 6oz of milk in cup or mug, add 1 oz. Pumpkin Spice Syrup and 1oz. If desired, top with whipped cream and drizzle with caramel sauce. May also substitute 1 oz. of Espresso with 4 oz. strongly brewed coffee. Makes approximately a 10-14 oz. drink.

Research is on going, with studies monitoring a population as large as 400,000 people to determine if caffeine has negative or positive effects on your health. The largest one (the 400,000 people) has been on going for 14 years and still hasn’t come to any conclusion one way or another, but the evidence is beginning to pile up, bit by bit. Until all 400,000 of those people eventually expire, we won’t know for sure whether it’s good or bad. But here’s what we’ve seen so far.

The death rate among coffee-drinkers compared to non-coffee-drinkers was 10-15% lower when factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, diet and exercise were taken into account. That won’t mean you have a 10% chance of living forever, just that people seem to be living longer. The benefits actually seemed greater in the heavy consumption category as opposed to those who only had 1-2 cups a day.

Think that’s great news to drink more coffee? Hold on a second. It was only true up to a point, most studies pointing to 4-5 cups a day being the upper end. Additionally, people can suffer from secondary effects of caffeine at higher consumption rates -  night time restlessness and mental fatigue being the largest.

What’s in Coffee

There are hundreds of different compounds that may play a role in how coffee affects you – scientists have identified more than 1000. Caffeine is that most widely known and the most studied. It varies widely from one brand to another, and even depending on which origin a brand offers. The roast, grind and brewing method also generally affect how much caffeine there is. In espresso for example, lighter roasts tend to have more caffeine than darker (commonly known as “espresso”) roasts. The additional cooking time actually seems to burn off some of the caffeine.

Caffeine has been associated with roughly a 3% increase in metabolic activity, and helps muscles use fatty acids for energy.

Other compounds like antioxidants and polyphenols also play a role in how “healthy” coffee might be considered.

What about preparing the coffee? Using a filter not only catches more coffee grounds, but also compounds like cafestol which can raise LDL cholesterol (the bad kind), which makes paper filters “healthier” than mesh filters (like espresso, french presses). Those very same paper filters also block many of coffee’s essential oils, which gives it greater taste.

Caffeine is a Drug

Care must be taken when other drugs are used (perscription and non). It has been known to have interactions with Tagamet, Diflucan, Luvox, Mexitil, estrogens and antibiotics like Cipro and Levaquin – which increase caffeine’s effects and interfere with metabolism. Even grapefruit has been reported to increase the effects of caffeine. It’s known to enhance the effects of ibuprofen and acetaminophen, and is sometimes paired with them when sold at a pharmacy. Be sure to read the package.

Source: NYTimes

There are a couple great deals around for the Cuisinart, we’ve found a few here:

Amazon

Costco

Interestingly, Costco recently had an inventory blowout on the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, with people across Canada reporting picking one up for about $25.  If you have a membership, we’d highly recommend checking out Costco.

Make Your Own Flavours

There are literally hundreds, thousands, millions of different ice cream flavours you can make. Using anything from flavoured torani syrups to fresh fruits you can make anything you’ve ever wanted.

Ever want to make your own Bacon Ice Cream? Bananas Foster Ice Cream? Cheesecake Ice Cream? Gingerbread Ice Cream? There are dozens of Torani flavours just waiting to be made into delicious ice creams to share with your friends and family.

Recipes

Recipes will often make or break the ice cream – a little too much of one flavour, or the wrong ingredient, and your ice cream will taste off. Get it right however, and it’ll be the best ice cream you’ve ever had.

This is also great for those with dairy allergies, since milk-like ingredients (Almond Milk, Soy Milk) can be used to make your own dairy-free ice cream.

“I believe it’s more of a macchiato” says a credible expert, who conveniently wishes to remain anonymous. “All that cream swirling around looks absolutely delicious”.

NASA announced an initiative to build a pipeline from Jupiter to earth, which is estimated to cost $450 trillion dollars and will be complete by 2065. In a press release, the agency says that the increased productivity from funnelling oceans of coffee to the planet will accelerate the earth’s progress towards the space age.

None of this post is true, it’s just a nice picture of Jupiter that looks like it could be from a coffee cup.

So you can imagine my joy when I found Chicken N’ Waffles at The Ex this year.

Chicken N’ Waffles at The Ex

Fresh Fried Chicken? Check.
Freshly made Waffles? Check.
Maple Syrup? Check.
Louisiana Hot Sauce? Check.
Powdered Icing? Check.

The thought of a crunchy, salty deep fried meat with hot sauce on a soft, freshly made waffle with sweet maple syrup almost had my stomach turning; but this chance to try the southern “delicacy” that had people lashing out at Torani’s publicity stunt was too good to pass up. When you’re at The Ex, you’re there to try deep fried mars bars wrapped in bacon and other heart-clogging foods, so why not Chicken ‘N Waffles?

My first venture into the poutine-esque container was to skewer a piece of the deep fried chicken without any waffle, not an easy task with flimsy plastic forks. The crunchy outer breading is nice and flavourful and the chicken inside is actual chicken and fresh. Definitely better than anything you get at KFC. The Louisiana hot sauce is delicious and not too overpowering.

Next a stab at the waffle, which without a knife to cut it (awkward in the container anyways) leaves you to pick up the thing whole with your fork and bite off pieces. You’re at an overcrowded carnival that doesn’t have enough seating inside so you don’t feel out of place eating like a slob sitting on a retaining wall outside as hundreds of people swarm around eating a myriad of junk fast food. The waffles are made from batter and baked in a waffle maker on the spot so they’re fresh as well. The maple syrup tastes great on it – and some of the Louisiana hot sauce has soaked in as well, leaving an odd but not entirely unpleasant taste.

Finally the moment of truth. With a piece of waffle left over after you’ve bitten off chunks, and a half of a piece of deep fried chicken, you have to try to pierce both the moist waffle and the crispy chicken with your plastic fork so that you can combine these two delicacies into a supposed mouthly masterpiece. What comes next? Gastronomical bliss? Vomit?

The first thing I noticed was the salted deep fried chicken, in part because it hit my toungue first and in part because the crunchy shell is far more noticeable than the soft waffle. As you begin to chew, it all kind of melds together to form a spicy-salty-sweet thing that has the consistency of some sort of enpanada. I really have no words to describe the texture – it’s not mushy, not chunky per se, but definitely not something you’re used to. The taste itself is not bad, but not great either, just somewhere in between “what am I eating” and “I could have this for dinner… or breakfast… is that lunch… no… err…” The aftertaste is mostly Louisiana hot sauce and maple syrup, which both tend to linger on your taste buds.

And then you realize you’re only half way through the container.

Once you get past the $8.50 price (over $11 with a mandatory bottle of water to wash it down with) it actually isn’t bad. The food isn’t pre-processed frozen items that are microwaved, they’re freshly made on the spot and simply combined in an unconventional way. The serving sizes are actually quite large unfortunately, as you tend to want to try a bunch of things at The Ex but don’t have the stomach capacity to.

It sits heavy in your stomach (in part due to the size) so you feel sluggish the rest of the day, and it’s not something you’d want to consume on a regular basis. Would I recommend getting it as a syrup? If Torani can distinctly separate the salty chicken and sweet waffles, I think it would be a great conversation piece to add to cocktails at a party or a barbeque, but it’s a once-in-a-while syrup, definitely not a daily drinker. For those of you who are interested in trying the Torani Chicken N’ Waffles Syrup, we’re keeping our eyes out for when it does pop-up on our order form and we will be bringing in a limited quantity when it does.

Go by The Ex if you’re in Toronto and you have a chance.

Skylar

A cup of coffee (whether done by the pot or in a single serving pod) is typically between 7-10g of coffee. So we took out our scale and added beans our Gold Espresso Blend) until the scale tipped 10 grams. In total, there were 76 beans making up those 10 beans, or just about 3/4 of a gram per bean. There are a few important things to note however:

As a coffee is roasted towards the darker end of the scale (espresso, full city, vienna, etc) it loses more and more moisture as the sugars are caramelized and begin to burn. That means a light roast actually will weigh more per bean than a darker roast

Different origins and blends of coffee will have different sized beans, and not all beans within a single blend are consistently sized. Although there are size-restrictions on many coffees (“AA” and “Excelso” and “Supremo”), there will always be some deviation.

As a general reference though – you now know that your cup of coffee contains roughly 76 coffee beans, which came from 38 coffee cherries that were hand-picked by someone in a far-off foreign country.

Neat, huh? Follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with what we’re doing and find more interesting tidbits.

Just how fresh does coffee need to be to get the most out of it’s natural flavour? Industry organizations almost unanimously agree that coffee is fresh for only a few weeks after being roasted, but as the coffee begins to off-gas it begins to lose it’s flavour. You typically have a 2-4 week window for fresh roasted whole beans. Ground beans is a whole other story.

Whole beans have a low surface area for the gases to escape from, but grinding the bean exposes the bits on the inside as well. Ground and roasted coffee really only has a couple days before it begins to go stale and become tasteless. Due purely to supply chain logistics, the ground coffee you buy in stores is already weeks (or months) old, as it has to get from the roasted (roasted in bulk, not in small batches) to the distribution warehouse and then out to the individual grocery stores.

I know what you’re thinking – “but my coffee tastes great, I love brand xyz, you’re lying/exaggerating”. I’d encourage you to do some reading on the subject. You probably do enjoy your coffee – but it is probably still stale coffee. Can you imagine what fresh coffee would taste like then?

Just picture it. Freshly roasted coffee. The flavourful natural oils still on the beans from being roasted. You did know that coffee beans excrete a thin layer of oil after being roasted didn’t you?

That’s a shame.

There is good news though! There are companies (like BuyCoffeeCanada) that roast coffee in small batches, only after an order has been placed. Coffee typically leaves our facility the same day it was roasted, and arrives in just 2-3 days to most places across Canada. You’re not limited to 2-3 varieties either, we carry over 40 different origins and blends of coffee. Each of those have a unique taste and aroma, andyou specify how you would like it roasted and ground.

Best of all, it doesn’t cost a fortune. Our coffee (which is roasted and ground to your likes) costs the same as store-bought coffee – sometimes even less. Compare the price of our 16oz (1 pound) coffee bag to that of a grocery store. Remember that many specialty coffees are sold in 12-oz (3/4 pound) bags in the grocery store, in an attempt to trick you. But you’re too smart for that.

But what about shipping? Even a single pound of many of our coffees (on sale for under $12) are still under $20 with shipping included – a bargain for custom, fresh coffee. Add a couple Torani Syrups (great for flavoured coffee, lattes, macchiatos and Italian Sodas) and you’ll qualify for free shipping for purchasing over $49 worth of product.