Coffee Nomad

The Adventures of Wandering Coffee Fiend

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Kahlua Iced Coffee Recipe — Tried and Approved

September 27th, 2009 · Coffee Recipes

iced coffee kahluaIf you’ve got a coffee maker, some vanilla extract and a bottle of Kahlua then you have everything you need to make a tasty, after-dinner iced coffee beverage.

Ingredients:

  • Brewed coffee
  • Ice
  • Kahlua
  • Cream or milk
  • Two teaspoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. Mix together whichever of these ingredients is warmest to melt the sugar.
  2. Mix in everything else.
  3. Add the ice.

Kahlua could be added to coffee in pretty much any capacity and it the end product would be either good or great.  In this case, the result was a bit on the sweet side — sometime soon I’ll try it sans sugar (maybe without the vanilla either).

As for the iced coffee element, you could use toddy or extra strong hot coffee (it will dilute when you add the ice) or, heck, just wait for a pot of regular brewed coffee to cool down to room temperature (worked fine in this case).

Also, you might consider using brown sugar or raw sugar instead of standard bleached sugar.

Milk or cream? Whichever yo prefer.

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Irish Coffee Recipe

September 27th, 2009 · Coffee, Coffee Recipes

irish whiskey coffee

Pictured above is a basic Irish coffee.

Ingredients:

  • Hot coffee
  • Irish whiskey (Jameson is a recognizable brand)
  • Brown sugar (if you prefer)
  • Whipped cream to topping effect.

Any of these ingredients are interchangeable / omitable.

Instructions:

Mix together one shot of Irish whiskey (1.5 ounces) with one standard mug of hot coffee.  Mix in brown sugar for flavor and top it off with whipped cream.

Jameson Irish Whiskey:

jameson irish whiskey

If you like coffee and you enjoy the flavor of whiskey, then you will love this simple coffee recipe.  Tasty, easy, convenient, time tested.

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How Many Ounces Are in One Espresso Shot?

September 26th, 2009 · Espresso, Random

This question occurred to me today, as I was thinking about my days as a bustling barista at Starbucks, clinking those standard, bar-style shot glasses around (on a typical day one or two of them would break).

One ounce is hardly anything… so (I figured) one “shot” must be more than that.

Sure enough, the general consensus on the interwebs (the most dependable source of information in the world, of course) is: A standard shot is about one and a half (1.5) ounces.

Variations on the “shot”:

  • A double-shot = 3 ounces.
  • A pony shot (either for aged liquor or if your barista is clumsy) = 1 ounce.

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How to Make Turkish Coffee without an Ibrik

September 26th, 2009 · Coffee, Coffee Accessories, How To, Tricks of the Trade, Turkey

If you don’t feel like buying any new coffee hardware and you would still like to know what Turkish coffee tastes like, then you may be in luck.  It is possible to make Turkish coffee using a few basic household items: A small saucepan, super fine ground coffee, water and sugar.  Standard Turkish coffee recipes call for sugar since boiling the coffee tends to make it really bitter.

One standard serving of Turkish coffee, or a cup, is about the size of a double espresso.  For each serving size of water that you boil, you will need to add one heaping teaspoon of extremely fine ground coffee (fine like dust) and one heaping teaspoon of sugar.  The coffee grounds will heap higher than the sugar, which is good.

Traditional Turkish coffee preparation goes along these lines:

  • Add the coffee / water / sugar mixture to the ibrik (small sauce pan), leaving the grounds dry on top.
  • Bring it slowly to a frothy boil
  • Allowed the mixture to settle
  • Stir it
  • Bring it to a frothy boil once again
  • Serve in double-shot sized cups (Turkish coffee cups are ideal).

If you are using a saucepan, be careful to pour it over a sink since it will probably spill over the edge (unless it has a pouring spout on it).

If you want to further stray from the traditional Turkish method, you might try using a strainer to separate the grounds.

What a cup of Turkish coffee looks like:

cup turkish coffee

Pictured below: An Ibrik starting to boil.

Notice how the grounds start off dry as the water heats up.

boiling ibrik

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Campfire Coffee and Other Caffeinated Lore

September 26th, 2009 · Coffee, Coffee Accessories, Random, Tricks of the Trade

Is it true what they say about egg shells? Do they really magically filter out loose coffee grounds?

I have heard from numerous sources that this does in fact work, which means that this would be a handy trick around a campfire in case you didn’t bring any kind of sifter/filter with you (of course you’d also have to bring eggs).  Supposedly egg shells also also “mellow out” the coffee so it’s not so hard on your sensitive little camper tummy.

If you are roughing it and you have no choice but to boil coffee grounds in water, I would recommend straining out the coffee within a few a minute after adding it to the boiling coffee, and only add the grounds after the water comes to a boil.  When you boil coffee grounds for more than a minute (or maybe even 30 seconds) it becomes excessively bitter, like chewing that grainy recycled paper they give to grade school kids — this is why most restaurants (that I have heard of) will serve their Turkish coffee with sugar automatically.

In a camping situation, where you have to boil coffee, in lieu of a strainer you can also use  a standard utensil (such as a spoon) to separate the grounds.

Another option:  Bring a coffee percolator.

Another option:  Bring a French press.  A French press would make a better than average cup of campfire brew (just pour in the boiling water). On the downside: French presses are a hassle to keep clean, they’re fragile, and they’re not a very manly piece of camping gear.  Seriously, would Daniel BOONE use a French press? I think not.

Speaking of Daniel Boone, what if there was a Daniel Boone coffee blend?  It would taste like leather and tree bark and it would double as gun powder in a pinch.

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