How to choose a bag of coffee beans to make good coffee

The advice is pretty simple, and relatively cheap. It turns out that you can buy good coffee beans from the supermarket… Who would have thought. The 2 tips are:

1) Choose a dark roasted bean because it has the strongest coffee taste. (Though if you are a caffeine junky, it actually has lower coffee content)

2) The really dark roast beans have an oily film around the beans; so that’s something to look out for when buying coffee beans.

Here’s the video:

I love the thought of the day too: “The light at the end of the tunnel may be you – Aerosmith”

Choosing a coffee machine is based on… well how you like your coffee

Another interesting post from Headless Coffee Guy’s Cafe… Apparently, if you are looking to buy a coffee maker or machine, you should discover your own coffee drinking personality type so that you buy the right coffee maker. Here’s the video:

I am a type 1 so I think I’m gonna get an espresso machine… Once I have the time to learn how to do it, or have the money to buy one.

What is in your milk?

To start, the question I think I have to answer is, “What is milk permeate?” or “What is permeate?”. Well, Permeate is essentially milk carbohydrate that is produced when processing milk for cheese and other diary products. This permeate is considered by some as a by-product or waste product.

This greenish, clear liquid is legally added to fresh milk you buy from the supermarket, and in Australia’s case, up to about 16% of milk is actually permeate. Now there’s nothing wrong with permeate except that when you buy fresh milk, you kinda expect that your fresh milk is, well, 100% pasteurised milk.

Over the past few weeks or months, there has been an awareness created among the milk drinking public in Australia about the fact that milk producers are adding more and more permeate to fresh milk to lower the cost per litre of milk so that they can sell it at $1 per litre.

So now milk producers are starting to play to the milk drinking public’s “fears” by “advertising” the fact that their milk is permeate free. So I was at the supermarket the other day and I bought milk and here is what I found:

Sample 1:

This one has a label that says “Naturally Permeate Free”

Sample 2:

This one has a label that says “Permeate Free”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now most people will look at the labels on both of these bottles and believe that both these bottles of milk are “Permeate Free”…. Or is it?

I did a double take on the first bottle because it said “Naturally Permeate Free”… Fresh Milk is naturally permeate free anyway right? It’s something we add to our milk to make up the volume, like a filler to make milk cheaper.

So is the first bottle of milk Permeate free or does it have permeate coz while milk is naturally permeate free (so the label is not wrong),  it can be added in the processing stage to make up volume, which means that the claim on the label is not wrong, just that there can still permeate in the milk because it is artificially added.

Anyway, this is what I found, but please correct me if I’ve read this label wrong.

You can also warm milk without any machines

Just to add on to my previous post on how to make a Cafe Mocha with Instant Coffee, this video shows you how you can warm milk if you don’t have a microwave, coffee machine, stove, or a blow torch.

Here’s the link:

This is rather funny. If you actually tried to use this technique to warm your milk, you’ll be better off just going to buy a cafe mocha or coffee, or warm milk from the cafe nearby.

But as a good journalist, the technique essentially uses a hot water bath to heat up milk in a cup. That’s right, put your milk in a cup, immerse it into a bowl of water that is freshly boiled, or the video will suggest as well, your hotel sink filled with freshly boiled water, then stir. Repeat the process about 3 to as many times as you need, until the milk becomes warm enough for you.

It’s something for the mythbusters to try as well… :)

Anyway, this is what I just found out, you tell me if it’s impossible.

You can make Cafe Mocha with Instant Coffee

It is possible to enjoy a cafe Mocha (or Mocca, or Moka) without paying too much for it, an in your own home; even if you don’t have an espresso or coffee machine. I know it sounds dodgy coz this Cafe Mocha uses Instant Coffee, which, everyone knows, is like the bottom of the barrel of coffee. But I dare you to try the recipe.

Here’s the link to the video:

It is rather simple to do, basically add hot milk to about 2 scoops of instant coffee (I like my coffee strong) and 3 or 4 scoops of what looks like Milo, and stir.

I would have thought adding water first will be important, but hey, no water involved.

This is what I just found out, tell me if I’m wrong.

There are no “gears” in CVT transmissions

Okay, I just bought a new car, and it is an automatic transmission. Having test drove several different makes and models of cars, I found that cars with CVT transmissions seem smoother, then automatic transmissions that feel like a regular manual gear transmission except – well automatic…. Then I also tried a car with a DSG transmission, and it felt like something in between… which was nice.

Anyway, I wanted to know what’s the difference and here is my main source of information, that I’ve cross referenced with other sites to ensure that the information is correct: http://www.hydraulictransmissionreviews.com/dsg-and-cvt-whats-the-difference-what-are-good/

But here’s a low-down on the difference:

1) Automatic Transmission – It is essentially like a manual gear on a car, but in order to transmit the power of the car to the wheels, it uses a fluid. So where you have a clutch, you have a box with fluid in it, that makes the gear shift smooth. Why a fluid? Well, anyone who’s driven a manual car will know that changing gears is a tricky exercise, it is a balance between the clutch release and the accelerator.

When automatic transmission were first created, trying to get an old computer to figure out how to do it was a huge challenge, so a fluid was used. This resulted in lower performance resulting in less fuel economy. Which is why the general assumption that automatic cars burn more fuel is still more or less correct today.

2) CVT was created to solve that problem – CVT is Continuously Variable Transmission. By using a belt style “gearing” system where power is transmitted to the wheels by tightening or loosening the belt, there was no need for a “gear” box, and so technically speaking, CVT transmissions don’t have gears; or some would say, has an infinite number of gears.

This way of transmission of power made automatic cars very smooth, because gears don’t shift, they become bigger or smaller where necessary. Which also resulted in a much more fuel efficient car since power is transmitted directly to the wheels without going through a fluid medium.

3) DSG is the latest technology (well kind of) – DSG is also known as the Dual Clutch system. This one is complicated to really explain, but essentially what they did with this type of car transmission is to re-introduce the Clutch. My guess here is that computers became smarter.

But because of the introduction of a “clutch”, DSG uses 2 couples to get around the tricky balance of clutch and accelerator that manual car drivers are familiar with. Again, I can’t explain the science of how it works but it results in a traditional gearing system, but with a much smoother and smarter gear shift, which some car enthusiasts will say gives you better torque, better power transmission, and hence better fuel savings.

So anyway, this is what I found out, and please do correct me if I’m wrong.