Free Diet Recipe

Coffee cupping is a method to compare the different characteristics of a coffee bean. Cupping lets us compare different coffees against each other to evaluate the uniqueness between them. This information can give us a better understanding of each different region and their basic tastes.

Having a coffee cupping party at home is a great way to socialize and enjoy coffee while evaluating and sharing thoughts on the different blends. It can be fun and a sense of adventure discovering flavors and nuances you never thought existed in a cup of coffee.

Gather some coffee lovers together with a small cupping supply and let the fun begin.

Coffee cupping is not difficult and will take some practice and patience but the reward will give you invaluable knowledge about coffee.

Your cupping supply will consist of the following :

1. Fresh filtered water, not distilled or softened.

2. A coffee scoop that holds 2 tablespoons.

3. Small cupping cups that hold 5 ounces each

(3 for each sample; if cupping 3 coffees you will need 9).

4. Small rectangle plastic trays to hold beans; 1 for each coffee.

5. Cupping spoons that are deep for holding samples and slurping.

6. Whole Bean Coffee; enough for 3 cups each-six tablespoons.

To Begin:

· Bring water to rolling boil and let stand.

· Put your cups on the table in 3 groups of 3 each.

· Using your scoop measure 1 scoop of beans per cup.

· Grind coffee beans to a fine consistency and put in cup.

Make sure to grind each coffee to the same fineness and clean the grinder after each grinding.

Start by sniffing each of the coffee samples then begin pouring water just off the boiling point on the grounds. Allow the coffee to steep for 3 to 4 minutes. Using your spoon gently break the crust and take time to smell the coffee at this point. Once the crust is broken gently stir the coffee to allow some of the grounds to sink. Any left on top should be scooped out and thrown away.

After cooling slightly start slurping the coffee from the spoon. Let it splash over your entire palate letting your taste buds experience and acknowledge each flavor. It’s fun to see how many funny sounds you can make while slurping.

You could even make a game of it to see who can make the funniest sounds. Hold the coffee in your mouth without swallowing and swish it around and begin to realize all the different taste sensations. At this point, spit the coffee out and begin sharing your experience and thoughts with the rest of the group. There are no right or wrongs just opinions.

For many beginners evaluating coffee with other coffee lovers will open your eyes and your taste buds to flavors in coffee that you might have missed. It is a fun way to share a new understanding and appreciation for coffee cupping and enjoy it all at the same time.

Copyright © 2005 Perfect Coffees.com. All Rights Reserved.

With English Tea being a very familiar term, English coffee may seem as contrary a term as Arctic bananas; however, England’s impact on the coffee trade and the world of business is undeniable. The history of English coffee began in 1650 at Oxford University when a Lebanese immigrant opened the first coffeehouse on campus.

Initially, coffee was seen as novelty and a snake oil, if you will, as the proprietor touted many incredible medical claims. His English coffee was said to aid in digestion, cure headaches, coughs, dropsy, gout, scurvy and even prevent miscarriages. About the only claim that was accurate was that English coffee prevented drowsiness.

By 1700, however, coffee had become a very popular beverage and there were more than two thousand coffeehouses in London. Coffeehouses occupied more retail space and paid more rent than any other trade. They came to be known as Penny Universities, because for the price of a cup of coffee, one penny, a person could sit for hours and engage in stimulating conversation with educated people.

Each coffeehouse specialized in a different clientele. In one, physicians could be consulted. Other’s catered to lawyers, actors, army officers, or clergy. English coffee became the beverage of business and one coffeehouse in particular grew into one of the worlds largest and most well known companies. Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse catered primarily to seafarers and merchants and he regularly prepared “ships’ lists” for underwriters who met there to offer insurance to the ship captains. And so began Lloyd’s of London, the famous insurance company.

Prior to the popularity of English coffee, beer, or ale, was the morning beverage of choice among the working class. The pubs and taverns were filled early in the morning with workers who stopped in for a few pints of camaraderie before heading off to the factories and shops around London.

One English writer wrote in 1624, “They flock to the taverns to dizzy their brains and a productionless society is the result.” Fifty years later another writer credited English coffee with stimulating the economy as he wrote, “Coffee drinking hath caused a greater sobriety than has ever been seen in the business of London.”

By the late 18th century the buzz of English coffee subsided and tea became the preferred British drink, due much in part to the outcry of women, who were excluded from the all-male society of the coffeehouse and complained loudly. A group of angry coffeehouse widows filed a petition with the English government to ban coffee on the grounds that their men were never at home and their duties as husband and father were being neglected. English coffee was not banned but the outcry did have repercussions on the coffeehouse business and men returned to the taverns instead.

© Copyright Randy Wilson, All Rights Reserved.

New York style cheesecake recipes are made with a combination of cream cheese and Italian cheese cakes made with ricotta cheese. In the early 1920’s, this particular silky style of cream cheese was developed in the New York area.

New York style cheesecake recipes were introduced by Jewish delicatessens in New York City. Arnold Reuben Jr., owner of the legendary Turf Restaurant at 49th and Broadway in New York City and a descendant of immigrants from Germany, claimed his family developed the first cream cheese cake recipe. Reuben’s cheesecake was so good, it won a Gold Metal at the 1929 World’s Fair.

The superior qualities that make Reuben’s classic New York style cheesecake are a graham cracker crust, a creamy texture, and distinct lemon flavor that is firm but light in density. Below you will find his Classic New York Style Cheesecake recipe.

Classic New York Cheesecake

Crust:

Heavily coat 10-inch spring form pan with cooking spray

1 1/2 cups commercial graham cracker crumbs

5 Tbsp. butter

1 tsp. honey

1/4 cup sugar

Mix ingredients together with hands until well blended and crumbs appear moist. Pour into pan. With hands, spread evenly across the bottom and pat down firmly.

Filling:

5 8-ounce bars cream cheese, at room temperature

2 Tbsp. flour

1 Tbsp. confectioners’ sugar

11/2 cups sugar

grated rind of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp. orange liqueur

3/4 tsp. vanilla

2 egg yolks at room temperature

5 eggs at room temperature

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place first five ingredients in large mixing bowl and beat on high until they are completely blended. Add vanilla and 2 yolks, and beat again. Add eggs one at a time, beating well. Pour into prepared pan. Batter will fill pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Top will be golden. Lower oven temperature to 200 degrees and bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until top browns, cake feels bouncy to the touch, and a toothpick tests clean. Cool to room temperature. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Yield: 16-20 slices

The history of cheesecake is believed to have originated in ancient Greece. The first recorded mention of cheesecake was when it was served to the athletes during the first Olympic Games held in 776 BC. Centuries later, cheesecake appeared in America. The recipes were brought over by the immigrants.

If you ask a New Yorker, the only true cheesecake makers and connoisseurs are in New York. Every New York restaurant has their own version and thus the cheesecake from New York has been re-named New York cheesecake.

I hope you enjoy this New York style cheesecake recipe.

Copyright © 2005 Perfect Coffees.com. All Rights Reserved.

Ma Po Tou Fu is Sichuan’s well known characteristic dish. Tradition has it that during the Tongzhi years of Qing Dynasty, there is a small inn at the WanFu (Innumerable Blessings) bridge outside the north gate of Chengdu, Sichuan. The woman owner Chen is pretty good at cooking. She uses bean curd, tiny sliced beef, hot pepper, Chinese prickly ash, thick bean sauce and other ingredients to cook. The dish tastes hemp (a unique flavor from the Chinese prickly ash), spicy, fresh, fragrant, and it is delicious, it is extremely well received by the people around the town. At that time there was no official name for this dish. Because Chen has pockmarked face (“ma” face with “ma” happens to be the same character as the “ma” or “hemp” flavor from the Chinese prickly ash), people then started calling it “Ma Po To Fu”. “Po” in this case means woman, wife. So to translate accurately it means “wife of pockmarked face Tou Fu”. From then on it became well-known around the entire nation. It is now a world-renowned Chinese cuisine 100 years later. All the Sichuan restaurants must have this dish. Along with the development of Sichuan cuisine, most of the overseas Chinese restaurants (Sichuan style or not) all carry this famous dish. Not too long ago, the Japanese merchants even imitated Sichuan “Ma Po Tou Fu” and produced canned “Ma Po Tou Fu” which sell quite well around the world.

Characteristics of the dish: light yellow, tender with gloss, tastes hemp, spicy, fragrant, fresh, and hot. The surface of bean curd is covered with a layer of light red spicy oil, which keeps the heat inside the bean curd so it won’t get quickly lost. It always tastes better when you eat it hot, the unique hemp smell comes from the Chinese prickly ash greets the nostrils and that enhances the overall flavor. It is considered the best delicacy for cold winter season.

Ingredients:

• 2 cakes of bean curd
• 120g (4.2 oz) ground pork
• 1 tablespoon minced green onion
• 1 slice ginger
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 red peppers
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 cup (100cc) soup stock
• 1 teaspoon corn starch

Method:

1. Pour hot water over bean curd, drain and cut into bite sizes.
2. Chop green onion, ginger, garlic and red pepper. Heat oil, fry and add meat.
3. Add bean curd gradually into pan. Stir and pour in soup stock. Simmer over low heat.
4. Thicken with corn starch diluted with water and add to ingredients. Serve hot.

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Nutritional information:

Yield: 4 servings

Each serving provides:

Calories: 198.5

Protein: 13.6 g

Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Jacklyn Chen – Webmaster of news-blogs.com. She is a full time mom who works very hard to make living with multiple web sites. For more information and articles about fine living, visit fine-living.news-blogs.com.