Category — Tips

Jerry Baldwin of the Atlantic offers a few tips on what to do when you’re stuck in a hotel and the only thing on offer in the morning is the hotel coffee in your room:

If I’ve failed to purchase bottled water, I draw the tap water the night before. This achieves two things: the chlorine will partially evaporate, and the temperature will rise to room temperature. The heaters in coffeemakers will raise the temperature a certain number of degrees. They don’t have holding tanks like commercial machines. A twenty-degree difference between newly drawn tap water and room temperature will result in nearly a twenty degree increase in brewing temperature.

I used to just bring my own coffee with me when I traveled (I know, I know) but a few years ago hotels began to replace normal filters and pouches of coffee with pre-packaged coffee that came in an unbleached pouch that doubled as a filter. I’ve toyed with some of the tips offered in this article but some are new to me–my favorite is the above tip about letting the hotel tap water sit overnight, since most of the time I loathe the overchlorinated water in hotel taps and the rubbery coffee it makes in the hotel coffee machines.

Antioxidants have been all the rage for years as a preventative against heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses.  Antioxidants are believed to eliminate “free radicals”, reactive molecules in the body that can do damage over time.  And for a long time, it’s been believed that tea has been the best source of antioxidants in the form of “flavonoids”.

(Note: when talking about tea as a source of antioxidants and flavonoids, we mean”real” tea, that is, tea consisting of camellia sinensis leaves.  “Herbal teas” and tisanes aren’t really tea and don’t provide any antioxidants.)

But did you know that coffee has roughly four times the antioxidants of tea?  A study by Switzerland’s Nestle Research Center found that green coffee beans contain about 1,000 antioxidants, and more are added over the roasting and brewing process.  The end result is that a serving of coffee has more free-radical fighting power than tea, wine, or cocoa.

Unfortunately for the lovers of finer coffees, Robusta coffees are a greater source of antioxidants than the higher-quality Arabica coffess–so believe it or not, that cup of diner coffee is doing some heavy lifting fighting that “he-man breakfast special” you just ate.  But Arabica coffees are no slouch in the flavonoid deparment, so the next time you want to make a healthy beverage choice, you may just want to make a trip to your local roastery.

Check out this great article on the top ten uses for fresh or spent coffee grounds
on HowToDoThings.com. Most of us already know you can use it for compost, but did you know you can use it to deodorize your kitchen drain, or as a dog shampoo? Some of this stuff was new to me, and I can’t wait to try it, even if I’m a little dubious about a couple of the applications. Some I have tried–I can vouch that fresh coffee grounds make a great fridge deodorizer (just be sure you never brew them), and I’ve also used coffee on steaks as a flavoring tenderizer.

I don’t know about using it on my hair, though. If any of you try it, you must let me know how it went.