Specialty Colorado Coffee Shops

Loveland Ski Area opened on October 7th, and kicked off the Colorado Ski seaon for 2009 – 2010. It looks like they only have one lift running with about 19% of the area open for skiing. While it is a little early to be thinking about going skiing for me, it marks a time when I start thinking about colder weather and hot Drinks. When I say hot Drinks it could just mean coffee or hot chocolate, since they are hot, at least most of the time. But you probably noticed that I have the d in Drink as a capital D. That means that the Drinks I am talking about have a little something in them to keep us a little warmer as the nights get cooler.

That little something is some sort of alcoholic beverage of your choosing. Here without further ado is a recipe for a Cappuccino with a Shot (or two).

Cappuccino with a Shot ingredients – makes four 8 oz. cups
4 cups of espresso (or strong coffee)
2 cups of half and half
4 oz of Creme de Cacao
2 oz of rum
2 oz of Stock 84 Brandy

Start by heating water to almost a boil and pour the water into four – 8 oz. ceramic cups. If you have a microwave oven, you can skip this step and heat your cups right before serving in the microwave.

If you have an espresso maker with a steamer, starting with the half and half, put all of the ingredients in a steamer vessel and bring to approx. 130º F. You will Continue Reading »

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Hi!

Thank you for all of your e-mails. And a big THANK YOU to Jim Fortune for keeping everything afloat while I get back to business. I won’t go into all of the gory details, it would only creep you out. But I should be able to start posting next week, September 28th, on a somewhat limited basis.

Jim Fortune will be joining me as an editor. Go easy on him. He’s in his fifties and is the Budget Travel Editor at Bellaonline.com. You can read his posts at Budget Travel . His feet are a lot bigger than mine and he should have no problem filling my shoes and maybe a couple of other people’s shoes at the same time. I think he told me that he wears a size 15 M. That a real shoe and a lot bigger than my ladies size 7.

Jim has been drinking coffee for a while and his views will bring a different view of java that you will enjoy. The Recent Jobs lising on the right hand side of our front page was his idea. If you would like to post a job feel free to click the link. It’s only $10 for a 30 day listing. Not a bad value for online advertising today. We’ll talk again the week of September 28th.  If you have any questions, leave me a comment. I will answer you back. I hope you are enjoying a nice brew of coffee. Java Girl

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Sometimes I do not know why I bother to go away for vacation, do you know what I mean? It’s a frazzel to get ready, pack, load everything up, and go. Then when you get home you do everything you did before the trip in reverse order. You unload everything, unpack, put everything away, and try to unfrazzel (is that a word?).

You may have noticed that I added a box in the upper right corner of the main page for the Colorado Coffee newsletter. I thought I would take a minute to tell you about it. The newsletter is a sort of coffee klatch. For you guys, that’s girl talk for a social gathering for coffee and conversation. Seven or eight of my friends and I will sit around a table for four and chat about trips, clothes, guys, vacations, pictures we took with our digital cameras, review DVDs we’ve seen, etc.

The Colorado Coffee newsletter is more of a coffee klatch about coffee, grinders, makers, cups, recipes, and general coffee topics. I promise there will be no girl talk. I’ve never done a newsletter before, so I might be a little hair brained starting off. Please don’t e-mail me and tell me that.   Well if you must, I guess that’s O.K.

I use a program from Aweber Communications for my e-mail list. You can see what it does here AWeber. This is called an auto responder and it’s kind of like an e-mail program like Outlook where you set it up when you are out of town, it will respond with a note telling people you are away on vacation, etc. Continue Reading »

Tags: newsletter

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I am just back from my vacation to New Mexico.  It was a good trip and I’ll post about it in a few days, but I wanted to bring you up to date on the French Press coffee maker I took along.

If you want a good cup a coffee, you will need to add some oil. Coffee oil is very flavorful and improves the taste of coffee, but it is lost during the normal filtered brewing process. Coffee made with a French press doesn’t pass through a filter so you don’t lose those natural aromatic coffee oils. Most coffee lovers agree that a French Press Coffee Maker makes a superior cup of coffee. 

A French press (sometimes called a coffee press) is usually a glass cylinder with a plumber like device inside. You place your coffee grinds inside and pour hot water into it. The water should not be boiling or you will scald your grinds, which will affect the taste. 200 degree water is the optimum temperature for a fine cup of coffee. If Continue Reading »

Tags: coffee oil, French press

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I like backpacking as much as any Colorado girl. And when I go, I like to take along some specialty coffee when camping no matter if  I am backpacking or even car camping. Can you think of anything more enjoyable then waking up in the morning and making a nice hot brew of your favorite blend? There is something about camping and roughing it that makes coffee better than making a cup at home and sitting on the deck. Kick back out in the wild and watching the sun rise; that’s living.

When it comes to specialty coffee and camping or backpacking, there are, shall I say, two camps. There are those who like a more refined and perhaps more expensive method of making coffee in the rough. And then there are those of us who like coffee a little bit cheaper, but have it taste just as good.

While thumbing through a recent issue of Backpacker Magazine, I noticed an ad for a Brunton Coffeemaker. 
Brunton makes a maker called, BrewFire Dual-Fuel Coffee Maker. It is not for the weak of heart nor for the slight of pocketbook. This coffee maker will set you back $100.00+ US dollars. Continue Reading »

Tags: Backpacker Magazine, BrewFire Dual-Fuel Coffee Maker, Brunton Coffeemaker, MSR MugMate Coffee/Tea Filter

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