The Coffee and Tea Festival (#6)

Hello and welcome to the 6th edition of the Coffee and Tea Festival. I had several posts submitted this week and I added a few that I have come across. Enjoy! For our first post, Sara Goldstein presents The Bargain Queen: Coffee: an affordable luxury posted at The Bargain Queen. Whats a fair price for a cup of coffee? Well, if it's International Roast at the church fete, then 3.5 cents is about right. But if it's hotel room-service after a 20 hour flight without a decent cup, then $2000 is probably quite reasonable. But seriously, for those of us who enjoy the caffeinated bliss that is coffee, it can become an expensive habit. Even a moderate two cappucinos a day from the coffee shop will burn through $25 per week easy - that's $1250 a year! And if your habit stretches to several cups a day, well, the sky's the limit. Sara then goes on to give some tips for how to save some money. Just remember, you get what you pay for! Ever tried a super automatic machine? (if you have been to Starbucks -- please answer yes). Joe Kissell presents Superautomatic Coffee Machines: Interesting Thing of the Day posted at Interesting Thing of the Day. There are those who believe half the pleasure of a great cup of coffee comes from the ritual of making it. The details of the ritual vary from person to person and place to place, but the desired effect is the same: a perfect cup of hot, rich, fresh coffee. Perfect, of course, is quite subjective. Among people who take coffee very seriously, there is a great deal of disagreement as to what types of bean, roast, and grind make the best coffee, how concentrated the grounds should be, whether the coffee should be infused into the water by dripping, steeping, or steaming, and many other details. Regardless of the precise outcome, however, coffee purists will insist that if you want coffee done right, you must make it by hand, with a great deal of care and attention to detail. I like the last line alot. Super Automatic machines are great for people who do not love to make coffee. I love the process and will never switch to one of these guys. Joe also goes into some nice detail on brewing, pricing, etc. They start them early these days it seems -- or maybe it is that the young ones are learning the passion of coffee (and tea) at an earlier age. Whatever it is, Lisa presents Our mutual love for Starbucks posted at Lil Duck Duck in which she talks about a trip to her local shop with her kid. Are you a coffee and tea drinker that is interested in Fair Trade certified products? It might be good to have the low down on how this process works. Jason Cangialosi writes Java Justice: Fair Trade Coffee and Cutting Out the Coyotes. For people that read this blog, A Thought Over Coffee, often that this next post will be a re-run. I posted about it a few days ago but felt that it needed to be included in this festival as well. Chris over at Arizona Coffee has this post aboutcoffee terminology. Great article that gives us a clue as to what we are ordering and what it all means. That concludes this week's edition of the Coffee and Tea Festival. Thank you very much to all that sent in their posts. The next festival will be on July 10th, right here at A Thought Over Coffee. As always, you can submit your posts with this fantastic little form. I want to feature coffee shops/tea rooms in this edition. Please send in a review of your favorite coffee place and include -- location, website, a simple review, best feature, and anything else you can think of. If we do not get any submissions like this, we will continue the way we have been going. Thanks for reading! ..be bold Tagged: coffee and tea festival, blog carnival, espresso, coffee, tea