Coffee Plant

Steve got me a coffee plant yesterday and I'm so excited! Yes, it obviously needs quite a bit of TLC, and no, I am not green thumb, but I'll try to nurse it back to life a little.

One of the volunteers that Steve oversees at work had this plant that she was getting rid of and once Steve found out it was a coffee plant he knew I would love it. Coffee plants produce coffee beans (well, duh!) and normally it takes about 3 years to get enough beans to make a pot or two of coffee. The lady that gave the plant to Steve has made coffee with the beans once, so I'm sure we have quite the wait until I can roast up some joe.
The process requires stripping the beans once they're ready and then soaking, drying and of course roasting. Since I like to roast my own coffee anyhow, I've got that down, but the rest of the process should be interesting!

I'm hoping the plant won't grow too much as it's already pretty huge and I have no clue where I'm going to put it in my house - especially since it's not exactly pleasant to look at. I read somewhere that if you live in a climate where you can plant the coffee plant outside, it can grow as high as 40 feet!

Anyway, I'm super excited. I know it sounds stupid, but I really love coffee. Everything about it actually - the taste, the smell, the intricate process of roasting it just long enough after the first "crack" of the bean in order to have a perfect batch...it's all so fascinating to me! So, all the being said, I'm excited to learn something new.

PS...Check out strawberry daiquiri mix in the picture to the left of the coffee plant in my extremely messy kitchen. We bought 4 bottles of this stuff for a total of $1.97 over the weekend on clearance at Costco! Sweeeet! Maybe summer time is over, but that doesn't mean the daiquiris have to go away! :)

Coffee Please!

I sure have been missing my coffee lately. The last time I had a cup of coffee was on February 5th. In case you just don’t get it that’s a long time – especially for me. Although I’ve been loving this new green tea kick I’ve been on I sure have been craving my triple grande, non-fat, 1 equal, extra thick foam latte. I’ve been missing my lattes so much that I actually had a dream last night that I was in Starbucks ordering my favorite beverage. Yep…..it’s official, I’m off my coffee rocker!

It’s been good for me this last month and half to prove to myself that I can go without coffee and not drive everyone else around me crazy while I’m doing it!

All that being said….I think once I start up on the java again (which will be on Saturday), I plan on sticking to just 1 cup a day and then I’ll drink my green tea for the rest of my day. Tea is cheaper in the long run too, so I guess in that way it’s a win-win situation.

For now though I’m just counting the days until Saturday…….

gotta love some foam....

Every monday I have a "girls night out" with 3 of my good girlfriends. We just like to get together and talk about life and what we're learning and we always have a good time. Anyway....so last night we went to Kaldi's Coffee. I've been there quite a few times before, but I think it had been a good year or so. I really like the new store they've opened in Kirkwood.
To get on with the story though, I had some of the best foam on a latte that I've had in a LONG time! Yes....I'm a coffee snob, because of that it's hard to impress me. I'm not trying to be a walking advertisement for Kaldi's or anything, because honestly as many times I've been there it's always been just "ok" not like the "wow this is great!" experience I had last night.

Because I was so impressed by the foam on this latte that I just had to write about it as I drink my own little cup of coffee this morning and think of the great latte I had last night. I wish I could have had a camera to take a picture of the beautiful foam on this latte. I almost even questioned whether it had been made with whole milk rather than the skim milk I asked for because it really looked like whole milk foam (skim milk foam is more airy and not so creamy) If you've ever made latte you know it's really hard to make skim milk foam look like whole milk foam.

Anyway....so yes, I've just confirmed that I'm a total coffee nerd, but that's okay, I have no shame. Hopefully someone out there is as equally excited at the thought of this coffee masterpiece as I was.