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Perfect Coffees.Com Newsletter Issue #5

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June 1, 2005

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In This Issue
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=> Coffee Tips
=> Feature Article
=> Recipe Of The Month
=> Coffee Trivia
=> Our New Sister Web Site
=> Contact Us
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information

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Coffee Tips
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Never store your coffee in its original bag. Transfer your whole beans immediately into a ceramic or glass container with a rubber seal and preferably one that does not allow light through it. Air, light, heat and moisture are enemies of coffee.

DO NOT freeze your coffee beans! Contrary to what you may have heard, never store your coffee in the freezer, especially the refrigerator as this develops moisture around the bean.

To get rid of bad refrigerator smells, place a small open bowl with 1/2 cup of ground coffee on each shelf and leave it there for a couple of weeks. The coffee will absorb the odors and leave a clean smell. Throw the coffee away afterwards because it is totally undrinkable.

If you or your guests like chocolate, try serving your coffee with a square of chocolate on the saucer which can either be eaten separately or added to the coffee.

If you want your coffee to stay hot longer, heat your cup or mug with hot water and remove the water just before pouring in your coffee. This will keep your coffee much hotter a lot longer.

The best way to clean everything from your brewer to your cups is with a mixture of baking soda and water. Be sure to rinse, rinse, and rinse again so no residue is left behind to spoil the coffee flavor.

If you make a dessert that calls for coffee, you might consider using decaf. Desserts are usually eaten later in the day and those requiring coffee may contain a considerable amount of caffeine for the late afternoon or evening eater.

When mixing desserts and coffees, the more plain the dessert, the lighter the roast of the coffee you may want to accompany it. Espresso goes well with richer desserts and lighter roasted coffees with less rich desserts.

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Feature Article
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Coffee Drink Basics

When you enter a coffee house, you have a multitude of drink choices like latté, cappuccino, straight shot and caffé mocha just to name a few.

Sometimes knowing what to order can be overwhelming unless you know what you are getting. After all, who wants to pay an outrageous amount of money for a mystery drink that you may not even like?

So Perfect Coffees.Com has come to the rescue, and after you read this, you'll have a basic understanding of how the most popular coffee drinks are made and what they are made of.

Most coffee drinks start with espresso and espresso is just coffee that is brewed a certain way. It is finely ground to almost a powder then very hot water is forced through the grounds under intense pressure.

The brewing process is timed so that the flavorful and aromatic oils are extracted from the coffee and not the bitter components. This produces a strong flavored, but not bitter, concentrated shot of coffee.

Straight Shot
The straight shot refers to espresso coffee and the secret to good espresso is the extraction time, volume, and golden crema which is a thick light brown layer of frothed coffee oils that float on top of a properly extracted espresso.

The short shot or ristretto is extracted to a volume of three-quarters of an ounce. The shorter restricted pour magnifies the essence of the coffee and the chance of any bitter elements being extracted is minimized. If you have ever ordered an espresso shot in Europe they usually serve the ristretto.

The long shot or lungo is extracted to a volume of one and one-half ounces.

The double shot is a 2 ounce shot using twice as much coffee in the portafilter.

The correct way to serve a straight shot is to extract it directly into a warmed demitasse cup. The warm demitasse cup will keep the straight shot warm and prolong the crema. A straight shot is best enjoyed immediately after brewing.

It is rare to see people drinking straight shots of espresso in the US. Most people here drink variations using steamed milk mixed with the shots to make the different coffee drinks listed here.

Espresso Macchiato
The Espresso Macchiato starts with a shot of espresso and then a small amount of foamed milk is spooned over the shot. Macchiato in Italian means "marked," as the espresso is marked with foam.

Espresso Con Panna
This is an Espresso Macchiato using whipped cream in place of the foamed milk. The drink gets its name Con Panna which means "with cream."

Caffé Americano
The Caffé Americano is a drink similar to American brewed coffee. It is made with a single or double shot of espresso combined with 6 to 8 ounces of hot water out of an espresso machine. The result is a very smooth cup of coffee that is much hotter than brewed coffee.

Cappuccino
Cappuccino is made with a fluffy, wet foam, mixed with espresso coffee upon the pour to create a blend of the two flavors. Cold milk is essential, as is expertise in the foaming process. Cappuccino has a large volume of foam making it a light weight drink and less filling.

Caffé Latté
Caffé Latté is similar to the cappuccino but with much less foam and more steamed milk. A latté is made by holding back the foam with a spoon while pouring the frothed milk from the steaming pitcher. The caffé latté is completed by being topped with a small amount of the held back foam.

Caffé latté gets its name from the addition of coffee to milk. For an iced latté, cold milk is combined with the espresso and then the ice is added.

Caffé Mocha
A caffé mocha is made by adding powdered or chocolate syrup to a hot shot of espresso and blended. Steamed milk is then be added to the espresso-chocolate mixture and usually it is topped with whipped cream.

Iced mochas are made with cold milk and the ice added after the coffee and chocolate have been blended.

Flavored Coffee Drinks
Some popular coffee flavors are: vanilla, Irish creme, almond, hazelnut, caramel and fruit flavors such as orange and raspberry. These drinks usually start with a flavored syrup that is mixed with hot espresso and stirred. Then steamed milk is stirred in like in a latté.

An iced version of these flavored coffees made with cold milk instead of steamed makes a delicious cold drink in the Summer months.

So now that you know what's in the basic coffee drinks, try one you haven't tasted yet. Who knows, you might find a new favorite.

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Recipe Of
The Month
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Ooey-Gooey Peanut Butter-Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients
3/4 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk, divided
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, melted and cooled
1/4 cup fat-free milk
1 (18.25-ounce) package devil's food cake mix
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Cooking spray
1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/2 cup peanut butter morsels

Instructions.
Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine 1/4 cup condensed milk, butter, and next 3 ingredients (butter through egg white) in a bowl (batter will be very stiff).

Coat bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Press two-thirds of batter into prepared pan using floured hands; pat evenly (layer will be thin).

Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

Combine 1/2 cup condensed milk and marshmallow creme in a bowl; stir in morsels. Spread marshmallow mixture evenly over brownie layer.

Carefully drop remaining batter by spoonfuls over marshmallow mixture. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Yield: 2 dozen Ooey-Gooey brownies

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Coffee Trivia
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37% of coffee drinkers drink their coffee black; while 63% add a sweetener such as sugar.

Coffee, along with beer and peanut butter, is on the national list of the "ten most recognizable odors."

Coffee trees produce highly aromatic, short-lived flowers producing a scent between jasmine and orange. These blossoms produce cranberry-sized coffee cherries. It takes four to five years to yield a commercial harvest.

Brazil accounts for almost 1/3 of the world's coffee production, producing over 3-1/3 billion pounds of coffee each year.

Hawaii is the only state of the United States in which coffee is commercially grown.

Commercially flavored coffee beans are flavored after they are roasted and partially cooled to around 100 degrees. Then the flavors applied, when the coffee beans' pores are open and therefore more receptive to flavor absorption.

Decaffeinated coffee sales are at their highest in January due to people's New Year resolutions.

Cappuccino is so named because of the drink's peak of foam which resembles the cowl of a Capuchin friar's habit.

After the decaffeinating process, processing companies no longer throw the caffeine away; they sell it to pharmaceutical companies.

One of every 175 people on the planet are employed in the coffee industry.

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Our New Sister Web Site
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Our success at Perfect Coffees.Com has allowed us to build a sister web site.

Now you can shop our online stores for books, computers, electronics, gourmet food and wine, Internet access, discount magazine subscriptions, music, sports and travel with even more stores coming soon.

If you would like to browse our brand new web site you can view it here: 1stopshoppingonline.com

You won't find flashing banners or crazy backgrounds. What you will find is top quality stores conveniently gathered in one location offering brand-name merchandise and products at outstanding prices.

We appreciate any feedback from you about this new web site, the products and services we offer or products and services you would like us to offer you.

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Contact Us
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If you have comments or questions about our web sites or coffee newsletter we would love to hear from you. Your opinion is more than just important. To us it is everything.

Our contact email is Comments@perfectcoffees.com

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