If you limit yourself to one pot of coffee today, then you won’t like Pietro Marmo’s coffee pot. It works, but it’ll make only ten drops of coffee at a time. The Italian goldsmith also made a cup that is conveniently sized to match it.

Link -via Gizmodo | Photo: Pietro Marmo

And on the Seventh Day, God rest after a nice cup of coffee. We've featured Karen Eland's coffee art on Neatorama a while ago, but it's always neat to revisit and see her newest creations: Link | More neat coffee pics and art over at Dark Roasted Blend - Thanks Avi!

Saimir Strati composes mosaics out of unusual substances, including toothpicks and nails. His message in this 270-square foot mosaic made of coffee beans is simple: “One world, one family, one coffee.” The five human figures represent five continents (sorry, Australia and Antarctica) uniting together in a caffeinated peace.

-via The Presurfer

Well, they can't* drink espresso but 5-year-old Ellanie and Ethan sure can make a mean espresso!

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via The Daily What

*Technically, they can but they definitely shouldn't - that sip at the end is gonna cost their parents a good night's sleep for sure!

Instructables user urant built a self contained espresso machine that fits in his pocket. An alcohol stove provides the heat. That part required a lot of tinkering in order to be both safe and effective. The end result is a portable machine that brews a cup of espresso in just a few minutes.

Link -via Make

They hardly needed to put the name on the pot -just about everyone knows what they’ll be drinking from it. Link

Who knows? It might be the same restaurant where the cold drink dispensers are labeled with pictures as well.

This excellent comic by Caldwell Tanner of Loldwell sums up my relationship with coffee perfectly! Via Geeks Are Sexy

How a coffee shortage killed the Confederacy.

Even in the midst of the Civil war, there was still one thing that the North and the South shared -a serious addiction to caffeine. In that respect, the Union clearly had an advantage. Not only did the North have more than two-thirds of the population and control most of the heavy industry, railroads, and financial reserves in the country, it hoarded supplies of the highly-addictive little bean, leaving the Confederacy to wage its own war against java deprivation.

COFFEE: IT’S WHATS FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH, AND DINNER

Throughout the Civiil War, coffee was a as prevalent in battlefields as it is in offices today. In fact, the Union army was fueled by the stuff to the point that, if there was no time to boil water, the Boys in Blue would chew on whole beans as they marched. And at night, Union campsites were dotted with tiny fires, each boiling a pot of coffee like a million miniature Starbucks.

Beyond caffeine cravings, Union troops loved their coffee because it was, literally, the best thing on the menu. Before the advent of helpful (and tasty!) artificial preservatives, a marching soldier’s rations were neither varied nor particularly appetizing. Typically, they consisted of salted meat, unleavened bread (accurately christened “hardtack”), and a little sugar and salt. It didn’t help that Union supply chains were riddled with corrupt food contractors who charged the government top dollar for rotten, stale, and insect-ridden foodstuffs. Coffee, however, was almost always fresh because it was delivered in whole-bean form  -making it difficult for even the most dishonest supplier to skimp on quality. Not that they didn’t try, of course. In fact, officials began requesting coffee as whole beans after some crooked contractors tried to up their per pound profits by slipping sand and dirt into packages of ground coffee.

In 1861, hoping to cut down on the time soldiers spent roasting and grinding beans, the army switched to a concentrated proto-instant coffee. The new concoction, called “essence of coffee,” was made by boiling prepared coffee, milk, and sugar into a thick gloop, which soldiers then reconstituted by mixing it with water. The product reportedly tasted every bit as bad as you’d imagine, and thanks to the corrupt dairymen who sold the army spoiled milk, it also tended to cause diarrhea. Needless to say, the Union army was soon back on the bean.

SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT

Noxious as essence of coffee was, Confederate soldiers would have gladly downed a cup or two. But, because of a Union naval blockade, coffee (along with weapons, machinery, medicine, and other vital materials) was in short supply in the South. Before the war, a pound of beans would have set you back 20 cents in Yankee dough. Once prewar stockpiles ran out, however, the same amount was running as high as $60 in Confederate money. (Despite the undervalued currency, that was still a lot.)

There was some coffee that made it into the Confederacy -usually carried by steam-powered blockade-runner ships. But, for the most part, Southerners had to rely on coffee substitutes, including various forms of roasted corn, rye, okra seeds, sweet potatoes, acorns, and peanuts. Unfortunately, all these imitations lacked potency, tasted awful, and upset the bowels. The only slightly better alternative was tea made from the leaves of the native yaupon shrub. The good news was that it contained caffeine; the bad news was that it was incredibly difficult to digest. Luckily, there was one surefire way for Southern folk to get their coffee -by making peace with the Union. Soldiers on the front lines often called informal truces so Rebels could swap tobacco for Yankee coffee then dash back to the camps before they were reported missing.

DRINK TO YOUR HEALTH

In the latter stages of the war, coffee beans that actually did make it to the South proved too valuable to be used by civilians or soldiers. In 1863, Samuel Moore, the surgeon general of the Confederacy, prohibited coffee use for anyone other than patients for whom its stimulant effect would prove beneficial. Lacking some of the basic necessities, however, hospital administrators often traded any java they received for medicines that would do more than just give a wounded man a caffeine buzz.

__________________________

The above article by David A. Norris is reprinted with permission from the March-April 2006 issue of mental_floss magazine. Get a subscription to mental_floss and never miss an issue!

Be sure to visit mental_floss‘ entertaining website and blog for more fun stuff!

Caffeine does strange things to people, and apparently to birds! This cockatiel is so excited about a cup of coffee that he dances to the tune of a stirring spoon. -via Arbroath

Where do Whovians go for a cup of coffee across space and time? Why, the TARDIS Cafe, of course! There's even a charming short film featuring the quirky Glasgow cafe Cappuccino Police. Via Hello, I'm the Doctor

But if the thought of making coffee on a camp stove make you shudder like the thought of sipping decaf (the horror!), then take heart because there’s this: a propane-powered coffeemaker. Yes, that’s right, people. Propane-powered.

Coleman, we coffee-addicts salute you! Link

You can find a Tumblr picture blog for almost any subject under the sun. Starbucks Spelling is dedicated to the custom of baristas writing a customer’s name on a cup, for which they sometimes get the spelling wrong. What makes this worth a look is 1. there are so many misspellings, and 2. how can anyone keep track of all the venti and grande lattes and espressos and then spell Joe G-I-O? Shown here are four different orders Omar recorded. Link -via Gorilla Mask

Maze Cafe Cup and Saucer

What a neat saucer to put under a coffee cup! It looks like an everyday cup and saucer, but just a drop of coffee on the saucer becomes a game as the drip finds it ways through the maze of grooves. The Maze Cafe Cup and Saucer was designed by artist Erdem Selek and is available now in the NeatoShop. Get your morning coffee and your morning puzzle at the same time! And be sure to check out the many other clever cups and mugs from the NeatoShop!

I consider myself an expert on drinking coffee, but even I didn’t know why a coffee tree produces caffeine! Excuse me, I need to go pour another cup. Link -via the Presurfer

Pig Nose Mug - $7.95

Are you looking for a funny yet discreet coffee mug?  You need the Pig Nose Mug from the NeatoShop.  The mug looks like a plain, white coffee mug until you take a drink. Printed on the bottom is a hilarious picture of a pig nose.  This mug is perfect for the lighthearted worker who is stuck in a stuffy office environment.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more hilarious Glassware & Drinkware!

Link

Start your a-maze-ing day right with the Maze Cafe ($14.95). This clever cup and saucer set from the NeatoShop is designed by Turkish designer Erdem Selek. It features a molded maze pattern on the saucer that you can play with a drop of coffee.

It’s the perfect Father’s Day gift for your coffee- and puzzle-lovin’ dad: Link

Yellow Submarine Mug – $9.95

Does your boring, old, coffee, mug make you feel blue?  You need the Yellow Submarine Mug from the NeatoShop (yes, officially licensed from The Beatles).  Printed inside the mug: “Love Is All You Need.”  This mug is so cheerful you can’t help but smile.

Link | Be sure to check out all the fun Glassware & Drinkware from the NeatoShop!

The caffeine-munching bacterium was found in a flower bed on the University of Iowa campus.

Ryan Summers, a doctoral student there, identified four digestive proteins that it uses to break down caffeine, which allows it to live and grow, he explains in a summary of his research presented at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans.

"This work, for the first time, demonstrates the enzymes and genes utilized by bacteria to live on caffeine," he writes.

Link

Plug Mug – $11.95

Are you tired of people stealing your favorite coffee mug? You need the Plug Mug from the NeatoShop.  Just hide the mugs rubber plug and your favorite coffee mug is now useless.  This makes a great office gag gift!

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more  fabulous Glassware & Drinkware!

Link

Half-caff latte, I choose you! Christiaan Morris made this latte surface art for the Fremont Coffee Company in Seattle. Other images at the link include Darth Vader, Batman, and Boba Fett.

Link via Walyou | Photo: Chrissy May | Previously: Latte Art Machine

Anyone who has worked in an office with a shared coffee pot will immediately relate to this clever flowchart a reader submitted over at Passive Aggressive Notes.

Link

New research suggests that individuals who carry a so-called "high-consumption" variation of either gene appear to drink more coffee, relative to those who carry a "low-consumption" variant.

"It’s really an incredible story," said study co-author Dr. Neil Caporaso, branch chief of genetic epidemiology at the National Cancer Institute. "People don’t really suspect it, but genetics plays a big role in a lot of behaviors, such as smoking and alcohol consumption. And now it turns out that it has a part in how much caffeine we drink."

Link

When you think of stars, do you think a hot ball of plasma in space? (I mean, our own Sun has a surface temperature of approximately 5,800 K). Well, not all stars are hot: a newly discovered star 75 light-years away from us is no warmer than a cup of coffee.

Dubbed CFBDSIR 1458 10b, the star is what’s called a brown dwarf. These oddball objects are often called failed stars, because they have starlike heat and chemical properties but don’t have enough mass for the crush of gravity to ignite nuclear fusion at their cores.

With surface temperatures hovering around 206 degrees F (97 degrees C), the newfound star is the coldest brown dwarf seen to date.

Link

It sounds like a simple pun to accompany a funny picture, but Vader’s Dark Side Roast Coffee is a real product. It’s just one of 17 Weird Examples of Star Wars Merchandise listed at Oddee (some of which are available in the NeatoShop). Some will make you laugh, and others might make your wish list! Link

According to data compiled by environmental think tank World Resources Institute, Scandinavians drink a lot of coffee. Between 6.8 and 12.0 kilograms per year. So world travelers, does this map match up with your experiences?

Link via Ace of Spades HQ

Need coffee to do its miraculous job every morning waking you up?

This Minor Miracle Mug has a special imprinted bottom that will give you an inspiring vision after you finish your morning coffee. How do you spell pareidolia? C-A-F-F-E-I-N-E!

Link | More fun Mugs (a surprisingly large category!)

The world’s most infamous cup of coffee spilled on February 27, 1992 in Albuquerque, NM. Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old grandmother, was a passenger in her grandson’s car when they drove through at a McDonald’s, and after she received her styrofoam cup of joe her grandson pulled the car forward and parked so Liebeck could mix in her cream and sugar.

Liebeck braced the cup between her knees, but when she tried to pull off the cup’s lid, the entire cup of coffee spilled into her lap. Although subsequent developments in the courtroom turned Liebeck and her case into objects of derision, it’s worth noting that she actually suffered legitimate injuries from the accident. Liebeck’s sweatpants absorbed the hot coffee and held it next to her skin, which helped lead to third degree burns on six percent of her body. Liebeck ended up spending eight days in the hospital and undergoing skin grafts to counter the effects of the burns.

But that’s only the beginning of the story. Liebeck asked McDonalds for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses and lost wages. McDonalds offered $800. That’s when the story starts to get complicated. Read the entire account of how a jury decided to award Liebeck $2.9 million when the case went to court (and that’s not even the end) at mental_floss. Link

If you’re anything like me and need a cup of coffee to clear your thoughts in the morning, then this is the mug for you: The Thinker Coffee Mug from the NeatoShop has a thermochromic ink that makes the figure’s worrisome thoughts disappear, to be replaced by the soothing thought of coffee.

Ah, caffeine: is there anything it can’t do? Link | More fun and unusual coffee mugs

Here’s the man behind "Two Face," Agent K, and Ed Tom Bell starring in an unusual role of pitchman for the Japanese drink Boss Coffee: Link [embedded YouTube]

Brynn Mannino of Woman’s Day wrote an interesting article about the 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Starbucks:

1. There are over 87,000 drink combination possibilities.

We knew they had a big menu, but 87,000 options? In 2008, the company included this number as part of a full-page advertisement in two national newspapers. Starbucks spokeswoman Lisa Passe explained how they came up with it to a Wall Street Journal blogger: "If you take all of our core beverages, multiply them by the modifiers and the customization options, you get more than 87,000 combinations.”

Link

The chart maps out everything from a Basic Black (1 cup-of-coffee, 0 parts anything) to a Yuayang (1 part coffee, 1 part milk tea).

Also see the The Art of Making Espresso short film that was posted here at Neatorama earlier this year.

Link

Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center researcher (and coffee lover) Gary Arendash and colleagues discovered that 500 mg of caffeine can ward off Alzheimer’s:

They’ve found that adding caffeinated water to rodents’ diet results in big improvements. The mice perform better on short-term memory and thinking tests. But only if they get enough caffeine.

"The human equivalent of two to three cups of coffee does not have benefits in our Alzheimer’s mice," says Arendash.

Arendash’s team also documented that these super-caffeinated mice end up with about a 50-percent reduction in abnormal amyloid proteins, which are thought to play an important role in the development of Alzheimer’s.

The typical American drinks about a cup and a half of coffee a day. "So you can see that many of us are below that threshold level that we believe confers protective benefits," says Arendash.

Allison Aubrey of NPR explains: Link

The Bad News: You may have to wear this T-shirt below.

I’m Not Tense – I’m Terribly, Terribly Alert – $9.95

"It’s really unique," says Stephanie Peng, manager of the company’s flagship U.S. store in Irvine, Calif. "The sea salt’s in the cream, the foam part, so it just brings out more coffee essence."

The lattes sound exotic, but the salt flavor is incredibly subtle — you have to tease it out with your tongue. Sea salt lattes have helped establish 85C as the "Starbucks of Asia." The chain has more than 300 stores across Taiwan, and it plans to expand its presence across China, Australia and the U.S. over the next few years.

But the real gem may be the weird pastries that they sell:

One surprise crossover hit is a black squid-ink bread, made with Vermont sharp cheddar cheese and garlic paste. Each roll costs less than a dollar, meaning there’s incentive to stray outside your flavor comfort zone.

NPR’s Neda Ulaby has the story: Link

Has anyone here tried salted coffee? I have some sea salt, perhaps I should just salt my morning coffee tomorrow …

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

Link -via Cynical-C

The last time I felt so cutting edge was when I got the Senseo coffee maker pod machine a few years ago. Today, it’s absolutely quaint especially when compared to the gorgeous coffee makers and espresso machines compiled by Dark Roasted Blend.

This one above is the Heart Bean Coffee Grinder, by Adi Navwany, Michal Shamsian, Itamar Paloge and Danielle Ram. It’s made from a single piece of wood and has a built-in sensor to monitor your heart beat to let it grind the coffee beans to the rhythm of your heart.

See more here: Link

Gerard Vlemmings, whom you know as the Presurfer, recently retired from his real world job and is now devoting his time to blogging. He’s launched a new project called Popular Coffee News which is, unsurprisingly, devoted to coffee and the people who love it. Some of the early posts include coffee science, coffee art, coffee making tips, and a video of a bird stirring a coffee cup! Link

The team calculates the Carpuccino will do three miles per kilo of ground coffee – the equivalent of about 56 espressos per mile.

The journey will use about 70 kilos of ground coffee which, at supermarket prices of between £13 and £26 a kilo depending on brand and quality, will cost between £910 and £1,820, or between 25 and 50 times the £36 cost of petrol for the journey.

Link via Fast Company | Photo: The Daily Mail

When Siebe Warmoeskerken of VTPN (Flickr user siebe) started taking photos of cookies splashing into a cup of coffee, little did he know that he was about to spark a little Flickr meme.

Behold the Coffee Splash! Photo Pool on Flickr, where photographers do their own take of the coffee splash … Link – via Doobybrain

Last year, organizers at the Rocks Aroma Festival in Sydney, Australia, made an enormous image of the Mona Lisa using thousands of cups of coffee lightened with milk (to varying quantities) in order to create different shades:

The different colours were created by adding no, little or lots of milk to each cup of black coffee.

It measures an impressive 20 feet high and 13 feet wide and took a team of eight people three hours to complete.

Link via Digg | Photo: EpicFTW | Previously on Neatorama: Mona Lisa in Coffee (as a Paint)

Putting Weird Things in Coffee is a food blog about one man’s quest to find tasty and unusual ingredients to put in coffee beyond the traditional cream and sugar. These include salmon, blue cheese, and peanut butter. Pictured above is a mixture that he did not invent: juustoleipä, a Finnish cheese made from reindeer milk, that is often dipped in coffee before eaten.

What unusual things have you mixed in your coffee?

Link via Amanda Bensen (who notes that her family used to brew coffee with reindeer bones)

This beautiful short film shows you how to make a perfect espresso.

It’s the first part of an ongoing series of videos from The Department of the 4th Dimension that documents the search for the ultimate tastemakers.

Link [Vimeo] – Chris Glass via SimpleBits

In case you didn’t realize how far component miniaturization has progressed in the past decade: casemodder Klaus Diebel offers the iMac CS, which is an iMac case (in your choice of colors) that contains a computer (a Mac mini), a sound system, and a coffee maker! Each unit is custom-made, so you’ll have to discuss the price with him if you want one. Link -via Gizmodo

You’ve probably heard all about the art of drinking coffee, but Karen Eland took that to a higher level and made an art of painting with coffee. Have a look at some of the world’s greatest masterpieces, such as Mona Lisa, or the scene from the Sistine Chapel expressed in espresso! Eland also talks about her technique and how it came about.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by sanela.

The relay gets it’s power from a molex connector on the power supply; a small amount however, just enough to not flip the relay. Second connection to the relay is a cable to the COM port on the PC. Thirdly, the relay is hooked up to the power cable to the PSU that powers the coffee maker. I wrote a script in Visual Basic Scripting, that uses a module to enable the COM port on the PC. The power on the COM connection is enough to flip over the relay, thus giving the coffee maker it’s much needed power, which makes the coffee maker do it’s thing. The script enables the PC to make coffee with the push of a button!

Link – Thanks Tim!

Previously on Neatorama: Case Mod: The Ultimate List

This lamp post is an ad for McDonalds in Vancouver. You have to wonder 1. how much light does it really emit, and b. is the coffee still free? -via Gizmodo

(image credit: Flickr user mkandlez)

Kopi luwak is named after the animal that gives the coffee its … uh … full body. The bright-red coffee cherries are eaten by the luwak, which is a cat-like relative of the mongoose in Southeast Asia.

After a few hours of digestion, the beans come out the other end. They’re picked up off the forest floor, cleaned and roasted. Because of this “all natural” processing, the coffee is said to have a rich and heavy flavor, with hints of caramel or chocolate.

“It’s delicious, amazing,” said the coffee shop owner Sharif Harb. “There’s no other coffee like it — rich, almost syrupy.”

Link via Instapundit

Who can refuse this udderly wonderful design by Liz Goulet Dubois of Fred Studio? Not me certainly – we’ve just gotten our shipment for the Neatorama’s Online Store: Link

After many years in grad school, Pauline Fujita of Litmus has had at least as much coffee as science, yet like most of us, she knew very little of the brewed beverage. So, Pauline decided to delve a little into the science of coffee.

Take, for instance, the science behind the aroma of coffee:

Most of the aroma we associate with coffee is created during the roasting process. Longer roasting times mean coffee that is more bitter and less acidic and darker in color (Fortin 1999). Green, or un-roasted coffee contains about 300 volatile organic compounds (Bonnländer et al. 2005 pp. 198) whereas over 1000 such compounds have been found in roasted coffee. The green bell pepper-like “aroma” of green coffee can be attributed primarily to the compound isobutylmethoxypyrazine. In contrast, the aroma of roasted coffee is thought to result from a combination of about 25 volatile organic compounds, the “aroma compounds”, found at a total concentration of only 1g/kg of coffee and ranging in individual concentration from the lower part per million range down to as little as parts per trillion.

So where do all these extra compounds come from? During the roasting process many different chemical reactions occur, the most important of which can be classified as one of two types of reactions. The first, Maillard or “browning” reactions, produce aroma compounds as well as colored compounds (melanoidins), and the second, caramelization reactions, involve the chemical reduction of sugar compounds, the same tasty process that, you guessed it, makes caramel.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by BMA.