the NEGG

Who is this for? A single-cup manual dip coffee maker is for the coffee drinker who does not mind putting a little extra time (or has a little extra time) into their coffee to make only one cup. It is also a great alternative to spending upwards of $100 on a single cup coffee maker but it is certainly not push-button operation.

Directions: A single-cup manual drip coffee maker is quite possibly the easiest and cheapest way to make one great cup of coffee. You can find some for as little as $5, but shipping costs can often be more than that, so make sure you reach the minimum free shipping target with that other thing you’ve always wanted. The cheaper ones will be plastic but make sure they are non-toxic or you can splurge for a ceramic or porcelain filter cone. Place the filter cone over your mug and all you have to do is put a paper filter in the filter cone and put in your ground coffee. Heat the water up to just off the boil and pour it over the grounds and watch your (favorite) beverage come to life.

More technical directions: The water that you pour over the grounds should be 200 °F so use a thermometer (which I do not) or just boil the water and wait 30 seconds or so. I purchased the Melitta Ready Set Joe which is raised off of the mug so you can see how much coffee has dripped into your cup so you will know when to stop. Or if you prefer, you can fill up your mug and then pour that water into the water boiling vessel. You are also going to want to wash out the filter paper and preheat the filter cone (with the filter paper inserted to wash out any paper taste) and mug and you can do that by pouring hot water from the faucet into the filter and having it drip into the mug (that is good water so waste not and water that plant you have sitting on the window sill). This way, the mug and filter will already by warm help to prevent heat loss from the coffee. And last, but not least, the rate at which you pour the water over the grounds is also important. If you are using freshly ground coffee (which I hope you are), pour just enough water to wet the grounds and allow them to bloom in order to open up the coffee grounds so their wonderful flavors can be extracted more efficiently. The fresher the coffee, the greater the bloom. Wait 10-15 seconds and then continue to pour. The total time of extraction should be from 2 to 3 minutes (it is your cup of coffee so do what tastes best to you). The manual part of this is that you must continuously pour for the 2-3 minutes in order to maintain a continuos flow of coffee. Don’t be afraid to give it all a little stir to ensure that all of the coffee grounds are completely saturated.

Clean up: What clean up? Just dump out the grounds into your favorite compost pile and give the filter cone a little scrub-a-dub-dub. Much easier than a French press!

Money Saved: Around $100 +. These filter cones are very cheap and some single cup coffee makers are upwards of $100. Not to mention costly coffee cups or pods that one must buy to accompany the single cup machines.

What are Whole Grains?

I decided to write this post to help clear the air about whole grains. Much like everything else with the food company, they may make claims that their product is whole grain, but it really is just good advertising. When you think about it, a “whole grain” is self-explanatory – a grain that is whole. That is, the grain contains all three essential parts, the bran, germ and endosperm. A refined grain is no longer a whole grain because the bran and the germ have been removed. The two parts of the grain that have been removed are the most nutritious and are loaded with protein and fiber.

Types of whole grains:

Wheat
Oat
Barley
Corn
Brown Rice
Quinoa
Sorghum
Rye

Why are whole grains refined?

Money! Food companies use refined grain because the endosperm (the only part that is not removed) does not contain any oil and therefore makes for a lighter product that can expand and only look bigger. I don’t like to see it as whole grain products are more expensive, but rather, refined products are cheaper. Refined grains also have a much longer shelf life than non-refined, whole grain food products. Taste is another reason. People may not like the tastes of whole wheat bread or pasta so they will just eat refined bread or pasta.

What is white whole-wheat flower?

Don’t like that taste of whole wheat bread, but still want the benefits? There is a naturally accruing albino variety of [whole] wheat, but still has a great nutritional benefits of the brown colored whole wheat. This white whole wheat is softer and has a taste more comparable to refined white flour we are all so used to.

USA Today Article

How do I know if it is whole grain?

Read the ingredients and not the huge text of the front of the package. If it were up to me, I would have the nutrition information on the front of the box rather than on the tiny sliver of the side panel. They key word is “whole”. The first or second ingredient should be something whole. For example, true, whole grain bread would have whole-wheat flour or whole grain wheat flour as its main ingredient. Whole grain pasta would have whole-wheat flour as its main ingredient. Whole grain oatmeal would have would have whole grain oats as its main (or only) ingredient. The only ingredient in brown rice would be brown rice (white rice is refined brown rice and therefore no longer a whole grain). Whole wheat, oats and whole brown rice are all types of whole grains.

For instance, brown rice is 100% whole grain. So if you eat 1 gram of brown rice then you are eating 1 gram of whole grain. If you eat 48 grams of brown rice, then you are eating 48 grams of whole grain. Oats are whole grain, so if you eat 20 grams of oats, then you are eating 20 grams of whole grain. Bread and pasta is a little more difficult to do the math because there could be extra ingredients such as water sugar.

The sugar, fiber and protein content are good indications if the bread, pasta, rice, oatmeal, etc. is whole grain. If it is low in sugar, high in fiber and high in protein, then chances are the food is whole grain. Again, just read the ingredients to be sure: look for “whole wheat flour”, whole oats, whole grain brown rice, etc.

In regards to pasta, Semolina is not whole wheat, but rather a fancy word for refined white flour. Durum is a type of wheat, so if the ingredient is durum whole wheat pasta, then that is whole grain pasta. People tend to find durum whole wheat more enjoyable than regular whole wheat pasta.

The Whole Grain Stamp

The easiest way to know if the food you are about to consume is whole grain is to look for the Whole Gain Stamp on the package. Also the health claim: “Diets rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods, and low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease,” can only be on the package if the food has a significant amount of whole grains per serving and contains no refined sugars. There are two types of the whole grain stamps: the basic stamp and the “100%” stamp. The basic stamp states that the particular product only contains SOME extra bran or germ with refined flour, while the 100% stamp states that all of the grain that is in the product is whole grain.

Please note: Just because the stamp is not on the package, does not mean the product is not whole grain. It just means that particular company is not associated with the Whole Grains Council, which is the company that created the stamp. There are plenty of 100% whole grain foods that do not bear this stamp, so do not be put off by the lack of the whole grain stamp, once again; it is just a marketing ploy (a good one at least).

WholeGrainsCouncil.org

Whole grain gimmicks!

Despite the nifty colors and seducing packaging, if you do not see “whole” anywhere in the ingredients or in the part that is less than 2% of the following, then it is not whole grain. Period. End of story. That’s all folks. Enriched wheat flour, wheat flour or unbleached wheat flour is NOT whole-wheat flour. The enrichment process is a vain attempt to restore the nutrients that were removed from the grain by refining it. However, the nutritional content is nowhere near the original whole grain.

Be alert for gimmicks and false claims like “multi-grain” goodness! Or Great multi-grain taste! MULTI-GRAIN DOES NOT MEAN WHOLE GRAIN! Multi grain just means that they are using more than one grain, such as wheat and oats, or wheat and barley. However a food can be multi-multi grain and whole grain, it would have to contain more than one whole grain.  Again, multi-grain is not whole grain. It is a weird concept, but only something that is whole grain can be whole grain.

Molasses can be added to bread to make it appear darker so that one would think it is whole wheat. Nothing against molasses, it is the key ingredient to baked beans!

Are there any health benefits from eating whole grains?

Yes! Not only is eating whole grain food considered to be good for you, but also eating white, refined food is bad for you! Whole grains have been known to reduce the risk the risk of heart disease, diabetes and various types of cancers. See the sources below for more specific health information. Frankly, speaking of the health benefits of whole grain is an entire post so I will save that for a later date.

Sources:

World’sHealthiestFoods.org
The Whole Grain Guide
MayoClinic.com

There are plenty more sources out there, but these few are backed by experiments and are free for public internet viewing. Of course, consult your doctor for the best source of your heath information.

I have been roasting my coffee at my home for over a year now. It is a great way to save money: depending on where you buy the coffee, you can save up to %50 off the cost compared to coffee bought already roasted. The taste of freshly roasted is unbeatable and well worth the extra time it takes to roast at home. You know your coffee is fresh when you open the air tight container, you can actually hear the gas being released: almost like opening a carbonated beverage. Roasting coffee produces a lot of smoke, so I recommend putting the oven vent on and opening all the windows, or just take it outside. Just bear in mind that if it is cold out, the roast will take longer to complete.

Don’t worry, you do not need to spend tons of money on coffee roasting equipment to roast coffee. All you need is green coffee beans, a spoon, colander, container to put the coffee, some sort of timing apparatus, time (perhaps the most important element here) and any one of these depending on your chosen method:

Stove and a skillet
Air popcorn popper with vents on the side (this will void the warrantee)
Whirley pop popcorn popper
Oven and cookie sheet

Keep in mind that each method has its own recommendations, technique and precautions so I will try to cover them all in later posts. But in the meanwhile, I purchase my green coffee from Sweet Marias and Deans Beans.

Good luck and enjoy your fleshly roasted coffee.

I just paid $20 for a $40 ink cartridge by refilling it rather than buying a new one. I have printed a bunch of documents and the print quality seems to be the same so I will never purchase a new ink cartridge ever again. How much money have you saved on ink this year?