Coffee and Tea Pleasures

Ever open a coffee bag so your reading break smells like a coffee shop? Does a spot of tea lift your spirits? Top-notch equipment and product enhances your daily rituals. We hosted a tea-party to try new things with a friend who was wowed.

VelociTea Tea Maker is the kettle that has taught me what tea should be like. I knew but never thought it could truly make a difference how long you steep your green, black or herbal teas. This one does it for you and somehow gets the hot water up into your infusion basket. This automatic tea maker has amazing, fragrant teas to play with. There’s so much fruit in loose teas like Wild Strawberry and Raspberry Patch. Don’t ask questions. Just watch the show going on in your clear kettle and enjoy the proper tea. We did. I love this and use it daily. There’s plenty more online, like the clear “catch and release” IngenuiTEA maker that steeps until you set it over your cup to flow out. Another show.

Lardera Coffee Roasters has some scents and flavors to stimulate your senses with descriptions such as “fruit bomb with lush notes of cherry…” for Catuai Anaerobic and “layered notes o juicy citrus accented by sweet sugar cane and milk chocolate” from Kenya Washed. Some people don’t know they can have – and deserve – all this happiness. Find downright sexy coffee tools including black smart electric kettle, called the fastest, most accurate electric coffee kettle on the market, capable of boiling 16 ounces of water in less than 100 seconds. The thin gooseneck spout makes elegant, like a swan. Your heated water pours out slowly, making the entire process a mindful one. Ask this smart thing to keep water hot for 30 minutes. The Chestnut C2 Max Grinder just feels good in the hand. Grind out one pot’s worth at a time and savor the whole process. In your hand is 38mm CNC Stainless Steel conical burrs with 36 settings from iced to espresso. Thoroughly impressive. Look for a Smart Electric Kettle.  

Irish Whiskey Spirit-Infused Coffee from at www.firedeptcoffee.com is a follow up to the Vanilla Bean Bourbon I shared with readers. Get ready for St. Pat’s day because this small-batch good stuff is packed with aroma, toffee, butterscotch and vanilla. Can you believe you can get stuff this good in your own house? Thanks, caffeine-loving Fire Dept. folk.

Stash – If you want to fight over the question of tea vs. coffee, then I’d suggest doing it with Stash and their wall of flavors. They have more quality varieties than our grandmothers had in the whole grocery store. I like the fruity ones, the spicy ones and even enjoyed some very strong licorice Stash. These are some new-to-me treats that serve as a dessert in some cases: Golden Turmeric Chai is very trendy. There’s Decaf Chocolate Hazelnut, Moroccan Mint and Chocolate Mint. Coconut Mango is for car travel. Soon enough, I’ll switch from hot to iced. Blueberry Superfruit is the one for people who don’t even think they like tea and Citron Meyer… well if you don’t love it, and you’re a Southerner, then I can’t help you. www.stashtea.com

Amor Perfecto – Colombia’s finest has been a dream and now Amor Perfecto claims “The World’s Freshest Coffee” on a beautiful brown box that opens like some sort of index file of gold-foil wrapped envelopes of beans. It could hold an engagement ring. Notes inside an array of blends include citrus, caramel, strawberry and cinnamon. Here’s the new thing: They roast and pack at nearly 9,000 feet in elevation. Coffee is exposed to roughly 25 percent less oxygen, so you get more flavor and lasting freshness. www.amorperfecto.com

 

Darragh Doiron is a Port Arthur area foodie probably enjoying a cup right now. Reach her at darraghcastillo@icloud.com