Bounty Latte???

Commercials are supposed to be dumb and ridiculous, I get that - but the recent Bounty Paper Towels commercial I saw the other day was just silly.
The couple was talking about making their favorite latte drinks at home to save money...
It was cute little scene with a man and his wife in the kitchen. With an cheesy smile on his face he makes this big mess while steaming his latte- but of course you're going to have a big mess when you try to make a latte using his methods!
First of all, he made the espresso and then added cold milk to it to steam all at once together- yuck! It's so important not to overcook the espresso or you'll end up with that awful bitter taste.
Second, he was attempting to steam them together in a ceramic latte cup. No wonder he had hot milk and espresso flying all over his kitchen! Where is the metal steam pitcher?

Bounty may have done a good job of cleaning up this mess - but the whole thing could have been totally avoided AND the latte would have been better than most chain coffee joints if he had done two simple things:
First, steam the milk in a metal pitcher. This will allow you to get that creamy frothy milk that is so smooth with a little foam on top.
Second, DO NOT steam your milk with the espresso in it. Always steam your milk first - before you make your espresso. After your milk is steamed, then you may add it to your espresso.

Follow these simple steps for a delicious at-home-latte that won't leave you searching for Bounty. :)

http://www.coffee-illuminated.com/making-espresso-at-home.html
http://www.coffee-illuminated.com/how-to-steam-milk.html

Coffee & Cholesterol?

A good friend of mine recently approached me with a question about coffee and the effect it has on one’s cholesterol. As far as I knew, most of the health effects coffee had were positive ones. It has been shown to prevent heart disease, it has a good amount of antioxidants in it, and most importantly it helps with happiness – who doesn’t love a good cup of coffee?
Her mother suffers from high cholesterol and was told that the French press coffee she loved may be hurting her more than she realized. Supposedly, the oils (which do not contain any fat) in the unfiltered coffee were pretty bad for those with high cholesterol. I did a little digging and reading up on the subject and the most consistent answer I found was that, sadly, the French press has some pretty negative effects when it comes to cholesterol levels. If you have no problem with your cholesterol to begin with, it's practically harmless (or at least not bad enough to give it up) but for those with health issues, it can be dangerous. Those in the group studies who drank French press coffee had significant increases on their cholesterol levels, while those who drank coffee that was filtered in an auto drip machine had almost no change in their cholesterol levels at all!
Unfortunately, as any French press fan would know, the quality of taste from filtered coffee hardly compares to the rich fullness of pressed coffee. Fortunately, I was able to offer a solution that could serve as a good compromise – filtered coffee that still had a full and rich flavor. There is a brewing method called the Chemex that makes a very flavorful coffee. It's a drip process, but the filters are a little different - and I suggest using the organic paper filters which doesn't add traces of chemicals or bleach to the brewed coffee.

You can read all about the Chemex here:
http://www.coffee-illuminated.com/chemex-coffee-maker.html

The taste is very comparable to the French press, but it does use a filtering method. An added bonus is that it looks pretty and is perfect for entertaining. In my opinion, it's easier to clean too!
If you have high cholesterol and you’re searching for a brewing method that doesn’t compromise on quality and taste – the Chemex may be just the solution for you!