coffeeholix™

Using Blog or Website Template

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:12:00 +0000

Website templates are very affordable and they save you a lot of effort and time when you want to create a new layout for your website. However, a lot of people make mistakes in the process of choosing and using a web template and end up with something that was unlike the image they had in mind. Here are some guidelines to help you avoid those mistakes.

The first obvious mistake you should be aware of is using a template that is very popular. If many people use the same template, your website will not appear unique at all and your credibility as a solid, different website will be tarnished. In other words, you will appear generic just like your next-door neighbours.

To whole point of using a web template is to save time and effort. You just change the title and appropriate details and you're done. The biggest mistake one makes is to customize the template beyond recognisation. While that may be good in the sense that you're creating a unique graphic, you're defying the very purpose of using a web template -- saving time and effort.

However, on the opposite side, if a template you purchase is suitable but some changes must be made to suit your site's theme, then you will have to take some time to make the changes. For example, you can find a very nice template that suits your hobby site except the original designer has put an image of stamps in the header. You can find images of garden plants and spades to replace the stamps for your gardening hobby site. However, do only make the necessary changes and don't redesign the whole template.

In some circumstances, some people simply make the wrong choice of templates. This is a very subjective issue but you have to be careful in selecting templates to suit your audience. Do not choose templates just because they are pretty, choose them because they serve your purpose.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:03:00 +0000

Google, being the undisputable leader in search engines from then until now, is placing a high importance on the quality and relevancy of its search engines. Most especially now that the company is public property. In order to keep the shareholders and users of its engines happy, the quality of the returned results are given extreme importance. For this same reason, doing the wrong things in the Adsense and other forms of advertisements, whether intentionally or unintentionally, will result in a severe penalty, may get you banned and even have your account terminated. Nothing like a good action taken to keep wrongdoers from doing the same things over again. So for those who are thinking of getting a career in Adsense, do not just think of the strategies you will be using to generate more earnings. Consider some things first before you actually get involved. Hidden texts. Filling your advertisement page with texts to small to read, has the same color as the background and using css for the sole purpose of loading them with rich keywords content and copy will earn you a penalty award that is given to those who are hiding links. Page cloaking. There is a common practice of using browser or bot sniffers to serve the bots of a different page other than the page your visitors will see. Loading a page with a bot that a human user will never see is a definite no-no. This is tricking them to click on something that you want but they may not want to go to. Multiple submissions. Submitting multiple copies of your domain and pages is another thing to stay away from. For example, trying to submit a URL of an Adsense as two separate URL’s is the same as inviting trouble and even termination. Likewise, this is a reason to avoid auto submitters for those who are receiving submissions. Better check first if your domain is submitted already an a certain search engine before you try to submit to it again. If you see it there, then move on. No point contemplating whether to try and submit there again. Link farms. Be wary of who and what are you linking your Adsense to. The search engines know that you cannot control your links in. But you can certainly control what you link to. Link farming has always been a rotten apple in the eyes of search engines, especially Google. That is reason enough to try and avoid them. Having a link higher than 100 on a single page will classify you as a link farm so try and not to make them higher than that. Page rank for sale. If you have been online for quite some time, you will notice that there are some sites selling their PR links or trading them with other sites. If you are doing this, expect a ban anytime in the future. It is okay to sell ads or gain the link. But doing it on direct advertisement of your page rank is a way to get on search engines bad side. Doorways. This is similar to cloaking pages. The common practice of a page loaded with choice keyword ads aimed at redirecting visitors to another “user-friendly” page is a big issue among search engines. There are many seo firms offering this kind of services. Now that you know what they actually are, try to avoid them at all costs. Multiple domains having the same content. In case you are not aware of it, search engines look at domains IP’s, registry dates and many others. Having multiple domains having the same exact content is not something you can hide from them. The same goes with content multiplied many times on separate pages, sub domains and forwarding multiple domains to the same content. Many of the above techniques apply to most search engines and is not entirely for Google only. By having a mind set that you are building your Adsense together with your pages for the human users and not for bots, you can be assured of the great things for your ads and sites. Not to mention avoiding the wrath of the search engines and getting your Adsense and site account terminated altogether.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 06:22:00 +0000

1. Update the pages on your website frequently. Stagnant sites are dropped by some search engines. You can even put a date counter on the page to show when it was last updated.

2. Offer additional value on your website. For affiliates and partners you can place links to their sites and products and ask them to do the same for you. You can also advertise their books or videos, if these products relate to your industry and are not in competition with your own product.

3. You can allow customers to ‘opt in’ to get discounts and special offers. Place a link on your site to invite customers to ‘opt in’ to get a monthly newsletter or valuable coupons.

4. Add a link to your primary page with a script ‘Book Mark or Add this site to your Favorites’.

5. Add a link ‘Recommend this site to a Friend’ so that the visitor can email your website link, with a prewritten title, “Thought you might be interested in this”, just by clicking on it.

6. Brand your website so that visitors always know they are on your site. Use consistent colors, logos and slogans and always provide a ‘Contact Us’ link on each page.

7. Create a ‘Our Policies’ page that clearly defines your philosophy and principles in dealing with your customers. Also post your privacy policy as well so that clients know they are secure when they visit your site.

8. Create a FAQ page which addresses most of the doubts and clarifications about your product or your company that are likely to be asked. This helps to resolve most of the customers doubts in their first visit to your site.

8. Ensure that each page on your website has appropriate titles and keywords so that your customer can find their way back to your site if they lose the book mark.

9. Never spam a client, who has opted for newsletters, with unsolicited emails. Later if they decide they want to ‘opt out’ of the mailings, be sure you honor their request and take them off the mailing list. They may still come back if they like your products. But they will certainly not come back if you continue to flood their email box with mails they no longer wish to receive.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 07:42:00 +0000

Overture or now known as Yahoo because of Yahoo’s takeover, was the original inventor of the use of the P4P or Pay for Performance. Overture saw that the internet was fast becoming the easiest and most convenient way to shop, and advertising was going to hit at an all time high because of the many businesses in the arena.

To get a person to go to a site than others, it needs to be very visible. Providing ads that could direct potential consumers and costumers to their site would allow them to have an increase in traffic as well as sales. Yahoo provides a service that can put a site or company’s ad in their sites that can be shown when certain keywords are inputted.

Yahoo offers a chance for any company to increase their traffic by using their services. With more people being aware of your site, there would be more traffic and visitors to your site given the chance to view your pages as well as your products. With even a small percentage of successful sales, with a high traffic volume this could still be a substantial figure for your company.

Getting a consistent substantial flow of website visitors is every company’s goal. Many methods are devised and utilized to ensure that there would be more people to boost the sales and to be aware of the existence of such a product or service. Website visitors are potentially the life blood of your internet based business.

Yahoo/Overture utilizes the same principle as Google’s Adwords. In fact, they are very similar to each other that they use keyword and keyword phrase searches and to determine which ads to show per search. When a person types in a keyword or keyword phrase to search for anything, the search engines gives out the results in a page. Then at the right side of the page, you will see selected ads that have paid for their ads to be viewed with certain keywords and keyword phrases searched.

For example, Lets say you run a car parts retail/wholesale site. You choose keywords that can prompt or trigger your ads to be shown in the page when a keyword is searched. When a search engine user types in Honda Accord, your ad may come up if you have designated that as one of your keywords. You don’t need to fully optimize your site with Search Engine Optimization methods and techniques.

While some labor so hard to make their site one of the high ranking sites per keyword search, you get the chance to be on the top of the list or at least in the first page of a search result increasing your chance to be clicked on. With that, you drive traffic and website visitors to your site a lot faster.

You will have to pony up some cash when using this service though. There are different ways Yahoo/Overture will charge you. It may be in the number of Keywords or Keyword phrases your ad uses or in the many times your ad is clicked on. Others offer many other services like having your ad show up not only in the search engine pages but also with some third party sites.

Third party sites support ads that have the same theme or niche as them. With more areas your ad is shown, you increase the chances of people knowing about your site or product. With more website visitors you increase the sales of your site which makes your investment with your ads a wise one.

With so many competitions in the internet based businesses, it is necessary to take a huge leap forward from the pack by advertising. Yahoo/Overture will be a great place to start. Many have utilized their services and have reaped the rewards of this decision. It’s a marketing strategy that will increase your website visitors as well as increase your sales resulting to profit.

It takes money to make money, while there are some methods that are basically low cost or free, using a marketing service such as what Yahoo/Overture offers will provide results faster and on a larger scale. Many businesses have learned this the hard way, don’t be counted with them.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 09:25:00 +0000

There are approximately 68 million .COM domains registered. That’s a lot of domain names out on the Internet that are either already taken or just parked in some obsolete spot gathering dust and all kinds of age. The most common names like loser.com. Jamesbrown.com are already taken by net investors who resell the rights to the names. Can you imagine someone having www.elvis.com ? He’s just waiting on the highest bidder!

There are 900 possible combinations for two letter sequences. If you’re looking for “ET” then you just won’t find it! Even allowing for digits, again every single web address is taken. Of course, that's ignoring the fact that .COM registrars now mandate a 3-character minimum length, so it wouldn't be an option.

Many of the three-letter sequences are taken. Adding digits to a domain name creates a number of garbage domain entries. If you're dying to acquire great domains and unique domain names, they'll free up sometimes only to be auctioned off through unique domain name sales.

The longer the domain name that you choose, the more that the possibilities are that it could be available presuming that you're willing to accept an arbitrary sequence of letters and/or digits. For example, most organizations have 4 letter acronyms (WQAM.com and AFTA.org so you may have a chance using over 4 letters to get the domain name that you want in acronym style!

Of course many of the registered domains are ever, visited, with a huge percentage having nothing more than a “parked page” (users pay domain registrars to put up ads for themselves on these type of parked pages). There are so many combinations and back door tricks to domain name cataloging and classification until the possibilities are endless.

The rule is to obtain a domain name that closely resembles who you are about which gives you and identity and brand on the internet.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 10:08:00 +0000

What do you do when an ISP providers’ level of service has decreased or the provider has just closed shop? You don’t panic; all you have to do is switch to a new provider. If you know how these ISP services work, then switching over to a new provider will not be as rough or bad as you think. All it takes is having a contingency plan.

There are two components to internet ISP services which include the physical network connection to your SOHO or small office and the connection to network services so you can retrieve email or look at a web-site. Most SOHO businesses, no matter how big or small, will have network integration. This is also called a Wide Area Network. The connection through the network allows you to physically connect to the internet to look at web pages, use instant messaging or manage email accounts or use your email account.

This wide area network connects your computers to the internet. The services that you get out of the network depend on your network configuration. Again, the type of internet service you get should depend on what’s available in your area and how much bandwidth you need for business applications to be run or developing server side applications for your hosting account.

Many people rely on their own mail server or Web-site on their network, while many other business owners rely on their outside hosting providers.

You should also look at the types of access that you want. Should you consider keeping the same kind of bandwidth, downgrade or upgrade according to company needs? Right now, the hottest access going is DSL transmissions because it uses existing phone wires or cable modem. Cable and Broadband similarities are the same depending on what part of the country that you live in. Any choice that you make is going to be driven by price and availability.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:40:00 +0000

Your domain name could be stolen or given up to the evil entity known as the Cyber squatters whose main mission is to steal your web identity and this is how they do it. They could register YourDomainName.org, and do the same thing with YourDomainName.biz, therefore contacting you and try to sell you those names at advanced prices. If that doesn’t work, then the following events could happen.

They will allow your competitor to get a domain that sounds like yours, and allow him to cause confusion or try to steal your hard-earned traffic, business and clients.

Take these steps right now to halt the cyber squatters.

Have people go through you for authorization: Go through your domain name registrar and fill in a form that locks in authorized entities of your claim of other domain names. You can buy these names and keep them under your roof. It will provide you information to include, such as contact information, who should be contacted if someone wants to register your domain, the character string you are claiming (this must be an EXACT match), description of your current products/services, when you began using that domain name.

You have a small window to accomplish filling out an authorized entry form. Check with your domain registrar for time frame windows in filling out an authorized entry form Failure to enter a claim during a certain time frame means the registering entities will not check to see if there is an equivalent .com, .net or .org name. They will not check the IP Claim Service database. Meaning, you could lose your .info or net-version of your domain name.

Don’t let cyber squatters shake you down and ruin what you have built up on the net. Get the rights and the authorization to similar or like names to your main domain name!

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 07:12:00 +0000

Referrer logging is used to allow web servers and websites to identify where people are visiting them either for promotional or security purposes. You can find out which search engine they used to find your site and whether your customer has come from a ‘linked site’. It is basically the URL of the previous webpage from which your link was followed.

By default, most hosting accounts don’t include referrer logs but may be subscribedd for an extra monthly fee. If your web host does not provide a graphic report of your log files, you can still view the referrer logs for your website by logging into the host server using free or low-cost FTP software, like these:

FTP Explorer: http://www.ftpx.com/
LogMeIn: http://secure.logmein.com/dmcq/103/support.asp
SmartFTP: http://www.smartftp.com/
FTP Voyager: http://www.ftpvoyager.com/

The log file is available on your web server which can be download into your computer later. You can use a log analysis tool, like those mentioned below, to create a graphic report from your log files so that the files are easier to understand.

Abacre Advanced Log Analyzer http://www.abacre.com/ala/
Referrer Soft http://www.softplatz.com/software/referrer/
Log Analyzer http://www.loganalyzer.net

You can view the files using Word, Word Perfect, txt or WordPad files even if you don’t have the right tool. This information is very crucial to your business and marketing plans and is not advisable to neglect it.

In addition to identifying the search engine or linked site from where your visitor arrived, referrer logs can also tell you what keywords or keyword phrases your client used for searching.

As referrer information can sometimes violate privacy, some browsers allow the user to disable the sending of referrer information. Proxy and Firewall software can also filter out referrer information, to avoid leaking the location of private websites. This can result in other problems, as some servers block parts of their site to browsers that don't send the right referrer information, in an attempt to prevent deep linking or unauthorized use of bandwidth. Some proxy software gives the top-level address of the target site itself as the referrer, which prevents these problems and still not divulging the user's last visited site.

Since the referrer can easily be spoofed or faked, however, it is of limited use in this regard except on a casual basis.. hope its usefull.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Today i made my self a great experiment with my coffee in my cozy time with all my frien. Here's what i am already done to make tasty iced coffee hope this usefull for you.

PERFECT ICED COFFEE just for YOU

Ingredients:

1 shot Stoli Coffee or other coffee vodka. 6 scoops white chocolate vanilla bean or coffee ice cream. 1 shot Stoli Vanilla or other vanilla vodka or gelato.

How to :

Always use cold coffee, unless Serve in a chilled martini glass, shaken or stirred. Let coffee cool. Place one scoop of ice cream in 6 chilled otherwise specified.

Hot coffee 6 oz glasses. Pour enough of the cooled coffee into each will melt the ice and make the glass to cover the scoop. Serves 6 drink watery.

enjoy your iced Coffee!!

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:32:00 +0000

If you've been using Google's AdSense on your pages you obviously feel the need to somehow generate even more traffic for your website, which in turn would translate to more AdSense click and a higher income. But who do you do this? Well, the major way you'll get visitors to see your website (other then using AdWords, which is encouraged as well) is to use some techniques to have search engines send more and more users towards your page, by ranking high in search results for your topics of interest.Believe it or not this is a technique, better known as search-engine optimization or simply SEO. So here are a bunch of tips that come handy under every amateur or professional optimizer's belt. The first thing you need to take care of is the actual source code and layout of your page. This has to be kept as simple as possible. The problem comes when AdSense and the search engines themselves begin to have troubles in extracting the most relevant keywords on your site because of a too complex layout.

Secondly, try to have each one of your pages target only one specific topic. This way it is a lot easier for them to get indexed properly and for the AdSense ads to be consistent with the content of the site itself. Also, try not to include too many hyperlinks in your page as well. This also means you should try not to use too many AdSense ads on your page either.

If there are certain keywords you wish to target, make sure the word you wish to target is present in the title, in the first paragraphs as well as in the name of the file. While you're at it you might want to ensure the word springs up in the page's last paragraphs. And of course, it's very important for your content to have original and compelling content. How do you do this? Well the easiest way to do it is to find something you're really passionate about. That way, providing you give it a lot of effort you're bound to have a great page quite fast.

If the content you use in your site is in the public domain (which is highly discouraged) make sure that you at least give it an original title, and add an opening and a closing paragraph of your own. This takes a little while, but if, after waiting, you still can't find your page near the top, you should try rewriting your title and your first and last paragraphs. It doesn't take much, often just changing a few words will give you the right results.

And of, course there's the use of keyword tools that may aid you in finding some good keywords to include on your page that will drive visitors to your site more and more. So those are about the basic techniques in search engine optimization. You can find a lot of computer tools to aid you in doing this, and of course, Google is a great place to search for this.

In the end, you'll find that SEO is a complex topic, and entire books have been written on the topic as well. You might find that you have a lot of optimization you need to do in order to get more and more visitors to your site and clicking those precious AdSense banners, You need to have optimized niche website templates for best results.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:29:00 +0000

Video blogging has a lot of advantages over text-based blogging, and it is little wonder that this new technology is catching on all over the globe. Video
blogs very effectively grab the attention of web surfers, and people are much more likely to become excited about the dynamic content of a video blog than they are likely to find a written posting very thrilling. The more enthusiastic viewers are about a site, the quicker the word of mouth spreads, and the more traffic the site will get.
Of course, there are plenty of disadvantages to video blogging as well. Hosting a v-blog requires quite a bit of server space, which can make it difficult to get started. It takes more time to process and upload a video
file than it does to dash off a quick bit of text, which means that running and updating a video blog can be quite a bit of work. In addition, web surfers sometimes grow frustrated with the slow loading times of the files
on many video blogs. Whether you opt for a video blog or not depends on what kind of subject matter you want to cover, and how much time you can devote to video blogging. Before you decide to pursue a video blog,
consider if there is an easier way for you to get your message across.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:25:00 +0000

Coffee has frequently suffered from a health image problem. As Ian Bersten points out in “Coffee, Sex & Health” (Helian Books), it could be coffee’s bad luck to have had a name so close to its alkaloid component, caffeine. However, coffee can play a role in keeping you healthy if consumed in moderation as indicated in the following research:

Mark Florence, former chief scientist with the CSIRO and co-author of “The Handbook of Preventive Medicine” (Kingsclear Books) found that brewed coffee minimalises the action of a chemical called theophylline which helps dilate bronchial muscles which become constricted during cold or flu epidemics or in asthmatics. He recommends drinking no more than 2 cups brewed or 4 cups instant per day.

In Mark Walqvist’s book “Agefit: Fitness and Nutrition For An Independent Future” (Pan MacMillan), it is reported that coffee releases fat from fat cells and assists in weight loss. He also says that coffee may play a role in cancer prevention but stresses the links are weak. He points out that the way in which coffee is made may determine how beneficial it is - freshly filtered is best.

After analysing 17 published studies on coffee consumption and colorectal cancer, Professor Edward Giovanucci of Harvard Medical School found the risk of colorectal cancer to be 24 per cent lower among those who drink four or more cups of coffee per day than the risk among those who rarely or never drink coffee.

Coffee contains potentially cardioprotective flavonoids, which have antioxidant properties, so the occasional cup of coffee may not be bad for you, it may even provide some benefit.

Common levels of caffeine in foods and beverages are described in the table below :

Beverage :                       Caffeine content (mg) :
instant coffee                                              1 heaped tsp 90mg
percolated coffee 200ml                  100mg
brewed (drip method) 200ml                140mg
cappuccino                                80mg
espresso 100ml                           80mg
cafe latte                                   55mg

The recommended intake of caffeine is less than 200mg/day.

Based on recent evidence, it seems that up to three cups of coffee or equivalent caffeine intake a day will not do any harm (unless you are pregnant, suffer from stomach ulcers, hypertension or heart arrhythmia) and may indeed provide some health benefits.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:37:00 +0000

1. Cardamom-spiced Coffee

Ingredients:
3/4 c Ground Coffee
2 2/3 c Water
Ground Cardamom
1/2 c Sweetened Condensed Milk

How To:
Using amounts specified, brew coffee in a drip-style coffee maker or percolator. Pour into 4 cups. To each serving, add a dash of ground cardamom and about 2 tablespoons of the condensed milk; stir to blend.

2. Chocolate Almond Coffee

Ingredients:
1/3 c Ground coffee
¼ ts Freshly ground nutmeg
½ ts Chocolate extract
½ ts Almond extract
¼ c Toasted almonds, chopped

How To:
Process nutmeg and coffee, add extracts. Process 10 seconds longer. Place in bowl and stir in almonds. Store in refrigerator. Makes 8 six ounce servings. To brew: Place mix in filter of an automatic drip coffee maker. Add 6 cups water and brew.

3. Chocolate Coffee

Ingredients:
2 tb Instant coffee
1/4 c Sugar
1 ds Salt
1 oz Squares unsweetened chocolate
1 c Water
3 c Milk Whipped cream

How To:
In saucepan combine coffee, sugar, salt, chocolate, and water; stir over low heat until chocolate has melted. Simmer 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly until heated. When piping hot, remove from heat and beat with rotary beater until mixture is frothy. Pour into cups and sail a dollop of whipped cream on the surface of each. Makes 6 servings.

4. Chocolate Mint Coffee

Ingredients:
1/3 c Ground coffee
1 ts Chocolate extract
1/2 ts Mint extract
1/4 ts Vanilla extract

How To:
Place coffee in a blender or food processor. In a cup, combine extracts. With processor running, add extracts. Stop and scrape sides of container with spatula. Process 10 seconds longer. Store in refrigerator. Yield: mix for eight 6-ounce servings.

5. Chocolate Mint Coffee Float

Ingredients:
1/2 c Hot coffee
2 tb Crème de cacao liqueur
1 Scoop Mint chocolate chip ice cream

How To:
For each serving combine 1/2 cup coffee and 2 tablespoons liqueur. Top with scoop of ice cream.

6. Coconut Coffee

Ingredients:
2 c Half-and-half
15 oz Can cream of coconut
4 c Hot brewed coffee
Sweetened whipped cream

How To:
Bring half-and-half and cream of coconut to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Stir in coffee. Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

7. Coffee Ice

Ingredients:
2 c Brewed espresso
1/4 c Sugar
1/2 ts Ground cinnamon

How To:
In a saucepan over medium heat, simmer all ingredients just to dissolve. Place mixture in a metal dish, cover and freeze for at least 5 hours, stirring the outer frozen mixture into the centre every half hour, until firm but not solidly frozen. Just before serving, scrape the mixture with a fork to lighten the texture. Makes 4 (1/2 cup) servings.

8. Coffee Soda

Ingredients:
3 c Chilled double-strength coffee
1 tb Sugar
1 c Half and half
4 Scoops (1 pint) coffee ice cream
3/4 c Chilled club soda Sweetened whipped cream, 4 Maraschino cherries,
Chocolate curls or cocoa, for garnish, optional

How To:
Combine the coffee and sugar blend in the half and half fill 4 soda glasses halfway with the coffee mixture, add a scoop of ice cream and fill the glasses with soda. Garnish as desired with whipped cream, cherries, chocolate curls or cocoa.

9. Creamy Iced Coffee

Ingredients:
1 c Chilled brewed coffee, made double-strength
2 tb Confectioners' sugar (rounded tablespoons)
3 c Chopped ice

How To:
Combine the coffee, sugar, and ice, and blend until creamy.

10. Creamy Irish Coffee

Ingredients:
4 c Strong fresh coffee
1/4 c Sugar
1/2 c Irish whiskey
1 c whipping cream
2 tb Sugar
2 tb Irish whiskey

How To:
Place 4 cups of strong fresh coffee in a saucepan with 1/4 cup of sugar, or to taste. Add 1/2 cup Irish Whiskey and heat thoroughly but do not boil. (Scotch, Bourbon or other whiskeys could be used.) Meanwhile whip 1 cup whipping cream until light. Beat in 2 tb each of sugar and Irish whiskey. Pour coffee into mugs or goblets and pipe or spoon flavoured cream on top.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:30:00 +0000

1. Cajun Coffee

Ingredients:
3 c Hot Strong Coffee
6 tb Molasses
6 tb Dark Rum (If Desired) Whipped Cream Nutmeg (Freshly Ground)

How To:
Combine coffee and molasses in a saucepan. Heat, stirring, until molasses is dissolved and coffee is very hot. Do not allow to boil. If desired place 1 Tbls. rum in each mug. Add coffee. Top with whipped cream; sprinkle with nutmeg. Do not stir before drinking.

2. Cappuccino Orange

Ingredients:
1/3 c Powdered non-dairy creamer
1/3 c Sugar
1/4 Dry instant coffee
1 Or 2 orange hard candies (crushed)

How To:
Blend all ingredients together in mixer. Mix 1 Tb with 3/4 cup hot water. Store in airtight jar.

3. Creamy Cappuccino

Ingredients:
1/4 c Instant espresso or instant dark-roast coffee
2 c Boiling water
1/2 c Heavy cream, whipped Cinnamon, nutmeg, or finely shredded orange peel

How To:
Dissolve coffee in boiling water. Pour into small, tall cups filling only about half full. Offer sugar. Now pass whipped cream-- everyone adds a spoonful, dashes It with cinnamon, nutmeg, or orange peel, then folds the cream into coffee.

4. Cappuccino Royale

Ingredients:
1/2 c Half-and-half
1/2 c Freshly brewed espresso
2 tb Brandy
2 tb White rum
2 tb Dark creme de cacao Sugar

How To:
Whisk half-and-half in heavy small saucepan over high heat until frothy, about 3 minutes. Divide espresso coffee between 2 cups. Add half of brandy and creme de cacao to each cup. Re-whisk half-and-half and pour into cups. Sweeten to taste with sugar.

5. Cappuccino Shake

Ingredients:
1 c Skim milk
1 1/2 ts Instant coffee
2 pk artificial sweetener
2 dr Brandy or rum flavouring
1 ds Cinnamon

How To:
In a blender, combine milk, coffee, sweetener and extract. Blend until coffee is dissolved. Serve with a dash of cinnamon. For a hot drink, pour into a mug and heat in a microwave.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:21:00 +0000

1. Cafe Au Cin

Ingredients:
1 c Cold strong French roast coffee
2 tb Granulated sugar
ds Cinnamon
2 oz Tawny port
1/2 ts Grated orange peel

How To:
Combine and mix in a blender at high speed. Pour into chilled wine glasses.

2. Cafe Cappuccino

Ingredients:
1/2 c Instant coffee
3/4 c Sugar
1 c Nonfat dry milk
1/2 ts Dried orange peel

How To:
Crush in mortar and pestle Use 2 T. for each cup of hot water

3. Cafe Cappuccino Mix

Ingredients:
1/2 c Instant coffee
3/4 c Sugar
1 c Nonfat dry milk
1/2 ts Dried orange peel(1 bottle)

How To:
Mash orange peel with a mortar and pestle. Stir ingredients together. Process in a blender until powdered. Use 2 Tablespoons for each cup of hot water. Makes about 2 1/4 cups of mix.

4. Cafe Con Miel

Ingredients:
2 c Prepared coffee, (fresh, instant, or decaf)
1/2 c Milk
4 tb HONEY, more or less to taste
1/8 ts Cinnamon
Dash nutmeg or allspice
Dash vanilla

How To:
Heat ingredients in a saucepan, but do not boil. Stir well to combine. Serve as a light dessert.

5. Cafe De Ola

Ingredients:
8 c Water
2 sm Cinnamon sticks
3 Whole cloves
4 oz Dark brown sugar
1 Square semisweet chocolate or Mexican chocolate
4 oz Ground coffee

How To:
Bring the water to a boil, then add the cinnamon, cloves, sugar, and chocolate. When the liquid comes to a boil again, skim off any foam. Reduce the heat to low and make sure the liquid does not boil. Add the coffee, and let it steep for 5 minutes. Serve the coffee in an earthenware pot with a ladle.

6. Cafe' Mexicano

Ingredients:
1 oz Coffee liqueur
1 ts Chocolate syrup
1 ea Hot coffee
1/2 oz Brandy
1 ea Dash ground cinnamon
1 ea Sweetened whipped cream

How To:
Combine coffee liqueur, brandy, chocolate syrup and cinnamon in a coffee cup or mug. Fill to the top with hot coffee. Top with whipped cream.

7. Cafe Alva Cocoa

Ingredients:
Amaretto coffee beans
1 tb Vanilla extract
1 ts Almond extract
1 ts Cocoa powder
1 ts Sugar

How To:
Brew coffee. Add flavourings, 1 tsp. chocolate and sugar per cup. Garnish with whipped cream, chocolate and red candy sprinkles, and a chocolate- covered strawberry on top.

8. Cafe Royale

Ingredients:
3/4 c Hot Strong Coffee
4 ts Brandy
1 Sugar Cube

How To:
Pour coffee into warmed mug. Float 2 teaspoons brandy on coffee. Put remaining 2 teaspoons brandy into a tablespoon with sugar cube. Warm spoon over hot coffee. With a match, carefully ignite brandy in teaspoon. Slowly lower spoon into coffee to ignite floating brandy. Wait 1 minute after flame has died before drinking.

9. Cafe Vienna Look-alike

Ingredients:
1/2 c Instant coffee
2/3 c Sugar
2/3 c Non-fat dry milk
1/2 ts Cinnamon
1 pn Cloves
1 pn Allspice
1 pn Nutmeg

How To:
Blend in blender until very fine powder. Use 2 teaspoons per cup

10. Caffe Di Cioccolata

Ingredients:
1/4 c Instant espresso
1/4 c Instant cocoa
2 c Boiling water
Whipped cream
Finely shredded orange peel or ground cinnamon

How To:
Combine coffee and cocoa. Add boiling water and stir to dissolve. Pour into demitasse cups. Top each serving with whipped cream and shredded orange peel. Serves 6 to 7.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:01:00 +0000

Need a guide for your extra experiment in serving cup of your coffee..?
Here's coffee Lovers Recipes part 2 that i've compiled again for you guys Have Fun!

1. Canadian Coffee

Ingredients:
¼ c Maple syrup; pure
½ c Rye whiskey
3 c Coffee; hot, black, double strength
Topping:
¾ c Whipping cream
4 ts Maple syrup; pure

How To:
Topping: Whip cream with maple syrup just up until soft mounds; set aside.
Divide maple syrup and whiskey among 4 warmed heatproof glass mugs or goblets. Pour
in coffee to 1 inch of top; spoon topping over coffee.

2. Alpine Carnival

Ingredients:
2 tb Instant coffee
1 ts Vanilla
2 tb Brown sugar
1 ts Water
1 ½ c Boiling water
½ c Whipping cream, whipped

How To:
Divide instant coffee and vanilla evenly between two Spanish coffee glasses. In a small
heavy saucepan, dissolve sugar in the teaspoon of water. Over medium heat, stir dissolved
sugar until it reaches a full boil. Immediately remove from heat and stir in boiling water.
Divide sugar mixture between coffee glasses and top with a dollop of whipped cream.
Makes 2 x 6 oz servings.

3. Amaretto Coffee

Ingredients:
1 ½ c Warm Water
1/3 c Amaretto
1 tb Instant Coffee Crystals
Dessert Topping from a pressurized can

How To:
In a 2-cup measure stir together water and instant coffee crystals. Micro-cook uncovered,
on 100% power for about 4 minutes or just till steaming hot. Stir in Amaretto. Serve in
mugs. Top each mug of coffee mixture with some dessert topping.

4. Amaretto Coffee / Variation

Ingredients:
¾ c Warm water
3 tb Amaretto
1 ½ ts Instant coffee crystals
Dessert topping; * see note

How To:
* Dessert topping should be in a pressurized can.
In a non-metal mug stir together water and instant coffee crystals. Micro-cook, uncovered,
on 100% power about 1 1/2 minutes or just till mixture is steaming hot. Stir in Amaretto.
Top with pressurized dessert topping.

5. Arabian Coffee

Ingredients:
1/2 litre (about 1 pint) water
3 tablespoons coffee
3 tablespoons (or more) sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Cardamom
1 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla sugar

How To:
Mix all ingredients in a saucepan and heat until foam gathers on top. Do not pass through
a filter. Stir it up before you serve it.

6. Black Forest Coffee

Ingredients:
6 oz Fresh brewed coffee
2 tb Chocolate syrup
1 tb Maraschino cherry juice
Whipped cream
Shaved chocolate/chips
Maraschino cherries

How To:
Combine coffee, chocolate syrup, and cherry juice in a cup; mix well. Top with whipped
cream, chocolate shavings and a cherry.

7. Buttered Rum Coffee

Ingredients:
1/3 c Ground coffee
1/4 ts Freshly ground nutmeg
1 1/4 ts Rum extract
1/8 ts Liquid butter flavouring

How To:
Place coffee and nutmeg in a blender or food processor fitted with a steel blade. In a cup,
combine remaining ingredients. With processor running, add flavorings. Stop processor
and scrape sides of container with a spatula. Process 10 seconds longer. Store in a
refrigerator. Yields: Mix for eight 6-ounce servings

8. Cafe Au Lait ( Coffee with Milk )

Ingredients:
1 c Milk
1 c Light cream
3 tb Instant coffee
2 c Boiling water

How To:
Over low heat or in double boiler, heat milk and cream till hot. Meanwhile, dissolve coffee
in boiling water. Before serving, beat milk mixture with rotary beater-till foamy. Pour milk
mixture into one warmed pitcher or server, and coffee in another. To serve: Fill cups from
both pitchers at the same time, making the streams meet en route. Makes 6 servings.

9. Louisiana Cafe Au Lait

Ingredients:
2 c Milk
Sugar
1 c Louisiana coffee with chicory

How To:
Put milk in saucepan; bring to a boil.
Pour hot freshly brewed coffee and milk simultaneously into cups; sweeten with sugar to
taste.

10. Cafe Au Lait Luzianne

Ingredients:
2 c Milk
1/2 c Heavy cream
6 c Louisiana coffee w/chicory

How To:
Combine milk and cream in saucepan; bring just to a boil (bubbles will form around edge
of pan), then remove from heat.
Pour small amount of coffee in each coffee cup.
Pour remaining coffee and hot milk mixture together until cups are 3/4 full.

NOTE: Skim milk can be substituted for milk and cream for those who are counting calories.

That's a wrap for now, check daily my blog for next update in Coffee Recipes Cheers!

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:39:00 +0000

Excellent coffee is made up of three essential components:
- 25 per cent Equipment
- 25 per cent Beans
- 50 per cent - the person (barista) making it!
- Café Art - this is the “theatre” attached to coffee making performed by the barista.
- Café society is extending into the office and home and increasingly sophisticated ways of serving coffee are taking place in cafes around the world.
- At the office, tins of instant coffee are being replaced by small individual plungers which sit on the desktop.
- In the home, roasting and grinding coffee beans of choice is beginning to take off.
- From green bean to cup: in cafes, fresh beans are now being roasted in boutique roasting machines alongside the espresso machine. Many cafes have begun installing Green Bean Coffee Roasters to ensure they are serving the freshest coffee on the market.
- Around the world with coffee: many cafes now offer several different grinds and blends along with daily specials (eg. Kenyan, Sumatran, Guatemalan, Ethiopian, Costa Rican).

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:56:00 +0000

Australians consume approximately 2.4 kilograms of coffee per person per annum -and that’s nearly 1 kg more than the amount of coffee each of us drank in 1979!

Percentage breakdown of coffee consumed in cafes nationally:

- Cappuccino 50 per cent (men and women almost equal)
- Café latte 12 per cent
- Flat white 18 per cent
- Espresso 9 per cent (men consume ten per cent more than women)
Long Black 11 per cent (men consume 12 per cent more than women)
Cappuccino represents 21 per cent of all coffee sales to 25 - 44 year olds.
Seventy one per cent of all sales (in cafes) are milk-based with males being the highest consumers.

Espresso sales are higher in 25 - 34 year old males. (Source BIS Shrapnel Out of home sales 2001)

Total value of the roasted coffee category is $68.2 million, which is increasing annually.

The top three brands in Australia are Vittoria, Lavazza and Harris followed by Robert Timms, Aurora, Melitta, Moccona, Andronicus, Bushells and Brothers.

76,000 foodservice outlets (approx 60,000 commercial and 16,000 institutional) serve roasted coffee with Victoria and NSW accounting for 60 per cent of total outlets.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 07:13:00 +0000

Even the weather was festive - the sun was out, the sky clear and blue,Through it all wafted the irresistible smell of freshly made coffee. Spirits were high. And why wouldn’t they be?
After all this was a coffee fest and most people - after a cup or two of coffee - were on a natural high. Coffee contains caffeine, a mild central nervous stimulant (CNS) which is rapidly absorbed by the body when taken in beverage form. As you’ve probably noticed, it makes you feel brighter and more alert within a few minutes and can help postpone feelings of fatigue for up to four hours. The fourth Aroma Coffee Festival held at The Rocks in Sydney is indicative of the explosive interest in coffee which has taken place over the past five years in Australia. This year over 100,000 people swarmed to the Harbour foreshores to taste coffee from all over the world - well over double the numbers who attended the first Aroma Festival four years ago. They had come not just to taste various blends and brews but to learn more about the finer aspects of roasting,
grinding and making the perfect cup at home. Nineteen gourmet coffee roasters were present and thousands of cups of coffee were sold.

According to Gary Trye, one of the organisers, the Aroma Festival is the largest coffee festival in the world and the only one of its kind nationally. “The heart and soul of the festival is the boutique roaster,” he said.“They’ve been springing up all over the place over the past few years as have single origin or estate roasters. They’re very passionate about their craft and have definite ideas about what they consider to be the best roast and the best blend.” Toby’s Estate Coffee, Forsyth Coffee & Tea, Karmee, Café Hernandez and Caffe Bianchi were just some of the boutique roasters who participated. Major players like Andronicus (who sponsored the event), Segafredo and Vittoria were also present.

Café culture has become very much part of the modern Australian lifestyle. Our cities and suburbs are spilling over with cafes on virtually every street corner. Coffee has become a gourmet product and a fashion statement and like wine, discerning consumers now want to know where the coffee they drink has come from, what blend of beans is being used and how they were roasted and ground. However, there are still many people paying a lot of money for poor quality brews made from low-grade coffee beans. According to Les Schirato, managing director of Vittoria Coffee, the importance of good quality coffee is still vastly underestimated. “Taste, quality and freshness of the beans should guide consumers in their choice of coffee,” he said. “While this is a very individual thing,in general good coffee should have a strong rich taste and should never be bitter or leave a stale aftertaste.” You can rest assured that little or no evidence of a stale aftertaste could be detected at this year’s Aroma Coffee Festival.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:25:00 +0000

Mobile blogging is an exciting phenomenon that is sweeping the blogosphere. One of the reasons why a lot of bloggers are attracted to the medium of logging in the first place is that they enjoy being able to make frequent updates and posts that keep all of their visitors up to speed with current situations. Mobile blogs, or "moblogs," take this to the extreme by allowing users to post things literally as they happen. This new wave of moblogs and mobloggers keep web surfers up to date with good and bad events of importance as they occur all over the world, helping to make international communication faster and more accurate.
Many people feel that the limitations of blogging have a lot to do with geography. After all, there is only so current that a blog can be when you need to run home and boot up in order to update it. However, mobile
blogging marks the beginning of an thrilling new era when web-based communication can happen spontaneously from any location. Moblogging devices mean that there is almost nowhere on the planet that remains off-limits for bloggers.

Mobile blogging is still in its infancy because the technology that makes it possible has only recently hit the global market. The first moblog technology became available over a decade ago, but it is only the past two or three years that mobile web devices have become user-friendly enough to appeal to most consumers. As camera phones and other mobile technology become more popular, more and more bloggers are getting away from their desks and are hitting the streets. Moblogging is becoming much more widespread that it was even a few months ago, and mobloggers are quickly attracting a lot of attention with the blogging community. It is not yet clear whether moblogs will become the dominant kinds of blogs in the years to come, but the current
trend seems to imply that moblogs are here to stay.

Mobile devices make it possible to blog from the sites where current events are unfolding, which is one of the reasons why mobile blogging has so much thrilling potential to revolutionize the blogosphere. A moblogger with a camera phone can post blog entries from, say, the foot of the podium at a presidential speech, or from the stands during the final moments of the world series. This enables bloggers to experience the same real time thrills that live television coverage provides, but in a more democratic medium. The combination of mobility and individual control that moblogging provides
certainly places mobloggers on the cutting edge of today's communications technology, and it is hard to imagine that the number and prestige of oblogs will not continue to grow in the coming years.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:49:00 +0000

A lot of successful websites depend on returning visitors to account for a major part of their traffic. Returning visitors are easier to convert into paying customers because the more often they return to a site, the more trust they have in that site. The credibility issue just melts away. Hence, keep your visitors coming back to your site with the following methods:

1) Start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox

When you start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox, you are providing your visitors a place to voice their opinions and interact with their peers -- all of them are visitors of your site. As conversations build up, a sense of community will also follow and your visitors will come back to your site almost religiously every day.

2) Start a web log (blog)

Keep an online journal, or more commonly known as a blog, on your site and keep it updated with latest news about yourself. Human beings are curious creatures and they will keep their eyes glued to the monitor if you post fresh news frequently. You will also build up your credibility as you are proving to them that there is also a real life person behind the website.

3) Carry out polls or surveys

Polls and surveys are other forms of interaction that you should definitely consider adding to your site. They provide a quick way for visitors to voice their opinions and to get involved in your website. Be sure to publish polls or surveys that are strongly relevant to the target market of your website to keep them interested to find out about the results.

4) Hold puzzles, quizzes and games

Just imagine how many office workers procrastinate at work every day, and you will be able to gauge how many people will keep visiting your site if you provide a very interesting or addicting way of entertainment. You can also hold competitions to award the high score winner to keep people trying continuously to earn the prize.

5) Update frequently with fresh content

Update your site frequently with fresh content so that every time your visitors come back, they will have something to read on your site. This is the most widely known and most effective method of attracting returning visitors, but this is also the least carried out one because of the laziness of webmasters. No one will want to browse a site that looks the same over ten years, so keep your site updated with fresh bites!

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 10:04:00 +0000

This a few tips to make a Good Cup of Coffee :

Use Only Fresh and Pure Water

Good coffee starts with good water. You can use water from your tap but it should be filtered toEnjoying Gourmet Coffee take out the chlorine and other tastes. Run your faucet for a few seconds to clear out some of the water that has been sitting in the pipes before filling your coffee maker.

Only Use Whole Beans

Whole beans maintain the flavor and richness of coffee longer. Forget about ground coffee. Coffee Gourmet Coffee Beansbegins to deteriorate from the moment coffee is ground. Coffee on grocery and retailer shelves are often stale and lacking flavor but still rate fresh according to their standards. Premium coffee from gourmet coffee retailers like Volcanica Coffee only ship coffee that is freshly roasted.

Store Beans Properly

Always store your premium coffee in an airtight opaque container such as Tupperware, away from heat, moisture and light. If you don’t have an airtight container the next best thing is to seal it in an airtight zip lock bag in the freezer.

Grind to Perfection

Only grind what you will be using immediately. If you use a blade-type grinder, while grinding hold the lid down with one hand and shake it upBurr Coffee Bean Grinder and down. This will yield a more even grind and reduce the amount of powdery grounds which can make coffee bitter. Better yet, invest in a good quality burr-type grinder, available at better kitchenware stores. Gaining in popularity are the new coffee makers that grind your beans automatically then brews your coffee. You'll taste the difference. Visit our this link for more information on grinding coffee beans.

Keep it fresh

Remember, glass carafes and other containers should never be left on the burner for more than 10 minutes. An airtight thermos-type container is the preferred hot storage container and will keep hot coffee fresh considerably longer.

Best Way to Serve Coffee

Everyone has their preference but we have found the best way to enjoy exotic coffee, if you do not enjoy it black, is by adding half & half and raw sugar. If you are watching your calories use Splenda. Sweet & Low and Equal add bitterness which takes away from the rich Volcanica flavor. In place of half & half you may also lighten it up with steamed or warmed whole milk which will add a distinct natural sweetness.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Many of us rely of coffee to help us do exactly that. Coffee trees grow to heights of 20 feet and are often pruned to 8 to 10 feet to simplify harvesting. Since the cherries ripen at different times, they are mostly picked by hand. One pound of roasted coffee requires about 2,000 cherries, and since each cherry contains two beans, it takes 4,000 beans to produce that one pound. The average coffee tree only produces one to two pounds of roasted coffee per year, and takes four to five years to produce its first crop.

Three Species of Coffee Trees

Robusta beans are resistant to disease and come from a high yield plant that does best at lower elevations. Unfortunately it has harsh flavors and is used for the lower grades of coffee that are sold in markets. Not generally found in gourmet shops, they are often used for “instant” coffees and popular commercial blends.

Arabica beans do best at altitudes of 3,000 to 6,500 feet and have a much more refined flavor. This is the coffee that specialty roasters search for. It is susceptible to disease, frost, and drought however, and requires careful cultivation and just the right climate and conditions.

Liberica is the third recognized commercial variety, hardy and low-altitude. It's a minor crop of coffee from Africa and is similar to robusta.

After harvesting, the cherries are transported for processing. The fruit is then removed from the seed by one of two methods. In the natural or dry process, the cherries are dried in the sun or in dryers, and the fruit is then separated from the bean by processing them through a mechanical husker. In the wet process, a superior soaking method produces beans which are referred to as washed coffees. The beans are then dried, sized, sorted, graded and selected, usually all by hand. After the beans are bagged they are shipped to local roasters around the world. In terms of human effort, few products require so much attention and detail.

According to the Coffee Research Organization, coffee roasting is a chemical process by which aromatics, acids, and other flavor components are either created, balanced, or altered in a way that should augment the flavor, acidity, aftertaste and body of the coffee as desired by the roaster. This is accomplished in several steps:

Roasting Coffee Beans

When the roaster receives them, the green beans are slowly dried to become a yellow color and the beans begin to smell like toast or popcorn.

The second step, often called the first crack, occurs as the temperature rises. The bean doubles in size and becomes a light brown color.

As the temperature continues to rise the color changes from light brown to medium brown.

Soon, the second crack occurs. At this stage the color is defined as medium-dark brown. The second pop is much quicker sounding and the beans take on an oily sheen.

Most roasters will remove the beans during the second crack. Coffees from famous regions like Java, Kenya, Hawaiian Kona, and Jamaican Blue Mountain are usually roasted lightly so their signature characteristics dominate the taste. Otherwise the “roast” will obscure the unique qualities of these flavorful beans

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:16:00 +0000

There is no single factor that makes a gourmet coffee, but the right combination of coffee bean, roast, blend, grind, and definitely freshness can make for a very succulent cup of coffee.

The first factor is the bean. Gourmet coffees are only made from hand-picked Arabica beans. These coffee beans grow at high altitudes, in rich soil, under shade. Arabica beans are grown in many parts of the world, but the three main regions they hail from are South and Central America, Africa and Arabia, and the Pacific. Beans from each of these regions have separate and distinct flavors.

Roasting the coffee bean is a science. It’s up to the Roast Master of the coffee house to know how to roast the bean to perfection. There are five common types of roasts: American Roast or Cinnamon Roast; City Roast or Vienna Roast; Full City Roast; French Roast; and Italian Roast.

The American Roast is a very light roast, not used for gourmet beans, only for Robusta beans. The City Roast is a semi-light roast, the lightest gourmet roast. The Full City Roast is a dark roast, intended to bring out the full flavor of the bean. It often has a subtle caramel flavor. The French Roast is another dark roast. Some people prefer the slightly burnt flavor of this roast. The Italian Roast is a very dark roast, even burnt. The beans come out of this roast dark, shiny and brittle. Cappuccino and Espresso are made from this roast.

The blend of a gourmet coffee largely depends on personal preference, although there are certain blends that can be used for specific purposes, a low acid bean blend for those with sensitive stomachs, for example.

The three grinds used are fine, medium and coarse. A coarse grind is best used in a French press. The fine grind is for espresso and Turkish coffees, leaving the medium grind for use in automatic drip pots. Weak coffee often means that the beans should have been ground more finely, while bitter coffee may be remedied by a coarser grind.

For a truly gourmet cup of coffee, freshness cannot be underestimated. When a bag of freshly roasted coffee is open, the beans appear oily. This oily look is the essential oil of the beans and most of the flavor is in this oil. The longer the bean is exposed to air or moisture, the more rapidly it will lose this oil and the resulting coffee will taste flat.

While there are many guidelines to aid in selecting gourmet coffee, it is really a matter of personal choice. Looking over the above mentioned guidelines before shopping for coffee will make selecting a gourmet coffee easier.

noreply@blogger.com (Pnetwork) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:43:00 +0000

Corporate blogging is a relatively new idea, and the jury is still out on whether it will succeed. This controversial marketing tool may be the beginning of a new kind of advertising strategy, or it may fizzle out in a matter of months. Many companies are looking for ways to capitalize on the blogging trend, and many of these corporations have determined that a great way to ride the blogging wave is to keep a blog on their corporate website. These blogs are often created to appeal to the demographic that the company needs to court, and the content may have quite a lot to do with the activities of
the corporation, or it may have very little to do with the company itself. Often, a corporate blog will focus on the kinds of content likely to attract the desired surfers, even if that content is not related to the product or service that the company provides.

Some bloggers feel that corporate blogging is a kind of validation for the blogging movement, and shows that this exciting new medium has really infiltrated the mainstream. Other bloggers consider the kind of viral marketing that corporate blogs practice to be unethical or distasteful. In any case, watching the evolution of corporate blogs and whether they survive and proliferate or fail and disappear promises to provide some interesting insight into today's consumers.