My philosophy toward airline coffee has always been, “Take what you can get and make the best of it.” Certainly the flight attendant would prefer I sit down, shut up and accept her meager brew. But it hit me– why can’t I make my own on the plane? Is it even possible? We set out to find the answer. Caffeinated at 30,000 Feet: Mile High Brewing Setups The constraints of a typical economy cabin don’t leave many options open. High-flying brewers need equipment that is a) portable and b) doesn’t require electricity. In this day and time it would take a brave soul to power up an electric kettle in the cabin,...

Your mission: Save your laptop from a coffee spill disaster. Saving your electronic devices in the event of an unfortunate baptism by coffee can be a “Mission “Possible” – with a little luck and some lightening-fast reflexes. The basic parameters of the situation: Liquids can cause short-circuits. Short circuits damage electronic components. Your odds of successfully recovering from a spill depend the amount of liquid that was spilled, how corrosive and conductive the liquid is and how you react to the situation. Assuming the spill was an accident, the only factor you can control here is your reaction. To assist you in reacting like...

We have been in a list making mode recently at CoffeeKrave. To continue the trend, we present out Top Ten Coffee Makers. From the Espro Press to the Cona Vacuum Brewer . . . here are our takes on the top gear to grace your countertops. Authors Note: When Daniel, Editor and Chief here at CoffeeKrave, assigned me this article, I broke out in a cold sweat. Any “top ten” list is going to be subjective by nature, but a top ten coffee maker list? That’s one difficult combinatorial optimization problem right there. I decided the optimal way to constrain this search was to cut the cord. As in the power cord. In other words, this is the Top Ten...

With the majority of our daily communications happening online, it can get a little lonely in your mailbox. If there is room in your budget, consider signing up for a coffee subscription. It’s the best cure we know for coffee lovers who are channeling their inner Charlie Brown while peering into an empty mailbox. It’s also the best way to sample small batch beans from the top indie cult roasters. A few of our favorite subscription options: 1. Tonx The word on the street: “Tony is obsessed with coffee like a record store nerd is with vinyl . . . Me, I trust the guy’s taste. I just want really good coffee. Send me the beans.”...

We’ve talked before about the health benefits of coffee. Today we thought we would wander out of the kitchen and over to the spa to talk about the beauty benefits of coffee. Considering how many seriously expensive beauty products make good use of the beneficial effects of caffeine, we are recommending a more budget-friendly, DIY approach to making yourself more beautiful with coffee. Coffee Exfoliating Scrubs Ground coffee is one of the finest exfoliants we know. It’s right up there with brown sugar, and that duo is the basis for our favorite DIY scrub: Mix equal parts coffee grounds and brown sugar. Add enough olive oil to make the...

Does the ambiance of a coffee-shop put you in a creative mood? If so, you are experiencing the positive benefits of ambient noise induced processing disfluency. (I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to drop that phrase into dinner party conversation . . . ) Researchers hypothesize that being moderately distracted pushes you to a higher construct level, resulting in more abstract and creative thinking. Low levels of noise don’t create the same effect, and with higher levels the beneficial effects are outweighed by your reduced capacity to process information. So where is that ambient noise level sweet spot? According to a recent...