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How to Increase Productivity with Caffeine
by Aaron Smith on Saturday, March 28 2009Although this blog entry has nothing to do with GW Micro specifically, I'm going to show you how to make a fantastic coffee drink that will make all the stress of the daily grind seem effortless. Let's get started.
What You Need
- Freshly Ground Coffee Beans - You can use pre-ground, but fresh ground will give you a much richer, fuller flavor.
- A Basket/Drip, Percolator-like Coffee Maker - I've never had this recipe ruin a coffee maker, but if you're concerned, you can get them fairly cheap these days.
- Milk - Preferably whole milk, although 2% will do in a pinch.
- Creamer - Half and Half will work nicely.
- Sugar - The exact amount will be determined later on.
- Whipped Topping - A can of Redi-Whip will get the job done.
How You Do It
Set up your coffee maker with six cups of water. Ground your beans to a course ground, and add three scoops to your coffee maker. Brew. This should give you about six cups of coffee, regular strength. Now here's where things start to get unconventional. Put the six cups of coffee aside in a container of some sort, and clean out your coffee maker. Add three more scoops of grounds, but DO NOT ADD WATER. Instead of water, you're going to re-use the six cups of coffee that you originally made. Re-brew. When you're done, you'll have just under six cups of what I call double-strength coffee. Set the coffee aside, clean out your coffee maker, and set it up the same way: three scoops of grounds, and instead of water add the double-strength coffee. Brew, and you'll end up with, you guessed it, triple-strength coffee. At this point, we're done brewing. Put your coffee aside, and run your coffee maker through a couple cycles of just plain water to rinse it out. As I stated above, I've never had this ruin a coffee maker, but the possibility always exists. Buy a cheap one and use it if you're concerned. Take the amount of triple-strength coffee you have (normally around four cups at this point) and divide the amount by two. In my case, I have four cups, and half of four is two. That's how much sugar you'll need to add to the coffee. Combine the sugar with the coffee, and stir until dissolved. Once the coffee-syrup (for lack of better term, even though it still has a very liquid consistency) is ready, grab your favorite coffee mug. Fill your mug about half way with milk. Fill the mug up another quarter of the way with creamer, and the rest of the way (leaving a bit of room for the whipped topping) with the coffee-syrup. Stir, and heat in the microwave for 1 and a half to 2 minutes (or until it reaches a comfortable drinking temperature). Top it off with whatever you feel is a good amount of whipped topping. Sip, enjoy, and repeat.
Make It Your Way
There are all kinds of alternatives you can do to add additional flavor. For example, add a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract to your coffee-syrup for a French Vanilla-like feel. Or, add a cinnamon stick to your carafe when brewing for coffee for a subtle, yet flavorful, splash of cinnamon. Although the coffee syrup goes best with milk, you could add it to any number of recipes that call for strong coffee for a great, bold flavor. While there aren't a lot of coffee drinkers at GW Micro, those of us who are know that a good cup of warm caffeine to start your day can make all the difference. What drink gets you up and moving in the morning?
