A Blog of Wisdom.: Drink

10 Fun Facts About Grapes

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Perhaps many of you love to eat this tiny fruit but taste incredibly amazing, grape. But some of the people make it as wine to drink and it do taste better. However, below are 10 fun facts about this amazing little fruit you should know : 
 
1. Grapes are one of the world’s favorite fruits, regularly listed in the top 10 (other are mangos, bananas and tomatoes). 
 
2. Around the world there are more than 8,000 varieties of grape. There are 7 different grape colors: red, green, white, black, purple, blue and golden. 
 
3. Grapes have been thought to have healing properties since ancient times. In China, wine was mixed with frogs, snakes and other animals to create a cure for illness. 
 
4. America’s oldest grapevine is 400 years old and is in North Carolina. 
 
5. Wine has been made from grapes since 5,000BC. 
 
6. About a quarter of the grapes used in the US come from Chile. 
 
7. While grapes are 80% water, when they become raisins the water content is just 15%. 
 
8. You can get about 15,000 glasses of wine from an acre of grapes. 
 
9. 72 million tons of grapes are produced around the world each year. 
 
10. With more than 200, California’s Napa Valley has the world’s highest concentration of wineries. 
 
How many of those facts did you already know? 
 
credit to <a href="http://www.kiawahresort.com/blog/kiawah-island/2012/02/29/10-fun-facts-about-grapes/">Kiawah Resort</a>

Perhaps many of you love to eat this tiny fruit but taste incredibly amazing, grape. But some of the people make it as wine to drink and...

Drunk Party Fails

Can You Open This For Me? 
We can't stop looking at this. Is this a fail, or a feat of genius?! How did this happen? Can you twist glass until it breaks like this, or can only drunken superpowers make something like this happen? While you guys figure it out we're going to keep staring at this until it makes more sense to us. 
 
 
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Can You Open This For Me? We can't stop looking at this. Is this a fail, or a feat of genius?! How did this happen? Can you twist glass...

How To Make Great Coffee At Home

You don't need a fancy espresso machine to make a great cup of coffee at home – just a cafetiere and some freshly ground beans 
 
 
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Many millions of words have been spilt on the subject of the perfect cup of coffee, the vast proportion confusing or downright contradictory. Here's a simple guide to good coffee at home. 
 
Equipment 
 
Let's be honest: good coffee depends heavily on equipment, which is why so many connoisseurs generally prefer to go out to a cafe with huge, shiny professional machines and baristas who have studied their craft in Milan and Melbourne, while their own over-complicated, underpowered espresso-makers gather dust in the kitchen. 
 
Espresso machines anyway, according to Victoria Moore in her superb How to Drink, are only good for making espressos, rather than the long lattes, flat whites and so on that many of us use them for, because – "coffee made in this way doesn't do much to showcase the bean itself". So, most British coffee drinkers can breathe a sigh of relief: Moore's preferred methods are rather less punishing on the wallet. 
 
Like Frank Bruni in the New York Times, she appreciates the "smoothness, freshness and balance" of the individual ceramic filter, which London coffee lovers may have observed in use at the Monmouth Coffee Company – although what attracts me to them is that they're easy to clean up. You just chuck the paper, coffee and all, into the bin. But, she says, the homely cafetiere, a device which I cannot imagine any Guardian reader is without, is also good for bringing out the flavour of your coffee beans. You just need to use it properly. 
 
Water temperature 
 
The Grumpy Mule coffee company counsels using at least two rounded dessertspoons of coffee a person (there's nothing worse than wan, watery coffee), and fresh water (as opposed to stuff that has been sitting in the kettle for a few hours) that's just off the boil: the National Coffee Association of the USA recommends a temperature between 90–96C. I happen to have a kettle that, handily, can be set to cut off at 90C, but leaving it for at least 30 seconds after boiling will do the trick. 
 
Time and method 
 
Pour just enough water on to moisten the grounds, then allow them to absorb the water before filling the cafetiere. Allow to settle, then stir and add the plunger to keep it warm. Leave for four minutes (Victoria reckons 30 seconds is enough, because "coffee tastes sharper and brighter if it doesn't have much steeping time", but to my mind, the longer brewed coffee is richer), then stir, plunge and pour into warm cups. 
 
Coffee 
 
Most important, of course, is the coffee itself. It needs to be fresh (coffee only keeps for two weeks, stored in an airtight container in the fridge), and it's even better freshly ground, if you have got the equipment. Check sell-by dates when buying. 
 
Obviously you also need to find a coffee you like: they vary hugely in character according to variety, country of origin and roast, so it's worth experimenting. 
 
Milk 
 
 
If you add milk, I'd say the temperature was up to you. Those who add a lot may wish to warm it gently first (hot milk will spoil the flavour of your coffee), but if you're prepared to drink fast, cold milk will do the trick too. And real purists may wish to add nothing at all – with coffee, perfect is very personal. 
 
credit to guardian.co.uk

You don't need a fancy espresso machine to make a great cup of coffee at home – just a cafetiere and some freshly ground beans Man...

Top 5 Most Expensive Coffee

We can't do without coffee. Now we want to pay tribute to this divine drink by giving you the top 5 most expensive coffee beans. 
 
1. Kopi Luwak: varying from $115,- to $590,- per 500 grams 
Kopi Luwak is the most luxurious coffee in the world. 'Kopi' means coffee in Indonesian and 'Luwak' is an Indonesian animal that eats the raw coffee berry. The animal can't digest the bean in the berry and secretes the bean. This process forms the basis of this legendary coffee. 
 
 
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2. La Esmeralda: $100,- per 500 grams 
 
This coffee is well known as the 'Esmeralda Special'. The coffee beans are produced at the farm Esmeralda Jaramillo in the mountains of West Panama. It's intense and strong taste is the result of the cold climate and the careful harvesting of the bean. 
 
 
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3. St. Helena Coffee: $80,- per 500 grams 
 
This coffee is the product of the small island of Saint Helena. The coffee is made from the 'Green Tipped Bourbon Arabica', a bean that is exclusive to this island. The taste is pleasant and fruity. 
 
 
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4. Fazenda Santa Ines Coffee: $50,- per 500 grams 
 
This coffee comes from Minas Gerais in Brazil. It is produced on the Fazenda Santa Ines farm in a traditional matter. There are no automated processes involved. It's great taste is characterised by the sweetness of caramel and berries. 
 
 
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5. Blue Mountain Coffee: $45,- per 500 grams 
 
This coffee is produced on the east side of the Blue Mountains on Jamaica. The coffee is famous for it's mild taste without bitterness. These beans also form the basis for the liquor Tia Maria. 
 
 
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Credit to walltowatch.com

We can't do without coffee. Now we want to pay tribute to this divine drink by giving you the top 5 most expensive coffee beans. 1. Ko...

7 Benefits Of Drinking Coffee

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Java may make you healthier, smarter, and slimmer — but not if you drown it with sugar and cream</div>
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That Cup of Joe might have some positive effects — if you're drinking it properly. 
 
"Often people think of coffee just as a vehicle for caffeine," writes Dr. Rob van Dam of the Harvard School of Public Health. "But it's actually a very complex beverage," containing hundreds of different chemical compounds. Grown in more than 70 countries around the world, coffee has something of a contentious history with health experts, who have long cautioned that over-consumption may be detrimental to our health. More recent studies, however, paint a rosier picture for the Coffea plant's roasted berries (they're not actually beans), suggesting that when consumed in moderate amounts — and without heaping on the sugar and cream — the magical stuff can harbor numerous potential health benefits. A look at a few of them: 
 
1. Coffee may help fight depression 
Start your day with a smile: A joint study from the National Institutes of Health and the AARP discovered that folks who quaffed four or more cups of java a day were 10 percent less likely to be depressed than someone who didn't drink coffee at all. Oddly, the same mental-health benefits didn't extend to other caffeinated beverages — particularly cola, which was linked to a higher risk of depression (perhaps because of the high sugar content). Therefore, researchers suggest coffee's "mood-lifting effect might be traced to its antioxidants," reports Prevention. 
 
2. It may be good for your liver 
Numerous studies have suggested that caffeine helps the liver regulate itself. Research presented this month by the Mayo Clinic found that regular coffee consumption may reduce a person's risk of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a rare autoimmune disease that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure, and even cancer. But that's not all. A separate 22-year-study of 125,000 people found that heavy drinkers who consume one cup of coffee a day were 20 percent less likely to develop alcoholic cirrhosis. Once again, those health benefits did not extend to other caffeinated drinks, including tea. 
 
3. Java may help you (temporarily) lose weight 
The use of green coffee-bean extract exploded when Dr. Oz claimed on his show that it "burns fat fast" with no additional diet or exercise. (Sure.) But what is the substance, exactly? Green coffee beans are seeds that haven't yet been roasted, thus preserving a compound called chlorogenic acid that disappears when heated. Although limited research has been done on the extract, and no serious side effects were reported in clinical studies, WebMD cautions that the actual weight-loss research so far is "preliminary and poor quality." 
 
While caffeine products generally do help with appetite suppression, the Mayo Clinic suggests that the results of water loss from caffeine consumption or calorie-burning via thermogenesis — when your body generates heat and energy from digesting food — aren't permanent. When it comes to weight loss, caffeine should be viewed as a supplement, and not a magical cure-all. So don't try this at home:</div>
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4. It's a legal performance boost 
It's hardly a secret: Athletes and coaches have long used coffee to boost athletic performance before a competition. Caffeine, in particular, "has been proven to increase the number of fatty acids circulating in the bloodstream," reports The New York Times, "which enables people to run or pedal longer." (One study suggests that as many as two-thirds of Olympic athletes were found with caffeine in their urine.) 
So: How much should you drink prior to competing? Researchers at Coventry University in England discovered that the magic performance-enhancing ratio appears to be 6 milligrams of caffeine for every 2.2 pounds of body weight. For a 154-pound person, that's about two cups. 
 
5. It may lower your risk of type II diabetes 
Consuming three to four cups of coffee a day was found to be associated with a 25 percent lower risk of developing type II diabetes, reports Science Daily. But researchers weren't able to infer a causal effect between coffee and the disease explicitly. They think, though, that the decreased risk may have something to do with the ability of chlorogenic acid and the alkaloid trigonelline to reduce early glucose and insulin responses. 
Worth noting: The report in question was published by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee, which — you guessed it — is a non-profit devoted to coffee's purported health benefits. Take heed. 
 
6. It may lower your risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's 
Yes, coffee may help keep your mind sharp as you age by slowing the onset of neurodegenerative disease. Multiple studies have suggested that coffee drinkers have up to a 60 percent lower risk of Alzheimer's and dementia, and the beverage may help reduce a person's risk of Parkinson's by 32 to 60 percent, reports Lifehacker. 
Why? Chuanhai Cao, a neuroscientist at the University of South Flordia, has a theory: Cao tellsWebMD that caffeine "inhibits production of beta-amyloid," a protein that has been shown to build up in the brain of people with Alzheimer's disease. The older you get, the harder it is to metabolize — or use up — all that excess protein, which causes a log jam in your brain. The stimulant boost from java ensures "your system only metabolizes all of the available protein," says Cao. 
 
7. Coffee might even make you smarter 
Time and time again, studies have shown that caffeine — which blocks the neurotransmitters in the brain associated with sleep — can temporarily boost cognition, especially when you're not getting enough shut eye. "When you're sleep-deprived and you take caffeine, pretty much anything you measure will improve" Harris Lieberman, a research psychologist for the military, told CNN in 2006. "Reaction time, vigilance, attention, logical reasoning — most of the complex functions you associate with intelligence. And most Americans are sleep-deprived most of the time." 
 
Credit to theweek.com</div>

Java may make you healthier, smarter, and slimmer — but not if you drown it with sugar and cream That Cup of Joe might have some po...

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10 Fun Facts About Grapes

Drunk Party Fails

How To Make Great Coffee At Home

Top 5 Most Expensive Coffee

7 Benefits Of Drinking Coffee