Coffee Bean Paradise

The Java Jig – Reusable Replacement for K-Cups

September 10, 2015 by Island Mike

In my last post, that was published back in July (WOW!! Time Really Goes By!!!!) I discussed the pro’s and con’s on singles serve coffee makers. As you might remember, one of the downsides of single serve coffee makers was the waste they cause, specifically as related to the plastic containers/pods that go into many of our single serve coffee makers. In addition, there are some who are concerned about the cost/per cup when it comes to making single serve coffee.

Well, as it turns out there is a solution to these problems. Its something I’ve discovered called the Java Jig. You can find the Java Jig at the Recommended Resources page on this blog. (I want to be completely honest and upfront here. I do receive a very small commission every time some goes through my website and purchases a Java Jig. It does not cost you any more, however by purchasing it this way. In fact the Recommended Resources tab is intended to be a one stop resource for you so you can find the coffee items you need for your journey to find a great cup of coffee.)

From the Java Jig website they list the following attributes about the Java Jig;

Allows you to use your own coffee.
Provides for easy cleanup.
Eco friendly bio degradable filters.
Savings up to 80% off pre-filled pods.
Extracts a richer, better cup of coffee.

The Java Jig I purchased for todays demo, is called the Java Jig Combo Pack. In the pack you get 2 Java Jigs and 150 filters.

Lets walk through the steps to use the Java Jig.

Step 1 – place the Jig down on a flat surface.

Step 2 – Take the filter and place it on the jig.

Step 3 – Push the green outer cup over the jig.

Step 4 – Fill with you favorite coffee. (I used a normal sized coffee scoop, but I’m sure a tea spoon would work just as well.)

Step 5 – Snap on the lid.

Step 6 – Place the Java Jig into your coffee maker and make a great cup of coffee!!

I’ve also included a video that shows how to use shows how to use the Java Jig here – Java Jig Demo Video

But that’s it! It is really that simple! I paid $14.95 for the combo pack, and now I’m looking forward to grinding my own favorite coffee beans and using it in my single serve coffee maker. I no longer have to make a full pot of coffee when I just want a single cup!

So give the Java Jig a try, and let me know how it goes, I would very interested in your comments!

Mahalo,

Island Mike

Filed Under: Coffee Beans, Coffee Makers, General Updates, Ground Coffee, Making Great Coffee

Pro’s & Con’s of Single Serve Coffee

July 9, 2015 by Island Mike

I started this blog because I was on a search to learn how to make the best coffee at home that I possible could and hopefully take others along on this journey with me. After all, just as it says on my Twitter account @IslandMikeJava, “Life is too short to drink bad coffee.” (Please come and follow me!!)

Over the last few years single cup coffee makers have become almost ubiquitous it seems in just about home. These can range from those coffee makers that use coffee pods to the coffee makers that use the plastic type containers for their single serve coffee. (For purposes of this post, I will focus on the later) I honestly can only think of just a few folks who don’t have at least one single serve coffee maker in their home somewhere. And with that in mind, I thought I would do this next post on a tool that I have started using to make my coffee a single cup at a time. This tool is called the Java Jig.

Pro et Contra….Aka the Pro’s and Con’s

But before we get started discussing the Java Jig though, I thought I would first talk about the pro’s and con’s of single serve coffee making. I’m sure this list will not be comprehensive, so please feel free to share your thoughts as well and do my best to get them posted on the blog.

The Pro’s

Convenience – Now for many (most?) folks coffee making at home is not all that hard. Automatic drip coffee makers are still very popular, and pre-ground coffee still sells extremely well in supermarkets everywhere. But what is even more convenient? Single serve coffee makers. Just add water, drop in your coffee pod and press the start button and a few seconds later you have a piping hot cup of coffee. (As I’m writing this, I just tested this with our Keurig – and it takes about 1 minute and 4 seconds if the water is already warm). This is really great if you’re on the go, which it’s seems most of us are!

What others are saying

When I asked the folks who are part of my twitter following (@islandmikejava) what they said the positives were with pod coffee makers, Liliana at @Lillynilly331, said that “Time Efficiency” was a “pro” and Keaton Forsythe @Kforce92 said “not having to clean out a filter” I agree with both of these folks as these are both good advantages of K-cup style coffee makers.

Sampler pack of Keurig K-Cups Photo by Mike Prosser

Variety/Flexibility – Since pod coffee makers were first introduced, the variety of the different types of coffee you can get has grown tremendously. For example when I went to one specific seller of K-Cups, Cross Country Café, (also found here on my blog) there were 12 different types of coffee in their “what’s new” section – how crazy is that?? The point here is that one of the advantages that K-cup type coffee makers provide is that you can “sample” many different types of coffees that you may otherwise try as you would have to purchase a whole bag of beans so as to see if you might like it.

Now, don’t get me wrong here, from my experience, single serve coffee makers can’t make same great tasting coffee or experience that you can get from pour over coffee maker using your best, perfectly roasted and perfectly ground coffee beans. But when you’re in a hurry, and would like to try something different that than your normal routine, honesty they fit the bill pretty well.

The Cons

The Environment – With convenience there is often times a cost in one way or another. In this case, at least one cost is the impact K-cup style coffee pods are having on the environment. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a “tree hugger” by any shape form or fashion. I think God has given us this earth to use and manage for our purposes and to glorify Him. However I do think we need to be smart and protect the resources God has given us to use. If we develop a new or better “widget” then it seems to me that we should develop a “widget” that won’t destroy the environment we all live in. I’ve seen too many parts of our environment damaged in name of progress/convenience, when we should have thought through the life cycle of the “widget” from the creation of it, to the end of its usable life……..but I’m getting on my soap box here and getting a little off track.

But I’m not the only one who thinks this way – one of the guys who follows me on Twitter, Michael Hale @bikerphoto said, “All those cups in the land fill, what a waste!”

According to “Mother Jones” there have been enough K-cups produced to wrap around the equator 10.5 times – Folks that’s a butt load of K-cups! Interesting, not only were a lot of these K-Cups produced, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to recycle them. Take a look at this video from CNBC -“Spent Keurig K-Cups Filling Up U.S. Landfills“.

Now, do I think K-Cups will be the end of the world as we know it…no. Given their size, I don’t think we’re talking about massive amounts of space in our landfills. In addition, there are many, many other things that we throw out every day that can’t be recycled for one reason or another. In the case of the K-cup, you have to wonder if the problem is with the K-cup or if our current methods of recycling has not caught up with our current methods of manufacturing.

In the end though, it does seem logical to me that if someone is going to create something, then they also should include in their development how their new creation will be disposed of. And oh, by the way, for you folks who are coming up with new ideas for new products, the disposal method can’t be more onerous than the actual use of the product.

A Pro and a Con……??? Yep!

The Cost – One of the followers on Twitter Sara DeCavit @SaraD1972 said that she thought the cost of K-cup style coffee was a real issue. Well Sara, in some ways you are correct! But there is another way to look at this as well. As it turns out, this is really not a pro or a con, but rather is a matter of your personal coffee drinking habit. Now when we talk about a making one pot of coffee, we’re going to compare an automatic drip brewer versus a single cup maker, like a Keurig. According to thesimpledollar.com, it takes about 44 cents to make a 16 ounce cup of coffee – which is the size of a travel mug/cup. And according to Ask.com, the average cup size is 8 ounces. Thus a cup of good coffee will cost about 22 cents per cup to make at home. But here’s the thing- how many folks actually make 1 cup of coffee in their auto drip coffee maker – what about 2 cups or even 3 cups?? I’m guessing here, but I’m thinking that a lot of people on any given typical day make half a pot of coffee and then drink half of that and then the rest is poured out. Thus a 22 cent cup of coffee now cost 44 cents. And when you consider the time it takes to brew a pot of coffee and the clean up afterwards, the cost might actually be a little higher.

Interestingly, I found an article that addresses this exact issue that was written by an economist for the Boston Globe – and I will put a link here to that article here. – K-Cup Conundrum . Essentially, as I’ve alluded above, it really depends on a variety of different factors. This article has a link to handy calculator which can help you make the comparison between a single serve k-style cup and a drip style coffee maker.

So that’s it for this post. I’d really appreciate your thoughts. Please let me know what you think, It would be great to hear from you.

Filed Under: General Updates

The Power of Habit

May 29, 2015 by Island Mike

The Power of Habit

From time to time, I will be taking a divergent path from the matters of coffee and writing about other topics I think you may want to know and/or things that are important. Once such diversion was a recent piece that was posted on Memorial Day. Today’s post will also be one of those divergent times…..although in this case, I could make an argument that its only mildly divergent, in that many people, including me, like to drink their favorite coffee, while doing this activity – namely reading.

So today, I thought I would write about a book that I just finished called the “Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg.

I first learned of this book by listening to the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast – one of my favorite’s – You can find his podcast on iTunes – http://bit.ly/ASLeadership – I highly recommend that you not only listen to these the podcast he did on this book, but in general, if you are interesting in improving your leadership, this is a good place in which to go. The two podcast he did on this book are: “Key Stone Habits” and “Keystone Habits – Interview with James Duhigg” – again great podcast!

This book intrigued me on a variety of levels. I think it has application, in our personal lives, our business lives and if you’re like me, in your entrepreneur life. I’m not going to try to distill the entire book in this short post, but hopefully you’ll get a flavor of what the book is about and want to read it for yourself.

Habits are interesting things, and to be honest, I really didn’t know how interesting they are until I read this book. It seems that our habits are controlled by a certain area of the brain called the basal ganglia. Habits allow are brain to not work as hard as when something is new – like starting a new morning routine. Once something becomes a habit, the basal ganglia work while the rest of the brain works less. (some folks would say the only things at work in my brain are the basal ganglia ) A good example of this is when you’ve been driving your car to a place that you go to frequently, like a job, and when you arrive at your destination, and you don’t specifically remember what took place on the way there or how you exactly arrived there. The driving habit took over – while the rest of your brain to some extent, took a break or disengaged.

The process your brain uses to develop a habit is a three step process. Duhigg calls this the Habit Loop. The First step in the process is the CUE – this is the trigger that causes your brain to go into automatic mode. The second step is the ROUTINE – this is the habit itself – which can be physical, mental or emotional. Finally there is the REWARD. This is event/incident/item, something you value, etc which helps your brain remember if the particular loop is something worth repeating. Interestingly, as we repeat the loop the more and more it becomes and engrained and becomes more automatic. As well stated by Duhigg, “the cue, and reward become intertwined until a powerful sense of anticipation and craving emerges”. As a result a habit is born. It’s interesting to me that both good and bad habits are formed this way, and by knowing the process you can form good habits, like taking up an exercise program, or breaking a bad habit, like biting your finger nails. This process and development of proper habits provided Coach Tony Dungee a method that would enable the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to come from being one of the worst teams in the NFL, to one of the best and eventually even winning the Super Bowl. A great example of ….practice not making perfect – but rather….perfect practice making perfect.

There are different types of habits as well. Some habits are more important than others. One such habit Duhigg discusses is one called a Keystone Habit. People can have Keystone Habits as well as organizations. A Keystone Habit is one that starts chain of reactions, changing other habits as they move through your mind or an organization. Michael Phelps utilized Keystone Habits to become the Olympian to win the most medals of any athlete in Olympic history.

Honestly, I don’t think I’ve done this book justice in the space I have for this post as there is much, much more I could write about it. The bottom line is that habits are very powerful. They can work for you or work against you. They can provide a path to great accomplishment or a path to destruction. In either case though habit loop begins with an intentional choice or decision. And I’ve heard it said before, a man’s life is the outcome of the many decisions, both large and small, we make on a continual basis.

All the best,

Island Mike

Filed Under: Enjoying Coffee, General Updates

Be Proud! Stand Tall! You’re an American!

May 25, 2015 by Island Mike

Memorial Day – May 25, 2015

This post will be a short but in my mind important. You see this weekend we celebrate Memorial Day. For me, it is one of the best holidays of the year. It is a time for families and friends to gather for picnics, BBQ, hamburgers and hotdogs. It’s the day that officially kicks off summer – my favorite season of the year. But more importantly, it’s a day to remember who we are as a nation and remember those who have served this nation to keep us safe from those in the world who would do us harm. Make no mistake about it, I bleed red, white and blue. I believe beyond any shadow any of doubt that if my grandfather had not fought in WWI, my uncle had not been at Pearl Harbor during WWII, my dad had not fought in Korea and my brother in-law had not fought in Vietnam, this nation, which I still believe is the greatest nation on earth, would not be as great as it is today.

110113-N-5838W-005
NORFOLK (Jan. 13, 2011) Information Systems Technician 3rd Class Joseph Rogers mans the rails of the guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87) as the ship departs Naval Station Norfolk for a six-month deployment. Mason deployed as part of the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jeffry A. Willadsen/Released)

Too many of our young men and women over the many years of this republic have fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice so as to allow us to continue to exercise our unalienable God given (not government given) rights of Life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, to dishonor them in anyway. It is only through their sacrifice of blood sweat and tears, that I have the freedom to write this blog, to disagree with and speak against my government when necessary, and to utilize my God given talents, drive and determination to seek a better way of life for me and my family. In so very many countries throughout the world, despots and tyrants have taken these rights from their people and doled them out as if they themselves owned them, thereby keeping a strangle hold on their people, forcing them to live a life of desperation.

Arlington Stones Photo by bquad

Please…… Please!……never take our (your) freedom for granted!! Never take those who have served…..on YOUR behalf ……for granted. Take a moment to today to pray for those who are in the military service, and for the families of those who have lost loved ones in the exercise of their duty. If you meet a serviceman or woman this weekend, thank them for what they do. And finally, never be casual about the importance of who we are as a nation. We ARE a great nation! Be proud of who you are! Be proud of what we have accomplished! We are a nation comprised of all races, creeds, religions and backgrounds – But we are one! You are an American! Don’t apologize for it!! Don’t make excuses for it!! Stand up and Stand tall!! Please watch this video – http://bit.ly/RRMemorialday

Happy Memorial Day and may God Bless You. I pray that God continues to Bless this United States of America – the greatest nation on earth.

Island Mike

Filed Under: General Updates

How To Make Great Coffee – Part 5 – Coffee Grounds

May 21, 2015 by Island Mike

Jamaican Blue Mountain Range Photo By Ericson Smith

Back in August of 1992 when my wife and I were on our honeymoon, one of the stops on our cruise was to the Island of Jamaica. Before leaving on our trip, and though I had never had never experienced it before, my brother in law suggested that I try Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. He went on about how wonderful it was and he suggested that we get some if we came across it while we on our trip, Well, as it turned out, one of the excursions from the ship my new bride and I did was to a Jamaican coffee plantation. After touring this amazingly beautiful estate for several hours, I bought several bags of certified Blue Mountain Coffee freshly roasted coffee beans. At this time you could get Blue Mountain Coffee for about $10/lbs. in Jamaica while here in the states, it was north of $50 per pound. Needless to say, I bought several pounds of the brown gold and brought it home with us from our cruise.

Once back home, I immediately put one of wedding gifts to good use on my new found treasure. The gift, a Braun Coffee Mill Grinder – one of the ones that has the sharp blade that spins at a crazy fast speed – sounds like it might take off and fly when its running- seemed to work really. And in fact it did. And by using it, with my auto drip coffee maker I had at the time, I made some pretty okay coffee. My bro in law was right, (I can’t believe I just said that ). The Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee was excellent. Thanks man!!

Okay…..flash forward 22 years….as my appreciation for coffee has grown dramatically, and I can only imagine how that fresh ground Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee would have been if I would have had the proper equipment to make an outstanding cup of the stuff….oh well, can’t cry over the past. Have to press on and learn from the experiences of the past….always improving and getting better!!

“Espresso Lifecycle” Photo By Thomas

So with that in mind, let’s spend some time talking about coffee grounds.

How your coffee is ground is very important. Remember in part 1 when we briefly talked about coffee extraction. Well, how your coffee is ground is an important part of how much extraction of the flavor of the coffee actually takes place. Honestly, it’s pretty logical as you’ll see.

The reason, (duh!) that we grind coffee beans is to get the amazing flavor of the coffee bean into a great cup of coffee. But there are a couple of ways to do this and one of those ways is better than the other. The two grinding methods/tools are burr grinders and blade grinders. We’re not going to discuss these types of grinders today accept to say that burr grinding is better than blade grinders, and of the types of burr grinders, the conical burr grinder is the best. We’ll probably cover the types of grinders in a later post.

So when thinking about coffee grounds were talking about the size of the ground particles that come from the coffee beans. One of the best examples/demonstrations/blog post written about the coffee grounds is from the blog “I Need Coffee”. Another great source is the blog “Coffee Specialty Advisor”

Depending upon how its categorized , there are generally five different grind levels for specific types of coffee. The five types are:

1) Extra/Course Grind – This is used for French Press coffee, cold brew coffee, & vacuum coffee makers.

2) Medium Grind – Used for auto drip coffee makers – the kind with the flat bottom.

3) Medium Fine Grind – This is good for drip coffee makers with a cone filter and for pour over coffee.

4) Fine Grind – Grind your coffee this way if you are making expresso.

5) Turkish Grind – This is a very fine grind and is used for Turkish Coffee.

So really, that about it for the coffee grinds – I hope you found that helpful. In addition the great resources above, you can find out more about coffee grounds at the blogs and websites below.

God Bless,

Island Mike

Additional Resources:

The Examiner – Different types of Coffee Bean Grinds

Kona Coffee Buzz – Guide to Grinding Coffee

Essential Wonders Coffee Company

Making Good Coffee.com

Filed Under: Coffee Beans, General Updates, Ground Coffee, Making Great Coffee