Mindful Living with Coffee
Coffee is not just a drink. It’s a wonderful sensational experience!
To fully appreciate the aromas and flavors of our coffee drinks, we should make it a habit to cleanse our mouths properly before taking the first sip.
What’s the best way to cleanse our palates?
There are many different ways. It all depends on us and our preferences.
Continue reading THE ART OF COFFEE DRINKING
My first memorable experience with coffee was smelling the drink while I was in the kitchen with my mother. She’d put on a pot for herself or friends, and soon our house would be a cafe. The aroma still returns me to those soothing days of youth.
Later on, when I was a teenager, a friend inspired me to discover the magic of coffee more intimately. I tried chewing the beans, and their flavour was new to me—bitter but simply delectable.
As an adult, I began to drink instant coffee and espresso regularly. Though I did appreciate both, nothing could match my love for filter coffee.
Quality filter coffee offers an unparalleled variety of flavours. If you focus closely on your coffee drink, you’ll appreciate tones of countless fruits, herbs, and tea flavours. Some components are bitter or spicy, others acidic or spicy. Properly brewed, filter coffee offers a perfect balance of flavours combined with an amazing aroma, texture, and mouthfeel.
Filter coffee may also be called coffee tea. Why? The method of filter coffee preparation is very similar to preparing tea—especially if you prepare coffee via a cotton filter or French press.
This may spark your imagination: filter coffee can also be compared to alcoholic drinks. Pour-over coffee is much like wine. Both drinks are derived from a fruit and bring about similar effects. They put us in a comfortable mood and help to reduce stress. Both display a wide range of flavours, intense aromas, and varying textures. Think about that when having a cup!
Sticking with this analogy, it might be noted that espresso drinks are more like brandy or cognac—caffeinated fruit-shots. Then, you have many variations of the cocktail: mixes with milk, flavoured syrups, sugars and even spices. What they create tastes little like coffee, which brings me to . . .
So, why do I favour filter coffee? Why do I love it so much? Because I like to enjoy the true flavour (including the aftertaste) of coffee. Likewise, I want the aroma and body—the mouthfeel. I want it all.
Espresso has a short, wild life. I prefer to enjoy my coffee slowly . . . using all of my senses.
“Our senses are like a gateway into the world,” says Whitman.
“And as we open that gateway through developing our sensory awareness, the world blossoms into a symphony of colors, scents, tastes, sounds, and touch.” – Kenton Whitman, naturalist, writer & educator
Continue reading OUTDOOR COFFEE MOMENTS
Mindset is your rudder in the boat of your life. –
Shan White, Life Coach
Let’s be the best version of ourselves, every day!
Let’s practise mindset work with specialty coffee!
Our mindset determines how we think about life, the world and how we deal with challenges. Often times we will not be able to change the situation. However, it’s up to us how we think about life challenges and how we respond to it.
Continue reading MINDSET FOR SUCCESS WITH SPECIALTY COFFEE
How people drink and enjoy coffee around the word differs greatly. I find it fascinating to explore various unique coffee drinking rituals.
For example, in Ethiopia – the birthplace of coffee – it is a long spiritual, sacred ceremony, which also includes the roasting of the beans.
In Turkey, the brew usually served from a long-handled copper pot called a cezve. According to a famous Turkish proverb: coffee should be ‘as black as hell, as strong as death and as sweet as love.’
However, for all coffee lovers around the world, drinking coffee is a mindful ritual that incorporates all five senses — sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. It’s about slowing down and living in the moment.
What makes a cup of coffee enjoyable for you? There are many factors such as the taste, the origin of the beans, the flavours, and aromas. An important factor is also the place, where we are drinking the coffee. From my own experiences, I can tell that a comfortable and inspiring place can add nearly 50% pleasure and joy.
Many people think that they can enjoy coffee to the fullest in a coffee-shop. But why don’t we create our own cozy coffee-drinking-atmosphere, no matter where we are at the moment. We do not need a good-looking, hipster, industrial-style, cozy, fancy cafe to enjoy coffee. We can create a wonderful atmosphere for ourselves at home, at work or while going on a hiking trip.
I created my own coffee-spots in various places around the world and during the last a couple months in Ireland. No matter where we are, a cup of coffee can be amazing ‘food for our soul’ :-).
We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting ~
Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese writer (1883- 1931)
Let’s experience the beauty of life – every moment! Let’s not wait for something to happen because the Now is all we have. Beauty happens all the time. 😊
We smell and sense the world around us every day. A lot of what we actually “taste” is done through smelling. Our sense of smell could be capable of so much more – if we would train it! George Dodd, who runs the Aroma Academy in Aberdeen, emphasizes: “People don’t realise that the sense of the smell is like a muscle. Use it or lose it.” Our noses are amazing. We just need to pay attention.
Continue reading COFFEE AROMA – SENSE OF SMELL
Every coffee-lover should have at least three coffee monkeys inside themselves. Each monkey has a different task. One focuses on tasting flavours. Another one explores the aromas with his/her nose. And one more monkey feels the body of the coffee.
All monkeys have to work together as a team with joy. People with a true passion for coffee take care of the monkeys inside of them. Otherwise, they would only consume coffee without enjoying it.
Continue reading THE ENERGY OF COFFEE
hat you think, you become. What you feel, you attract. What you imagine, you create. –Buddha
I am sure, everybody experiences moments during which we are unsure, if we are ready to start an activity or not. It could be – for example – our wish to try out a new coffee brewing method. In doing so, we could be wondering whether or not we have all the necessary information and skills to accomplish the task successfully. However, during such moments, our inferior thoughts create a mental blockade.
Thoughts have energy. Make sure your thoughts are positive and powerful. – Anonymous
A good advice is to replace these inferior thoughts with positive feelings, thoughts or actions! After all, feelings, thoughts and actions are all interconnected.
Therefore, let’s force ourselves to just act with a positive mindset. Let’s not overthink by trying to come up with the “right” way of doing it. Let’s not get overwhelmed and let’s be curious about what will happen 😊.
The law of the first step is quite simple. We will never achieve what is possible without taking the first step.
Source: Jon Mertz, The Law of the First Step, Thin Difference, February 23, 2019 https://bit.ly/2NBuIkY
Simple things and small shifts in thinking can change our life… and the world. Often times, we are getting too comfortable in our daily routines. We stop challenging ourselves and lose the drive in making our life more meaningful, interesting and fun. One of the thing is “coffee”.
There is a way to make it better. Find it.
Thomas Edison, American inventor (1847-1931)
Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages. Many people start their day with a steaming cup of freshly brewed coffee. I will not discuss the possible benefits or risks of drinking coffee, but it’s a fact that the majority of people drink coffee to boost their energy, to focus better on a task or to refresh themselves.
‘Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.’
Oprah Winfrey
A lot of people think that caffeine is the main energy source of coffee. However, I don’t agree with it. In my point of view, the biggest energy source of coffee are the mindful moments while we are enjoying the drink, our company and the environment around us. Magic happens when we practice mindfulness and start to notice and appreciate the coffee’s story from the plantation to the cup as well as the flavours, aromas and texture of the final drink. These exciting, magic and relaxing moments will give us energy.
Let’s also keep in mind that that caffeine doen’t give us energy. Through a kind of biological trickery, caffeine tricks us into thinking that we are not tired.
Source: David Ferguson, Coffee doesn’t give you energy, it just fools your brain into thinking it isn’t tired, Raw Story,December 27, 2014: https://bit.ly/2XUeOGr
If you want to drink a coffee like real energy drink, sugar, milk or cream needs to be added. One may also enjoy an energetic meal before drinking the coffee.
