My-Cap News

3 Ways To Spice Up Your Cold Coffees (by Sally Perkins)

The beautiful simplicity of a cup of coffee is not to be diminished, but sometimes your morning (or afternoon) brew needs a bit of a lift. As iced coffee and cold brew are both known to soak up flavors very well, the summertime is just the time to give these ideas a try.

1. Essences and Extract

Vanilla flavored creamers and syrups are available everywhere, but try using vanilla extract on its own. It is all flavor and no extra sugar. If you’re trying to capture the flavor of an alcoholic brew without the alcohol, a dash of almond extract gives you that essense of amaretto. A chocolatey coffee might also pair very well with mint extract. Perhaps a trip to the baking section is in order.

2. Dip into your spice cabinet!

Cinnamon is a go-to spice for most bakers, but maybe going a bit further afield to Cardamom and Ginger might add a bit of interest and freshness, even a bit of an exotic edge. If you’re more the fiery adventure type, a bit of cayenne or even chipotle will definitely add a bit of excitement to your morning. And, of course, the fad at the moment is pink peppercorns. These pink berries have a sweet but peppery flavor and are an amazing alternative for the person who has tried it all.  

3. Non-dairy love

While soya milk has been mainstream for a while, there are other non-dairy options. Oat milk has a rich, almost nutty flavor that has a nice body. It can be used just like normal milk and you won’t even miss the dairy alternative. Coconut milk is silky and strong, bringing life and vibrancy in addition to a massive coconut flavor. It whips up well in a latte or just a bit of cream on top.

Top Tip for Cold Brew

Salt - Salt brings out the flavor of foods and beverages and, as cold brewing sometimes mutes the coffee's flavor, it is just the thing to add a bit of punch. Discussions differ as to how much, but some people swear by this method.

Top Tip for Iced Coffee

Coffee Ice cubes - Make a batch the night before and freeze it in ice cube trays (the more fun-shaped the better). Use those to cool down the coffee - it won’t water down the coffee like normal ice. What can be better with coffee than more coffee?

In our continuing effort to server our customers.  Please welcome My-Cap Canada.  This new distributer will be handling all sales within Canada moving forward.  What this means is faster shipping and response times when you order.  You can find them at https://my-cap.ca.

Excerpt from http://www.usmemorialday.org

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America. Over two dozen cities and towns claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day. While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.

Regardless of the exact date or location of its origins, one thing is clear – Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.

On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.

The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war).

It is now observed in almost every state on the last Monday in May with Congressional passage of the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 – 363). This helped ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays, though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19th in Texas; April 26th in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10th in South Carolina; and June 3rd (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee.

As a company we have been testing coffee brewers for a number of years.  We thought that we would share some of the crema results.  The results are loosely arranged with the highest crema producing first to the lowest crema producing last.

We hope you enjoy it!