AMERICAN PRESS – HOW IT WORKS from The Wayward Studio, LLC on Vimeo.
There is something uniquely satisfying about coffee from a French Press, but it has always been more of a pain than it is worth. Thankfully, we were able to find something that gave us the delicious taste of French press coffee, but with no mess and a really cool show. We’re talking about ‘It’s American Press.’ Aside from having one word too many in its name, we absolutely love it!
What makes It’s American Press unique is that you load your coffee grounds into a pod right in the plunger. As you push the loaded plunger down, you see all the hot water below the plunger as clear and all the water that has pushed through the plunger is now perfectly brewed coffee. It was like watching a caffeinated magic trick! Not only was the coffee delicious, but clean up was as simple as removing the plunger and dumping the pod into the trash (or compost if you’ve got one). It’s American Press is a must have for any coffee lover.
Get yours today at: It’s American Press
Sometimes, high tech isn’t the way to go when it comes to crafting the perfect cup of coffee. When you look at the Camano Coffee Mill from Red Rooster Trading Company, you can see that low-tech doesn’t mean simple, it can be beautiful and functional. We’ve tested electronic grinders before and we’ll take this one over it any day of the week. First of all, there’s just something satisfying about turning that crank and taking a bigger role in your morning cup of joe. There’s really nothing we don’t love about this grinder. It’s a beautiful conversation piece for sure, but it grinds up coffee however you want from a coarse Turkish grind all the way down to a grind suitable for a French Press. Let’s not also forget that it saves you from the obnoxious noise created by most electric grinders. Seriously, who can handle that sound before they’ve had their coffee?!? Finally, we really loved that this grinder is made in the US. It is cast iron and wood with a glass jar. This isn’t the kind of grinder that you toss in the trash a couple of years from now when the motor dies. It’s the kind that you leave in your will to your most cherished coffee drinker when you die.
Get yours today at: Red Rooster Trading CO
If there’s one thing that fans can agree on about Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it is that the Porgs are adorable! It is no surprise that they’ve spawned an entire mini-franchise worth of merchandise. One thing we didn’t think we’d ever see, however, was a teapot in the shape of a porg! This new teapot from Vandor is one of the cutest and grumpiest ceramic porgs that has ever crossed our path and we love it! It measures in at 1 x 4.7 x 6.9″ h, and it is big enough to hold several cups of tea or hot water. Real Porgs are actually closer to 10″ tall, but then you wouldn’t have anyplace for your teacup to go. In all seriousness, this is one of the most unique and oddball teapots that we’ve come across in a long time. If you’ve got a Star Wars fan who loves tea, or any tea drinker who likes to get a little weird, this is perfect for them!
Get yours today at: Vandor
We learned a lot about teapots and tea kettles when we were working on this year’s guide, but the most important thing we learned was the difference between the two. Tea Kettles go on the stove, but teapots are only used for serving. As a result, teapots like this ceramic Darth Vader teapot are much more ornate than their kettle cousins. That’s what we really loved about Ukonic’s design on this new teapot set. Vader’s head as a 20 oz teapot looks absolutely amazing and the cups and sauces tie in the rest of his outfit perfectly! The only item in this 6-piece set that isn’t decked out with a special Darth Vader design is the sugar pot, but we liked having a stand-alone part of the collection that was just black. If you know anyone who loves Star Wars and likes their tea on the dark side, you can’t go wrong with the Star Wars Darth Vader Teapot set as a gift.
Get yours today at: Thinkgeek
If Ukonic’s Vader Teapot is one of the best ways to serve tea to a Star Wars fan, Uncanny Brands’ Darth Vader Stove Top Tea Kettle is one of the best ways to make it. This 1.7-liter capacity kettle will work on gas, electric, and even induction cooktops. The thing we can’t get over is its design. We talked to the folks over at Uncanny and they told us that the wanted a minimalistic Vader motif that gave Star Wars fans a wink and a nod, but that still looked like it fit perfectly into any kitchen. We think they pulled it off and the result is a major win for Star Wars fans (and the spouses who put up with them) everywhere!
Get yours today at: Uncanny Brands
You can’t talk about coffee this year without mentioning the new trend of cold-brew. Our favorite cold-brew system this year has to be from Cuisinart. It’s stylish, it’s fast (coffee in as little as 25 minutes for light and 45 minutes for strong), and the coffee just tastes great! For us, one of its best features was the three filters that help prevent any of the coffee grounds from ending up in our cup. It’s a problem we’ve seen on a lot of other cold-brew systems and we were happy to find that our Cuinisart Cold-Brew coffee not only tasted smooth, but it didn’t have any of that nasty sediment you sometimes find. If you have a friend or family member who loves the idea of coffee, but normal coffee always leaves them with a bitter taste in their mouth, you owe it to them to introduce them to cold-brew coffee with Cuisinarts cold-brew system.
Get yours today at: Cuisinart
Coffee is life, but it is also kind of a pain in the butt to make and a mess to clean up. If this is a struggle you know or one that your friends deal with, we suggest Jiva Coffee Cubes as the perfect solution. These cubes of high-quality coffee dissolve in hot water in as little as 30 seconds, giving you the fast access you need to your caffeine, but without any of that messy cleanup. These are not only great for the casual coffee lover, but they are especially perfect for anyone you know who likes to go camping. Why go through the hassle of brewing a pot of coffee over the campfire when you can just boil your water and drop in a cube? As far as flavors go, Jiva Cubes come in regular, black, French Vanilla, mocha, hazelnut, and caramel. All the flavors are delicious and pack just the right punch when it comes to caffeine. Grab a pack or a sampler and add slip them under the tree of a good friend this Christmas.
Get yours today at: Jiva Cubes
While coffee cubes are nice, for a lot of people, a spot of tea is where it’s at. If this sounds more like your thing, check out Clark’s Tea Cubes. Each tin of tea provides you with 12 cups of tea, each one blended with just the right amount of sugar to perfectly sweeten your cup. Less than 30 seconds after you heat up your water, you will be sitting back and drinking your tea with the same look of satisfaction that made Kermit The Frog a meme. That sure beats the 5+ minutes that some teas need to steep before you can tuck into them. Clark’s Tea Cubes are currently available in Mango Lemon, Green Tea Mint, and Earl Grey. You can buy them separately, but at $16.99 it is a great deal to grab a flavor bundle for your friend, and another for yourself.
Get yours today at: Clark’s Tea Cubes
When we were putting our Coffee and Tea section together, we really didn’t want to head into K-Cup territory. If nothing else, we hate the idea that so many of those little plastic cups end up in landfills. Besides, who wants only one cup of coffee at a time? not us! For a traditional coffee brewer that makes a statement, we loved Technivorm’s Moccamaster, and not just because it sounds like Cobra’s latest weapon in the fight against GI Joe. The Moccamaster has been around for years, but only because the coffee it makes is just so darned perfect. Let’s set aside the fact that it is a visually beautiful coffee maker. Instead, let’s talk about the fact that it hits the perfect temperature for extraction of coffee. That means perfect coffee without the bitterness you get when you are paying $40 a cup at Starbucks. A large part of that is also helped by the Copper inside instead of aluminum. In the end, there just isn’t an auto-drip (it only took six minutes to brew a 40 oz pot of caffeinated gold!) coffee maker out there that produces a better cup for the money. Heck, even the heating plate under the coffee carafe is specially designed so that your coffee doesn’t get stale after sitting for a while. It rolls the heat. We honestly don’t even know what that means, but when you drink a cup that still tastes fresh after 2 hours on the heating plate, you really won’t care!
Get yours today at: Technivorm
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