What's Brewing

Cubans sweet their espressos with raw sugar cane and yet, the sweetest coffee is still the Vietnamese coffee. I still remember the first time I tried it. I was at a Vietnamese restaurant with my dad and as I ordered it he said to me “You won’t sleep again.” He was right and it was worth it.  Coffee arrived in Vietnam in the 19th century. French missionaries introduced the bean to the Vietnamese fertile soil and coffee has been growing in the country ever since. Nonetheless, coffee was not an important crop until the 80s and 90s when it played...

Not too long ago, it was common practice to buy coffee beans raw and roast them at home. Why did we stop this? There’s many reasons; one of them is simply that as a society we have become more practical, and after WWII there was a boost on kitchen gadgets. Some have remained such as the microwave, the coffeemaker, the electric blender, and many others have gone extinct (or almost extinct) such as the electric can opener and the retractable stove. Practicality is truly the deal breaker here, because roasting coffee at home is no matter for the faint hearted....

I know, I know, the question is quite odd and daring. But there are plenty of benefits to drenching yourself in coffee, so why wouldn’t we look into it? Cleopatra was known to bathe in milk, its tradition for some royals to bathe in wine, most spa treatments are based on herbs somewhat similar to brewing tea, so why wouldn’t we try coffee?   Coffee is high in antioxidants, which are crucial to balance free radicals in our bodies. In simpler words, coffee helps improve cellular health. Coffee is also an anti-inflammatory, which is crucial to improve blood circulation in...

Italian-American culture has brought the best of both worlds. Think of New York Pizza and It’s a Wonderful Life, the iconic American film is actually directed by Frank Capra, an Italian born American. Neighborhoods such as Little Italy can be considered as important part of American cities as it is to Italian identity. And where does the Americano fit in all this? Let me tell you, it fits like a glove.  Americano simply means American in Italian. It is said that it was the Italians who coined this term because it was the type of coffee American soldiers enjoyed drinking while...

Once long ago, someone tried to convince me that coffee was really bad for my mind and body. They insisted that coffee negatively impacts the nervous system, the heart, and my bones. Not to mention my skin, brain, and teeth. As someone hoping to be strong and healthy, I cared about this possibility and took it upon myself to research what coffee truly does to my mind and body.  Stress  New studies done in England show that the stress resulting from coffee consumption has more positive than negative effects on our bodies. The adrenaline kick we get from caffeine increases...

Happy feast my friend! Saint Pius of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, and baptized by his parents as Francesco Forgione. The twentieth century saint was born so poor that he spent his childhood sleeping with a rock as a pillow. His parents were illiterate, but they never failed to cultivate their son's curiosity and narrated Bible stories from memory. His parents went through great effort to hire a tutor for young Francesco when he expressed his interest in joining the Franciscan order. Religious life required a somewhat higher level of education than what was available to Italian peasants and...