Verona in the House (almost)

Or, actually almost had to add House to the Verona, but there was enough to make a pure pot of Verona. Be bold and have some.

We ARE the coffee

"Bold." "Multi-Regional." That's you, that's me, and that's the Verona blend I just made.

What happened when two coffee trucks collided?

One was from Brazil, one from Guatemala. Check out the result in the kitchen now.

Made in the Shade

Organic Shade Grown Mexico roast from Starbucks. Ready now. (And what have I been doing since the last post on April 27th?)

A coffee boom?

Make that "Boom, coffee." I'm going to start a pot of fresh Sumatra before the storm knocks out power to the coffeemaker.

The Captain did not go down with the ship

It's my first day back after being away for a few days. I realized that my cupboard was nearly bare, so all I could do is make coffee from the last of four different bags. Don't say I didn't warn you. You could always comment with your review.

Congratualtions, Twos

Twos, you've nearly made it through another week. Celebrate with fresh Colombia N. Supreme. (Where is that "enya" key, anyway?) Ones, unite! We can make it through tomorrow.

Celebrating Going to a Four-Hour Meeting

...and then finding out it's tomorrow. (Good for today, bad for tomorrow, isn't that the American way?) There might be some Colombia left in the pot.

A real match?

To continue the personality typing question, I just noticed that the kind I brought is, among other things, described as "clean," and "well-balanced." (Of course my wife picked it out...) Colombia Nariño Supremo, ready now.

Homemade Peeps?

Here's a good one from yesterday's comics. http://www.foxtrot.com/ You'd need more than the fresh Columbian I just made to wash 'em down, but it would go nicely with the cake sitting there on the table.

Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee

I can't provide any, but here are instructions on how to make tasty iced coffee. Definitely for people who plan ahead.

More of Yvonne's Sumatra

You may remember that we have previously used coffee descriptions for personality typing. The question is, do people tend to buy their own type? Starbucks has abbreviated their descriptions somewhat, but Sumatra is "Extra bold -- earthy and aromatic." Hmm. Anyway, thanks Yvonne!

A bad dream...but you better hurry

Last night I dreamt that the government started looking into Americans' access to coffee. There was outrage at discovering that Starbucks baristas got free drinks while at work and a free pound of coffee a week, and made more than minimum wage, while working people paid big bucks for a latte. One thing led to another, the entire industry was nationalized, and coffee was free for everyone as promised...generic government coffee...if you didn't mind the wait.

Get some Organic Serena in the kitchen while you can!

Serena than thou

Just got back from the Managing Your Emotions Under Pressure training, and made some Organic Serena to celebrate.

Pre-Birthday Cake Coffee

Ethiopia Sidamo is ready, for those who a) want to get a head start on counteracting the sweetness of the monthly office birthday cake, or b) will not be attending the gathering after reading this comic strip, also conveniently posted in the kitchen: http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/2009-03-08/

Why Pal II employees work faster...

Exercise physiologists have studied caffeine’s effects in nearly every iteration: Does it help sprinters? Marathon runners? Cyclists? Rowers? Swimmers? Athletes whose sports involve stopping and starting like tennis players? The answers are yes and yes and yes and yes.

So even as sports stars from baseball players to cyclists to sprinters are pilloried for using performance enhancing drugs, one of the best studied performance enhancers is fine for them or anyone else to use. And it is right there in a cup of coffee or a can of soda.

...caffeine increases the power output of muscles by releasing calcium that is stored in muscle. The effect can enable athletes to keep going longer or to go faster in the same length of time. Caffeine also affects the brain’s sensation of exhaustion, that feeling that it’s time to stop, you can’t go on any more.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/health/nutrition/26best.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

Coffee song titles we'd like to see

There have to be some great songs to go along with the Ethiopia Sidamo I just brewed. Here's a start, substituting "coffee" for a word in a real song title.

• Saving All My Coffee For You
• That's What I Love About Coffee
• Takin' Back My Coffee

More??

Don't miss last Sunday's Dilbert, or...

Use the Dilbert widget on the left side of the Coffee Alerts blog and scroll back to last Sunday's strip (March 22). It a great coffee- and recession-related topic. I'm sure some commenter can guess how I would change it for our office.

Also, don't miss the pot of Ethiopia Sidamo that I just brewed.

Special Monday coffee is ready

This is what Yvonne brought back from her trip to help deal with Mondays (ready now):

Some people look at Starbucks coffee and ask, "Why?"

I look at Starbucks coffee and ask, "Why not?" (Ethiopia Sidamo)

Spring break, March Madness...

Maybe that's why there was no traffic today. So what am I doing here?? Making Ethiopia Sidamo, ready now.

This is NOT a test

Well, OK, I am testing a few "alert" methods for the locally impatient, but there is also a fresh pot of Sumatra ready.

He who brews last, brews best

A fresh pot of Pike Place Roast is now ready.

I also invite anyone else to contribute a famous line or quotation, with an added coffee twist, by adding a comment to this post.

Peter Piper

Peter Piper perked a pot of Pike Place. Should be ready now. (By the way, next week I'll help the people who need faster and flashier notifications.)

Weather report demands action

The weather widget on the left tells me that it's about 40 degrees farenheit cooler than it was this time two days ago. That calls for action, in this case, a pot of Pike Place Roast.

Antidote for Daylight Savings Time - medical guidelines

Here is some important medical information from Captain Coffee. The following is the recommended treatment for adjusting to Daylight Savings Time.

Day 1 (yesterday): Based on one extra cup of coffee for each 10 minutes of time change, six extra cups are recommended.
Day 2 (today): Five extra cups
Day 3 (Tuesday): Four extra cups
Day 4 (Wednesday): Three extra cups
Day 5 (Thursday): Two extra cups
Day 6 (Friday): One extra cup

After that you are free to resume your normal coffee intake, or enjoy the benefits of staying at one of the elevated levels.

I started with a cup of Jennifer's Seattle's Best just now. (Thanks!)

Today's weather, today's Dilbert, and a fresh pot of Pike's Place

Right before I brewed this fresh pot of Starbucks, I added a couple of "widgets" to the Coffee Alerts blog. If you're not reading this from the blog, you'd better click through. (After you race your colleagues to the kitchen.)

Oops

This is just someone bumbling around in here trying to get the hang of it. But then I did not get any of the all favorite Sumatra almost-burnt roast, so maybe I am not functioning properly. That should teach me!

Ignore the idiom

Even though Ursula's Bolivian coffee is hiding on the back burner, you'd better not put responding to this on the back burner, or you just may not get any. (Then again, only the cool people have set themselves up to get alerts from this blog.)

For Peet's sake, another PAL2 first!

Our first Peet's coffee (thanks Yvonne), Colombian, ready now.

(Technical hint: you can have your RSS feed updates route to your inbox in Outlook so you don't miss them down in the RSS folder. Tools - Account Settings - RSS Feeds, highlight the feed, and press the Change Folders button at the bottom.)

Dead Cat Bounce

Though Seattle's Best "Henry's Blend" (thanks, Hilary) is named after a now-deceased cat, "dead cat bounce" usually refers to something else. But if you could use a little bounce in your step, there's some ready now.

Coffee Is Ready

After over a year of office coffee announcements, it's past time to quit using email and get on with the blog version. That way, you PAL2 coffee drinkers (plus anyone else in the world who appreciates the corny, lame, plain, or occasionally clever announcements) can decide how to be notified--a newsfeed, instant email alerts, a widget, whatever. Tutorials to follow. Comments welcome.

(It's mostly Guatemala with a touch of Breakfast Blend to round it out.)