Thursday, September 24, 2009

Travel Light With A Travel Coffee Maker

You love your coffee. You have your own personal blend. You love your brewer, and have it set on a timer when you don't forget. But the mornings when you do forget are always hectic, and more often than not, you're in a rush just to get out the door with enough time to swing by the nearest 7-Eleven to grab a cup of coffee on the way to work.

Not quite the cup of coffee you prefer, but better than nothing.

Tired of settling?

Then it might be time for a travel coffee maker. More popular than ever before, especially with the hectic world we live in today, travel coffee makers are easy to take with you wherever you go. Set one up at the office. Carry one in the car. Keep one at home for quick brewing. Pack one for your next trip. However you choose to use your travel coffee maker, you're suddenly back in control again.

Prices can vary dramatically, depending on the manufacturer and the features you select. On the low end, you can purchase a maker for as little as twenty dollars. On the high end, you might pay as much as a few hundred dollars. In either case, travel coffee makers all generally function in the same manner. Place the coffee in the filtered basket, add water to the reservoir, turn it on, and you're all set.

With that in mind, here are some features to consider when looking for a travel coffee maker:

1. Assembly .... is it easy to take apart to clean and then put back together again? You'd be surprised at how difficult some travel coffee makers can be to reassemble.

2. Dual Voltage System ... if you do any traveling abroad, especially in Europe, you'll likely need a dual voltage system in order to accommodate both American and European outlets. Check with the manufacturer to make sure one is available.

3. Car Cup Holder ... will the coffee mug that comes with the unit fit a standard car cup holder. If it won't, you're likely to find yourself greatly inconvenienced.

4. Auto Shut Off ... will the travel coffee maker automatically shut off after brewing? Always a good idea for safety's sake.

5. Filters ... does the unit come with a permanent filter, or use a standard paper cone filter? Which would you prefer for your particular circumstances? Keep in mind that a permanent filter allows you that much less you have to pack when traveling.

6. Flexibility ... does it have the ability to also make hot water for tea, hot chocolate, or instant foods? Very handy on those extended trips or long days at the office when you can't get away for lunch.

7. Capacity ... does it brew a single cup or more? Do you need more than a single cup maker? And finally ... what is the cup capacity? 10 ounces? More? Less?

8. Construction ... is the mug made of plastic or stainless steel? Does it have rubber grips to make sure you don't end up dropping it in your lap during the drive to work?

9. Brewing Time ... how long does it take to brew a single cup of coffee? Some models can brew a cup in as little as 60 seconds.

10. Taste ... and most important of all, does the coffee maker influence the taste of the coffee? A cheap model can sometimes produce a cup of coffee that tastes like the plastic container. The goal, as much as possible, is to combine convenience, cost, and quality when you can.

Finally, make sure you read the manufacturer's descriptions carefully and choose the coffee maker that's right for your needs. If you're a coffee lover, you're going to thoroughly enjoy being able to take your travel coffee maker with you on trips, or to the office, or even keep it at home for a quick brew just before you're on your way out the door.

How to Cook Delicious Koshihikari

Koshihikari is delicious I come and introduce one. Koshihikari becomes more delicious, and, with one how to cook, it is objecting in taste less than cheap, old rice.

I become extremely delicious, but comment on delicious how to cook with a general rice cooker when I cook it with an earthenware pot.

(1) Cleansed rice
I wash it with plentiful water quickly. Because absorbing water power is strong, rice will not let I wash in particular the first はすば and breathe a smell of rice bran together. I put the rice which I measured in the slightly bigger bowl which I filled with plentiful water at a stretch and wash it quickly and throw away water immediately. I exchange four or five times water and wash it afterwards.

Washing rice I say that it polishes it, but I push U.S.A. and rice, and the reason is because it rubs it together. I lose rice bran coming with the surface of rice by doing it this way and drop it. However, it is not necessary I put power because rice cleaning technology progresses now, and to polish it. On the contrary, in what I lay too much emphasis on, rice cracks and is broken when I cooked it.

The no-rinse rice which does not work of trouble to inquire into is popularity now. But after all rice is (~~) that there is not an actual feeling unless I polish it by oneself personally. But water is 冷たいんですよね ~. in winter

(2) The amount of water
It is OK with quantity of water according to a scale of a rice cooker. I am wimpy, and please do the amount of water of a tortoise, hardening for preference. In addition, Because there is much content of water, new rice makes water a little small in comparison with old rice slightly. Please be careful when ですので is the rice which I got. In the case of no-rinse rice, water of one normal surcharge is an appropriate amount.

(3) Absorbing water
I will let you absorb water at least for around 1 hour for 30 minutes or more in the summertime. Cook it with absorbing water time; of agari A difference is considerably reflected on a degree plumply. But because is not a thing to be good so as to be long if absorbing water time is long; attention. Rice is broken when I let too much you breathe it for a long time. When there is not a time to spare to let you absorb water, it is not water Please dip it into hot water. I finish a little it by time. あ, boiling water are no use. It is boiled. It is :-) with tepid water.

Not to mention water to use, water and mineral water of a water purifier are preferable than city water. Absorbing water service such as ion water is common in super recently, too. When I wash it, the first had better not be city water either.

In addition, mineral water recommends soft water of lower than hardness 100. If the hardness is high, calcium sticks to the surface of rice, and the reason is because it disturbs that rice absorbs water.

(4) Cooking rice
Because it is a rice cooker, please push a switch (whether you do not forget to sometimes push it) ) that I do it well. In the case of timer cooking rice, please be careful so that absorbing water time does not become too long (as for what I set a timer before sleeping at night, and is cooked when I got up in the morning) ) which I cannot recommend from a point of view of a taste.

If cooking rice is over It is rice をさっくり to return it with a rice scoop immediately from a bottom of a pot I mix 切 るよううに. Please be careful not to crush it. When Koshihikari in particular lays too much emphasis because there is tenacity, and it mixes it, it seems to become a rice cake.

Steam it, and time is necessary, but steam the present rice cooker after rice was originally cooked; it is just; completion passes. I think that it is 蒸 らしが must use, and rice どうしが hardens when I leave it.

(5) How to eat
Although フーフー is good, I eat steaming rice!  Really delicious Koshihikari has sweetness slightly and I am delicious and can have it even if against it without a side dish with that alone.

Thermal insulation with a rice cooker is short as possible. Taste declines so as to stand if time passes (electricity bill もかかるんですよ ).) If can do it, eat; want each time to cook it. When I remained, thinness can spread and wraps it in a lap, and let's refrigerate it.