5 Tricks to a healthier Cup of Coffee in the Morning!

Seeing that you have arrived at our blog, we assume that you love a cup of coffee in the morning to give you a kick and get you ready for the day. When not drinking in excess, coffee can have many health benefits, but there also several ways you can ensure to have a healthier cup of coffee in the morning.

Drink Water First

Make sure to drink water before drinking your first cup of coffee. Coffee is a diuretic which can have a dehydrating effect on the body. Many people that drink coffee, end up not drinking enough water by the end of the day. Make drinking water a regular habit!

Use alternatives to milk

Have you thought about using plant-based milk in order to make your coffee healthier? canvaIt’s not even healthier, but it can also help with weight loss. Almond milk, coconut milk or cashew milk are all healthier alternatives that have fewer calories and are ideal for those looking for a healthier cup of coffee!

Reduce Sugar

The recommended sugar intake is six tea spoons of sugar per day. This does not leave much room for sugar in your coffee so avoid its intake as much as possible. If you are sticking to sugar, rather use a smaller spoon.

Avoid artificial sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners might have fewer calories; they can increase sugar cravings which will have negative effects on the body. Ideally, cut down your intake of both sugar and avoid artificial sweeteners and adjust to unsweetened coffee.

Add a variety of spices

You can add your favourite spices to your coffee to make it healthier and add to the flavour. Ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg are spices that you can add to your coffee for added health benefits. Cinnamon for example helps regulate blood sugar and insulin.

Buy Italian Coffee in South Africa

Coffee was introduced in Italy in the 1500s. At first, it was seen as sinful and deemed as an Islamic threat to Christianity. But as its popularity grew, Pope Clement VIII decided to sample the heathen drink and was instantly enamoured by its unique taste and aroma. He proclaimed that it would be a great sin to banish such a delightful drink.

From century to century, a coffee drinking culture in Italy has grown stronger and stronger. In modern Italy, coffee rituals have emerged that have made drinking coffee in Italy unique. We’ll be demystifying these laws for you below.

What to drink in the morning?

The morning in Italy begins with a pastry paired with a delicious milky coffee. These can include a Cappuccino, a Caffe latte or a Latte macchiato. Don’t order these after 11 am though. Italians only enjoy milky coffee in the morning – never in the afternoon and especially not after a meal.

Double espresso shots!

It’s also acceptable to order double shots in South Africa. While you can do this in Italy, it is not typical. If you need that extra caffeine boost, just visit your favourite barista several times per day. You won’t be the only one!

Take-away Coffee

As coffee drinking is supposed to be a social experience and enjoyed in small doses, take-away cups may not be available at every cafe that you visit.

Region Coffee Twists

Italy has 20 regions that boast their own unique coffee culture with each offering their regional twists to the drink we all love to enjoy. For example, in Le Marche, you can enjoy a caffe anisette for an anise-flavoured espresso. In Sicily, you can enjoy an Arabic-inspired coffee flavoured with cloves, cinnamon and cacoa.

Buy Italian Coffee in South Africa

Now that you are a coffee connoisseur well versed in the Italian coffee culture, head over to our Emozione online store to see our wide selection of Italian coffees in South Africa.

The difference between coffee capsules, coffee pads and coffee pods?

Coffee pods, pads and coffee capsules are undeniably, certifiably NOT the same thing, but too many companies are marketing them as one and the same. We’re here to debunk the myth that coffee pods and coffee capsules are the same, and explain what the differences are.

Coffee Capsules

Coffee capsules are the plastic containers with an aluminium foil seal, with ground coffee contained inside. These are also available as aluminium capsules with an aluminium seal as produced by Nespresso.

The capsule is either part of an open or closed system; open systems allow for a broader range of product to be use in the machine. Closed-system capsules simply mean you can only use one brand of compatible capsule sin your machine.

ESE Coffee Pods

Coffee pods look precisely the same as a teabag, except for that they are round in shape.

ESE is an international standard that fits every ESE pod machine world-wide. With a 44-45mm diameter, standardized 7 grams of ground espresso is compressed inside a two sided disk shaped paper pod.

Think of a puffy teabag. To use these pods you will need a machine that is either specifically designed for ESE pods, or a conventional machine that is versatile – meaning it can use both grinds or ESE pods.

Coffee Pads

Phillips Senseo ™  – which we stock here at Emozione – is probably the best known of these and as with the capsules they are designed to fit into the Phillips Senseo machines ™. The pad is bigger than a pod with a diameter for 70mm, but made with 7 – 10 g of coffee and not packed as tightly.

Environmental Impact

With a global market of $17 billion, coffee capsules are contributing to a global environmental disaster.

Made from a combination of plastics and aluminium with organic matter inside, the coffee pods are not biodegradable. It takes 150 to 500 years for aluminium and plastic capsules to breakdown in landfill.

In comparison, the beauty of the waste from ESE Coffee Pods is that they are completely compostable. The Biodegradable paper that the coffee is packed in and the coffee grounds fully compost.

Which are you going to choose?

Green Christmas Give-Back

Why should we take plastic or aluminium, when you can pack coffee in a simple paper pod?

As a nature lover, it was always clear to have something more environmentally friendly than plastic or aluminium and the ESE pod market in the Mediterranean countries is quite big – its only coffee ground and paper. 100% biodegradable! The ESE standard is an international standard and you can buy pods now all over the world.

Emozione has been making these environmentally-friendly coffee machines and pods available in Cape Town for many years.

As a special Christmas promotion, we will pay you R900 for any of your used capsule machines when buying a new ESE pod coffee machine.

Just head on over to the Emozione online shop, add your proffered coffee machine to the shopping cart, and include “GreenChristmas Give-back” into the special request section when ordering.

The machine will be delivered to your door by the courier, who will also collect your used capsule machine, which will be recycled by one of our partners. R900 will be transferred back into your bank account.

1. Order ANY new Emozione Coffee Machine
2. Add the “GreenChristmas Give-back” Promo Code
3. Wait for the courier to arrive
4. Receive R900 cash-back into your account

Changing your coffee machine is a small price to pay when you can become more environmentally-friendly and receive a R900 cash-back at the same time.

Order your ESE pod coffee machine with Emozione!

This offer is valid until the 25^th of December 2016.

Exciting new Coffee Blends available on our Online Store

We are always looking to bring new exciting and delicious coffee blends to South Africa.

As we have partnered with Gian Luca Venturelli Italian Coffee Roasting Company, you can now order Hazelnut Coffee and Caffe Verde at our Emozione online store.  Lucaffe was founded in 1996 on the shores of Lake Garda where, besides the equipment for roasting and grinding the coffee, an innovative plant was installed for packaging the pods in paper, allowing the company to specialize in a way that is environmentally-friendly.

They are now bringing two of their most popular coffee blends down to South Africa, and we are very happy to deliver these new blends to you.

Hazelnut Coffee

A blend of coffee with a delicate taste of hazelnut. For those who like to indulge in the sweet notes of coffee flavour. Delicious as an espresso, cappuccino and latte.

Caffe Verde

A healthy and very tasty blend of natural green beans (70%) and roasted coffee ground (30%).

The health benefits of green coffee are immense, delivering more antioxidants than green tea and an enormous range of other benefits like, vitamins and Omega 3 and 9.The unroasted part of the coffee is slower to digest so you will stay much longer caffeinated. It can be enjoyed as espresso or coffee lungo.

Visit our Emozione online shop to get your coffee fix!

A history of Italian’s and their coffee

*exert taken from Nellositaly.com

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Some argue that the Enlightenment took place in eighteenth-century Europe because, simply, that’s when coffee houses first opened. What does that make the Enlightenment? Just one major caffeine buzz. It’s true, Italians love their coffee and have so ever since the coffee bean first arrived at the ports in Venezia, brought from the Islamic world in the sixteenth century. They have it first thing in the morning, typically espresso or cappuccino; have it after lunch; perhaps a quick shot during the work day; then one after dinner before taking the ritual “passeggiata,” or stroll, through the city center. Every household has the famous “macchinetta,” an easy-to-use stove-top percolator made of aluminum and first built in 1933 by Bialetti that, when properly used, produces a delicious espresso at any time. No matter the occasion, coffee must be done right in Italy. It’s an art, and there’s no kidding around about the perfect espresso: rich, creamy, perfectly balanced from start to finish, not one coffee ground burned by the scorching hot, high-pressure water that passed over it. And what about those massive, gorgeous espresso machines you see in fine coffee shops in the United States, certainly all over Italy? We can thank Luigi Bezzera for them! In fact, we can thank him for the espresso itself.

Some Italians–in fact, many Italians–have one bar (Italian coffee houses are known as “bars”) they frequent every day for their coffee. It’s there where they talk sports and politics. It’s there where they start their day and, at times, end it with an aperitivo, a before-dinner drink (perhaps just after-work drink!). A barista–he or she who prepares the coffee–is revered in Italy. Though some Italians have a preferred bar where they get their coffee, some also have a preferred barista. There’s something to be said about that special barista who can pull that perfect espresso. Thank you, baristi of Italy–of the world, for that matter–for waking us all up and keeping the conversation going!

Coffee: do Italians do it better?

Here are a few snippets from an interesting article done by the BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/business-33527053)

Written By Manuela Saragosa, Business reporter, BBC News (13 August 2015)

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As far as I’m concerned, the cappuccinos, lattes and espressos served in branded coffee chains taste scorched and bitter, a shabby imitation of the real thing.

But am I missing the point? Is my palate so provincial that it hasn’t caught up with the changing tastes of the global coffee market? Because it appears that not only has Italian coffee been taken out of Italy, but the Italian is also being taken out of the coffee.

The International Coffee Organization says that globally consumption has grown by nearly 42% since the beginning of this century. So we’re drinking more of it than ever before, which explains the expansion of many coffee chains in the past few decades, but we’re not drinking it in the Italian way.

“I think a caricature of Italian espresso was what was exported,” says award-winning barista James Hoffmann of London’s Square Mile Coffee Roasters. He’s part of a generation of highly-trained baristas driving innovation in the sector through more sophisticated espresso-based brews.

“Global espresso culture is now a long way from what is considered traditional Italian espresso,” Mr Hoffmann says.

Coffee by numbers

8.5bn kilos of coffee is consumed globally every year

50% rise in global coffee production since 1990

• Finland has the highest per capita coffee habit at 11.4kg
• Italians drink much less per year consuming 5.8kg
• In the UK we are relatively light coffee drinkers at 2.8kg

• Finland has the highest per capita coffee habit at 11.4kg
• Italians drink much less per year consuming 5.8kg
• In the UK we are relatively light coffee drinkers at 2.8kg

You’d never, for example, ask for a latte in Italy. If you did, you’d get served a glass of milk. Neither would you ask for an espresso at a bar; “un caffe” is all you need to say. Coffee and espresso are synonymous in Italy.

Then there’s the Australian “flat white”, a halfway house between a Starbucks-style latte (25-35ml espresso shot topped by large amount of hot milk) and a macchiato (25-35ml espresso shot and a drop of hot, usually foamy, milk). The “flat white” has gone global, so much so that recently it replaced the cappuccino on Starbucks’ menu in some parts of the US.

What’s more, Italians don’t lounge around in coffee shop armchairs sipping cappuccinos while browsing the internet. Instead they perch at the marble-topped counters of Italy’s ubiquitous bars – not cafes – and throw back “un caffe” on the go.

Image captionJames Hoffman says we’re drinking a “caricature” of an Italian espresso

Still, when it comes to taste and brewing style, Italy is trying to reclaim ground. The Italian Espresso National Institute or INEI was set up to protect Italian-style coffee drinking.

“International chains of cafes are spreading, calling the coffee they serve Italian espresso,” writes INEI’s chairman Luigi Zecchini on the organisation’s website. But, “behind our espresso… there is a unique and unrepeatable culture.”

INEI is even offering certificates to those who do it the “right” (for that read: Italian) way.

Are they fighting a losing battle? “Good roasting techniques and good cup-tasting protocols are becoming more and more international,” says Jeremy Challender of London’s Prufrock Coffee, another award-wining barista.

You can hear him teaching me how to make the perfect cup of coffee if you click here.

In any case, many top baristas also turn their noses up at what’s served in branded coffee chains.

Square Mile Coffee’s Mr Hoffmann says it’s all down to the way the beans are roasted. Many chains roast their coffee darker which gives it a bitter flavour. Roasting lighter can achieve a more complex taste, but get it wrong and the coffee tastes sour.

“I think the theory is likely that consumers’ tolerance for bitterness is higher than their tolerance for sourness,” Mr Hoffman says.”Hence the larger companies are erring on the side of caution.”

Image captionCappuccinos are a morning coffee in Italy

But it also comes down to the raw beans themselves, and on this front Italy doesn’t fare as well as many speciality coffee shops outside of the country.

Part of the problem is with the price of “un caffe”. Most Italian bars will not charge more than one euro a cup.

“Such a low ceiling means the raw coffees in Italy are generally a little more commoditised, and there isn’t the option to purchase more high quality coffee,” Mr Hoffmann adds.

Italian flavour is held back too by the way the coffee is brewed. Bars there have a typical dose of around 7 grams of ground coffee per espresso, with very little variation. Speciality coffee shops will often use a lot more coffee – from 8 to 20 grams for a single espresso – yielding a more intense coffeeas a result.

That may be, but I still think I’ll be sticking to home-brewed coffee from my trusted moka machine. And I’ll continue to drink it the Italian way.

That means a short, sharp shot of espresso in the morning, perhaps even after dinner, but certainly no cappuccinos after 11am or any milk-based coffees after a meal. It doesn’t agree with the digestion. Every Italian knows that.

 

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Christmas Special!

It’s Christmas time – and that means that we’re rewarding you! We have a Christmas special for every single machine that’s bought through our webstore! And what special is that?

With every machine you purchase through our online store – you get 100 mixed ESE coffee pods – FOR FREE! Yes, we’re that generous.

 

Here’s what you have to do: in the shopping card under “notes and requirements” – you have to write “Xmas2015”. That’s absolutely all you have to do and you get 100 pods added to the machine !

 

Coffee and Walnut layer cake

This one’s for the extreme coffee lovers!

This recipe is one of Nigella Lawson‘s and is absolutely recommended to anyone who enjoys the richness of coffee and the sweetness of cake.

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Ingredients:

for the Cake:

• 50 grams walnut pieces
• 225 grams caster sugar
• 225 grams soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing)
• 200 grams plain flour
• 4 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 4 large eggs
• 1 – 2 tablespoons milk

for the buttercream frosting

• 350 grams icing sugar
• 175 grams soft unsalted butter
• 2 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder (dissolved in 1 tablespoon boiling water)
• approx. 10 walnut halves (to decorate)

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Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/350°F.
2. Butter two 20cm / 8inch sandwich tins and line the base of each with baking parchment.
3. Put the walnut pieces and sugar into a food processor and blitz to a fine nutty powder.
4. Add the 225g/2 sticks butter, flour, 4 teaspoons espresso powder, baking powder, bicarb and eggs and process to a smooth batter.
5. Add the milk, pouring it down the funnel with the motor still running, or just pulsing, to loosen the cake mixture: it should be a soft, dropping consistency, so add more milk if you need to. (If you are making this by hand, bash the nuts to a rubbly powder with a rolling pin and mix with the dry ingredients; then cream the butter and sugar together, and beat in some dry ingredients and eggs alternately and, finally, the milk.)
6. Divide the mixture between the 2 lined tins and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the sponge has risen and feels springy to the touch.
7. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, before turning them out onto the rack and peeling off the baking parchment.
8. When the sponges are cool, you can make the buttercream.
9. Pulse the icing sugar in the food processor until it is lump free, then add the butter and process to make a smooth icing.
10. Dissolve the instant espresso powder in 1 tablespoon boiling water and add it while still hot to the processor, pulsing to blend into the buttercream.
11. If you are doing this by hand, sieve the icing sugar and beat it into the butter with a wooden spoon.
12. Then beat in the hot coffee liquid.
13. Place 1 sponge upside down on your cake stand or serving plate.
14. Spread with about half the icing; then place on it the second sponge, right side up (i.e. so the 2 flat sides of the sponges meet in the middle) and cover the top with the remaining icing in a ramshackle swirly pattern.
15. This cake is all about old-fashioned, rustic charm, so don’t worry unduly: however the frosting goes on is fine. similarly, don’t fret about some buttercream oozing out around the middle: that’s what makes it look so inviting.
16. Gently press the walnut halves into the top of the icing all around the edge of the circle about 1cm apart.

Taste yummy? Let us know what you think!

Exclusively yours.

It’s the time of the year where you’re tired – tired of trying to work your 9-5, tired of people, tired just tired. Well we’re here to help you – because with our coffee, the days become better and the hours become shorter. They say that coffee is the root of all good work, and well, we kind of agree.

Have you tried Lucaffe’s  Mr Exclusif? If you haven’t – then you should.

Not only is this coffee 100% Arabica coffee from South America, Asia and a tiny little bit from Central Africa – but this mixture of coffee gives you the perfect amount of energy to get through your busy schedule.

It has a medium body, yummy sweet flavour and enchanting aroma. When it has just been ground the scent is absolutely intoxicating!