A lot of people consider the Cafe Americano to be a substitute to drip coffee, not so! With an Americano, you’re adding hot water to a single or double shot of espresso. Sure, it may look like drip coffee, but in my opinion, the end result is drastically different.

I like a nice cup of drip coffee every now and then, particularly when I’m having decaf. It’s simple and convenient; I can make a full pot to share and enjoy at my leisure. But, for the most part, I’m on the Americano bandwagon. For me, grinding, tamping, and extracting a fresh shot of espresso gives the resulting Americano a little something extra. It’s a subtle, and some may argue, a psychological difference. But, I prefer adding hot water to a double shot over pouring a drink from the coffee pot.

However, our commercial sales rep, Mark Jackson, makes a great case for drip coffee. He is of the mindset that since drip coffee is ground and formulated for its unique brewing process; it is essentially made for its purpose—producing a great cup of Joe. An Americano on the other hand, according to Mark, is diluted espresso…since espresso is created to produce…well, espresso, diluting it with water means that you may not get “optimal” results. “While some people think you get better flavor and aroma with an Americano, this is not always the case. Quality drip coffee, in certain instances, is the way to go,” Mark insists.

Drip coffee and Americano fans, chime in! Where do you stand on this drink off?

Tho
Writing Department

First comes the real deal; then comes the knock off. It's an unbroken circle of life. Those monogrammed Louis Vuitton handbags? They were once reserved for the rich, now every 12-year-old within a subway-radius of a street vendor has one.

And, so it is with Kopi Luwak coffee, the world's most expensive beans, easily costing $100-$600 per pound. Venture into a reputable café, request Kopi Luwak from the barista, and you'll be charged $30 a cup...if you're lucky. A brasserie in London is reportedly selling a blend of Kopi Luwak and Blue Mountain coffee for $99 per cup! What's the big hoopla? Well, produced when civets ingest coffee beans and defecate, Kopi Luwak coffee is famous for being rare and lacking bitter characteristics.

But, buyer beware, not all coffee advertised as Kopi Luwak is from genuine civet poop. With SARS sending the world into a panic a few years ago, many of the civets thought to be carriers of the disease were exterminated, causing the Kopi Luwak production to take a hit. In the mean time, simulated civet coffee, most notably the Vietnamese substitute Legendee produced by Trung Nguyen Coffee Company, is becoming more prevalent. While some of the simulated beans are soaked in enzymes to simulate the civet digestive track others are simply nothing more than flavored coffee. Word on the Web is while many vendors do specify when selling simulated civet coffee, others aren't so straightforward. So, caveat emptor...buyer beware.

Be it authentic or simulated, have you ever had or are you interested in Kopi Luwak?

Tho
Writing Department

As anyone knows traveling can be a very tiresome experience, especially at the end when all you really want to do is go home. My husband and I had an amazing trip to Paris, but after five days we were ready to come back to our family. Unfortunately, the ash cloud from the nearby volcano was not going to make this an easy task....

We started our adventure home on Sunday morning, arriving at the airport the recommended three hours before the flight. This is where the fun began. Upon entering the airport we were faced with a line that came outside of the terminal, this line was for US-bound flights. We waited about two hours before arriving at the security checkpoint. Once we made it through security we arrived at our gate and waited some more, before learning after six hours of sitting around the terminal, that the flight was cancelled. The ash cloud had struck again.

We were transported to a hotel, fed, and told to meet in the lobby at 4:30AM for breakfast. After four hours sleep, I arrived downstairs for breakfast, which consisted of three croissants and some brown water described as "coffee."

The airline bus was scheduled to pick us up by 6:00AM to take us to the airport for our 9:00AM flight.  It didn't come until 10:30AM, and then only to tell that our flight had, once again, been cancelled. It took another 2.5 hours but we were switched to another airline carrier. This is when life started to look good again. We were transported to the airport and went to our gate. Upon arriving, we were told once again that our flight was delayed. At this point I began wonder if I was ever going home.

I decided to spend some time and search out coffee during the delay. To my amazement I found an oasis right in the airport. Before my eyes, was the most beautiful Illy café I have ever seen. It was complete with a three-group-head La Marzocco machine and a real barista!

I looked at the menu and they offered a Cappuccino Viennois for 4.20 euros. I decided to give this a try. The drink was perfect; it was a Cappuccino with a double shot of espresso and the sweetest whip crème I have ever tasted. The Cappuccino Viennois helped me wait the additional six hours for our flight. We finally arrived in the United States that evening after 9:30PM. Unfortunately, it would take another day to get back to our hometown. I hope everyone enjoys the photos from the oasis I found in the airport. Check back for more on my experiences with coffee abroad.   

If you've had a travel nightmare take a turn for the better due to great coffee, or if your trip was ruined thanks to bad java, share your story here!

In honor of Earth Day, April 22, we're taking a look at easy ways to green up your coffee routine. Making Earth-friendly espresso requires a little creativity, check out our take on it.

Brew Smart
Paper filters turn into trash with every brew cycle; reduce your carbon footprint with reusable filters or if you indulge in single-serve coffee, consider a reusable cup/capsule, like the Keurig My K-Cup. Looking to unplug? Go with a French Press, Handpresso, or manual espresso machine.

Cup Consciousness
Instead of using a disposable cup, opt for nice mugs and cups that you'll love using over again. For coffee on the go, choose a travel mug that won't end up in the landfill long after your drink's gone.

Put Your Grounds into the Ground
Make free compost with every cup! Spent grounds can deter pests, encourage worms, and nourish your garden. It'll be literally going green in no time!

Got a green coffee routine you'd like to share? Post your eco-friendly tricks here!

So many of Whole Latte Love's fans and customers have mastered art of coffee making that I'm actually worried we might have the death of the truly horrid brew on our hands.

I'm sorry, people; there hasn't been an acceptable mass extinction since the dinosaurs. I'm not going let the demise of bad java happen on my watch. If you'd like to join me in keeping bad coffee alive, or if you've been actively doing your part and want to keep it up, read on. Remember we're talking about just coffee here, not espresso.

Keeping it Bad
A sure way to ruin potentially good coffee is to let your beans and grounds go stale. Leave those bags opened and exposed to for a few months, the brew will be bad enough to disgust even the most undeveloped palates.

Some Like it Lukewarm
If you're using a French Press, never use water hot enough to extract the flavors and aroma of the coffee grounds. Even gold-standard coffee can deliver a bland cup, with lukewarm water. Extra points if you use unfiltered water, not only will you taste it in your coffee, you'll be doing your machine a world of bad.

Burn, Baby, Burn
Leave the last remnants of coffee on the burner until it is seared into the carafe. We've all seen this, at one office or another; it's a reliable coffee killer. The sap that drinks the day's last batch, in this scenario, will have to answer to his taste buds and/or intestines soon enough. Whatever you do, don't go for a machine with automatic shutoff or a thermal carafe, it'll make it much harder to brew burnt coffee.

Descaler, be Damned
Ignoring advice from the pros about descaling your coffee maker could have the desired effect of keeping your brew bad. Products like the Durgol Descaler, designed especially for coffee makers, are your mortal enemy.

Extras OD
Just say "yes." While some people may complement their coffee with a little sugar, syrup, milk, or creamer, you should go ahead and throw in everything and the kitchen sink. Your coffee will be so overly diluted, sweetened, and otherwise too ruined to bear any resemblance to "coffee."

There are so many ways to ruin good coffee...maybe bad brews are here to stay. How has otherwise good java gone wrong for you?