Coffee

When my beemate Felicity @felicityquilts announced the Bee Sewcial prompt for this month, I had to smile. Coffee.... the first thing I reach for every morning. Felicity specified: "Rich browns in all shades, including very dark all the way to cream. Think roasted beans, a freshly pulled espresso shot, an iced coffee with swirls of cream, latte art." She also shared a small pin board for inspiration, and asked for at least two blocks that add up to the equivalent of our standard two blocks at 12" finished.

Right off, I knew I wanted to try my hand at improv coffee beans, using a mix of brown solids combined with Essex cotton-linen blends in Espresso and Nutmeg, as Felicity OK'd our use of additional substrates this month. After rearranging my "beans" for a while, I settled on the layout about, with a block measuring 14.5" x 17.5".

Since my first block was on the large side, I aimed for a smaller block for my second. What started as a bunch of improv espresso shots may or may not have become a row of coffee drinks on the counter at the local coffee shop. Depends on your viewpoint, I guess. But it's Felicity-approved, and measures 7.5" x 11".

After working for months on my own Bee Sewcial quilt finish in Albersesque, it was a fun breather to be able to work on these smaller improv projects and in browns even! Plus I'm looking forward to seeing what my beemates come up with for the coffee theme.

Tuesday at the Table

Considering fall is yet five weeks away, I'm hoping it's not too late to tout the pleasures of iced coffee. I started seeing it in my google-reader earlier this summer from Katie {see here} and Ree {see here} and Shanna {see here}. Finally, I determined I would try it for myself.

Beings I'm a Northwest girl, I started with a blue bag of Starbucks Iced Coffee Blend, ground for a French press.

I put half in a big ice tea jug with four quarts of cold water and let it set on the counter overnight. Then I strained it through a paper towel-lined mesh strainer, considering I had no cheesecloth, eventually storing it back in the spigoted ice tea jug in the fridge.

Though curious at the onset {what's she trying now?}, hubby really liked the drink I handed him the next day - an iced coffee sweetened per Shanna's suggestion (a mixture of half sweetened condensed milk and half evaporated skim milk) and a bit of vanilla syrup. He said it reminded him of the drink we'd had at Dunn Bros Coffee the first time we visited Minneapolis. As Dunn advertises the Vanilla Iced Nirvana - "Infinite Black™ cold press coffee with vanilla and cream." Uh - pretty similar.

In fact, I emailed Dunn's and have had a nice exchange about the recipe for the Nirvana, and they do use vanilla syrup and half-and-half, so we've switched to using that with our current (3rd) batch of cold-brewed coffee. Of course, they insist the secret to the Nirvana's awesomeness is the cold-pressed Infinite Black. I may just ask son to bring us a pound when he comes to visit next - you know, for the sake of the cause.

Anyway, if you like coffee at all, I'd suggest you try it. There's still time.