Wednesday, April 30, 2008

You can't cool coffee in a glass straw:

The Daily GizWiz show #341 discussed a compact gadget for making coffee called the Java Wand. It's a glass straw with a filter. You pour boiling water over the coffee grounds, and when you think the coffee is brewed, you drink it through the glass straw, enabling its filter to separe you from the grounds. In essence, it's a compact French Press.

It works. It will be terrific for travel, and I'm delighted to own one. But I've found a slight issue with using it. Fresh-brewed coffee is pretty hot. You usually start to drink it from the spoon you stir it with. The coffee that comes up through the straw is pretty hot at first, and the only way to pull coffee through that straw is into your mouth. Of course, you could wait longer for the coffee to cool, but then it will also brew longer, because it's still in contact with the grounds. You have to like a strong cup.

Update: Yes you can! It's a small matter of skill to cool coffee in a glass straw. You suck up a strawful of coffee, hold that coffee in the straw a few moments, then suck it into your mouth. In fact, it's very effective to use the same company's Tea Wand to cool a hot cup of coffee.

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