The coffee shop concept is very much a part of today’s life style. But few people know the actual story, tradition and social side of coffee shops or coffee houses, as they are also called. Coffee these days is something as usual as waking up in the morning and smelling its hot flavor. But it hasn’t always been like this. Coffee has a story of its own, dating back all the way to the ninth century Africa.
As centuries passed, it spread throughout the world, growing in popularity. The traditional tale points out that the first coffee house was founded in the late 17th century Vienna. After their defeat in the Great Battle of Vienna (1683), the Turks left behind sacks of “green beans”, which were taken by the victorious Polish king at that time, Jan III Sobieski. He passed them on to one of his officers, who founded the very first coffee house, in Vienna.
Historically speaking, the first house was opened in the late 15th century Istanbul, in the year 1457. By the 16th century, there were many similar houses in Egypt. The 17th century gave way to the opening of coffee houses in Europe as well. The coffee house served as a gathering place, where people socialized, read books and listened to music while drinking coffee or tea, all in a special atmosphere with a great sense of taste. Also, many houses served meals and even alcohol and tobacco. They were a great environment for the gentlemen’s business gatherings and later on lead to the apparition of “clubs”.
Today coffee shops like Strictly Coffee Robertson continue to offer a great environment for people to get to know each other and expand their social as well as their personal agenda. We look forward to welcoming you to share the Strictly Coffee experience and become part of this age old tradition.
Tags: coffee shops, Strictly Coffee, traditional coffee house
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Ethiopian Coffee is among the worlds most unusual, offering a range of flavors from winey to fruity. Ethiopian Yirgacheffe is soft, with floral tones and is one of the best choices for iced coffee. Coffee from Ethiopia is a delight that shouldn’t be missed!
 A Taste of Africa - ETHIOPIAN COFFEE
Ethiopia is the original birthplace of coffee. The coffees from this country are deserving of such a heritage and stand up to the calling. Coffees from the different growing regions vary so incredibly that they do not even seem to be from the same planet!
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee are amazing and unique coffees. Yirgacheffe is a town in the Sidamo region of Ethiopia, and the coffees from this region will surprise you with it’s floral and tangerine notes, even the grounds have an exotic tropical toasted coconut aroma that will knock you over with its charms.
Another amazing growing region within Ethiopia is the Harrar region. Harrars are wild coffees. The term is a fancy name for dry process or natural coffee where the coffee fruit dries on the bean, imparting the flavors of compote fruit and dark rich chocolate. Harrars are this and more! You will taste blueberry jam, cocoa, and maybe even a touch of cinnamon and cardamom in these amazing coffees.
Coffee holds a special place in Ethiopian culture that transcends that of the coffees from other origin countries. The majority of the crop does not even leave the country and is drunk with great ceremony by the Ethiopian people.
One taste of an excellent Ethiopian coffee and you will understand this passion for the bean. Try some today – Ethiopian Coffee available from our Coffee Club
Tags: coffee from Ethiopia, Ethiopian coffee, Strictly Coffee, Strictly Coffee Coffee Club
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Coffee Etiquette
Unlike any other beverage, COFFEE is a UNIVERSAL product – the “queen of drinks” that goes with anything!
Coffee can be consumed on every occasion along with any other product and is intended for just about everyone. Due to its specific qualities, it cannot be put in any category of beverages and represents a category of its own, a unique drink, admired in every culture in the world.
Below are a few tips on Coffee Etiquette to make sure you look the part while enjoying your favorite beverage:
 How to hold the coffee cupCoffee after meal is normally served in small cups with small handles. You can’t put your finger through the cup handles. However, even with bigger cups, do not put your fingers through it. The right way to hold the coffee cup is to pinch the coffee cup with your thumb and forefinger.
How to use the coffee spoon
Coffee spoon is used to stir the coffee. Take it out and put it on the tray when you are drinking the coffee. Don’t use the spoon to drink the coffee or to mash the cubic sugar.
What if the coffee is too hot?
Use the coffee spoon to stir and cool down the coffee if it’s too hot, or just let it cool down by itself. It’s very rude to try to make it cool by blow it with your mouth.
How to use the coffee cup and saucer
The coffee cups and saucer should be put in front or on the right side of the drinker with the cup handle pointing to the right. When you drink the coffee, use the right hand to hold the cup by pinching the cup handle and the left hand to hold the saucer, slowly move it close to the month and taste the coffee. Do not hold the whole cup with you hand and swig the coffee and do not make noise when drinking the coffee. When adding coffee to the cup, do not hold up the cup.
Coffee and Snack
It’s normal to have snack when drinking coffee but do not hold the coffee cup with one hand and snack the other. Put down the snack when you are drinking the coffee and do not hold the cup when you are eating the snack.
Happy Coffee Drinking … Don’t forget to visit our Coffee Club to order your stock of fantastic coffee
Tags: Coffee Etiquette, Strictly Coffee Coffee Club
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That hot cup of coffee with breakfast is for many of us, the highlight of our morning, the one thing that perks us up and fuels our energy. Except when it’s only 9 a.m. but already 25 degrees, as it has been for the last few days in Cape Town.
 For times like these, then, you need a cold coffee drink to start, and maybe end, your day. Simply throwing that morning brew into a cup of ice is a tantalizing option, but not the best: doing so generally shocks the coffee and results in a harsh, bitter cup that will do nothing to help you wake up and shine. Thankfully, there are plenty of great iced coffee drinks to choose from that can supply your morning caffeine fix and cool you off at the same time.
There are several ways of preparing iced coffee. Ordinary hot-brewed coffee can be served cold, although this may result in a bitter-tasting product.
Cold brewing relies on time, rather than heat, to transfer the coffee flavor to the water. In order to achieve this, ground coffee is soaked in water for hours and then filtered.
Depending on the brewing method, iced coffee can be served already chilled, or poured hot, double strength, over an equal amount of ice. Because sugar does not dissolve readily into cold liquids, it must be added either directly to the hot base, or to the finished product in the form of simple syrup.
The iced latte and iced mocha are the two most common examples of this. A quick way of preparing such drinks is to make a small quantity of strong, hot espresso, dissolving the required sweetener/flavorings in the hot liquid and then pouring this directly into a cup of ice cold milk.
If you are in the vicinity of the Strictly Coffee shop, why not pop in for our house speciality iced coffee – a blended Frappe, we guarantee great company and a cool start to your day.
Tags: coffee for summer days, iced coffee, Strictly Coffee
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Coffee may taste good and get you going in the morning, but what will it do for your health?
 A growing body of research shows that coffee drinkers, compared to nondrinkers, are:
- less likely to have type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia
- have fewer cases of certain cancers, heart rhythm problems, and strokes
It protects your heart: Moderate coffee drinkers (1 to 3 cups/day) have lower rates of stroke than noncoffee drinkers, an effect linked to coffee’s antioxidants. Coffee has more antioxidants per serving than blueberries, making it the biggest source of antioxidants in American diets. All those antioxidants may help suppress the damaging effect of inflammation on arteries. Immediately after drinking it, coffee raises your blood pressure and heart rate, but over the long term, it actually may lower blood pressure as coffee’s antioxidants activate nitric oxide, widening blood vessels.
It diverts diabetes: Those antioxidants (chlorogenic acid and quinides, specifically) play another role: boosting your cells’ sensitivity to insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar. In fact, people who drink 4 or more cups of coffee each day may have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to some studies. Other studies have shown that caffeine can blunt the insulin-sensitivity boost, so if you do drink several cups a day, try mixing in decaf occasionally.
Your liver loves it: OK, so the research here is limited, but it looks like the more coffee people drink, the lower their incidence of cirrhosis and other liver diseases. One analysis of nine studies found that every 2-cup increase in daily coffee intake reduced liver cancer risk by 43 percent. Again, it’s those antioxidants-chlorogenic and caffeic acids-and caffeine that might prevent liver inflammation and inhibit cancer cells.
It boosts your brain power: Drinking between 1 and 5 cups a day (admittedly a big range) may help reduce risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as Parkinson’s disease, studies suggest. Those antioxidants may ward off brain cell damage and help the neurotransmitters involved in cognitive function to work better.
It helps your headaches: And not just the withdrawal headaches caused by skipping your daily dose of caffeine! Studies show that 200 milligrams of caffeine-about the amount in 16 ounces of brewed coffee-provides relief from headaches, including migraines. Exactly how caffeine relieves headaches isn’t clear. But scientists do know that caffeine boosts the activity of brain cells, causing surrounding blood vessels to constrict. One theory is that this constriction helps to relieve the pressure that causes the pain, says Robert Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology and director of the Headache Clinic at the University of Vermont Medical School.
“There is certainly much more good news than bad news, in terms of coffee and health,” says Frank Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, nutrition and epidemiology professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.
But (you knew there would be a “but,” didn’t you?) coffee isn’t proven to prevent those conditions.
Researchers don’t ask people to drink or skip coffee for the sake of science. Instead, they ask them about their coffee habits. Those studies can’t show cause and effect. It’s possible that coffee drinkers have other advantages, such as better diets, more exercise, or protective genes.
So there isn’t solid proof. But there are signs of potential health perks. Enjoy your New Year celebrations, and don’t feel too guilty about reaching for the coffee the next morning.
Tags: coffee boost your brian power, coffee diverts deabetes, coffee is good for you liver, coffee protects your heart
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Most Italians on their way to work go to a bar for coffee. Here are some of the most popular coffee drinks served in an Italian bar. Espresso, caffè normale, cappuccino; sometimes it seems that there are as many types of coffee in Italy as there are pastas. And just like pasta, Italian coffee is an art form with many customs and traditions. Whether it’s a caffè corretto thrown back like a shot, a cappuccino and brioche for breakfast, or a granita di caffè con panna to cool off from the hot midday sun, in Italy there is a coffee drink specific for every time and mood.
Caffè (kah-FE) – We might call it espresso; a small cup of very strong coffee, topped with a caramel-colored foam called “crema”, a very important element in the best examples.
Caffè Hag is a decafinated version. You can order a “decafinato” as well; Hag is the name of the largest producer of Italian decaf coffee and that’s the way you’ll see it on many bar menu boards.
You can order a straight coffee (un caffe) any time of night or day. Italians stay away from Cappuccino after about 11. If you see a bunch of people sitting around drinking cappuccini at three in the afternoon, congratulations, you’ve found the tourist bar.
Altering the way your Caffè is Made
Caffè lungo (Kah-FE LOON-go) – a long coffee. They’ll let the water pour from the machine until the coffee becomes weak and bitter. Also called a Caffè Americano or American Coffee, which is also expressed as acqua sporca, or “dirty water” by Italians.
Caffè ristretto (kah-FE ri-STRE-to) – a “restricted coffee” or one in which the stream of coffee is stopped before the normal amount. The essense of coffee, concentrated but should not be bitter.
Modifying your Caffè – Additions to Espresso
Caffè con panna – espresso with sweet whipped cream
Caffè con zucchero (ZU-kero) – espresso with sugar. Usually, you’ll add your own from a container at the bar, but in some places, especially in the south around Naples, the coffee comes with sugar and you have to order it “sensa zucchero” or without sugar if you don’t like it sweet.
Caffè corretto (kah-FE ko-RE-to) – coffee “corrected” with a drizzle of liquor. I like sambuca, but most prefer conac or grappa.
Caffè macchiato (kah-FE mahk-YAH-to) – coffee “stained” with milk, usually just a bit of foam on top of the espresso.
Caffè latte (kah-FE LAH-te) – Espresso with hot milk, a cappuccino without the foam usually served in a glass. This is what you might call a “latte” in the US. In Italy, outside of tourist joints, you run the risk of getting what you asked for – milk, or worse yet, steamed milk.
Latte macchiato (Lah-te mahk-YAH-to) – Steamed milk “stained” with espresso, served in a glass.
Cappuccino (pronounced kah-pu-CHEE-no) – a shot of espresso in a large(er) cup with steamed milk and foam. Not ordered by Italians after 11 in the morning.
Specialty Coffees
Bicerìn (pronounced BI-che-rin) – Traditional drink of Piemonte around Torino, consisting of dense hot cocoa, espresso and cream, artfully layered in a small glass. Not usually found outside of the Piemonte region.
Caffè freddo (kah-FE FRAYD-o) – Iced, or at least cold, coffee
Caffè Shakerato (kah-FE shake-er-Ah-to ) – in its most simple form, a caffe shakerato is made by combining freshly made espresso, a bit of sugar, and lots of ice, shaking the whole deal vigorously until a froth forms when poured. Can have some chocolate syrup added.
If Italy is not on your agenda for 2012 you can always try some of our Strictly Coffee specialty coffee in the comfort of your own home. Order through our Coffee Club and receive you order within 5 days
Tags: Italian coffee, specialty coffee, Strictly Coffee
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It gives us great pleasure to announce the winner of our Jura ENA 9 – One Touch Coffee Maker…
Drum Roll please………………………………………
Congratulations to HENK VanDer WESTHUIZEN (photo to follow)
We asked Henk to share with the Strictly Coffee Coffee Club members some information about his life and his love of Coffee, here’s what he had to say?
SC – Are you a new or existing Coffee Club member Henk, and whats your favorite coffee so far?
HvdW – I order every month and so far my favorite coffee has to be the Zimbabwe. I started ordering in May after I saw an article in the SAA in-flight magazine. As I was an existing client I was automatically entered into the competition, each time I ordered I would joke that the coffee machine was mine. LoL
SC – Are you a Facebook Fan?
HvdW – No I’m am not a Facebook Fan, not my cup of Coffee
SC – So what do you do for a living Henk?
HvdW – I work at BKB Grainco as an operations manager. I was recently transferred from Cape Town to Kimberly
SC – Tell us a little about you Henk?
HvdW – I am 39, married to and angel and have a beautiful daughter, Lisa who’s 3. Lisa loves to smell Daddy’s Coffee and play with the coffee beans.
SC – What do you think is the best coffee?
HvdW – I believe the best coffee is the one that’s in your hand. I strongly believe that instant coffee should be banned. LoL
SC – Can you share your secret to making a great cup of coffee with us?
HvdW -I like to grind the coffee beans as I need them. I prefer to use borehole water to make coffee, if its not available then I add a pinch of salt to the water. Once the water is boiled I let it stand for +- 2minutes so the coffee doesn’t burn when I mix it in. I preheat my plunger and mugs before adding the coffee. I use an egg timer to ensure my coffee brews for exactly five minutes. I warm my milk to 45 degrees, I pour in the milk first and then the coffee.
This is my wind down time after a hard day. My wife, Heidi who normally doesn’t drink coffee, will always ask for a cup the moment she smells the fresh beans.
SC – How do you find the service from Strictly Coffee’s Coffee Club?
HvdW – From the time I place my order the coffee arrives within 3 days, the second time I placed an order I was charged R55 for an item that actually cost R130. Rather then re charge me Strictly Coffee told me not to worry and t consider the difference an early Christmas present. I knew then that Strictly Coffee really cared for their clients.
SC – Any final words Henk?
HvdW – I would just like to thank you for this great prize, it means allot to me and it is very appreciated. Well done Strictly Coffee, you guys are great.
 Our winner - Henk - Well done to you Henk hope you enjoy your prize
Tags: Jura Ena 9 coffee machine winner
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Milk drinks are only a small part of Italian espresso culture; whereas in most of South Africa, people have over-sized milk drinks that even an anthropologist would never classify as cultured. But in a few cafés around the South Africa, baristas are using milk as a paint and espresso as a canvas to create beautiful and wonderful tasting latte art.
The best and most practiced professional baristas can create quite stunning patterns that a home barista will not be able to emulate. But with some months practice, you can learn to properly froth the milk, and pour basic heart and rosette patterns in 6 or 12 ounce cups. There is no easier way of convincing your friends of your espresso expertise than casually serving them an artfully poured latte.
 Correctly frothed milk – wonderful cappuccinos
Proper cappuccinos and lattes require microfoam—a pourable, virtually liquid foam that tastes sweet and rich. The pouring consistency runs from completely liquid for latte art to a slightly thickened sauce for traditional cappuccinos. If the foam becomes thicker, like soft peak beaten egg whites, its taste turns to cardboard, and its appearance in the cup suffers. Microfoam in the pitcher does not look like a foam, since the bubbles are too small. The only distinction it has from liquid milk is a soft, slightly spectral sheen in the right light. If the frothed milk has visible foam, it was incorrectly prepared.
Frothing milk to a microfoam is very simple when you know how to do it, but it does take time to learn. Two processes occur when milk is frothed: first, when the tip is at the right depth, the milk is converted to microfoam; second, the milk is heated. These two do not happen at the same rate on every machine or tip design, so the point at which you transition from foaming the milk to simply heating it varies from machine to machine. Finally, the amount of steam varies from machine to machine too, so the time spent to heat enough milk for a six ounce cappuccino can go from 10 to 40 seconds.
Tags: Correctly frothed milk - wonderful cappuccinos, making cappuccinos, microfoam
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There are popular misconceptions on the way roasted coffee should be stored and maintained. The enemies of roasted coffee are moisture, air, light, and heat. Storing your coffee away from them will keep it fresher longer. Therefore, an airtight container stored in a cool, dry, dark place is the best environment for your coffee.
Why Not Refrigerate?
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Coffee should never be refrigerated. Since the temperature inside a refrigerator is above freezing, there is liquid water and more odors inside the refrigerator. Storing coffee in the refrigerator almost ensures that the coffee will taste stale and be flavored like last night’s dinner.
Can I Freeze Coffee?
Some people store their coffee in the freezer thinking it is going to keep the coffee fresh. Here are a couple of reasons why storing coffee in your freezer is a bad idea:
- Coffee is porous. This is a good thing for fans of flavored coffee as the beans absorb the coffee flavoring syrups and oils that are used to make flavored coffee. However, if given the chance, coffee can also absorb other things like the flavor of seafood or the moisture that your freezer produces. This moisture will in turn deteriorate the coffee and even make it taste like, well… like a freezer.
- When coffee is roasted, the beans release their oils and essences to give the coffee its distinct flavor. You’ll notice these oils are more prominent on dark-roasted coffee and espresso. When you break down these oils by freezing, you are removing the flavor.
Think about it…if coffee tasted better and fresher from the freezer, then you would buy it in the frozen food section, your local coffee shop might look more like an ice cream parlor, and our power bills would be through the roof trying to maintain a meat-locker the size of a warehouse.
Long-term Storage
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Coffee that is not going to be used within two weeks can be stored in the freezer. Special precautions must be taken when freezing coffee to ensure that the coffee stays dry and that it does not absorb flavors from other food in the freezer. Temperatures within a freezer rise and fall as the door is opened and closed. This means that moisture will be in the air, attach itself to surfaces such as the coffee and then refreeze, contaminating the coffee. The best way to prevent against this is to keep the coffee in its original packaging, then putting that packaging into a plastic freezer bag, Use a straw to suck all of the air out of the plastic bag when sealing to create a vacuum seal against moisture and other flavors.
Thawing Frozen Coffee
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Coffee should only be thawed once so don’t move coffee from the freezer and back again. If you have bought the coffee in bulk, store it in two-week amounts. Take out one two-week bag at a time, move it into the canister and use the coffee from the canister each day.
Strictly Coffee coffee is packaged in one-way valve foil bags within hours of roasting. Fresh coffee exudes a lot of carbon dioxide and the bag would burst if the one-way valve did not permit its escape – without allowing any oxygen in! Coffee packaged in such bags retains freshness for up to 6 months, if unopened. Once the bag is opened, keep the coffee as protectively packaged as possible, keep it away from heat in a cool dry cupboard, seal with a peg.
Tags: keep coffee fresh, shelf life of coffee, storing coffee, Strictly Coffee
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While it is generally agreed that coffee has more caffeine than tea, you will occasionally hear someone say that it is the other way around. There is a good reason that some confusion exists as to the actual levels of caffeine in tea vs. coffee.
In Terms of Weight
By weight, tea wins hands down for caffeine content. But the same amounts of tea and coffee are not used to brew the same quantity of beverage.
More Coffee Per Cup
One ounce of coffee beans might brew 1 to 3 cups of coffee, depending on your preference. One ounce of tea can make 20 to 30 cups. Many teas can also be brewed two to three times, increasing that number to 40 to 90 cups. If we are talking about coffee vs. tea consumption, coffee has more caffeine.
Brewing Coffee
Although espresso, which is brewed very quickly using pressurized steam and more beans per brew has more caffeine ounce per ounce than coffee that is prepared using the standard drip method, espresso drinks usually don’t contain much more than one or two shot glasses worth of espresso.
Brewing Tea
Depending on the type of tea (white, black, green or oolong), and whether a prepared bag is used, or tea leaves are measured out by hand, there can also be a great deal of variance in the caffeine content of teas. However, according to Stash Teas, the range of caffeine content for 8 ounces of white, green and black tea was between 15 and 50 milligrams.
Bottom Line, Coffee Has More
Although there are different ways of brewing both tea and coffee, and tea leaves contain more caffeine by weight, when it comes to standard tea and coffee beverages, ounce for ounce, coffee will almost always have more caffeine.
Many factors influence caffeine levels in coffee, so the amounts for each drink can vary widely. However, this general guide can help you determine about how much caffeine is in your coffee drink.
Drip Brewed Arabica Coffee (6 oz) – 80-130 mg (often around 110 mg)
Drip Brewed Robusta Coffee (6 oz) – 140-200 mg
Drip Brewed Passiona Excelsa/Arabica Low-Caffeine Coffee Blend (6 fl oz) – 40-60 mg
Drip Brewed Decaf Coffee (8 oz) – 2-12 mg
Instant Coffee (8 oz) – 27-173 mg (often around 65 to 90 mg)
Instant Decaf Coffee (8 oz) – 2-12 mg
What about Espresso caffeine levels? Caffeine in Espresso
Espresso, Single Shot – 29-100 mg (often around 75 mg)
Espresso, Double Shot (Doppio) – 58-185 mg (often around 150 mg)
Decaf Espresso, Single Shot – about 8 mg
Decaf Espresso, Double Shot (Doppio) – about 16 mg
However you decide to enjoy your Coffee, Strictly Coffee will have just the right bean for you. Join our coffee club today, it’s free and you stand the chance to win a Jura Ena 9 Coffee Machine
Tags: caffeine, caffeine content coffee, Coffee Club, Strictly Coffee
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