To launch Nespresso’s limited edition coffee blend, Crealto, I have a Nespresso U Coffee Machine and Crealto Pack to giveaway (featured below). For your chance to win simply share your coffee story / recipe by leaving a comment here, on my foodie cravings facebook page or tweet @foodiecravings and hash tag #nespresso with your entry. Competition is open to all foodie cravings readers with an Australian postal address and closes Sunday 23/9/12. Winners will be announced on my facebook page Monday 24/9/12.
Nespresso U Coffee Machine (valued at $299) featured with Crealto limited edition capsules & milk frother…
Crealto pack (valued at $100) with all the ingredients and recipes you need to make a delicious coffee inspired drink…
My coffee story…
I have been having coffee for as long as I can remember, initially it was all about the caffeine and it’s ability to wake-me up in the morning and most importantly coffee helped me focus on whatever phase I was in life (high school/uni exams, getting to work after a night out partying). Nowadays, I have a greater appreciation for the taste and coffee processes – and of course it still gets me through every workday my most creative/best ideas are inspired by coffee.
My Nespresso coffee inspired recipe…
I felt a bit creative this morning after cooking up bacon and eggs for burger boy, so I made a Nespresso Crealto Milkshake. It was super easy and tasted amazing, I just placed the below ingredients in my milkshake shaker & pressed the button
2 espresso shots of Nespresso Crealto
3 scoops of vanilla ice-cream
1 tablespoon of cane sugar
Nespresso Crealto is best served as an espresso but when served with milk (my coffee style) it brings out a deliciously subtle nutty flavour.
Hope my stories have inspired you to share your coffee recipes & stories my Nespresso Coffee Machine competition closes 11:59pm WST Sunday 23/9/12.
24/9/12 - The winner of the Nespresso U Coffee Machine and Crealto Pack is Alicia Scaffidi who I’m sure you’ll all agree really needed a Nespresso her winning entry is below:
“My family has always made their coffee using a stovetop coffee maker (referred to as a ‘cafetera’ in Italian). So when I received my very own 10 cup cafetera as a wedding gift, I couldn’t wait to show off my coffee making skills to family and friends.
My opportunity came when we returned from our honeymoon and our family came over to welcome us home. After laying out the cakes & biscuits, I set to work on the coffee. I filled the machine’s base with water, heaped in the ground coffee and turned on the stove.
About 10 minutes later, I realised we should have already heard the telltale boiling noise indicating it was ready. I peeked into the machine and found no coffee had boiled through. Confused, I walked out of the kitchen. Suddenly I heard an almighty bang and rushed back in to see that the cafetera had blown right off the stove and my whole kitchen was covered in coffee – the blinds, the walls, the cupboards, brand new appliances and freshly washed dishes. It even managed to get inside my closed pantry, caking everything inside. Turns out I had forgotten to insert the all-important rubber seal in the coffee maker.
Not only did our meals carry the faint taste of espresso for the next few months, but our family has never let me live it down. They refer to it as ‘the great coffee explosion of 2009’ and love telling the story (through tears of laughter) to anyone who hasn’t heard it.
Suffice to say, I now only offer tea to visitors and have to leave the house for a decent caffeine-fix!”
20 Comments
The most memorable coffee story of mine when I was visiting a mate of mine in Surabaya, Indonesia. I had had nothing planned to do there just because it was an impulse trip for me and being a great host of mine, my mate had his luggage all packed and picked me up at the airport. I was “told” that we were heading to Bali.
The next thing I knew it was a day of driving and navigating through hilly terrain, coasts, ferries and some more driving. I wasn’t complaining. It’s the tropics. It took us nearly 11 hours to get to this place around Kintamani from memory, which is in Bali. All drenched in sweat from the humidity which covered up the airplane cabin smell from before. It got pretty cool and breezy when we reached a certain altitude and we settled in that night at his holiday home.
Next morning, we went to a coffee bean plantation instead of the beaches. We left with a sack of green beans and drove back to Surabaya, driving past ALL the beaches.
Would’ve been easier to get a cup of Kopy Luwak I reckoned. But that’s another story.
We roasted the sack of beans straight away and the only time I could consume it was after a few days of resting the beans, which is a few hours before I was due to check in at the airport. That kept me up all morning.
My husband and I met through an online dating site. Our first meeting was for coffee…followed by icecream!! So now our special place is a coffee shop in the city where we first used to meet. Thank goodness for coffee!!
My most memorable coffee story is making my own cellulite cream using coffee! Simply mix 1/4 cup warm, used coffee grounds with 1 tablespoon of oil (olive, almond, walnut or massage oil will do). Stand on newspaper in the bath and apply the mixture over your cellulite zones. Then wrap yourself in plastic wrap and leave on for up to five minutes. Unwind the plastic wrap, then brush off the loose grounds. Remove the newspaper and take a warm shower using a exfoliating brush. It is great!!!
My family has always made their coffee using a stovetop coffee maker (referred to as a ‘cafetera’ in Italian). So when I received my very own 10 cup cafetera as a wedding gift, I couldn’t wait to show off my coffee making skills to family and friends.
My opportunity came when we returned from our honeymoon and our family came over to welcome us home. After laying out the cakes & biscuits, I set to work on the coffee. I filled the machine’s base with water, heaped in the ground coffee and turned on the stove.
About 10 minutes later, I realised we should have already heard the telltale boiling noise indicating it was ready. I peeked into the machine and found no coffee had boiled through. Confused, I walked out of the kitchen. Suddenly I heard an almighty bang and rushed back in to see that the cafetera had blown right off the stove and my whole kitchen was covered in coffee - the blinds, the walls, the cupboards, brand new appliances and freshly washed dishes. It even managed to get inside my closed pantry, caking everything inside. Turns out I had forgotten to insert the all-important rubber seal in the coffee maker.
Not only did our meals carry the faint taste of espresso for the next few months, but our family has never let me live it down. They refer to it as ‘the great coffee explosion of 2009’ and love telling the story (through tears of laughter) to anyone who hasn’t heard it.
Suffice to say, I now only offer tea to visitors and have to leave the house for a decent caffeine-fix!
i cant handle having bad coffee. my two weeks in America with percolated starbucks was awful. However, my favourite coffee is the nespresso ristretto and yahava coffee beans from margaret river. My coffee recipe is a cocktail I make, very simple. It’s an espresso, a shot of kahlua, a half shot of vodka, milk and ice served in a martini glass.in terms of Perth coffee shops, my favourite is Obsesso at Brookfield Place. They have a unique service and its good coffee. Rossi is also good and Ristretto. I know my story isn’t that fascinating but its the best I have.
Steph Craft I remember having coffee in America and thinking just the same! The smell made me sick the whole time we were on the east coast, only got over it when we got to the west
every coffee story is great and thanks for the recipe!
I work at a very stressful airport, from 0400-0100 the next morning it does not stop. So when we do get to take a break there is nothing like a good cup of coffee to the spot! It relaxes us, and leaves us recharged to go back out there and tackle the crowds of people!!
I am a first time Mum and coffee gets me through the day! My cheap pretend Nespresso compatible machine is starting to leak water and I’m devastated! Winning a proper one would be AMAZING!
My best coffee story would have to be from my late teens. It had been a big night and my then boyfriend was quite hungover so I thought I would cheer him up with a nice big cup of coffee. Only problem was, we had stayed at my friends place and I accidently confused the sugar with the COOKING SALT! Needless to say he wasn’t impressed! I still get asked to this day whether I would like sugar or salt in my coffee!
I have been using a more traditional coffee machine at home for some time and it is wearing out. One of my favourites is to make an espresso shot and let it cool a little. Then add an equal part of Kaluah and cream.
Has the same effect as a Jager Bomb (Jagermeister + Red Bull) but tastes 100% better
Tim Norton recently posted..Cheap Mugs With Style
I guess my favourite coffee related experience is after my wife and I first met and she made me an Indian Style coffee which was my first and quite different from anything I had before.
It’s made with the instant variety with milk, sugar and cardamom and bringing it to a boil. I am sure most coffee drinkers would cringe at the thought of this but it really appeals to us.
As much as I love espressos, lattes,etc, I am have reduced my coffee intake quite lot. Once in a while she will make this concoction for both me and we site back and relieve the memories. She loves her coffee, but now with little ones, she doesn’t even have time to make herself a cup or even get out of the house to get one. I am hoping something like the U will give her a break and she can better spend her time enjoying a coffee.
Maybe this will replace the existing ritual with a better experience for the both of us.
At 31 years old, I had never had a cup of coffee or even a mocha. The closest I had come to coffee was tiramisu.. (yummo). It was until I started blogging and met up with some blogging friends that they convinced me to have a cup of coffee, Oh man honestly.. where HAVE I been?! I can not believe my life has been turned around just because of one cup of coffee.. now I am hunting out different styles, types and flavours on the trail for the ultimate cup of joe!! And to be able to make them at home would definitely save alot of spare change in my pocket!
Yvette Bowyer recently posted..lil squirts bento lunch - 08/09/12
When I first went to Vietnam I was pleasantly shocked with my coffee consumption there - not being aware in the slightest of the amount of coffee the Vietnamese produce (and consume) annually, I was a little confused to see it on menus and in cute little cans throughout Ho Chi Minh City. After a few days, I internally concluded that seeing coffee everywhere must be no coincidence and I ordered my first “ca phe sua da” with a bowl of pho at a tiny little restaurant. What was presented to me stumped me at first - what the heck do I do with this little metal strainer? - but after observing the locals for a bit and with some assistance from a little old Vietnamese lady, my iced coffee was ready in moments and my first sip was unforgettable, a super strong and intense coffee flavour accompanied with the rich condensed milk. Easily my most memorable coffee experience of my life and I take great pleasure in making my own version of the Vietnamese iced coffee at home, and each time that first sip takes me back to my trip in Vietnam several years ago… and I can’t wait to return!
My love affair with coffee began as a year 12 student sadly it was instant at the time. I drank it in abundance and also blended it with ice-creamMy friend and I called this an iced coffee (thats my recipe….. ) When I moved to the city I discovered real coffee yum and when I went to Italy I discovered short blacks. There is no way I would touch instant now. And now as a mum my coffee is the one thing I look forward to everyday (still no coffee machine though mmmmmmm)
Coffee is definitely more then a drink to me- its a relaxing, calming way to enjoy a little time to myself or catch up with friends and loved ones. I have always loved coffee, started drinking it during my early uni days and now look forward to the point in my day that i can have a lovely cup and regroup! I currently have a little stop top coffee infuse that a friend gave me from Italy, it makes a wonderful cup. But I’m looking forward to summer and having some nice creamy ice-coffees…with lots of cream
My very first coffee experience was far from pleasant. As a young girl aged around 8 years, I used to spend time at my father’s work after school and on the occasional weekend with my younger brother. At times it we would get a little bored and we would play around with the hot drink machine, it had 4 dials which when clicked left or right would dispense Coffee, Hot Chocolate, Milk powder or Hot Water. Click once to dispense one serve of each, the more you click the more you get.
Wanting to be like grownups, we decided we would make ourselves a coffee, only we really had no idea how. After a few too many clicks of coffee and sugar, we had manage to make a tarry looking mess that tasted so so awful that we decided perhaps some Hot Chocolate and more Milk Powder added to the mix would taste far better.
We were so wrong!
We had in the process of this coffee brewing disaster, managed to make a rather large mess and when our dad walked in we got in some very big big trouble.
Thankfully this experience did not put me off for life and I now appreciate the true brilliance of coffee.
I simply cannot live without coffee, do not approach me in the morning if I haven’t had one yet
This is my coffee desert without a fail:
Cafe Con Panna
2 shots of esspresso topped with whipped cream and served in a clear glass.
To this day it still amazes me that I made it through high school, and TEE exams, without ever drinking a cup of coffee - as soon as I got to uni things changed - suddenly it was all about getting multiple crappy $2 cups of coffee from the canteen and hanging out on the grass drinking it, or downing cup after cup in the library to get through all the reading for tutorials. Then a casual cafe job made me realise the uni coffee was only the tip of the iceberg - being surrounded by know it all baristas taught me a thing or two, now I buy locally brewed blends and use an Aeropress (old fashioned machine) to make coffee at home. Would love a Nespresso, have been lusting after them for ages but the price has set me back - but it turns out the English degree doesn’t pay too well (despite all that coffee-inspired reading!)
waking every morning to a machine made coffee, is an undescrible bliss, but after loseing everything we owned including our coffee maker in the 2010 floods we have not had that pleasure since, we live out in the country so popping to a local coffee shop is not a common event, so i am extremely jealous of all of you that have that privilege, because coffee out of a jar or tin certainly does and still is taking some getting use too, enjoy you lucky ducks………..
Wow started the coffee experience 20years ago studying on instant, the coffee revoloution of the last 10 years has produced some amazing coffees and machines, may yet take me back to furthering my studies also!!!