Coffee shop blogging

So, Jenn is getting a haircut and then we’re off to piccola’s for some pizza. While I wait, I’m sitting in a coffee shop downtown, sipping some coffee, and blogging about my journey toward seminary. It’s been a while since I’ve done this… Basically since I stopped working for the church… Man, I miss this. Coffee shops, free wifi, interesting people, cool tattoos, time to think… very refreshing change of pace.

Oh and since…

Oh, and since today should be “Photo Friday” I’ll share this one…

Here is a picture of me and the free coffee mug that I got on my visit to RTS. HA! They gave me a mug… that was either a really good marketing move or a really, really, bad one… I’ll let you know.

The quest continues…

New Coffee Mug

For those of you who follow my blogging you know that I have a thing about coffee travel mugs. In two years I have yet to find the perfect one. Well, in my continual quest for one I like I picked up this mug the other day.

click image to enlarge

Recently I was asked by the good people at rightminds to participate in an informal focus group on a coffee maker. In return for my participation I was given a gift card to starbuks and, since I don’t like starbucks coffee, I decided to pick up a new travel mug.

The mug itself came highly recommended by my good friend Robert who seems to carry his everywhere. So, when I saw this one in the clearance section… probably due to the lame design, I picked it up… So, is this the perfect mug???

Well, here’s the deal.

Goods:

• It has a porcelain inside, which I like. The downside of the metal travel mugs is that the start to have a funky stale coffee taste after a month or so. Porcelain is much less porous and thus doesn’t absorb the coffee as easily. So, that is nice.
• It is dishwasher safe… Big points for that one.
• The lid seems to be really sung, but at the same time it isn’t hard to get on or off (unlike my current metal mug)
• It feels good in my hand
• The metal bottom is an interesting attempt to increase insulation… not sure how great it works, but an interesting idea none the less.
• Finally, minus the stupid “coffee” design on the front, it looks pretty good.

Bads:

• Heat retention… Ok, the mug gets really hot which means heat is leaving the coffee… so, that is sad. I’d estimate that the coffee would stay hot for 10 minutes and warm for about 30 minutes. On the upside of this, the mug only holds 14oz, so the odds of it lasting more than 30 min is not too likely.
• Stupid “coffee” design
• Haven’t tested in the car yet, but non-closing drink hole can’t be very spill friendly… but I’ll let you know

So, in conclusion, it isn’t too bad. Until something better comes along, I think this might be the mug of choice.

coffee…

First, starbucks… I don’t like starbucks. They over roast their beans and the coffee isn’t that great. Now, that is not to say that, in a pinch, I wouldn’t go to starbucks… but I’d rather not. Well, while my objection is mostly taste related, some of my Christian brothers and sisters have found another reason to avoid the chain. I find it interesting that, if you read the article, you’ll see that see that while Starbucks did run an “anti-god” cup, they also ran a “pro-god” cup by Rick Warren. Which, by the way, was quite a sermon to pack onto a starbucks cup.

Second, WORLD CUP IS CLOSED!!!! This is a travesty! Truly the best cup of joe in Richmond (or at least near the office) is gone. To be replaced by what? Some joint called “crossroads.” The note on the door says they will serve Rostovs coffee (did I mention that I can get Rostovs coffee from Rostoves - 4 blocks away) and Maggie Moo’s ice cream (15 blocks away) … Sheesh. Not to mention that they just painted the outside this hideous orange/yellow color. Oh, what to do? World Cup, why have you abandoned us?

I’m depressed… I think I’ll get some coffee.

quick 2 cents…

Elwoods started carrying a new coffee brand and I am pretty pumped about it. The company is Counter Culture and they are pretty passionate about doing coffee right… they go as far as to say in their promotional material “Counter Culture has heart, passion and a moral conscience.” While I find that a pretty bold statement, these people certianly try to do thing the right way.

AS far as the coffee goes, my first try was Peru Norte and I really enjoyed it… I would go as far as to say that it is my current favorite coffee. Today I picked up Rowanda Karaba and can’t wait to give-er a brew in the morning. Will let you know if it lives up to the hype.

Bru… oh forget it…

As the faithful readers know, I have been quite vocal about my dislike of my new coffee travel mug from Brugo. For those who are interested, I simply wanted to share another trial it presented me…

This morning, as I poured my coffee in the mug (yes I use it still… mainly because I lost my good mug and the replacement was crappy)… so I poured my coffee and started to tighten the lid… the only problem was the lid kept spinning. It took a moment before I realized that the lid was not spinning, instead the metalic rim was spinning due to the fact that the glue that holds it on lost its glue-y-ness. I just had to laugh at that point… the mug I thought couldn’t get worse, actually got worse. So, I am officially starting my quest today to find a new mug… so all you coffee drinkers out there, if you have the bomb-digity travel mug, let me know cause I’m in the market…

the Brugo saga continues…

While I still stand by my review of the Brugo coffee mug (here) I wanted to let you read the reply that was posted on my blog by the inventor of the Brugo. I appreciate his honesty (and the fact that he stopped by the crockpot in the first place). So, in honor of his efforts and his public relations prowess, here is his post:

1 Comments:

At 4:18 PM, http://www.brugomug.com/ said…
Hello All, Well its been a long couple of months . Let me tell you. I am the inventor of Brugo. I have been paying close attention to all the comments, good and bad. Your both right!!! A few years back I set out to make a coffee mug that addressed every problem that a coffee drinker faces in his daily travels. I came up with the PTZ( Perfect Temperature Zone) concept. By separating 1.5 oz’s of coffee from the main content, it would cool your coffee one sip at a time. This would take the wait off the front end, keeping your coffee hotter for the life of the cup. I also wanted to make a fashion statement with my mug. On Sept 1,2005, I had the first working prototype, By Nov 1 I had made 1200 to test and do some focus groups. Somehow, Without asking for it,A mug made it to “Mens Health Magazine”. They put it in their December Tech Guide Issue as a “Top 100 Product” for 2006. One week later, “Good Morning America”. Holy Cow!!!!!! What do I do now?? Within a week, Running my company by myself, 15000 mugs were sold. Scrambling to figure out what to do.I did the best I could. I ordered mugs to fill orders and had them airfreighted in at a loss. I am not looking for sympathy. I feel that Brugo customers deserve an explanation.The mugs that were rushed in, although good, could have been better.Customer service at the time was no where near what it needed to be. We stand behind our product and are continuously improving PTZ technology. To anyone who has had problem, I do apologize and would like to make it up somehow,please call me or Email me. 1-877-brugo-go. Keep on posting your thoughts, It makes us work harder at getting better. Sincerely, Spero Pavlos President JolexUsa Posted by: Spero at February 17, 2006 08:32 PM Post a comment

Are you kidding…

I have to get this one off my chest real quick… I have the worst luck with coffee mugs. I was at Ellwood’s the other day picking up some bison meat for chili (super-bowl chili). I passed by the coffee section and saw that they had a very basic, stainless steal travel mug. I figured, since my Brugo mug was useless (see review) I’d pick this one up. This morning I filled it with my freshly brewed coffee and was on my way… no sooner had I sat in the car than I realized that the lid leaked (both our of the spout and around the base)… the kicker was in the parking lot when I accidentally dropped the mug and the lid popped off spilling all my beautiful coffee on the gravel… needless to say, that mug is now in the garbage…

The Governor Drinks Decaf… hmmmm…

So, I don’t know what this says about his leadership skills, but I have first hand knowledge that the governor of the great commonwealth of VA drinks his coffee decaf. How do I know this you ask? Well, about a week ago I decided to redeem a Dunkin Doughnut gift certificate I received for Christmas. Before entering the building I noticed four ’suits’ get out of a white suburban and enter before me. As I walked in I had that,”hmmmm this seems odd” feeling. One of the guys certainly had the ’scoping the room for snipers’ look about him. Then, at the counter I hear “decaf coffee and whatever these guys want, I’m payin.” As he turns I look at him and have that “I think I know who you are but I’m not going to say anything just in case I am wrong” feeling. On my way out I see several people walk up and shake his hand… at that moment I realize, yup, that’s governor Kaine.

So, as I revisit the moment, here are my thoughts on the whole encounter. 1) He picked up the tab for his fella’s… that’s pretty cool (unless he’s just going to take the receipt back to the accounting department and make it a business expense)… 2) he ordered decaf. I don’t know about that… I mean, my grandmother drinks decaf… take it like a man! strait up regular, no cream, no sugar! 3) he was riding in a white suburban (tinted windows and all)… how cliche. 4) I had a glazed sour cream doughnut that morning… it was good. 5) I really wish I had something worth saying to him… unfortunatly, I did not, and my chance to change the world or be mentioned in his Democrat Response speech passed by… I can hear it now… “and while I was in Dunkin Doughnuts the other day a wise young man said…” Oh well…

Friends… drink it black (but not in a brugo… see post below)

Brugo… More like BruNOgo

Ease of use: 1 Cockpot
Heat retention: 1 Cockpot
Doing all it saidit could do: 1 Crockpot
Style: 3 Crockpots
Overall Coffee Experience: 1 Used, Greasy, Nasty, Crockpot

Price: $24 with shipping (ground)

crockpot Scale:
4 = Like a perfect potroast
3 = The roast isn’t bad, but need a little salt
2 = Looks like the dog will be eating well tonight
1 = How can you ruin a potroast?

Let me begin by recommending that you visit www.brugomug.com to learn a little more about the mug I am reviewing. For me, after visiting the site I was prepared to pay any amount of money necessary to have the revoloutionary new mug. Below is a recounting of my experience and an explination for my rating of the mug (see above).

Here is the gist… this mug is supposed to deliver the perfect sip of coffee. However, the problems with this mug are so many that I honestly, I can’t go into all the details. The short end of things is that the mug does not retain heat well, it leaks (even when in the lock position), the ’sip’ that is provided in the ‘tip and sip’ feature is an amazingly small sip, the shipping on the mug is only available as ground and takes 2-3 weeks, and the help department is only mildly helpful (assuming you can get your email to go to a real human).

In all, the whole experience from ordering to drinking my coffee has been a disappointment. I have resumed using my busted up nike coffee travel mug that, even though broken, works much better than the Brugo… final conclusion: don’t waste the time or money (or take the Brugo concept, perfect it, and then sell me the mug… I’m waiting).

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