from wikiHow

Drinking tea and coffee in cups results in a residue build-up over time. There’s no need to use harsh chemicals to remove it; follow this method for ease of removal and mere baking soda will do the trick.
Steps

1. Dampen the tea cup. There needs to be a little moisture present for the baking soda to cling to.
2. Rub baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) over the stained area of the cup with the soft cloth. A paste-like film should form as you rub over the dampened cup.
3. Continue rubbing. Put some effort into rubbing directly over the stained areas of the cup. Continue doing this until the stain lifts. You will need to turn the cup around as you are scrubbing, to ensure that you reach all areas of the stain.
4. Rinse. Remove the baking soda residue off the cup. Check that you have removed all the stain. If not, repeat. If yes, turn the cup upside down and leave to air dry before returning to its usual storage spot.

Tips

• Salt can be used in place of baking soda if wished.
• You can also soak the stained item in white vinegar. That will remove tea and coffee stains as well as hard water deposits.
• Dental cleaner works well also.
• Try adding a teaspoon of bleach (sodium hypochlorite) along with the regular dish washing detergent and run a normal cycle. Your cups will come out sparking clean!

Things You’ll Need

• Baking soda or salt – the amount needed varies according to how much the cup soaks up and how effective the cleaning is; if in doubt, add more.
• Soft yet slightly abrasive cleaning cloth (the modern plastic scrubbers work very well for this purpose)

Related wikiHows

• How to Clean the Stains from the Inside of a Coffee Cup
• How to Remove Deep Stains from Dishes
• How to Use Baking Soda

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Remove Stains from Tea Cups Using Baking Soda. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

I was going to make a how-to video about how to brew outstanding coffee in a coffee press, but when I saw this fantastic one from James Hoffman of Square Mile Coffee Roasters in the U.K., I said to myself, “Why reinvent the wheel?”  He references measurements in metric units, but hey, that just gave me an excuse to put a unit converter down below.

So, if you’ve been considering moving out of the land of Mr. Coffee and into the realm of ultra-brewing, check it out.

You’ll notice, the press used in the video is the same one we sell here at Blacksmith Coffee Roastery. It’s the Bodum Columbia, and in my opinion it’s the best press you can buy. If you need a mind-blowing Christmas gift for the coffee geek in your life, the shopping cart links are below.

In case you need a way to convert from grams to ounces or litres to ounces try this cool unit converter:

Bodum Columbia Coffee Press

A couple weeks ago, we had the opportunity to roast up some authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain – Mavis Bank processed coffee.  We had a great time and the feedback has been excellent. With a little Bob Marley playing in the background, we roasted this delicate coffee and, after grinding a few tablespoons worth, anxiously waited for the 4 minute timer to beep so we could press the coffee and sample it.

I think the first indication that we were on to something special when when I ate one of the roasted beans and it tasted extremely good.   One of our visitors for the roasting said that the roasted bean tasted like a “chocolate covered espresso bean without the chocolate, but all the flavor. ”

The aroma of the roasted beans was also exceptional, and truly hard to describe!  It’s like this particular coffee possessed all the potential favorable characteristics without any of the defects.  The aroma was amazing with hints of chocolate, citrus, berries, and flowers.

The taste?  Let’s just say, it provided a depth of flavor that was comprehensively exquisite!  Since the Blue Mountain beans take 10 months to mature, they just soak up all the flavors available in the environment around them.  All the aromas described above manifested themselves in perceptible flavors as well.  Plus, there were notes of caramel, vanilla, cinnamon, bananas, and even sugar cane, mentioned by folks that have tasted it.  Probably my favorite description was from someone who said that it possessed subtle “hints of white wedding cake….frosting and all.”

On brewing Jamaican Blue Mountain – Mavis Bank coffee.

1. Brew it strong!  This is a fabulous coffee and to experience all the flavor it possesses you really have to abide by the recommended international brewing ratio of 2 tbsp/6 oz of fresh water.
2. If you can, brew it in a press or a vacuum brewer.  I’ve now brewed it five different ways and the quality of the brew in order was Vacuum Brewer, French Press, Pour Over Drip Brewer, Automatic Drip Brewer, Aeropress.This coffee really seems to blossom when it’s brewed around 205 degrees.  The top three methods where all brewed around this temperature and they were much more dynamic tasting than the Mr. Coffee and Aeropress methods.  Of course, Mr. Coffee’s don’t brew much above 180 degrees and the Aeropress simply removes too much of the JBM’s crisp acidity.  Having said this, if you do brew it in a Mr. Coffee, grind the beans a little finer than you normally do.  We found that a fine grind worked best when brewing in an automatic drip brewer.
3. Smell it.  Before you drink it, be sure to take the time to enjoy all the aromas that are produced during brewing.
4. Enjoy the brew by drinking it slowly.

Was it Worth It?

The question everyone is asking is, “Is it worth it?”  As you may know, I’ve been pretty critical of Blue Mountain coffees in the past, but I have to eat crow now.  The fact is, this was among the finest coffee I’ve ever tasted!    And even though $30/12 oz is a lot to pay for coffee, for authentic Jamaican Blue Mountain – Mavis Bank processed, it’s a great price compared to Amazon.

Possibly the best way to answer this question is to simply say that we ended up being two bags short because I had a couple customers who ended up wanting a second bag after they tasted it.  I thought I had roasted a few extra bags in case this happened, but still ended up short.  So……

2nd Chance Opportunity

Here’s the deal….. I ordered two 15kg barrels and presold about 22kg of it.  We still have about 7kg left to roast.  That’s about one batch worth.  Since we have two customers who are anxiously awaiting their coffee, I’m going to go ahead and extend this second chance opportunity and set a deadline of 6:00 pm, Sunday, September 20, 2009 to place your order and then we’ll roast the remainder on Monday. After that I won’t be roasting Jamaican Blue Mountain again until we get more raw beans in sometime in the future.

If you missed out the first time around and want to see for yourself if it’s all it’s made out to be, or would like to order a second bag, now’s your chance.   We will probably do this again sometime time in the future, but I’m not exactly sure when.

Again, to order just click the button below by 6:00 pm, Sunday, September 20, 2009.  We will roast it on Monday, September 21st.

Click to Order – $35/per bag (Includes Shipping). If you’re going to pick it up at our shop, use discount code of JBMPickUp to remove $5.00 for shipping.

For those who would like to order, but prefer not to do it online, just call us toll free @ 1-800-576-5280 to place your order.

(BTW,Thanks Lars for the cool picture!)