I found myself a little short of time come mothers day, and a young 10 year old daughter that was yearning to express her creative flair - both important priorities, and it was at that moment I realised how cost effective, simple to prepare and rewarding this idea could be. 

I popped into our local supermarket and handed my daughter a shopping basket - that was perfect, because I really didn't want to have to shove an entire shopping trolley's worth of groceries into the resulting gift basket, because we all know that a girl will definitely shop until no more shopping can be physically done!

We filled the basket with all sorts of treats, biscuits, crackers, chocolate, grapes, cheese and a couple of bottles of wine - mostly for the appearance of the bottle, rather than the quality of the wine - I'm not that good at selecting great wines, so I just look for a nice looking label (typical guy huh!)

Armed with our goodies, we headed down to the dollar store and selected a suitable size basket to pop it all in. lined the basket with gift paper, placed everything in, and job done! we had enough change from $50 to grab a chocolate milkshake, a coffee and a muffin, each ;-)

This idea is so simple that I wont be waiting for mothers day in the future, its going to be an any-time gift. Just don't think less of me when one of the baskets contains a few more of the essentials, like apples, kraft cheese slices and a couple of bottles of milk - its the thought that counts, right?

If there is one thing in my life I will always make time for, it is coffee. And when that coffee can be enjoyed in a different way, I will push every other non-essential task on my plate right out of the way! 

Coffee and Tonic Water are a match made in heaven, and by heaven, I mean that cosy place you dream of where there is not a trouble in the world, ever. You have just one job this week, and that is to try Tonic Water mixed with Coffee Espresso.

Its so easy to prepare; grab a glass, extract a shot of coffee into the glass, add a couple of cubes of ice from the freezer and top it all off with cold Tonic Water - add a wedge of lemon or lime and call it 'knock off time'. 

Grab a comfy chair, sit back and enjoy your moment of sunshine in a glass.

is it just me, or are Monday’s getting harder and harder to face each week? I’m thinking the real cause is that our work weeks are becoming more involved and a little more intense that come the weekend, we are cramming as much as we can into those two days - be it recreation, working around the house or tending to family duties, that when Monday rolls around, it’s a case of “hang on, here we go again”!

I’m certain it was easier for our parents and their parents. Not in a physical way - we’ve got more comfortable cars, better safety equipment, air conditioning, socially aware everything - but they didn’t have mobile phones that ring on a Saturday morning, work emails that bing at 8pm, mortgages that really do take 30 years to payoff, internet bills, it goes on and on.

What do you think?

Science and coffee are life long partners!

It’s also ist like a laboratory experiment, the way we weigh, measure and test every aspect of the coffee making process. It takes exactly 14grams of coffee prepares in a double basket portafilter, the coffee is ground to a precise and repeatable grind, and extracted under a perfect 9 bars of water pressure at the predetermined 91 degrees Celsius.


Only them do we achieve the magic 60mls of deliciously smooth espresso base.

It goes without saying that we are a little obsessive and like to control the outcome of our coffee making experience, for the benefit of the perfect coffee shot.

It is for that reason a preheated cup is important. Without it, we are relying on a cup that is colder than the. Coffee it will be coming into contact with and therefore affecting the temperature of the coffee in the cup. That temperature change will affect the flavour of your coffee.

I store my ceramic coffee cups on top of my espresso machine, but for the times that I forget, I’ll just rinse the cup with some warm or hot water and that will do pretty much the same job.