We’ve all been there, good and hyper in the morning, productivity through the roof, dealing with Karens and Brians without bursting into rage fits, quick lunch and then … hitting a wall, afternoon slump central.
There are cultures with dedicated siesta time to deal with this very issue, there are cultures who choose to substitute the nap time with a shot of espresso and get over the slump with a caffeine boost instead. So what is the most effective way to deal?
Surely, being a coffee company, you’d expect us to say the espresso way is the way to go.
Throat Punch Coffee beat the shit out of the afternoon slump would be a catchy title for the blog. But, it turns out, the most effective way is to combine the two! #mindblown
It might sound bonkers, to nap after an espresso but the reality is, it takes the caffeine a second to kick in, and it turns out, if you take this break for a quick shut eye, the effects of both coping methods combined are the way to go. You’ll wake up refreshed by your power nap right at the time when the caffeine in your bloodstream hits its peak. Win. And it’s not just us talking out of our arse, we have science to back us up.
Studies by folk smarter than us have been conducted since the nineties, comparing caffeine vs napping and the combo of the two against just one of the methods. They looked at alertness in drivers, performance tests in nightshift workers,
Several studies throughout the 1990s compared how well people performed after a caffeine nap versus taking caffeine or a nap alone. In one study, some participants were instructed to take 200 milligrams of caffeine and then take a nap before being kept awake for a period of 24 hours. Compared to participants who took only a nap, those who had a caffeine nap were better at maintaining alertness, logical reasoning, and performance tests in nightshift workers, and even physical performance in athletes. The results of the studies were consistent, caffeine followed by a short nap is the most effective way.
The tricks to ensure this works are:
Disclosure, this method is only applicable if coffee doesn’t give you issues in general - in terms of high pressure, anxiety or any other delights you might be dealing with. But seeing that you landed on our page, this hopefully and probably isn’t the case.
So let us know? Would you cut your lunch hour short to squeeze in an espresso nap?
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We have started offering this beautiful, hand-made drinkware in-store a wee while ago so it’s only fair we make the products available online too. And take the opportunity to tell you a little bit more about how they’re made and how the Café Béton x Throat Punch Coffee collaboration came about.
The designer and creator of this one-of-a-kind collection of serveware, Scott Durbin, is one of the most loyal regulars at our Dalry shop in Edinburgh. Through random conversations from behind the bar, we learned about Scott’s background working with concrete and his passion for the matter. Then one day, Scott came in with a box of prototypes he’d been working on.
Only at this stage Scott has told us that he had created a range of coffee cups for a local store back in the US and he is pursuing this venture here in Edinburgh now.
We were sold immediately! The cups look incredible; they have this fantastic texture on the outside, showing the concrete particles that they’re made of and, surprisingly, they are lighter than standard ceramic coffee cups. We compared and even weighed them, it’s true.
‘Reinvent your coffee ritual’ is the tag line behind Scott’s product, and it is so apt. We believe that excellent coffee should be served in an excellent cup. Café Béton cups not only look great, they feel different in your hand and even sound different putting the cup back on the saucer. So if you are a detail obsessed coffee connoisseur, this is THE cup for you.
Thanks to Scott being a friend, an all around legend and basically a neighbour, he was kind enough to show us his process and what it takes to create a Café Béton cup. Each cup is completely unique. The process starts with the concrete being poured into silicone moulds. Scott has designed these himself, but on top of that each batch of the concrete mass is different. It is created with small hardened concrete particles, giving a new life to what would otherwise be seen as waste. We like.
“As a side note, we have a reclamation process where if anyone accidentally breaks their cup or mug, all they have to do is send it back to us, they receive money off their next order, and we reclaim that concrete and break it down to be used in their new mug. It creates an incentive for a more sustainable, circular product lifecycle and an interesting relationship between product and user.” mentions Scott.
At Throat Punch we’re all about not adding to the issue of overstuffed landfills, so this was a major plus.
Back to the process though. After the cups solidify and are taken out of the moulds, the process of various sanding and seal treatments begins. Seeing Scott carefully examine the products truly highlights the difference between hand-crafted quality and mass production. The attention to detail from a true craftsman is unmatched!
So who’s Scott?
The founder of Café Béton. Obviously. He studied Product design in the US and continued his studies into a post-grad at Edinburgh Napier. Throughout his studies, working with various materials, conducting research for his thesis, Scott has discovered his passion for concrete.
“I started asking myself what can I do with this material, and how can I apply its advantages in new and unique ways. I knew from the beginning I wanted to create a product that addressed sustainability and Concrete was the perfect vehicle for this exploration.”
As someone who appreciates good coffee and a challenge, Scott eventually started exploring the possibility of creating drinkware and small home goods made of concrete. Since there isn’t anyone else with the same pursuit, there were many questions Scott had to address himself before launching his range. “Is it even possible to make a concrete coffee cup? Would concrete coffee cups function well? Would they be better than ceramic? Would they look good?” Turns out, yes, yes, arguably yes, and DEFINITELY yes!
Café Béton’s mission perfectly encapsulates the values in the core of quality coffee culture.
Small batch makes, products made to last, products encouraging to slow down and immerse yourself in the experience. This notion is also behind the business name.
“I went with the French-inspired Café Béton, which literally translates to ‘Concrete Cafe’, paying homage to the culture that inspired me to continue to grow this business.” says Scott, who spent some time living in France and even has family ties connecting him to France. Long story short, the man knows what he’s talking about.
We are huge fans. A small selection of Scott’s range is now available in our online store too. If you order a Café Béton cup(s), you’ll automatically get 20% off all of our coffee within the same order. Also make sure to check out cafebeton.com for the full range.
]]>Now if anyone has ever watched a documentary or two about volcanoes, you’ll know that the volcanic soil contains a lot of nutrients making it an awesome natural fertiliser.
The active volcanoes in Nicaragua line the pacific coast and are part of the “Ring of Fire”. The Masaya volcano is located south of Managua and is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. The Masaya volcano is one of few places in the world where you can actually see a lava lake. Few other notable lava lakes are located in Hawaii, Ethiopia and Antarctica.
Nicaragua is a central American country located between Honduras and Costa Rica, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east. Nicaragua is blessed with high altitudes which allows the coffee beans to develop at a slower rate, meaning they have more nutrients and in turn, a more flavourful coffee.
Also, 95% of Nicaragua’s coffee is shade grown and organic, with it growing under the canopy of trees. You’ll find that the Nicaragua Jinotega coffee has a richer flavour than those grown in full sun.
Coffee was introduced to Nicaragua by catholic missionaries in 1790 but it wasn’t till about 50 years later that it really took off when a coffee plantation opened up in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.
However, today Jinotega is hailed as the “coffee capital” with it producing 65% of the country’s coffee. The coffee production is relatively small but is the economic backbone of thousands of rural communities – producing 54% of their agricultural output.
Jinotega is also known as the “City of Mists” due to magnificent wisps of cloud feathering the place as high as 1,000 metres.
Now another interesting fact about Nicaragua is that there are no street names. After a severe earthquake in 1972, the city used a pretty standard grid system of streets but that has been done away with and now they have no street names. How does this work? Nicaraguans use reference points from where they start describing a certain address using places such as churches, companies, landmarks etc, then stating how many blocks away the particular address is.
An example could be: “From the Calvario Church, 1 block south, half a block east.” or another example could be your hotel might be located “2 blocks east of the traffic lights and then half a block right of the convent”.
Now for those local, this is no problem, but if you are not familiar with the area, it would get very confusing! Well done to their posties, I guess.
]]>The event brings together independent cafes and restaurants in Edinburgh for a week of unique tasting menus priced at £3, £5 or £8.
Throat Punch Coffee is taking part, offering:
Any coffee and a small bag of chocolate covered coffee beans for £3,
A coffee and a delicious Baked by Sib brownie for £5 or
Coffee, a sandwich and a brownie for £8.
Purchasing the festival ticket will give you the access to all the taster menus, including cool places like Lady and the bear, the sly fox, salt horse, throat punch coffee (obviously) and loads more. Each ticket sold also contributes £1 to the Social Bite charity helping with the issues related to homelessness and food poverty.
The festival runs from January 30th until February 6th. To buy the tickets and to see the full list of participating businesses and their tasting menus, see https://www.358eat.com/.
]]>Today, we’re gonna talk about vacuum coffee makers. They look so cool, they could have easily been branded “devil’s tools” during the inquisition. The reason we want to take a look at these coffee contraptions is not because of their devilish, fashionable looks, but because of the kick-ass coffee they make.