Ingredients
1. 1 quart water
2. 8 Earl Grey tea bags
3. 8 cinnamon sticks, broken into pieces
4. 8 cardamom pods, crushed
5. 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, crushed
6. 2 teaspoons anise seeds, crushed
7. 2 teaspoons allspice berries, crushed
8. 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
9. 3 tablespoons honey
10. Lime wedges for garnish
11. Thinly sliced oranges for garnish
12. Cinnamon sticks for garnish

How To Make
1. Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the tea bags, remove from the heat and let steep for 20 minutes; discard the tea bags. Reheat the tea and pour it into a heatproof bowl. Add all of the spices, cover and let steep overnight.
2. Strain the tea into a medium saucepan. Reheat the tea and stir in the honey; let cool. For each drink, pour the spiced tea over cracked ice. Garnish with a lime wedge, an orange slice and a cinnamon stick and serve.

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 ounces Bushmills(R) Original Irish Whiskey
2. 3 ounces hot coffee
3. 1 teaspoon sugar
4. 1 teaspoon heavy cream, slightly whipped

How To Make
1. Pour coffee into a warmed Irish coffee glass mug. Add sugar to taste and stir to dissolve.
2. Pour in Bushmills(R) Original Irish Whiskey; top with slightly whipped cream, poured gently onto the drink over the back of a spoon.

Yield: 1 servings

US bases coffee business, Gloria Jeans Coffee is expanding the business to India. It is setting up its second global coffee roasting and blending unit here. According to sources, Gloria Jean’s has finalised on a couple of locations and will tie up with Indian farmers to procure Arabica beans, which will be blended with imported coffee beans from Indonesia and Ethiopia.

The US-based coffee chain, which has more than half of its 770 outlets in Australia, announced on Monday that it was entering India through a tie-up with Citymax India, the hospitality and restaurant arm of Dubai-based Landmark Retail. Citymax will invest around Rs 50 crore for opening 100 stores over the next four years.
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For middle-aged drivers, aged 40 to 50, coffee was a far better choice. Caffeinated coffee lowered risk for these drivers by 89 percent, while the nap only reduced line crossings by 23 percent. But among younger drivers, a nap was almost as effective as caffeine. Among 20- to 25-year-old drivers, the risk of line-crossing fell by 66 percent after a nap, and 74 percent after drinking caffeinated coffee.

The Scandinavians are the biggest coffee drinkers in the world, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported on Monday.

The Dutch consumed 6.9 kg of coffee per person in 2006. That comes to 3.2 cups of coffee a day. In 1996 that figure was 3.6 cups. Consumption fell until 2003, but has remained more or less stable since.

Between 1996 and 2006 the consumption of tea, soft drinks, mineral water and wine has been on the rise. Coffee was the most consumed drink in 2006; tea came in second place with 100 litres per person.

The Scandinavians drank an average of 4.3 cups of coffee per day in the 2002-2006 period. Consumption in Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland was also higher than in the Netherlands.

Coffee is markedly less popular in Eastern European countries. It is remarkable that inhabitants drink less than one cup a day on average in most coffee-producing countries with the exception of Brazil and Costa Rica.

Ingredients

1. 1/4 cup granulated sugar
2. 1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies, partially crushed
3. 1/2 ounce fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
4. 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules or powder
5. 2 cups 1% milk
6. 1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
7. 3 tablespoons cornstarch
8. 3 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), finely chopped
9. 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
10. 2 teaspoons dark rum
11. 1/3 cup well-chilled heavy cream
12. 1 teaspoon packed light brown sugar
13. 1/4 teaspoon instant coffee granules or powder
14. 1 teaspoon dark rum
15. 1/2 ounce bittersweet chocolate shavings, shaved with a vegetable peeler from a bar of chocolate

How to cook

1. Make crust: Cook sugar in a dry small nonstick skillet over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar is melted into a deep golden caramel, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Remove pan from heat, then immediately stir in Rice Krispies and quickly transfer to springform pan, spreading evenly over bottom and smoothing top with back of a small spoon. (If using pie plate, press crust up side of plate slightly.)
3. Sprinkle chopped chocolate evenly over warm crust to melt, then spread melted chocolate with back of spoon to cover crust. Cool until chocolate is hardened.
4. Make filling: Dissolve instant coffee in 2 tablespoons milk in a small bowl, then stir in gelatin and let stand.
5. Whisk together cornstarch and remaining 1 7/8 cups milk in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring constantly (this will take about 15 minutes; 1% milk curdles easily if heated too quickly). Continue to simmer, stirring, 2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat, then add gelatin mixture, chocolate, brown sugar, and rum, whisking until smooth, about 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and cold water. Cool filling, whisking constantly (so gelatin doesn’t set unevenly), just to room temperature, 3 to 5 minutes, then pour over crust in pan. Chill, covered, until set, about 3 hours.
7. Make topping: Beat cream with brown sugar using an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Dissolve instant coffee in rum and fold into cream.
8. Spread evenly over chilled custard, then run a thin sharp knife around edge of ‘pie’ and remove side of pan.

Yield: 6 servings

TOP U.S. COFFEE BARS

La Colombe Torrefaction
Great pastries and people-watching; silky cappuccino (130 S. 19th St., Philadelphia; 215-563-0860).

Ritual Coffee Roasters
Mission District hipsters love the French-press coffee here (1026 Valencia St., San Francisco; 415-641-1024).

Ninth Street Espresso
Owner Ken Nye pulls some of New York’s best espresso at this East Village spot (700 E. Ninth St., New York; 212-358-9225).

Aloha Island
All Kona coffee, all the time, from the owners’ Big Island plantation in Hawaii (153 S. Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills; 310-786-8257).

Ruta Maya
Terrific coffee exclusively from Chiapas, Mexico, plus great live music (3601 S. Congress Ave., Austin; 512-707-9637).

Murky Coffee
This Capitol Hill spot is a hangout for politicos and staffers (660 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, D.C.; 202-546-5228).

Blue Bottle Coffee Co.
A 10-by-10-foot space that’s more a stand than a shop, it grinds and brews terrific beans to order (315 Linden St., San Francisco; 415-252-7535).

Jack’s Stir Brew Coffee
Owner Jack Mazzola has invented a coffeemaker that stirs the coffee grinds as it brews, giving each cup an even, smooth taste (138 W. 10th St.; New York City; 212-929-0821).

Gimme! Coffee
Ithaca, New York-based coffee fanatic John Gant air-roasts his beans so the roast level is perfectly uniform (495 Lorimer St.; Brooklyn, New York; 718-388-7771).

Café du Monde
Housed in a French Quarter landmark building, founded in 1862, it is still known for its coffee-chicory blends (1039 Decatur St., New Orleans; 504-587-0835).

Zoka Coffee Roaster & Tea Company
Zoka’s head barista, Phuong Tran, is the current United States Barista Champion (2200 N. 56th St.; Seattle; 206-545-4277).

Espresso Vivace Roasteria
Husband-and-wife owners David Schomer and Geneva Sullivan started Vivace with a single street-side cart; now they’re a Seattle institution. Their espresso is known for its gorgeous crema (901 E. Denny Way, Seattle; 206-860-5869).

Victrola Coffee Roasters
The friendly neighborhood vibe and flawless espresso drinks here are augmented by a wide menu of panini (411 15th Ave. East, Seattle; 206-325-6520).

Metropolis Coffee Company
Father and son owners Jeff and Tony Dreyfuss run a virtual entertainment center at their coffee house with rotating art displays, music and a film series (1039 W. Granville Ave.; Chicago; 773-764-0400).
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The disorder known as blepharospasm may affect people aged between 50 and 70. People with blepharospasm may be unable to prevent their eyes from clamping shut so at times they are effectively blind, Forbes reported.

The first symptoms of the disorder may include eye irritation and discomfort, sensitivity to light and increased blinking.

A previous study had suggested smoking had a protective effect on the condition. In the current study there was no significant association found with smoking but those who drank coffee were found to be less likely to develop the condition, the researchers said.

The effect was proportional to the amount of coffee drunk. The age of the onset of the spasm was also found to be greater in patients who drank more coffee — 1.7 years for each additional cup per day.

Researchers said the most obvious candidate for the protective effect could be caffeine. However, they said the low frequency of decaffeinated coffee intake in Italy prevented them from examining the effects of caffeine on blepharospasm.