May-June-2017_flipbook

COFFEE

grass. Along the eastern horizon you begin to see a faint glimmer rising above the shoreline. It’s just minutes before that long-awaited “30 minutes before sunrise” legal shooting time. Now is the time to pour from the thermos the hot liquid that will be a toast to the start of a great hunt. While the coffee’s going down, there’s those stimulating thoughts of squadrons of waterfowl responding to the caller’s quacks, then dropping out of the clouds and into the decoys bobbing on the pond. That’s followed by you and your buddies putting on what can only be described as a “clinic” on shotgunning skills — all those visions seen in the pre-dawn darkness while savoring that strong, sweet or special-flavored elixir. Wow, gets me fired up just thinking about it! Even on warm summer days, many of us dedicated coffee drinkers will grab a sip here and there throughout the day. But on those frigid days when we really need our coffee hot, the container can fail to do its job. Thanks to modern technology, that’s happening a lot less often. Just as there’s been science-based research and testing to produce containers that keep liquids, foods, baits and even fish colder longer, that same effort has resulted in the production of containers to keep coffee and other drinks and foods hot longer.The result has been a proliferation of companies specializing in making and marketing thermos bottles, mugs and cups that extend the hot and warm life of your coffee far beyond those of the past. While millennials certainly find it hard to believe, many of us remember those plastics thermos bottles of the 1960s era that had glass (yes,

filled with glass shards and crystals into their cups. I personally had it happen to me. Then came solid stainless steel with insulation between the inner and outer liners — a drastic improvement. Over the last decade, a variety of super-insulated drink cups and thermos, in myriad shapes and sizes, have arrived on the scene, and they are amazingly efficient at keeping our coffee hot for extended periods of time. Some are pretty pricey, but they make excellent gifts for anyone who takes their coffee along on their daily commute. If you haven’t entered the modern world of super-insulated coffee mugs, here are a few tips to keep your coffee the temperature you like it. First, if your mug is microwave compatible, heat your coffee in the container you drink from. You know those promotional can coozies we all get to help keep our drinks cold? The extra insulation in one of those coozies can, if it fits your coffee cup, also help keep it warm. Finally, if you find yourself needing a temporary coffee mug, while not particularly environmentally friendly, those Styrofoam go-cups do a better job than any other non-insulated type. Besides being a warmer-upper, just holding a hot cup of coffee can win friends and influence people. Check this out: An experiment conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder and published in the journal Science found that “participants who briefly held a cup of hot coffee judged a target person as having a ‘warmer’ personality.”Works for me!

So how do I take my coffee? I like a wide variety of flavors and blends. My favorite is a dark roast, with no sugar but with a shot of Italian Sweet Cream. Matter of fact, I think I’ll go have one now. The Outdoors Guy Don Dubuc, The Outdoors Guy, can be heard on Gulf Coast radio stations including WWL, KPEL, WNXX, KNXX and KAOK in Louisiana, and WAVH in Mobile, Alabama.

glass) inserts that would keep coffee hotter longer. Even though they were easily broken, they were replaceable, and I guess the sale of inner glass inserts was someone’s brainstorm on how to ensure recurring sales. I don’t know how many, but I’m sure there were lawsuits brought forward by consumers who poured their coffee

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