I just came from the gym and I saw this new Coffee Shop called Coffee Overdose. I thought that its name sounds a little weird. I mean why would you want to call your shop Overdose? It just doesn't sound right from a marketing perspective. Then I thought that maybe they named it that way because coffee is a "legal drug." You know how drugs are, they can be addicting and when you take too much you become overdosed or something like that. Anyway, I was thinking too much and I just decided to try their coffee.

I asked the lady what their specialty was since I wanted to know more about the place. She said "the one with raspberry, sir." I didn't want to try that one since you don't get to taste the real coffee with all the fruity flavors so I ended up trying their Coffee Latte and since I just came from the gym, an extra rum cake wouldn't be too bad right? I then asked her what beans do they use. All I got was "hindi po sa amin sinasabi, basta dito galing at masarap po siya (They don't tell us, but it comes from here (Philippines) and it just taste good)" So, I didn't bother to ask anymore since I don't think she would still be divulging any information.

While waiting for my order, I still kept wondering what's with the name. Good thing they had a sign that said something like "You know you had too much coffee when you don't get mad. You get steamed!" Funny line but I still think that it's negative for the consumers especially for those with family/friends who might agree with that and dissuade you from drinking another cup. Negative impact on your sales.

Looking at the bright side and also to be fair to them I actually liked my latte. It had a certain kick to it and it was made just right. The taste wasn't too strong but it lacked a little of that aroma. Another good thing is that it really complemented the rum cake. Since the rum cake was already sweet, I decided to add just a teaspoon of brown (mascovado) sugar to it.

I was very happy with my coffee as it was done the way I like it. But for its name, sorry but it was too much for me to handle. But when it came to the coffee, there was no overdose but it was coffee made just right.

I know I know this video is not about coffee or anything close to it and I apologize for this. This video is all about Manny Pacqiao celebrating after his knockout victory in nine rounds against David Diaz. Where is the coffee? You won't see any coffee related stuff in this video but what you'll only see is a coffee tickle moment especially for the Manny Pacqiao, his fans and the Filipinos. Great fight with David Diaz! My hats off to him for giving 110%..I just loved the fight! What's even great about this fight was what happened after when the Boston Celtics (KG, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rondo) were there to celebrate the victory. These guys really deserved their NBA rings this year...such classy individuals.

This sure is a coffee tickle moment! This really made my day together with a hot cup of coffee. Congratulations to the Pac-Man for again for creating unity here even for a day! Let's drink (coffee) to that!

Our tongues were not made to know the temperature of our drinks. It was made to taste but sometimes we forget that this is their job. This just destroys our drink, meal and our day. I just hate it when this happens to me. Good thing we can avoid torturing our tongues with the new Hot Cold Mug.

This mug tells the temperature of your drink by changing its color from black to white. Without any beverage, it's just a plain black with big white letters saying it's COLD. If you see this in your local grocery store, you wouldn't mind it right? But once you put your hot beverage on it, the mug changes color and turns to white while big black letters saying it's HOT appear. Cool huh?

With this mug, you wouldn't have to make your tongue do all the testing and you can leave it to do the tasting. Let's give our tongues a break and enjoy more our coffee or your favorite drink. Tickle away to a great day! :)

Coffee. Fully Charged.

Do you need more caffeine in your Coca Cola? Or do you just want that taste of coffee in everything that you drink? The Coco Cola company will be launching a drink called Full Throttle Coffee, which is a combination of creamy coffee and their energy drink. This will first be launched in the Southeast and Pacific Northwest (US) markets regions this month before making a nationwide debut in August.

Coca Cola has already launched coffee beverages before like Caribou Iced Coffee, ikko Coffee International Lineup, and Cafe Zu in Thailand.

“Guys are increasingly looking for great-tasting beverage options that will give them the extra ‘kick’ they need to conquer their day,” said Rafael Acevedo, Senior Brand Manager, Energy Drinks, Coca-Cola North America. “Full Throttle Coffee combines the smooth, rich taste of coffee with the intensity that you can only get from a Full Throttle Energy Drink.”

This would be great for Full Throttle fans and coffee lovers and people who just have to stay up really late. Their tagline would be "Coffee. Fully Charged." and will have a coffee lineup of Caramel, Mocha and Vanilla. Their packaging will be bilingual, which will come in English and Spanish.

Their packaging is really nice but I wonder how this would taste like. I guess we just have to rely and believe that a lot of drinks combined with Coke have been great. Even ice cream combined with Coke is really good! This has coffee so I just can't wait for this to come out and give me that extra kick to start my day. The thing is, I live here in the Philippines and I am not sure how I can get one of those. I would just have to ask some of my cousins to send some.

Oh, and one more thing, I have to mention that their packaging somehow reminds me of Guitar Heroes. What do you think?

Anyway, thanks for reading! I have to go eat, drink coffee and play some of that Guitar Heroes (which will consume most of my day if I can't stop)

First of all, I would like to thank all those who have visited and joined my community and also those who have emailed me. Please continue sending your suggestions as I will try to add or use them in our community. Thanks again!

I have been watching some coffee commercials lately and decided to add a new part for this blog. It's called Coffee Video Thursday since I will be uploading coffee videos (mostly commercials) every Thursday (still Wednesday for some). These videos won't come in any particular order, anything that I think will be good for entertainment will be great. If you find any videos offensive just email me all right? :) I hope you enjoy this new portion. Tickle Away to a Great Day everyone!



This was during the 1950s and you could see how different the story/plot of the commercials were back then. In this commercial, Harvey just asks his wife for a decent coffee during his birthday. After being compared "rudely" to how the girls in the office make his coffee, his wife talks to her friend and asks for advice. Then her friend advises her to try Folger's Instant Coffee since it "tastes good as fresh perked!" So she surprises Harvey and they have a happy dinner and of course a happy ending.

I would just like to say that this commercial may be offensive to some, especially women. This was taken in the 1950s and I am sure that this kind of commercial will get lots of complaints if made these days.

So there you have it, I will be posting new videos every week so watch out! Enjoy! Thanks for watching the 1st episode of Coffee Video Thursday!

I know this topic made headlines early this year but the reason I blogged about it because some women may not have read or heard about the news. Especially with some new soon to be mothers and of course with the recent "teen pregnancy pact"we would want them to have a healthy baby. Of course, Coffee Tickle wants everyone to have a great day and ultimately have a great life so here it is - something to protect pregnant women and I hope that extra knowledge can help.

According to study by The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, "pregnant women who consume 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day — the amount in 10 ounces of coffee or 25 ounces of tea — may double their risk of miscarriage." A 12-ounce tall Starbucks Coffee is around 260 mg so it's better to stay away from this just to be safe.

Pregnant women should try to give up caffeine for at least the first three or four months, said the lead author of the study, Dr. De-Kun Li, a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California.

Yes, it may be hard for coffee drinkers to stop drinking abruptly and it may cause coffee headaches and I can understand this. This has been part of your daily routine and just like any other drug, it would be hard to give up coffee. But to be on the safe side, pregnant women just have to be extra disciplined and just look forward to the day your baby is born and the day you drink coffee again.

Just an advise: Coffee, of course, is really addicting and if pregnant women can't give up coffee maybe they could just cut their intake in half or just take decaf coffee. Hope this somehow helps pregnant women. You can do it!

Only a few months after replacing their "bolder" (some would say "burnt") varieties of brewed coffee with the more "mild" (some would say "dunkin donuts-esque") Pike Place Roast, Starbucks has announced that due to popular demand, they'll be brewing some of the old stuff too. - The Consumerist

I just could not help thinking about the award winning coffee Laura Perry made. I mean, how does it taste like? Coffee and Mascarpone combined is like tiramisu right? Will I also start to love that mascarpone? Too many questions so I decided to research on an Italian tiramisu recipe to share with everyone.

You'll need:

• 6 yolks

• 3 egg whites

• 100gr of sugar

• 250gr of mascarpone

• 250gr of Italian coffee

• 250gr of pavesini

• 2 spoons of powdered cocoa

• half spoon of istant coffee grains

How to do it:
Prepare the coffee: if you're using the Italian stove coffee maker , depending on its size (2, 3, 4, 9 serving), consider making about 9 coffees. It will serve to wet the biscuits.

Beat the yolks with the sugar white until it gets clearer. Add the mascarpone and put apart.

Beat the egg whites until whipped up. Mix with the other cream. Take a square pan (maybe a pyrex. If you have a rectangular one, with about 10 cm of width, it'll be easier for you to place the biscuits on the sides and bottom, and then come making layers), and begin with the first layer of Pavesini biscuits wet in the coffee.

tip: Wet less the first biscuits, as they are going to be the lower ones and will automaticaly get more cream and coffee from the ones that will come above).

Make then a layer of cream and spread a little of instant coffee (it's a real tip that will make your tiramisu really special. Spread some cocoa powered and go ahead until finishing the biscuits. The last layer is the cream one, with powdered cocoa and coffee on.

Put it into the refrigerator for at least 5 hours.

tip: I used to cut it into individual portions, plastic wrap it and freeze. When I wanted to eat, a minute inside the microwave and it was like having just done it!

Could Laura Perry's mascarpone macchiato taste like tiramisu? What a treat if I could make or at least taste it. It looks like coffee and mascarpone go together perfectly. I have realized that this entry besides having an Italian tiramisu recipe is just full of questions. Yes I do have a lot of it today but at least one thing has been answered and that is...starting today I am officially a mascarpone lover! How about you?

What was the key ingredient of the winning coffee in the Eastern Regional Barista Championship this week in Montreal?

Mascarpone.

Mascarpone cheese isn't the first thing that would come to mind when creating an espresso. It would hardly cross anyone's mind putting cheese in your coffee. When you say mascarpone, the first thing that comes to mind is a tiramisu. But Kanata's Laura Perry had her creative juices going and used the cheese to help her get the win.

With the win, she will be the only Ottawa resident to compete in October at the Canadian National Barista Championships, the Grey Cup of competitive coffee-making in Canada.

According to Canada.com:

"Perry beat out eight other competitors from Eastern Ontario to Nova Scotia, who used everything from chili peppers to mint in their espresso-based drinks to impress the judges. "It was very tough competition," she says.

For Perry, the win was the happy result of training that began in February. Endless rituals of measuring, tamping and pouring helped her perfect her craft for the competition, where contestants are given 15 minutes to make four sets of espressos, cappuccinos and signature espresso-based drinks.

The latter category, which allows competitors to show their creativity and skill, is where the mascarpone cheese comes in. The drink, named Mascarpone Macchiato, is a shot of espresso marked with a bit of steam milk. It is blended with a variety of ingredients, including whipped mascarpone cheese, sugar cane and cinnamon bark."

I don't know about you but I have to somehow get that recipe or learn how to do that. As a cheese lover and also a tiramisu lover, I am pretty excited to try this and see if the taste that I am thinking of now is the same with the actual taste. Others might say that the cheese will be too strong for the coffee but Laura Perry uses the cheese like a cream and its taste doesn't overpower the coffee.

I guess we can't argue with that. After all, she is the winner! Congratulations to Laura Perry for her Mascarpone Macchiato!

I never thought that having a coffee maker can be so dangerous. Dangerous in terms of having your computer hacked while making your coffee. Is that possible? Apparently, it is since this Jura F90 is fully internet compatible and its settings and the strength of the coffee can be controlled over the internet. Another feature is getting remote diagnostic help over the Internet without having to send the appliance in for service.

According to VNUNET.com :

An Australian IT security specialist has discovered a number of security flaws after hooking up his coffee percolator to the web.

Craig Wright issued a warning to internet users about the dangers of so called 'web-enabled' appliances. A number of unpatched security flaws in the unit could allow a hacker to infiltrate a network or take over the machine by using it as a 'bridge'.

Interned connected coffeemakers and Refrigerators may be the trend towards the future but right now I am happy making my coffee without the internet. Especially for its price, almost $2000 in Amazon, I would rather skip this model first.

Although the concept is smart and very convenient, I would like for them to fix all the bugs, glitches and make this more secure for the consumers first before I buy. I guess that would take awhile, not because they won't be able to do it but more because I do not have that much disposable income YET (Let's all get there!).

Well, for coffee lovers who are interested here some more pictures and features of the Jura F90. I must say that they do have some nice features...

Touch Screen

A gentle touch on the operating panel is sufficient for the sensors to detect your coffee wishes from your fingertips.

Easy Select

Easy Select© offers coffee à la Carte to suit your personal taste. The touch screen offers nine programmed coffee specialities, the Easy Select has two aroma levels and two temperature stages.

Cup Illumination


To enable the eye to share the pleasure, cup illumination puts perfect coffee in the right light at all times.

Non coffee drinkers, rejoice! If you are not yet into coffee but would like to experience the benefits of coffee, sniffing it might just do the trick. This is according to a group of scientists from China who said that sipping coffee and sipping it is the same "by altering the activity of some genes in the brain, reducing the effects of sleep deprivation.

According to the research from China, " Scientists have conducted numerous studies that investigate both the beneficial and adverse effects that coffee can have on health, from the antioxidants it possesses to the possible detriments of too much caffeine."

This is really great news especially if you are experiencing palpitations when drinking too much coffee. This can reduce the your intake of coffee and may just have the same effect. Admittedly, there are times when I still want to take coffee but would be scared of palpitations. This might be the cure for this, I just have to sniff the coffee and not force myself to that extra cup. I hope it works but I am sure I will have a hard time being a coffee adict.

For coffee addict who just have to drink their coffee in every break they have you may just ignore this post (joke!). Drink to your heart's content! Love coffee! Sniff if you have to and Coffee Tickle to a great Day everyone!

I have new widget called Skribit. This widget is a user-generated content suggestion application for blogs. This means that I want to hear from you especially when it comes to what YOU want to know more and if you're liking what I'm writing. I would really appreciate if you could also suggest what specific topic about coffee you want me to focus more on.

I have started by showing you some of the topics I will be sharing with you as we go on such as Coffee Health, Coffee Art, Coffee and Personality and Coffee Mugs. As we go along, of course, I will be sharing with you reviews, facts, more mugs and more things that make our day better with coffee.

It sounds like a cliche by saying that this blog is for you coffee fans but it's true. I just want to improve and learn as well. So tell me what you think and I'll try to integrate all the positive stuff in my blog and learn from the negative:) Thanks for reading guys. Have a great day!

Looking for the perfect coffee mug that can give your coffee that extra kick, or should I say, that extra punch (sorry about that)? Let me introduce to you the "Punch Coffee Mug." It surely can do that!

This is one of the coolest mugs I have ever seen . I'd say the coolest mug is still mine (picture to follow..a little suspense). This Punch Coffee Mug sure can look violent and it looks can really wake you up just by looking at it but of course even with its name being Punch, it is not for violent purposes. Just as the designer, Cristobal Karich, said

This coffee cup reminds you that getting up is hard, you need strong coffee and a good punch in the face to get going. This cup is not for mobsters, gangsters or hooligans, we advice people to use this cup for coffee drinking purposes only. White Ceramic finish for beginners, silver coated for abusive users.

I have to agree with Cristobal Karich on this with regard to using this for drinking purposes only. With that thing of beauty, I would definitely not use that for anything else. The only thing I'd be using this for is for drinking my coffee and feeling good that I feel great drinking my coffee. If at work, I can imagine this to be something people will be asking me about often. This can be something you can be proud of and I am hoping that I could get one of these. Anybody would like to send me one? :)

So you might be wondering what's with tickle/ticked replacing "comments." Well, basically what I wanted to do was I really wanted to hear from you all whether it may be good or bad. And as far as comments go, it sounds more on the negative side so I decided to play with the words from Coffee Tickle and add Tickle and Ticked.

What's the difference?

Tickle - Just put the word tickle anywhere on your "comments" and everyone would know that you find the entry informative, relevant and very useful.

Ticked - Use this if you feel ticked by the entry posted or if you feel that it needs improvement.

I may get some ticked remarks from you..it's ok!:) I want to hear from you and know what I can improve on. Thanks in advance everyone! Have a great day!

I would say that the answer is art. Imagine using coffee to paint. Not just any other painting but really creative work of art. Be inspired by really nice paintings/portraits of Andrew Saur and Angel Sarkela-Saur, who have been doing coffee art for several years now. This started since they wanted to come up with something creative, since their show was going to take place in a coffee house. They tried different coffee mediums like using beans to sketch and coffee ground as pastel but these did not work. So they ended up using coffee like how we use water color.

I must say that I am really impressed in how they've used coffee to create artwork. I hope that somehow more people can be inspired to use coffee in creating art. Just use your imagination with coffee and I know it will be nice. That's the magic of coffee. For inspiration do visit Andrew Saur and Angel Sarkela-Saur's website.

Coffee and Creativity truly results to Art. Great work on your paintings! Keep it up!

Smooth..yes smooth..I like that one! I especially like this line "you can't help but be one smooth operator no matter what curveballs life throws you. And that's exactly what's going to take you to the top. Stay cool!" How I wish that this could be true. Well, no one knows and I just have to work harder to reach the top and of course staying cool while at it. Be smooth just like coffee..

Do take your online tests now and share us what kind of drink you are. Have fun! This sure is a coffee tickle moment.

Coffee just got better and I am loving it. Not only does it taste good but it is also good to your health. A research done by Harvard said that it could lessen the risk of diabetes, colon cancer and Parkinson's disease. I have heard of it a couple of times before but since I was never really into coffee and wasn't too concerned with health I just completely ignored it. Of course I wanted better health, but being young I didn't quite care about it. I was just trying to enjoy life in a different state of mind (the no direction one).

Now, I know I can enjoy life with direction and enjoy life with cups of coffee. Other benefits of coffee are in helping fight against cavities, preventing asthma when no medicine is around, stopping a headache, and even boosting your mood.

Being an asthmatic, this sure is great news for me. I have always had asthma ever since I was a kid and lack of sleep and just a low immune system trigger this. Now that I know that coffee can prevent asthma attacks I will have another reason to drink coffee even if I am sick :) Of course it can't substitute my "asthma puffs" but I will try it the next time it attacks. Not that I want to get asthma, I will just be doing this for the sake of experiment and the love of coffee I will do it (with my asthma puffs at my side just in case).

Although further research is being done, it is good to know that coffee helps fight cavities. But we should be cautious and not use this as an excuse to drink coffee. Since a lot of us choose to put sugar in our coffee, we would still have to protect it by of course, brushing our teeth. Another thing is that we wouldn't want to have a coffee smile or coffee stains in our teeth. To remove coffee stains here are some great tips

Knowing that coffee can lessen the risk for diabetes, colon cancer and Parkinson's disease we should be thinking of maybe increasing our daily coffee intake. But not too much if you know your body can't handle it ok? Hope you had a great weekend everyone!

Coffee Tickle

So it's Father's Day and you still don't have any gift for him... there's no more time to go around your local malls and think of what to give him or order online, what do you do?? Panic mode starts and you don't know what to do. Don't worry since I will be sharing with you something your dad will really love and appreciate.

It is simple..Just create something for him using an old mug (but make sure it's clean and still looks good), some enamor paint, a paint brush or you may your your hands and just a little of your creativity. I know this sounds childish and yes it may be a little but this will something that your dad or husband will remember every morning while drinking his coffee. You may work on it alone or ask your kids (if you're a mom) to help you with it.

The effect of creating this gift will be great for you and your kids since it just teaches you how to become more creative. This will test how creative you are and stretch your imagination. I am sure you can create a design that suits your dad and also sure that he will really appreciate it. (Just don't tell him you did it when you were not able to

Click here for the complete instructions on how you can create your own coffee mug for your dad.

Go on now and hurry in creating your last minute father's day coffee mug gift! Enjoy!:)

Nice..Nice..Very nice display of using creativity in coffee huh? I just love this video that I had to put it here. When I mentioned before that coffee tickle is also about encouraging/enhancing creavity, this was what I meant. As for me, it has only encouraged me by "trying" to be creative but as for making something like the ones in the video..well..it just wasn't a success for me but at least I tried.

This is also just one of the ways to show that coffee is not only really good to drink but also can be so much fun. Fun to watch and fun to try and I am sure more fun if you are able to create one as nice or better. Who would have thought that you could do art that way. I never thought that you could do this but this just proves it can be done. We have just witnessed coffee art at its best!

This sure is a coffee tickle moment since it jut encourages creativity. This has to be one the most creative videos I have seen in awhile. So all coffee lovers out there, go ahead and show how creative you are but make sure you send me a copy if ever you decide to make a video of it:)

Some friends of mine asked this question "Why write about coffee?" "What's with coffee?" "Do you know anything about coffee besides drinking it?"

Well, I am no expert and I just discovered how good coffee is recently and I must say that I enjoy coffee and I just love it. I'm sure a lot of coffee drinkers out there know what I'm talking about. Coffee may be knew to me compared to others but since I love everything about it, learning about coffee won't be that hard.

This will be a learning process for me and everyone out there. For people who have been in the coffee business for a long time maybe you can share a thing or two about this (thanks in advance.) For new people in the world of coffee (including me), let's all learn together and eventually help spread how good coffee is.

I guess that's why I started this blog..to learn and help spread how good coffee is...

Anyone entering my coffee blog might be surprised to see bright colors instead of brown, which is mostly associated with coffee. What's with the sun? The color combination of blue, orange and brown? Coffee should have earth tones..Coffee should be this and that. My choice of colors has its reasons and this is because I wanted to have a different feel to coffee/Coffee Tickle or the experience that it gives us. Some may agree and some may not but here are the factors that pushed me to go this route:

Coffee Tickle's Mood is about (Doesn't come in order of importance):

1. Happiness that's why it's Tickle away to a great day
2. Bright and sunny days
3. Bright and sunny days even if it is gloomy outside.
4. The anticipation of knowing that your making your coffee is about to be
done/served.
5. The smile you get when taking that first sip.
7. The smile you get when taking that second, third....until the last sip.
8. Sunday mornings (or the whole Sunday) with your family.
9. Friends
10. Coffee Art and how it enhances our creativity.
11. Caffeine High and how it gets you going.
12. Caffeine High and knowing it helped you pass the test or get the job done right.
13. An increase in your salary and the feeling that you can't wait to tell your
family.
14. Problem solving with friends when you talk about it over a cup (or cups depending
on the problem) of coffee.
15. Living life to its fullest.

More meanings/reasons why I chose coffee tickle in my next entry. See ya!

For all Coffee Lovers around the world, coffee just has its way with tickling our senses. Not only does it tickle our sense of taste but is a delight for our nose and eyes. Add the anticipation you get when you hear the coffee beans being ground and the feeling of holding the cup and getting ready to take that first sip to start your day right.

That's the magic of coffee..how it just makes our day. With that, I'd like to say that this blog is dedicated to all the coffee lovers who know how coffee just brightens their day. There's still so many people who are not yet into coffee or haven't learned about coffee so let's all learn from different things regarding coffee. May it be different coffee beans, coffee brands, coffeemakers or even coffee art. There's so much to know about in the coffee world. Let's all learn from each other and let's all have fun while were at it.

Speaking of learning, if you have any comments with my blog or my topics just feel free to email me and I'll be more than happy to listen. Thanks

To a great year ahead of us...let's take it one cup at a time. Just tickle away to a great day:)