2007 Holiday Gift Ideas: For the Macintosh-minded

For the coffee and tea drinkers:

A french press for making coffee. Since switching to a french press for
making coffee at home I refuse to drink coffee anywhere else. And I've
stopped with the sugar (still a little half & half though). I have the
Chambord french press from Kade's (although I've seen in tons of other
places locally and online.)

<http://kades.e-beans.net/coffees/detail.php?c=23&s=9007>

I recommend buying coffee from either Kade's Coffee and Intelligentsia
Coffee:

<http://www.kadescoffee.com/>
<http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/>

In addition to the quality of the coffee from both places, I like
Intelligentsia's Direct Trade policies, it's even better for farmer's than
the Fair Trade coffees.

<http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/origin/directtrade>

Kade's I like the bags it comes in. It's a true zip-lock air tight bag of
thick material and a valve for letting the out gasses from the beans
escape. Perfect storage for the beans (and don't use a freezer for
short-term storage!)

For tea, I recently picked up a IngenuiTEA tea maker (I wouldn't really
call it a pot) as a gift for a friend. Then in a fit of curiosity I decided
to try it for myself. I now drink way more tea than I ever did in the past.
I have at least one cup every evening (no sugar, a little half & half).

To use it you put the loose tea in, heat water (to just before boiling) by
your preferred method (I have an electric kettle that i use for the french
press coffee and the tea), add the water. Let steep for 2-3 minutes (i
find 4 a little too long, but whatever your preference is), then set the
device on top of your mug (that has been warmed with some of the extra
water from the kettle). A small valve opens and the tea drains into the
glass, tea leaves stay behind.

<http://kades.e-beans.net/coffees/detail.php?c=23&s=9006>
(I've also seen this available in a lot of other places.)

Only downside to this device - it isn't large enough for me. I have a
fairly large mug I like to drink from and it doesn't quite sit on top of it
properly, so I have to use one of my smaller mugs.

I've only bought loose tea from Kade's so far (hint: 4 oz is more tea than
you think it is.) But I can't imagine Intelligentsia not applying the same
quality control to its tea that it does to coffee.


Kevin

For tea drinkers, I'd also suggest heading over to:

http://www.adagio.com/gifts/

I have the 'IngenuiTea' teapot and still find it amazing. I microwave
water in it, add tea leaves and then it all filters out the bottom
when I'm ready. Their business involves discounts if you are willing
to review what you buy -- so everything you buy has tons of
information you can peruse to make decisions. Personally I'm a fan of
their 'Casablanca Twist' green tea. Amaziningly minty -- it's a
pick-me-up just from the smell.

--
Jonathan Ploudre
If this message seems brief:
http://five.sentenc.es/

For people who like to carry a water bottle (or iced tea, or
whatever), getting rid of the ubiquitous plastic water bottle is
great. Things I like about my Sigg bottle: lightweight, reusable,
strong, and when it gets too dented to work it is recyclable. It has
an epoxy baked on the inside so it's chemically inert and there isn't
any exposure to aluminum in the liquid.

http://www.reusablebags.com/store/reusable-bottles-sigg-bottles-c-19_33.html

--
Jonathan Ploudre
If this message seems brief:
http://five.sentenc.es/

I feel goofy that I get so excited about a lunchbox. I got an
insulated Bento box (not the Filemaker type of bento, mind you) and
find that I eat much better meals. There are 4 compartments and that
stretches me to be more creative in packing my lunch. That translates
to more fruit, veggies and leftovers -- and less prepackaged foods.

(As an aside, I feel like a star that I had one **before** Cool Tools
reviewed it. If you are looking for things that fit for the 'Macintosh
Minded', Cool Tools is a great resource.)

http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/001906.php

For inspiration, the Mr. Bento group on Flickr shows what people are
eating for lunch. Don't check this out if you are hungry. :-)

http://www.flickr.com/groups/mrbento/



--
Jonathan Ploudre
If this message seems brief:
http://five.sentenc.es/

For coffee drinkers, a complement to Kevin's French press.

For nearly two years I've been roasting my own coffee. All other things being equal, coffee that's roasted more recently is definitely better.

The roaster I use is the Fresh Roast Plus 8 <http://www.freshbeansinc.com/manual.pdf> , which costs around $75. I bought mine at Sweet Maria's <http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.freshroast.shtml> . When I first used the roaster indoors, it set off the smoke alarm, even though there was very little visible smoke. That problem was easily solved by putting the roaster under the kitchen exhaust vent and turning the fan on High (probably wouldn't work if the vent doesn't exhaust to the outdoors).

You can find reviews of this roaster and many others, along with lots of other discussions about coffee, at <http://www.coffeegeek.com/> .

I buy green coffee beans at Cate's Green Coffee <http://www.catesgreencoffee.com> . Cate's has a good variety of organic and Fair Trade coffees at good prices (all but Kona under $5/lb, and several less than $4). I order 12 lbs at a time, which Cate's ships in a USPS flat-rate box for $8.95.

This might seem a little bit weird, and expensive, but if you live in an
area of the country where cooling your house costs more than heating it,
consider a new air conditioner.

New regulations went in last year for air conditioners to be more
efficient. I was forced to replace mine in August of 2006 and my power
usage for the summer months of 2007 was 40% lower than it was in 2006.

This winter the avg. temp in Kansas City was 9% hotter than the previous
winter (according to the power company). Where the avg. customers usage
went up 12% mine went up 6%.

>For people who like to carry a water bottle (or iced tea, or
>whatever), getting rid of the ubiquitous plastic water bottle is
>great. Things I like about my Sigg bottle: lightweight, reusable,
>strong, and when it gets too dented to work it is recyclable. It has
>an epoxy baked on the inside so it's chemically inert and there isn't
>any exposure to aluminum in the liquid.

One of my pet peeves was the switch from glass-lined thermoses to metal and plastic thermoses and "travel cups." I'd love to find a good glass-lined travel cup.

John

On Nov 25, 2007, at 8:42 AM, Hamilton Richards wrote:

> For coffee drinkers, a complement to Kevin's French press.

Ditto that.

For Tea Drinkers, I recommend Teas from Tealuxe (http://
www.tealuxe.com/). If you live in the Boston area (there is a store
in Boston and in Cambridge) go check them out and have them brew you a
pot from the hundreds of teas they have---black, green, white, herbal,
chai, flavored teas from all over the world. If you don't live in the
Boston area, you can order online. And they have some good info about
selecting and properly brewing tea.

You haven't really had green tea until you've tasted a cup of properly
brewed Gyokuro.

Tn

Wine is always nice to get during the holidays. Check out: http://www.squaredealwine.com

I love this wine store in Portland, and they will ship anywhere in the U.S. where it's legal to ship wine. They only carry small producers: "winemakers and viticulturalists who make every effort to make wines that are genuinely representative of their land, their grapes and the vintage at hand." Small, authentic, high-quality, focused on user-experience -- that should appeal to the Macintosh-minded.

They are nice people to talk to, the opposite of wine snobs. If you're not sure about what kind of wine to buy, they can help you pick something special without making you feel inadequate. You can call them at 503-226-9463. And Eric, the store manager, is a Mac user!

I think it's safe to assume that anyone who reads TidBITS or is on
the Talk list appreciates Apple's dedication to creating easy to use,
well designed hardware. And if you, or someone you care about, share
my opinion that the best part of something as essential to your life
(or that of someone on your gift list) as a Mac is brownies, and that
the corners are the best part, then the Baker's Edge Brownie Pan is a
must. It works great on cornbread too.

Though IMHO somewhat overpriced, it works great - it's heavy, well
constructed aluminum, which conducts heat well so that the CPU
configuration does its job effectively and efficiently. However,
there are some caveats - the non-stick coating is not dishwasher
safe; to prevent scratching (and because I'm paranoid about ingesting
the coating), I use a plastic cutter and spatula.

http://www.fredflare.com/customer/product.php?productid=2962&cat=316

Marilyn

I am a sucker for the holidays, and "It's A Wonderful Life" and
"Miracle On 34th Street" have brought tears to my eyes in the past.
But what I consider to be THE entertainment staple is focused on a
character that I personally relate to - though like me, he could
never get his kite airborne, and I trust that like me, he would never
have been able to use a computer or without a Mac or have gotten
online without the Adam's "Internet Starter Kit" - Charlie Brown.

The DVD of the "Charlie Brown Christmas," as well as complete boxed
sets and CD collections of the cartoons, are available at the online
books stores worldwide. And much in keeping of the spirit of holiday
season is an exact replica of Charlie Brown's pathetic tree:

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?
_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1&navAction=jump&id=13659453&search=true&color=00

There's a less expensive, not designed to scale replica of the
pathetic tree with a Charlie Brown action figure:

http://timespacetoys.stores.yahoo.net/chbrwpatrous.html

And a host of Peanuts character toys at the site as well:

http://timespacetoys.stores.yahoo.net/chbrch.html

Another great gift for Peanuts fans is DavidMichaelis' new, somewhat
controversial biography of Charles Schultz (his family, who
originally authorized the bio and allowed the author access to files,
subsequently withdrew their support).

And here's a fun, free Peanuts online holiday card you can send to
family or friends:

http://animaxinteractive.com/happyholidays/2006/peanuts/

Good grief!

Marilyn

Dear Tidbits,

We are submitting the following gift idea for 2007 inclusion.  Included is a press release announcing this unique gift idea.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/12/prweb574493.htm

Thank you for your consideration.

MyMedLab