Drinking

Modern life demands a certain amount of decision-making. Yet, however meaningless a decision may seem at first, they all have their consequences. Take, for instance, the first major decision of the day: the coffee consideration. Certainly there is a fair amount of cruising by on autopilot during the dawn hours, but what if breaking out of the mold of the routine was as easy as pressing another button?

For many, the ability to start out the day with either espresso or drip coffee simply isn't an option. It may not be easy to alter one's routine--especially the morning … Read more

Freshly ground coffee beans are essential in the eternal quest to attain the perfect cup of coffee. It might not be the most important step (quality of beans would probably take that title), but there can be little doubt to any coffee drinker that when ground, coffee beans lose some of their power over time. The only problem is, most coffee drinkers start their day with a cup--and mornings aren't exactly the best time to try to operate sharp machinery.

The Delfino DLCG-559 Intelligent Coffee and Spice Grinder provides automatic hands-free operation. Users select their preferred grind and pot … Read more

The lowly drinking fountain has been largely neglected as we fill up our wireless hydration-advice-giving water bottles and wear coats that catch and purify rain.

British design group Poietic Studio has given the drinking fountain a new lease on life with the Tropism Well. It senses when you're nearby, sucks water up a tube, fills up a carafe, and elegantly offers it to you.

You'll need to provide your own cup. Otherwise you'll have to kneel down and try to catch the water in your mouth, and nobody wants to see you do that.

The bowing motion is achieved simply by sending the water up the tube. The weight of the water does the rest. Isn't physics fun?… Read more

Beer-drinkers love a good debate. Television commercials may have us all believing that uproarious arguments break out all the time over whether a particular beer tastes great or is less filling, but in reality spirited debates occur over more important questions. Like if beer is better from a can or from a bottle. Usually, the majority of people tend to side in favor of bottles, but there are some ways in which bottles just can't stand up to cans.

The Takara Tomy Beer Hour Beer Can Dispenser Foam Head Maker attaches to a regular can of beer and opens … Read more

If you've ever wondered what words taste like, you're now in luck. Russian artist Morskoiboy has created a contraption that mixes cocktails based on letters.

Behold, the Typewriter Cocktail Machine. It's the illegitimate child of a Remington crossed with a bottle of Smirnoff. It features more tubes than the DareDroid 2.0 cocktail-making dress and has a rainbow of flavored syrups at its disposal.

It's hard to describe exactly how this contraption works, but I'm going to try. Each key on the keyboard is a syringe pump. Push it down and it sucks syrup from a corresponding bottle, mixing it with the top-mounted alcoholic beverage of your choice.

The resulting combination of liquids lights up an LCD-style display that shows the letter you just pushed. It all gets mixed together in a glass off to the side. The video below should answer your questions.… Read more

Leftover wine in the bottle happens. What to do about it has always been question worth asking. Often, the bottle gets replugged with the same cork and then simply left out on the counter. Turning it on its side in the fridge isn't really much of an option, considering that it's an open bottle and all. (Sure, one may think that the cork is in there securely, but this is drinking we are talking about after all.) So, the wine bottle remains on the counter, destined to be finished off at a temperature that is less than ideal.… Read more

That mainstay from youth, the "suicide"--that's several different flavors of soda mixed together in a single glass to create one insanely sweet concoction, in case you're not in the know--is finally available on demand without having to fiddle with half a dozen 2-liter bottles.

Coca-Cola's nonstop marketing machine has introduced "Coca-Cola Freestyle," an online and real-world system that allows corn syrup (or Aspartame, for you Diet Coke drinkers) addicts to create their own soda "mixes."

The online component allows Facebook fans to fiddle with hundreds of combinations of various Coke brands and flavors, and an app for Android and iOS provides a related game. The apps also direct you to the nearest physical Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, where you can actually try out your deliciously decadent and dangerous-to-diabetics creation. There are currently more than a thousand "mix your own" dispensers in select restaurant chains, including some Burger Kings, Domino's Pizzas, Pei Wei Asian Diners, and other spots.… Read more

Coffee makes you smarter. Don't believe it? Ask any coffee drinker to give it up and then ask them how smart they feel the next morning at 8 a.m. Probably kind of slow; hence, coffee makes you smarter (that's how Aristotelian logic works, right?). While a cup of coffee is all fine and good for achieving higher brain functions, the fount from which the elixir bubbles is usually as dumb as a doorknob. Most coffee makers aren't good at making one cup; they excel at making a pot. Despite the brainpower that a 12-cup carafe provides, … Read more

In the beginning, there were pressure cookers. Then, somebody figured out that the same treatment could be applied to coffee. Not only would it produce a cup of coffee significantly faster, but the end result would feature a concentrated flavor unparalleled by conventional brewing methods. As espresso became more refined (and associated machinery less bulky), the ability to grab an espresso anytime, anywhere, spread to seemingly every nook and cranny. Including the home.

The Breville BES900XL Dual Boiler continues the tradition of well-made espresso availability, bringing it into the home while offering some advanced features. Dedicated steam and espresso boilers … Read more