Ratio 8 - 5 stars

in ,

After messing around with a lot of coffee makers over the years, I have settled on pour over as the best approach for a clean, flavor filled cup of joe. Beyond the manual process of making a pour over, which is simple and inexpensive, there are a number of automated pour over machines. None comes close to the Ratio 8 in terms of producing what I find to be an authentic pour over.

I covered the various approaches I use to making coffee in my post How I Make Coffee. In that post I was still using the Wilfa Machine, and most recently I had reviewed a Chemex pour over machine which was disappointing.

I had been doing some research on the Ratio 8, which is made in Portland Oregon, and decided to order one. A few months later my Ratio arrived. We've had it since December.

Read More

Libbey Glass Spice Jars - 5 stars

in ,

As I get older, I get more intense about simplifying everything in my life - and getting rid of anything I don't need or love. I've only been more convicted since reading the Marie Kando books.

This past week's target was the spice drawer. Everyone has one. Mine was OK. I had these spice jars that were kind of complicated and they don't make them any more. I had my usual background research process running for a few days looking around. That's when I stumbled across these cute, simple, and well designed air-tight glass jars.

Read More

Laken Water Bottles - 4 stars

in

It's funny how my kids are growing up in a world where their water bottle is a constant companion. School, by their bed, travel, car. Everywhee we go, they have their water bottle. They want it full, they are aware when it's missing and they pretty much just drink water all day. I did not grow up in that world.

So it's not a surprise that I'm pretty much constrantly checking out different bottles and assessing them on a few key features. 

  1. Durability
  2. Quality / Feel / Design
  3. Thermal capabiliries
  4. Drinkability (cap vs straw)
  5. Materials
  6. Design / Usability

The last time I wrote about water bottles I was telling you about S'Well bottles. By now you have seen S'Well bottles at stores like Starbucks, Storables and licensed in a number of stores like sports games and such. There are also plenty of cheap knock offs everywhere that copy their signature look.

While I still like our S'Well bottles they have not worked out so well for our kids. And I've found that they are a bit tall and narrow making them a bit wobbly in most cup holders.  The final straw was when our daughter's S'Well slid out of her carry on bag, down the jetway, and onto the tarmac never to be seen again. What happened next was some crying. It was sad.

So, like I do thousands of times a year, I fired up Amazon and spent some time checking out what was out there. My criteria for a good water bottles are first and foremost stainless steel or glass. No coating, no aluminum, no plastic of any kind. I'm sure the BPA free plastic Tritan bottles out there have some kind of problem with them. Here is the thing, I'm fairly certain glass and stainless still will never.

Once I narrow the materials down, then it's a matter of features I call out above.

I discovered bottles made by a company called Laken. They make a variety of bottles that are insulated, stainless steel, with a silicon spout. Bottles are made in Spain

Read More

Microfiber Cloths

in

I'm in love with microfiber cloths. I have lots and lots of them for various tasks. These days microfiber is cheap, comes in bulk, and for lots of different jobs. Kitchen towels, cleaning, and for this post, keeping electronics clean and smudge free.

There are two major kinds of micro fiber for electronics cleaning. The thin smooth kind of cloth and the thicker kind with the textured surface. I have both, and each has it's strengths. This post is about the smooth kind and for that I recommend Magic Fiber.

Read More