38 Ways You Can Make a Delicious Cup of Coffee

If you're as confused as I am about the different ways baristas can prepare your coffee, here's a handy infographic that details what's in the perfect cup you're looking for. So if you asked for a Flat White expecting latte art, you might be surprised when the barista serves you a white drink with no foamy goodness (it shouldn't have any). So maybe ask for a Cappucino or Latte instead?

Why don't you impress your friends by ordering a Breve for a smooth flavorful cup or a Red Eye if you really need that caffeine fix. Here are some of my thoughts on the above chart. 

A Must Read if You're Curious About Your Coffee Personality

One reason why coffee appeals to so many people is because of its flexibility. You can drink it black, as an espresso, or as espresso with milk. You can even customize it further by adding syrups to make it your drink - may it be caramel, hazelnut, vanilla, or any other flavor. Anyone thinking of that hazelnut mocha frappucino?

Did you know that the coffee you drink actually shows more about your personality than you think? Are you a hard-working espresso purist, a shallow frappucino drinker, or a black coffee minimalist?

Read on to know more about your coffee personality.  

Five Essential Food Infographics That Will Help You Master the Kitchen

I know, I have already shared a ton of food infographics in past articles. These articles aim to help you, my readers, become better cooks at home. I'm a firm believer that learning how to cook takes education and practice, so I hope these articles help address the former. If they helped you overcome your kitchen struggles in any way, I'm happy.

From all the infographics, here are five that I consider the most essential to becoming a master in the kitchen. Read, understand, and always come back to reread these articles. The information contained in these articles are pieces of knowledge that should help guide you how to become a better cook. 

Just click on the images to see each infographic.

Not Sure How to Store Your Groceries? Here's a Guide to Show You How

We're all guilty of not properly storing our groceries at home. This bad habit leads to a kitchen full of spoiled, or worse, contaminated food. It's about time that you know how to properly store your groceries. This reduces wastage and can save you a lot of cash in the long-run. 

Here's how you should store your groceries and how long they will keep.

Properly Grill Meats and Veggies Every Time with This Handy Guide

One of the best, and healthiest, ways to cook food is through grilling. It's done by exposing meats and veggies to direct heat over hot flame. Grilling also uses less oil and gives you a juicy and flavorful dish. If you're starting out, however, grilling can be a bit of a challenge.

This infographic will show you how you can perfectly grill meats and veggies.You'll know whether to use direct or indirect heat, the level of heat, and the total cooking time. 

If you have an induction stove, you can easily control the temperature so you can easily adjust it based on the level of heat recommended below. Although nothing beats grilling food over charcoal under the heat of the sun to get perfectly charred meat. 

Here's How You Can Cook Those Veggies Perfectly

Vegetables are considered to be an important part of an overall healthy diet and they even help prevent a number of diseases. They are so crucial that Harvard's healthy eating plate recommends that the biggest portion - around 40% - of your plate should consist of veggies.

It's very easy to cook vegetables. You can steam vegetables, one of the easiest and quickest ways to cook them. If you don't have a stove, then you can always use the microwave. If you always overcook those veggies, then you need to keep on reading.

Here is a great infographic that shows you the amount of time needed so that you can perfectly cook vegetables in the comfort of your own home. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper once they're done! 

Speak Up: The New Restaurant Critic Is You

What you say matters. With the advent of social media, it's very easy to share each and every dining experience with everyone you know. If you eat at a new restaurant and you find out that you were served raw chicken, you can easily share this experience on Facebook, Twitter or Zomato. This sends your social circle a signal that the food isn't good and they shouldn't waste their time dining at that restaurant. This might prompt them to tell their friends as well, so it's a domino effect that comes from just one bad review. In today's culinary environment, restaurant perception is everything.

Learn How You Can Mix Flavor Profiles to Create a Perfectly Balanced and Flavorful Dish

When it comes to food, taste is everything. In the past, humans needed to eat because our body requires the energy and nutrition from food to survive. Since then, our experience with food has evolved. We now expect food to be delicious. If not, we complain about it to the restaurant or write bad reviews online in sites such as Zomato or Yelp. We're quick to say "too greasy" or "too bland" if the flavor is out of balance.

The Ultimate Guide to Flavoring With Fresh Herbs

I recently wrote an article on The Ultimate Guide on Flavoring With Spices here at Chef Jay's Kitchen. I hope it was able to help you create even more flavorful dishes by enhancing your knowledge on spices. 

This time, I want to share how you can enhance the flavor of your dishes using fresh herbs. Both infographics were beautifully done by Cooksmarts.com - a great website that aims to educate and empower home cooks like you and me. They deserve all the credit for coming up with very useful guides. 

The Most Powerful Food Combinations You Need to Know

You should know by now that a daily dose of healthy food such as apples, green tea, and eggs is excellent for your body. By eating the right kind of food (I don't mean that bag of chips or french fries), your body gets all the nutrients it needs to function properly. You will feel amazing and less sickly as a result. 

The Ultimate Infographic Guide to Flavoring With Spices

If you love to eat, then you are probably familiar with spices. We often see them in grocery shelves or in our kitchens just an arm's reach away whenever we need them. Spices have been around for centuries, and they are very important of the history of our world:

Spices have been the inspiration for trade, exploration, war, and poetry since the beginning of civilization. That ground pepper you shake on your salad was once worth its weight in gold; the nutmeg you grate onto holiday eggnog once fueled a war that gained Long Island for England.

It's a good thing we don't have to wage war just to get that bottle of ground pepper, right?

It's Time to Know More About What Minerals Do and How To Get A Healthy Dose

We hear about vitamins and minerals all the time. While they are both essential for maintaining a healthy body, minerals are often an afterthought for most people. No one ever says "Get your daily dose of minerals!"

The main difference between the two is that vitamins are organic substances while minerals are inorganic substances found in the periodic table that our body absorbs. They both are essential because without them, we won't even survive. They perform hundreds of roles in our body from repairing cellular damage, healing wounds, convert food to energy, and so much more. 

If you want to know about vitamins and minerals, then check out this guide from Greatist.com, a wonderful health and fitness website.

The Ultimate Healthy Grocery List

There are people who say they want to take better care of themselves and live a healthy lifestyle. Now, there are two parts to that equation: a healthy diet and daily exercise. I don't know about you, but in my opinion it's a lot easier to eat healthy than have a 1-hour session in the gym. 

In order to help you eat food that's actually good for you, here's a grocery list from shape.com that shows you a list of ingredients you should pick up the next time you visit the supermarket. I'm hoping this can get you in the habit of buying food that's healthy. 

10 Healthy Foods That Should Be Part Of Your Daily Diet

Health and proper nutrition has recently been topic of focus of this blog, and for good reason. I'm passionate about food but I would also like to influence you, my readers, to live a healthier life. I'm not perfect. I eat Crispy Pata, Sisig, Lechon, Cake, and fast food just like everyone else. While I don't always eat clean, I do preach moderation - It's important for you to balance unhealthy meals with healthy ones. 

Coffee and Tea Taste are Addictingly Delicious, and They're Amazing for You Too!

Coffee and Tea are two of my favorite drinks (add milkshakes and you have my top 3). I usually drink a cup of coffee first thing in the morning to jump-start my day. It wakes me up and helps me stay focused. I also drink coffee or tea right after eating lunch to either give me an energy boost or to help me relax. It really depends on the kind of day i'm having. 

If you are curious on what blend of coffee I drink, I brew the Philippine Barako Blend - a really strong blend that's grown in the Philippines (it belongs to the Liberica family). It's packs a strong punch and tastes quite good. That is, if you want to stay awake throughout the day. I do hope popular coffee shops like Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Starbucks share Philippine Barako Coffee to the rest of the world soon. You should really try it.

I am also a fan of green tea, more than black or herbal teas. Green tea is said to be more healthy, with less caffeine and is better tasting (in my opinion). My favorite green tea would have to be Genmaicha Green Tea from Japan. Here in the Philippines, I get my green tea from CBTL Philippines since they have a tasty Genmaicha Green Tea blend and their Green Tea Matcha Latte is one of my favorite drinks. You should try them if you like to drink tea.

Try drinking tea after your workouts. I find that it helps sore muscles relax, and it also helps detox the body since we drink a lot of water after a workout. Of course, I also drink tea whenever I'm feeling a bit under the weather to help my immune system. For sweet tooths I suggest you add honey, its a good day way to enhance the health benefits of tea. 

Check out the benefits of both tea and coffee below;

  

What 200 Calories Look Like and Why You Should Care

Obesity is a serious problem. We often eat food that's bad for us, packed with fat and sugar. Even though we eat too much, we still don't get enough of important nutrients that our body needs to function properly. The average person's diet today consist of either canned food or fast food, due to their promise of 'tasty and convenient' food. So we buy this garbage over and over again, even if we know it's no good. But do we really know the extent of damage caused by these bad habits?

The Kitchen Cheat Sheet: A Comprehensive Guide Cooks Everywhere Would Love to Have

I have a treat for you today. It's a handy cheat sheet for cooks that I found a while back while surfing the web, made by Everest.co.uk, to help cooks with metric conversions, meat cuts, cooking times, and food storage tips. Quite frankly, being able to know all of this accelerated my personal growth in the kitchen, and I hope it does wonders for you as well. I'm hoping this this will save you a lot of time by not having to google these all the time.