Of life’s small conveniences, a good travel tumbler ranks high on the list. The concept should be simple enough: a leak-free, easy-to-sip thermos that keeps your drink either warm or cold. Yet, for whatever reason, few tumblers achieve any or all of those things, with one honorable exception: Kito Travel Tumbler.

Here, all the right boxes are checked. The double-walled insulation prevents heat from escaping, while a foil layer keeps cold drinks cold – the promise of six hours of “cold under 8℃/46℉, and hot above 65℃/149℉” is easily met. I have left beverages in the tumbler for well longer without any notable changes in temperature.

And great as that is (and it is), the real differentiator is the lid.

I’m what one would call “a spiller,” and have been covered in coffee more times than I care to admit. The problem lies in the mouth of the lid, which more often than not tends to be too small. If you don’t line the bottle up properly when sipping, coffee will seep out to the sides, and… Well, you know how it goes. It’s not a pretty sight.

With the Kito, you don’t get just one sipping point – the whole lid, 360° of it, is designed for drinking. To illustrate:

The beverage comes out steadily, and you’re in no danger of waterboarding yourself even if you tip the bottle all the way back. Furthermore, the lid is designed to catch ice before it comes crashing into it. I don’t know who designed it, but I’d like to shake the hand of Kinto’s president, Miki Koide, if I get the chance.

That the tumbler looks stylish is a bonus, too.

You can pick up a bottle (lid included) for $34.20 from Kinto.

In Recipes: A Yoghurt/Almond Butter Concoction That Weirdly Works

Here’s a quick and sweet protein-rich dessert/snack/whatever. I was uncertain if it would work, but it turned out to be quite tasty.

• 5.3 oz Ratio Protein Yoghurt1 (or any low-sugar/high-protein yoghurt)

• 2 tbsp pure almond butter (alternatively, unsalted peanut butter)

• Honey to taste (1 tbsp or so)

• ½ banana, sliced

Mix the first three ingredients, then top with banana slices (or mix them in) – a most excellent concoction.

Almost thirty years in, Metric keeps being awesome, as proven by their 2023 album, Formentera II.

I prefer Apple Music to Spotify, but Substack doesn’t embed its service for whatever reason. Here’s the link to the album.

Tacoma, much like Spokane, is one of those cities that have gotten an unfairly bad rap. It may have its issues, but then, what city doesn’t? Take the good with the bad, and you’ll find that Tacoma has a lot going for it. The coffee scene, for example, and particularly Naomi Joe.

Located inside 7 Seas Brewing’s food hall, the coffee bar is, for the lack of a better term, technology-forward. The internet-connected espresso machines measure everything from temperatures to valve automation, resulting in precision-brewed shots. Automation means very little without good beans, of course, and judging by the quality of my espresso – brewed with the clean, fruity Cherry Blossom – both are well above par here.

The beans are also charmingly different from the norm, down to the roast classifications. Naomi Joe doesn’t codify beans from dark to light – instead, there’s a clean-to-funky scale. (Mind you, I think it’s fair to say that most of their beans are lightly roasted.)

We picked up a bag of the Brazilian Fermentado during our visit, and yeah, once you’ve gone yeast-fermented, it is hard to go back. The Fermentado is classified as closer to funky, though having used the beans for a bog-standard brew, I’d say it’s even funkier than that. It packs a solid punch, with strong natural notes of berries and caramel. Remember those old “Bitter Beer Face“ Keystone Light commercials?

That might as well be renamed to “Fermented Coffee Face,” which is a good thing, lest there be any doubt. If you’ve had fermented legumes, you will have a general idea of what to expect. (I’ve also seen it dubbed “coffee kombucha.”)

7 Seas’ food hall is a large, comfortable space, too, with dining options and a large bar. A spot with something for everyone.

Find Naomi Joe inside 7 Seas’ anonymous former warehouse building on 2101 Jefferson Ave – there will likely be a sign outside. Their website is naomijoecoffee.com. And as far as other Tacoma coffee roasters go, both Bluebeard and Valhalla are worth the visit.

One of my go-to comedy podcasts is How Did This Get Made? Originally centered around bad movies, the show has transitioned to cover more bizarre films. Any movie fan – or anyone who just enjoys comedy – should check it out.

Last Sunday, we attended a How Did This Get Made? recording at a packed Paramount where the topic was the absolutely bonkers Surf II: The End of the Trilogy. In one of the evening’s more quasi-surreal moments, an audience member who worked on Den of Thieves 2 gifted co-host Paul Scheer Gerard Butler’s shirt from the film.

Great podcast and great live shows – give How Did This Get Made? a listen if you like to laugh and watch weird movies.

While I’m at it, my other go-to podcast: Blank Check with Griffin & David. It, too, falls in the film-meets-comedy category but specifically centers around directors’ filmographies. It also has a lot of crossover with How Did This Get Made as far as guests go. (HDTGM co-hosts Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas have guested multiple times.)

At the time of writing they’re going through the first half of Steven Spielberg’s career, and before that they covered David Lynch’s work. Edutainment, really: Education and entertainment.

A Sampling

Famously, throves of the Digest’s readers are Ray Wise fans, so for a small taste of Blank Check, give this anecdote about Griffin spilling red wine over the man a listen.

Finally, there’s a Blank Check Substack newsletter, too, so check it out.

Blank Check

Blank Check has started a newsletter! The podcast covering directors filmographies hosted by your favorite connoisseurs of context are gonna go on even more tangents and share opinions on even more pieces of entertainment industry news because, why not!

If I can point to one achievement by our erstwhile blog, SpoCOOL, it was a 2011 post on the AeroPress. After publication, the coffee press sold out in many Spokane stores (granted, only three carried it), weird as the product may have looked.

Of the dozens of AeroPressing methods, my favorite is the commonly-used inverted press. While not a million miles away from the default process, the upside-down preparation results in what basically is a cup of Americano. In other words, an espresso-style drink that isn’t espresso. It’s a good way to make a quick cup of coffee, and easy, too:

Required Hardware

• A food scale. We’re partial to OXO’s pull-out model.

• Preferably a water boiler. Again, we enjoy OXO’s offering.

• A coffee grinder—Virtuoso+ is our pick—though you can obviously grind the beans at the store.1

• The AeroPress itself.

Illustrative Figure

Steps

1. Fine-ground 17 grams of beans. That’s setting 12 on the Virtuoso grinder.

2. Heat water to 200° F. (94° C)

3. Insert the plunger into the AeroPress and flip it upside down. (Figure 1.) Add the ground.

4. Barely cover the grounds with hot water and give it a good stir. Wait 30 seconds.

5. Fill the cylinder with water and give it a quick stir. Wait 1 minute.

6. Attach the filter, place the upside-down cup on top of the AeroPress, and flip over. (Figures 2 and 3.)

7. Slowly press the plunger down for about twenty seconds. Stop when you hear the hissing sound. (Don’t squeeze the ground—the coffee will taste sour.)

And that’s it! It also doesn’t hurt to run the paper filter under hot water before you start. Supposedly, it gives the coffee a cleaner flavor, but I’m not sure anyone really notices the difference.

For some true nerdery, check out AeroPress’s official inversion guide.

And, for the method’s origins, CoffeeGeek has a very in-depth story.

Related Articles From The Awesomeness Digest

• The Norwegian Waffle

• Kaffekos—The Foundation of Norwegian Society

• The French Press

It doesn’t really matter where you are in Seattle—you’ll have few problems tracking down a quality coffee spot in any neighborhood. For the South End, we have a handful in our rotation on which we can put our proverbial stamp of approval. Here are three of them:

Caffe Vita

This Seattle mainstay has been around since ‘95 with seven in-town locations, as well as two in New York, and one in Phoenix. Quite the feat for a business known for short lifespans.

My go-to drink is the Sevilla, a dark-chocolate mocha poured over an orange peel. It has a bit of an acquired taste—the palate is bitter—but it is a good sipping coffee. And, you can’t go wrong with stand-bys like cappuccinos and Americanos.

To up its Seattleness, Vita has also entered a partnership with KEXP, the storied local radio station. Two dollars from each bag of the KEXP Blend go to “Keep Music Live” with all donations matched by the roaster.

Vita is located all over Seattle, and their coffee can be found in a range of partner shops. We visited 5028 Wilson Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118 in Seward.

Olympia Coffee

Named for its hometown, Olympia Coffee currently has three Seattle locations including one in Columbia City.

This was our go-to spot while living in Olympia, and even now, in Seattle, it is a regular stop in our rotation. It is probably the beans we use most often at home, too.

The Rainier Avenue shop mixes an old-meets-new ambiance: Worn hex tiles on the floor with clean Scandi-whites and light wood is speckled throughout. The building has a good energy.

I usually go for one of the classic drinks, like a cappuccino, though there are always more creative specials to pick from. Either way, you can’t go wrong: Olympia Coffee respects its product.

Find them on 4824 Rainier Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118 or at one of their other spots in Olympia, Seattle, and Tacoma.

Empire Roasters & Records

Fair: A record store inside a coffee shop isn’t a novel concept, but it still adds to the vibe. Plus, Empire Records was a good movie.

Empire Roasters is located right across the street from Olympia in Columbia City, creating the luxury problem of having two great cafés within close proximity. So, mix it up between the two: Empire’s quality is right on the Seattle baseline—which is high.

An arcade cabinet with 3,000 classic games on the third floor makes the spot a place even for those who don’t like coffee. Good music and video games should cover a lot of bases.

Hit Empire up on 3829 S Edmunds St, Seattle, WA 98118 and make it a twofer alongside Olympia.

North American food-nomenclature has always fascinated me, in that it often is based on geography. Instead of “crêpes,” we frequently see “Swedish pancakes,” even though the thin cake can be attributed to dozens of countries. The same goes for “Swedish meatballs,” but I suspect we got IKEA to thank for that one.

“Greek yogurt” is a mainstay in grocery aisles, though “Central Asian yogurt” is a more appropriate name. The rest of the world simply calls it “strained yogurt.”

The “Belgian waffle” may be popular in Belgium, yet the thick variety has its roots in France.

Of course, the background for these internationalized names comes down to who brought the recipes to the New Country. Some unassuming Swedes may inadvertently have been credited for a new type of pancake while preparing a French meal.

Which is a roundabout way to look at the polar opposite. If we were to get technical, “French-press coffee” should be called “US-press coffee.” The forerunner to the device does have a French patent, but an Italian immigrant patented the modern version in the US in 1929.

Pressing coffee the French-American-Italian way takes a bit more effort than drip, but it results in a very flavorful brew. Here’s a quick recipe:

Hardware

• A food scale. We’re partial to OXO’s pull-out model.

• Preferably a water boiler. Again, we enjoy OXO’s offering.

• Preferably a coffee grinder—Virtuoso+ is our pick—though you can obviously grind the beans at the store.1

• A French press. We use a 34 oz Bodum. (1 liter.)

Steps

1. Heat water to 200° F. (94° C)

2. Place French press on the scale and zero it out.

3. Grind 55 grams of beans coarsely. That’s setting 28 on the Virtuoso grinder.

4. Add grounds to the French press, and pour just enough water to cover the coffee. The total should be 110 grams.

5. Give it a quick stir and wait 30 seconds.

6. Pour water into the press until the total reaches 880 grams.

7. Slowly press the plunger down about halfway.

8. Wait 3 minutes.

9. Press gently down, just until the plunger hits the bottom grounds.

Serve and enjoy alongside a very Norwegian slice of apple cake.

Related Articles From The Awesomeness Digest

• The Norwegian Waffle

• Kaffekos—The Foundation of Norwegian Society

Web Sources

“Strained yogurt.” Wikipedia. March 8, 2022. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strained_yogurt

“Waffles.” Wikipedia. February 21, 2022. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle

“French press.” Wikipedia. March 9, 2022. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_press