Review: Well Told Design Drinkware

Right about now, everyone's wishing they could get out of the house and go somewhere, anywhere, but also, everyone's flights are getting cancelled, so you're getting double disappointed by life. Why not remember the good days and those great trips you've taken at home with a set of Well Told drinkware with the night sky or destination map etched into them?

Well Told Design noticed that there wasn't a good selection of home goods that were both well made and good looking. Why not a product that you would use often and feel happy every time you did? We use glasses every single day and so do most other people.

Well Told sent me a set of pint glasses with London and I knew right out of the box they were going to become favorites of ours and we'd probably end up with several more additions to the set in the future. These pint glasses have the London map on them, which makes me think back to our most recent trip and also our honeymoon. London is one of our favorite destinations, so much so, that I created a little tableau at home right now to give us a bit of an international feel while we're stuck inside for the foreseeable future.

Look how pretty these glasses are! They're making our everyday drinking feel special, even if we're just using them for soda or juice. We use pint glasses pretty regularly for just general all our beverages. They're a good size and easy to hold. In fact, I posted on my Instagram when they arrived and a friend was very excited and immediately ordered a set of rocks glasses for her cocktails. 

Don't love a pint glass? Choose from rocks glasses, stemmed/stemless wine glasses, coffee mugs, stemmed/stemless champagne glasses, or mason jars. I chose a city map that meant something to me, but you can choose from a ton of other city maps, topography maps, airport codes, college town maps, marathon maps, history or literature quotes, constellations (including customized night sky maps), and even math or science etchings. You'll find something for everyone for very affordable prices.

Don't want to add to their bar glass collection (though you can choose from copper mugs or goldleaf glasses)? Or already have as many glasses as you'll ever need? No worries! Well Told has so many other things to buy for yourself or gift: flasks, insulated drinkware (like tumblers and hydration bottles), coasters, cutting boards, carafes, and blankets. 

Round out your set or gift with matching bar tools (muddler, anyone?) or fancy reusable straws to make their drinks look more amazing. I'll be in the market for such things soon, with all this hosting of virtual brunches and happy hours I'm doing from home.

Once you can go out again and have people over, think of how cool you'll feel when you serve drinks in an amazing set of travel-themed glasses. They make a great focal point and conversation starter. Everyone will want to chime in with their favorite travel stories, which, if you ask me, is the best way to pass time at a party. Then, everyone's going to share where they're going next and swap travel tips for destinations people have been to. They come individually, so you could buy a set of glasses consisting of multiple destinations.

You might also want to cheer someone up with a set of glasses that represents their favorite place. Mother's Day and Father's Day are coming up, but these are fantastic for birthdays and anniversaries, or hostess gifts, too.

Other details:

Where can I buy it? On Well Told Design website 

How much is it? $18 per pint glass | $16 per rocks glass

More info: These glasses are not only pretty, but they are dishwasher safe, too.

If you like what Well Told Design is doing, follow them on social media:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

What map would you choose for a set of glasses?

Disclaimer: I was provided a pair of Well Told Design pint glasses for the purposes of this review. All opinions are 100% my own.

How I'm Satisfying My Wanderlust

All of you out there who're dying to get out of the house, but being cool and helping the many by staying home as much as humanly, I understand. I'm an introvert, so keeping to myself in the house isn't too terrible. The not traveling is harder, but I know after all this, I'll be out traveling and exploring again. For now, I'm doing little things to keep the sanity. 

Here are the two things that I find are helping me with travel withdrawals:

I still had some stuff up from my Scandinavian potluck, and it gave me an idea. I created a little London vignette to remind me that I've had the luck to travel well and that I've created amazing memories there. I purchased this Citygami book a while ago, but forgot about it until last week. I pulled it out and folded and tabbed and created this adorable London skyline.

Pull out some stuff you love from your travels, whether it's books or postcards or trinkets. Anything that reminds you of the fun times you had and that you'll have more in the future.

For this one, I added a Mr. Men book I found in a little bookshop in London, one of my favorite teacup sets that makes me think of the Portabello Road Market, and then printed out some fun maps. Get creative! It's not like you are doing much else, right?

The second thing I'm doing to enjoy some travel without leaving the house is rounding up all the awesome places that are doing virtual tours and putting a ton of artwork and performances and stuff online to entertain and distract people during this time. If you don't subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on Facebook, you missed it, but I sent out a pretty good list to my subscribers and have also been continuously adding links to my Facebook list to help others as well.  Visit museums, The Globe Theatre, National Parks, Zoos, and more. I can even visit the National Museum of Scotland again without getting stuck in the elevator. LOL!

How are you keeping sane during your time in Lockdown?

AeroPress Go Gives You Great Coffee Everywhere

In the early days of this blog, I reviewed the original AeroPress, as it was an innovative coffee making product that could be easily taken on your trips to make coffee like home. Since then, a majority of the coffee shops in Portland (and other places, I suspect) have at least one on-hand to make drinks. Now that more people than ever are choosing to travel with just a carry-on, that original AeroPress is a bit too large to take along when space is at a premium. Introducing AeroPress Go!

The AeroPress Go is as great as the original, but everything is compact enough to fit inside it's own coffee cup, which is pretty amazing. As a person who travels quite a lot and tends to stay in places that have terrible coffee makers or none at all, being able to get a good cup of coffee is very important to me. As much as I'd like to go to a coffee shop every day, it's not budget-friendly for me, and sometimes the only options are chains, which I don't prefer over locally-owned shops. 

An at-home latte I made with oat milk with my Go

With the AeroPress Go, I just need to heat up water and bring along my own coffee, which I normally do anyway. Even if I purchase some at my destination, that's still cheaper than going out every day. I can make a plain coffee, an espresso, or even mix it up by making a latte or similar. All in my pajamas if I want. 

The Go is super easy to use, and you can make up to 3 shots of espresso at a time in as long as it takes to heat up water, plus 1 minute or less to "brew". Set up is quick and you can make your coffee in 10 steps or less:

Step One:

Push the plunger entirely out of the chamber, because you need this space for the next steps.

Step Two: 

Put filter in filter cap.

Step Three:

Twist filter cap onto chamber.

Step Four:

Stand chamber on top of mug and pour one scoop of fine ground coffee inside. 

Step 5:

Shake to level your coffee grounds.

Step 6: 

Add hot water up to #1 on the chamber (for one cup of coffee/or espresso). If you're making cold brew (this does that!), you sub room temperature water instead.

Step 7:

Unfold the stirrer and stir for 10 seconds for hot brewing or one minute for cold brew. (You can also use this stirrer to level off your coffee in your scoop and even to mix your additions to your finished coffee.)

Step 8:

Insert the plunger and press down slowly until you feel resistance (why you reach the grounds). 

Step 9: 

Enjoy your coffee! Or add Step 10 to make a drink other than espresso.

• Espresso - drink as is.
• Americano - Add enough water to make an 8oz drink + desired cream and/or sugar.
• Latte - Add milk to make an 8oz drink.
• Cold brew - Add room temperature or ice water to make an 8oz drink.

Cleaning the Go is very easy as well. In fact, it's easier than making the coffee, if that's possible. You just remove the filter cap and tap out the filter (I tossed mine into my compost bin) and then push the plunger the rest of the way down to eject the used coffee grounds. If using at home, you can easily put into your compost or into a garden bed. Rinse the seal and the stirrer and you're done! 

I tried the coffee the Go made at the Travel Goods Show last month and found it delicious. It looked very easy. Believe it or not, I was able to get a great cup of coffee on my first try at home, too. That's almost never the case. If I can do this at home so well, I have high hopes for my travels, because I only have to worry about heating up water to use. In a pinch, you can use the microwave, but you can also use a tea kettle, the crummy coffee maker without coffee in it (I can't tell you how many I've used that do not brew well and/or somehow always end up getting the grounds into the carafe), or even a pot on the stove.

I can't wait to take this with me on my future travel, but it's also going to be a quick espresso maker for me as well. The Go comes with 350 filters, plus a little compact filter holder to take a stash with you when you travel. It keeps them dry and from getting crinkled up. 

Everything that comes with the AeroPress Go fits into the cup, which doubles as a case, and you receive a silicon cap that holds everything inside when you store it or pack it. It's very simple to put together and repack when you're done. I consider that a huge plus, because it sucks when you unpack a product and then it never goes back together after you use it. There's no chance of that here.

Who needs the AeroPress Go? 

• People who travel a lot and love coffee.
• People who RV or live in a small home and want to save space.
• People who backpack or camp and want an awesome cup of coffee without the cumbersome coffee percolator.
• College students in small dorm rooms.
• People who like to craft their usual coffee from home wherever they go.

That's not an entire list of those that can benefit from this amazing little maker. Mother's Day and Father's Day are coming up. Graduates will be going off into the world soon, too. It's a fantastic gift for everyone who likes coffee and will save them a ton of money and trips to the coffee shop. 

Other details:

Where can I buy it? On AeroPress website | On Amazon

How much is it? $31.95

Other specs: Mug with lid on top measures 5.3" x 3.9" x 3.9", 11.5 oz, 15 oz mug, 20 filter holder capacity.

If you like what AeroPress is doing, follow them on social media:

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Make Quarantine a little more comforting with a coffee shop coffee at home! It's affordable and you don't have to leave home to get it...even if you want to. 

How do you like to drink your coffee?

Disclaimer: I was provided the AeroPress Go for the purposes of this review. All opinions are 100% my own. *This post contains an affiliate link. If you make a purchase through it, I will receive monetary compensation + you have my thanks and gratitude for helping me keep this blog going.