Perks & Puzzles

September 29^th is National Coffee Day with International Coffee Day following close on its heels on October 1^st. If you, like me (and 150 million other Americans), love your coffee, then you’ll perk up when you hear that my blog article this month is on coffee-themed puzzles!

First, a confession…I am a total coffee snob! I order flavored Swiss Water decaf coffee beans (a process that strips the caffeine from the bean without chemicals). I hand grind the beans daily, use a scale to measure my grounds and water and I prefer a pour over. “Doesn’t that take a lot of time?” people ask me. Yes, but so too does putting together a puzzle! I love the ritual of both and find them very calming. So, however you make your coffee – I won’t judge (heck, my husband uses coffee tea bags to brew his) - go ahead and grab a cup and get ready to drink it all in!

Like the tops of the cups of coffee on this RoseArt Coffee & Friends, 750-piece puzzle, I went all frothy when I saw Cynthia Frenette’s artwork. She is an illustrator and designer from Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island, BC who loves to make happy and colorful art and boy did she make me smile with this one. Even her signature on the box is a work of art! This was also my first RoseArt puzzle, so it wasn’t only the artwork, but the sturdy pieces that really held together that made for the perfect blend. No surprise really that this would be the case. The company, based out of Lafayette, IN, states that their staff have been puzzlers since childhood, so it’s no wonder they create a wonderful puzzling experience.

In stark contrast, my next puzzle was a 500-piece from Ridley’s Games called Coffee Lovers. I drink my coffee black, but dark colors are NOT my taster’s choice when it comes to picking a puzzle. And check out the variance in the sizes of the pieces between this and Coffee & Friends!  

Yet I found this one was surprisingly easy to assemble. Doing the border first, unless it is a ritual for you as it is for me, may be a challenge. Here’s a hint though…when I got stuck, I would flip the pieces over to ensure Ridley’s name on the back was aligning properly.  

After that, it was anything but a grind. I placed the blue pieces first, followed by the white, beige, brown and lastly filled in the black. The wording on the cups was not only helpful when it came to the build, it was fascinating learning about the different coffees, especially the Kopi Luwak, which is the world’s most expensive coffee at $35-$100 per cup. Pretty spendy for coffee made from a cat’s, called the Asian palm civet, poop (eww)! Ridley’s Games’ puzzles come in cylinders, which I love to display on my puzzle shelves pre-assembly. What’s even better is once they are assembled, their puzzles measure 22” x 28” making it frame-ready, for those who are tempted to hang this up by their coffee maker!

The next one I poured onto my board was The Coffee Shoppe by SunsOut. I would gravitate towards visiting a coffee shop like this one, which is what attracted me to this puzzle. But once again, I was a little apprehensive. I love pink – can’t get enough of it in real life. But on a puzzle…too much of a good thing could be tough. However, varied shading made it easy to sort out and at 500 pieces, the details in the pieces really popped. The dog is biting his leash, the child has lost her shoe, so dang it all – get this woman her coffee stat! Fun fact here. Did you know in 16^th century Constantinople, a woman could divorce her husband if not provided with enough coffee? This COULD be why!

You’re getting a double-shot of PuzzleTwist from me between last and this month’s blog. I simply couldn’t resist doing another, this time featuring the 1000-piece Coffee Break-Something’s Amiss. For those of you who have never tried to puzzle an image that is not quite what you see on the box, this brand is a great one to start with. There are 25 differences to spot, but they are slight. I won’t spoil the surprise by showing the completed image, but you can see an example of what I mean here - the Café Caramel on the box did not have the extra swirls on the center part of the cup that were shown on the puzzle. I must say that the illustration by Krista Hamrick from Gilbertsville, PA  (who professes to loves her java) was delightful. When I visited her website, she mentions being a painfully shy child who used art to express herself without being the center of attention, but she certainly got MY attention and I’ll be on the lookout for more puzzles featuring her artwork!

In addition to the coffee theme I have going on in this blog, the sub-lying theme could be “puzzles I wasn’t really sure about” with Coffeeology by Galison being another I wasn’t convinced I wanted to do, due to the similar colors. Did you know the word “espresso” means “pressed out” in Italian? Well, a friend gave me the “espresso treatment” pressing me to try this one. The fact that I adore Galison’s puzzles with their cheerful artwork and fantastic quality, coupled with the fact that this was only 500 pieces, got it past my filter and I gave it a go. I’m so glad I did! The panel backdrops and patterns within the colors made for a quick and fun build.

Last up on my board was Fido’s Coffee Bar, a 636-piece puzzle from Gibsons from one of my favorite artists, Linda Jane Smith. Instead of depicting Iced Lattes, this one highlighted quirky details like Iced Lassies, dogs kicking back with their leashes off and dog bone biscotti. I don’t know how well coffee works for dogs, but if it works as well as it did for Creme Puff, the Guinness World record holder for oldest cat at 38 years old who drank coffee every day of her life, these dog “barkistas” are on the right track! You will lap this one up too – it was a pleasure to assemble.

In closing, there are a “latte” more coffee-themed puzzles I’d like to add to my stash including all these 1000-piece puzzles: Coffee Break by Anatolian, Houseplants by New York Puzzle Company, and BaristArt by Cobble Hill; as well as this 550-piece Love Coffee by Kodak.

I hope this served as a stimulant for you to enjoy a new coffee-themed puzzle over a cup of Joe!  

 – Lisa @lisalovespuzzles