Calorie Counters In Coffee Shops?
Weight conscious coffee shop goes just may have their wishes come true. Well, at least those who reside in Multnomah County. Commissioners of the county are soon to vote on whether or not restaurants and coffee shops in the area will be required to post health facts – including caloric counts – on their menus. If approved, this law will require ALL items on the menu to have the information mentioned above. Drinks will not be exempt, by the way.
Not every mom and pop food place will be affected by the law, if approved, though. The only establishments that would be required are those which have 15 branches or more across the country.
So what will this law do? Basically, I see it as a public information campaign. More often than not, we order food and drink without a thought as to the calories contained in them. With the calories prominently displayed, people will at least know their consumption.
Do you think that this would make a difference as to how and what people order at restaurants and coffee shops? I honestly do not know. Personally, it might change my mind if I see the huge difference between one coffee blend and another. Then again, if I really want a certain drink, I doubt that my mind would change because of the calorie count. But then again, that’s just me – a person who likes her coffee more than her waistline.
How about you? Do you think this kind of practice would change your mind?
Photo courtesy of banoota
Tale Of The Gourmet Coffee Beans
I love to read a good story anytime. It is not everyday that you find a good one about coffee, though. A reader of ours brought a web site to our attention, where a nice tale about gourmet coffee beans is being featured.
Happy Bean Coffee is a web site which sells the best gourmet coffee beans from all over the world. Just like any other online store, Happy Bean Coffee delivers its products to a wide variety of locations. More than showcasing various gourmet coffee beans, though, they also provide other information on coffee.
Back to the tale of gourmet coffee beans. Here is the first paragraph of the tale:
In the dreamy hours of the morning, the coffee bean begins anew to draw energy from dark, rich, volcanic soil and sunlight filtered through the remains of the previous night. The coffee bean stirs within and, to the first sounds of birds and the morning rituals of nearby inhabitants, the rain forest awakens around it.
Doesn’t that just stir up your senses? If you want to read more, I encourage you to head on over to the Happy Bean Coffee web site. I am sure that after reading the story, you would feel a craving to buy some new beans that you have never tried before. It never hurts to expand your horizons, does it?
Load Up On Joe And Live Longer
Oh yeah? Well, if you base your beliefs on the results of a study conducted by researchers at the University of Madrid, drinking a lot of coffee can increase your lifespan. The study involved men and women who consumed large amounts of coffee and they found out that the risk of death of these people were considerably lower than those who didn’t drink coffee.
Coffee drinkers in the study had slightly lower death rates than non-coffee drinkers over time, whether their drink of choice had caffeine or not.
The findings do not prove that coffee is protective, but they strongly suggest that drinking coffee in large amounts is not harmful if you are healthy, researcher Esther Lopez-Garcia, Ph.D., of the University of Madrid, tells WebMD.
Among women, drinking two to three cups of coffee a day was associated with an 18 percent reduction in death from all causes, while drinking four to five cups was associated with a 26 percent reduction in risk.
The risk reduction in men was smaller and could have been due to chance.
“We can’t say from this one study that coffee extends your life, but it does appear that it doesn’t increase the risk for death for people who are healthy,” she says.
Oops – apparently I was a bit overexcited. There is indeed a reduction in death BUT there might be other factors in play. Again, I stick by my original belief – try to stay healthy and drink as much coffee as you think you need. If you feel ill effects because of too much coffee, then reduce intake. It’s as simple as that.
Photo courtesy of javaturtle
Rachael Ray, Kaffiyeh, And Coffee
Oh my, just when I thought that people were becoming more open minded and rationale! I have never been a fan of Rachael Ray, let me say that outright. This latest uproar over her makes me kind of feel for her though. For those who may not know, she is a spokeswoman for Dunkin’ Donuts. So there she was, doing her job, being her uber perky self as usual, right? She made this Internet commercial about how good Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is (by the way, I do like Dunkin’ Donuts coffee).
Suddenly, out of the blue, she is being accused of symbolically supporting terrorism! Come on now, this irritatingly cheerful person you see on TV several times a day a supporter of violence? As much as her personality and shows grate on my nerves, I just cannot see her trying to promote terrorism by trying to get away with wearing a kaffiyeh look-a-like in a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial.
Perhaps Michelle Malkin, the blogger who put up these suggestions, is mistaken? Or maybe she has got something personal against Rachael Ray? Seriously, the drama of it all! Why can’t a person wear what she wants to when plugging good coffee without being misunderstood? More than this, who says that the kaffiyeh is only used by terrorists?
Anyhow, Dunkin’ Donuts has pulled the plug on this commercial. In the interests of peace, I suppose it was the right thing to do. Now let me go get some of that iced coffee to cool off.
Of Coffee Cuppings
Of coffee what? You may be wondering if I made a typo in my title – that is, if you have not heard of the new trend that is becoming popular in New York. The New York Times recently published an article on this activity (coffee cupping) which is supposed to be the alternative to wine tasting. Certainly, there are similarities – the tasting part. There is, however, no spitting allowed in coffee cuppings.
Joking aside, coffee cuppers take this activity seriously. The Times reports:
Time was when only coffee buyers, roasters and baristas cared to spend time sniffing grounds with patient dedication. But now cuppings at independent cafes like Joe attract connoisseurs who wouldn’t be caught dead sipping an overroasted blend and regularly travel to another borough for superior beans.
I love coffee – you know that – but isn’t this taking things a bit too seriously? Fellow blogger Emily Matchar expressed my sentiments well in her post about cuppings:
I mean, I’m willing to believe that other people have the ability to discern flavors I can’t sense. But is a bag of beans from a single farm lot discernibly different than beans from a handful of farms in the same region?
I have my favorite coffee – one that I get from this region in the south. I would really prefer to use this coffee every single time but when I do run out, I can live with other types of coffee that I get from the supermarket.
Am I being an ignorant coffee brute here or are there other people who think the same way?
Demand For Coffee On The Rise
You think? If you can judge the demand for coffee by the way I drink the brew, then this statement is definitely true. Seriously, though, it seems that the price of coffee is not about to go down anytime soon despite the forecasted increase in supply. This is due to the growing demand of coffee worldwide.
International Coffee Organization (ICO) Executive Director Nester Osorio in his latest coffee market report, said imports reached a record level in 2007.
Demand is thus the main factor influencing the market, at present. During the first six months of the coffee year 2007-08, exports from Brazil and Vietnam were considerably lower.
The average of the ICO composite indicator price for April fell to 126.55 cents per pound, compared with136.17 cents in March.
Despite this decrease, price levels are still firm and price volatility has become less intense. Average prices in the first four months of 2008 are higher than those recorded during previous months.
Exports during of March (8.7 million bags) were higher than those recorded in February (7.7 million bags). However, exports during the first six months of coffee year 2007-08 fell by 4.9 per cent compared to the same period in coffee year 2006-07.
New estimates of Brazilian production for 2008-09 have been just released. This establishes the size of the crop at 45.5 million bags, comprising 34.7 million bags of Arabicas and 10.8 million bags of Robustas.
That’s a whole lot of coffee!
Ethiopia: Highlight of the 20th Specialty Coffee Association of America Conference
The 20th Specialty Coffee Association of America Conference just ended today. This 4 day event marks not only a milestone in terms of the “age” of the group, but this conference is the first to highlight the birthplace of coffee – Ethiopia. I only read an article about this earlier today and I find it a nice coincidence that I had just bought a bag of Ethiopian coffee from Starbucks hours before.
Anyhow, here are some things that key people in Ethiopia had to say about the conference.
“Ethiopia is immensely proud to be at the forefront of this year’s SCAA Conference. Ethiopians have cultural and social traditions of coffee drinking going back many, many centuries, and, as such, we have much that is unique to share. The invitation to Ethiopia to be the first ever African portrait country featured is an honor. We take this as a symbol of both the Specialty Coffee industry’s high regard for our place in the expanding and dynamic specialty coffee market, as well as a tribute to our unique heritage and historic role in the coffee business,” said H.E. Yakob Yalla, Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development to the assembled experts and enthusiasts.
“Few developing countries have realised that intellectual property plays a crucial role in income generation in the modern, global economy. Ethiopia is truly proud to be among the first to see IP management as a tool for development and poverty alleviation. It is a tribute to the coffee industry and our pioneer licensees that they agree with us and are prepared to cooperate with Ethiopia on its mission to capture a greater share of the retail price for Ethiopian coffee farmers and coffee workers,” commented Getachew Mengistie, Director General of the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office.
This has gotten me more interested in Ethiopia as a coffee-producing country – expect to see more posts soon.
Free Samples At Apres Tasting Club
A few weeks ago, we received an e-mail from Luke Bunting of the Apres Tasting Club, which is part of the main web site, Apres Café. Apres Café is actually a site that is all about coffee and tea. They offer gifts, coffee, and tea in their online store. More than this, they also provide a host of information about coffee and tea. Enthusiasts will certainly find a lot to read in their “Learn” pages.
What Luke e-mailed us about is the Apres Tasting Club and while going through their site, it really caught my interest. How does the Tasting Club operate? It is quite simple – if you are interested, sign up for the Club. You will then receive free samples of either coffee or tea. Once you have tried the free samples that were sent to you, you can go online and then rate them. If you rate the samples that you receive, you will continue to receive new samples every 3 to 4 weeks. It’s a pretty good setup, isn’t it?
Other benefits of being a member of the Apres Tasting Club:
1. Discounted prices not offered to the general public when purchasing a sampled coffee or tea
2. Advanced notice of special purchases or offers
3. Automatic eligibility each month to win a coffee or tea gift box (valued at $20)
4. The chance to sample some of the finest coffees and teas in the world – for FREE!
5. An opportunity to help us choose only the very best coffee and tea products by offering your comments on each sampled brew
6. Instant access to exclusive email offers through the ApresCafe.com email club. (You may unsubscribe from this email service at any time.)
One drawback – I think they only ship to the United States.
Starbucks And iTunes Show Love
Starbucks and Apple are perhaps the two brands that I like the most – well, perhaps is the operative word here. In any case, these two groups have teamed up to bring more pleasure to their customers. Sometime last week, Starbucks proudly announced its new program – the Pick of the Week.
Yes, it is true that the name for the promotion could have been more creative. (Come on now guys, you make millions! You can surely pay someone to come up with something more than “Pick of the Week!”) However, the idea is quite an interesting one.
Imagine yourself sitting at your favorite spot in your regular Starbucks hang out. You spend a relaxing hour or so sipping your favorite coffee drink, doing whatever you are doing, and listening to your favorite music on your iPod all the while. Perhaps you don’t even need to imagine this – it is reality!
YOU are the target clientele of Starbucks and Apple. With the Pick of the Week, loyal Starbucks and Apple customers can enjoy free downloadable content. How?
I don’t know the exact details (obviously the Starbucks nearest me does not seem to have this promo running yet) but the idea is that people who buy coffee from Starbucks will receive a Pick of the Week download card. This card can then be used to redeem a free song or music video from the iTunes store. Users have up to 60 days to claim the song or video but can also download on the spot with WiFi access.
Web Site In Focus: Coffee Cooks
I love to cook. It is one of the hobbies that I have that I like doing when I have time to spare. Oh, I cook everyday – it is a must, unless I want to spend tons of money eating out. But the best dishes that I have prepared are those I spent considerable time on and those that I have not rushed because I was late for work. That is why I was excited when I posted that entry on coffee marinated sirloin.
A reader of ours commented on that post and introduced me to a whole new world of cooking – one which involves coffee. Can you just imagine how excited I am right now? The web site is called Coffee Cooks and has a lot of recipes making use of coffee. More than that, though, you can find a lot of other information.
I browsed the site to find out more about what they have to offer and I have to say that I am left wanting more. There are several categories which one can browse – basics, breads, bars & cookies, cakes, desserts, drinks, main dishes, and greens. I was a bit disappointed that there were only a couple of recipes under each category, though. Maybe in the future, they will expand their collection and offer more.
One thing I think we should all try out this weekend is the Asian vinaigrette. I have never had a salad with the flavor of coffee and I don’t know how well that would mix but it sure is worth a try!
