The Guardian reported yesterday that Starbuck’s Sustainability Director, Jim Hanna, expressed their concern over the effects of climate change, as well as their seriousness in finding ways to tackle the problem. Being a business though, Starbucks concern for climate change is obviously not just for the welfare of the environment, but its possible effects on the global coffee supply chain, which will obviously hurt their bottomline. As Jim Hanna said, “If conditions continue as they are – is a potentially significant risk to our supply chain, which is the Arabica coffee bean…If we sit by and wait until the impacts of climate change are so severe that is impacting our supply chain then that puts us at a greater risk. From a business perspective we really need to address this now, and to look five, 10, and 20 years down the road.”

Starbucks is definitely not taking this problem sitting down; in fact they have been implementing their “climate change strategy from 2004, focusing on renewable energy, energy conservation, and collaboration and advocacy.”

Early this month, Starbucks also renewed their partnership with Conservation International, which involves a $3 million, 2-year renewed commitment that will “expanding pilot programs in coffee-growing communities in Chiapas, Mexico, and Sumatra, Indonesia, which are designed to support and reward coffee farmers and coffee-growing communities for efforts taken to mitigate and adapt to climate change.”

So who says that profitability and environmental responsibility can’t go hand-in-hand? Not Starbucks.

Recipe Finder Logo

How do you like your coffee? I normally take it with a little sugar – either brewed using the drip machine or the espresso machine. While I would never complain about this kind of brew even if I had to drink it every single day of my life, there is something to be said about playing around with coffee and trying out various ways of preparing it.

If you are adventurous, and you have a creative mind, good for you! But even then, wouldn’t you like to have something handy to refer to for recipes and coffee ideas? That’s what I am going to share with you – a cool find that just might give you a stronger buzz than your regular cup of coffee!

Recipe Finder it is called, and it is a new recipe search engine. Recipe web sites are a penny a pound these days, don’t you think? They can be found everywhere, and if you want to look for a recipe, you have to check out all those recipe sites to make sure you’ve covered your bases. That is where Recipe Finder comes into the picture. It puts together the recipes of hundreds of the most trusted recipe web sites you can find today, and presents them in a format that is easy to search, easy to read, and easy to follow.

One look at the Recipe Finder home page, and you get the feeling that it’s all meant to make the life of the user easier.

Recipe Finder Home Page

Just like with most any search engine, that un-missable search bar can easily become your lifeline. But it gets better with Recipe Finder’s Advanced Search options, which allow you to narrow down your search results. Let’s do a quick test.

Recipe Finder Advanced Search - Coffee

Advanced Search Results - Coffee

Now we all know that coffee is the best drink in the world, but how much do you know about using coffee in your cooking? As in for appetizers, main dishes, and dessert? Believe you me, Recipe Finder is full of interesting ideas for using coffee in the kitchen. Here’s a little teaser.

Coffee-Crusted Beef Tenderloin

Whether it’s coffee you are needing or something else, I am pretty sure that you will find Recipe Finder a handy companion in the kitchen. With around 1.7 million recipes in the collection, I don’t think you’ll ever run out of ideas in your lifetime.

The guys at The Blog Herald also featured Recipe Finder on their launch day, complete with screen shots and other tips and tricks. I suggest giving it a look-see for more info. Either that or jump right in and discover something new you can make for dinner!

• International Lantern Parade, November 5 at 6:30 pm. Alii Drive, Kailua Pier to Hale Halawai
• Holualoa Village Coffee & Art Stroll, November 6, 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Have a taste of more than three dozen estate label Kona coffees!
• KTA Super Stores Kona Coffee Recipe Contest/Big Island Showcase, November 7, 12:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa Convention Center. This cooking contest should be fun to watch AND you get to sample the concoctions! Of course, 100% pure Kona coffee will be used in the recipes. How cool is that?
• Gevalia Kona Coffee Cupping Competition – Preliminary Round, November 10, 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Keauhou Beach Resort. This competition will determine the best Kona coffee there is. You wouldn’t want to miss that!

For more information on the events and schedules, visit the official web site of the 2010 Kona Coffee Cultural Festival.

Magic Power Coffee is being marketed all over the United States as an instant coffee drink. The uniqueness of this product lies in the claim that it functions as an aphrodisiac. Yup, it is supposed to stimulate sexual arousal in both men and women!

So what’s wrong with that? It could very well be a better alternative to Viagra, right?

The FDA, however, disagrees, and has released a statement to the effect that it can be harmful. The government agency is quite worried about the fact that the coffee drink is labeled as an “all natural dietary supplement.” You know how it is these days – people market products as “all natural” and as a “dietary supplement,” and these products are supposed to be 100% safe.

I guess there is no such thing, though. A spokesperson from the FDA says that the label is misleading, and that in fact, Magic Power Coffee can cause serious damage. Men who are using certain prescription drugs, for example, can experience a sudden plummet in blood pressure due to the interaction of the active ingredients.

If you still wish to try the potency of this magic drink, I suggest you check with your doctor first. Better yet, just stick to the good old brew!

They’ve had their own share of struggles, and in an effort to widen their customer base yet again, Starbucks is now offering more than the usual fare: free Internet.

Over the years, coffee shops have become synonymous with laptops and all sorts of mobile devices – and that means Internet access as well. However, the Internet access in Starbucks stores as it currently is is quite limited. You need to have a Starbucks loyalty card, and having one does not automatically mean you can surf all you want – it just gives you 2 free hours of Internet.

The new scheme, which is going to be implemented on the first of July, is going to open up wireless Internet access in almost 7,000 Starbucks stores all over the United States. The service is going to be offered to in collaboration with AT&T Inc. Do take note, however, that the stores that will be offering this are only the company-operated ones. Franchised stores will not be part of the scheme. (Boo!)

Here’s the question: will this change entice you to camp out at Starbucks if you don’t normally do it? Will free Internet affect your choice of coffee?

If you’re the type who enjoys sipping on a nice hot coffee drink while drinking in words from your nifty e-book reader, then I suggest you head on over to the nearest Barnes & Noble branch. They have an ongoing promo where they will give a tall cup of coffee for FREE to any customer who shows a server an open e-book.

Which readers are qualified? Thank goodness, Barnes & Noble isn’t being nitpicky about this – they’re not limiting e-readers to their own Nook. You can use any of these e-e-readers and still qualify for that free cup of coffee:

• iPad
• iPhone
• iPod touché
• BlackBerries
• HTC HD2 devices
• portable Mac or Windows computers

Isn’t that nice of them? Oh, there IS a catch. The software that you must use to read e-books is the BN e-reader software, of course.

So what’s the point of offering free coffee to those who read e-books in the store?

It all points back to the use of the BN e-reader software. They have been on a campaign to push the use of this piece of software, along with the Nook. One cool thing about the software (aside from the free coffee that you get if you use it) is that you can read selected titles in the store for free for an hour everyday!

Coffee + free books = heaven!

If you’re like me, you probably do not realize just how much you spend on this kind of coffee on a monthly basis. According to people who have nothing better to do do this kind of thing for a living, Americans are spending more money on designer coffee these days. Indeed, some say that this is a good sign that the recession is actually over.

The numbers are quite interesting: the purchases of fancy coffee went up by 21 per cent in the first quarter of 2010, as compared to the same amount of time in the previous year. The exact amounts vary depending on the location, of course, but in Seattle (where people practically run on coffee) the average person spends $674 per year on the brew!

That is pretty considerable. Think about what you can buy with that kind of money. An iPad. An iPhone. Heck, you can buy a laptop computer!

Still, I suppose I totally get those people who spend that much on coffee – I am probably one of them and just don’t realize it! I mean, yeah, all those gadgets sound nice, but when you need your java fix during the day, you don’t get to think of anything else.

So, sit down and crunch some numbers. How much do you spend on coffee?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission just announced that a certain model of General Electric’s coffee makers has to be recalled – all 900,000 of them. Now why am I surprised that there are that many units of a single kind of coffee maker?

Anyhow, this particular model is the 12 cup digital coffee maker manufactured by well known brand GE. The reason for the recall is that they are – surprise! – a fire risk. The coffee maker units were sold in various Walmart branches for a couple of years – from 2008 to January of this year.

According to reported incidents, there have been 83 cases wherein the coffee makers have overheated. Some of the units melted or burned and several people have been physically injured.

Here’s more information to check if your unit is at risk:

• Black model number: 169164
• White model number: 169165

You can find these numbers – plus the GE logo – printed at the bottom (the base) of the coffee maker. If you are using either model, you can call Walmart immediately and get a full refund.

One thing that’s bugging me: out of 900,000 units, 83 have malfunctioned. This is statistically significant enough to warrant a full recall? Interesting.

According to Starbucks Corp., they are planning to release three kinds of flavored coffee to be sold at your local grocery store. This is a big step as other brands have a strong hold in this market. Think Folgers. Think Maxwell House. These are the brands that most everyone buys when they go grocery shopping.

The three flavors are vanilla, caramel, and cinnamon. The line is called Starbucks Natural Fusions, and we can expect them to be available in the market next month.

This move is part of the ongoing campaign of Starbucks to make their products more commercially viable for the average consumer. I have to admit that it makes a lot of sense. Instead of going to a Starbucks store and pay several dollars for one cup of coffee, people can buy the ground coffee and brew it at home – with more or less the same Starbucks taste. For those who brew coffee several times a day, having this product available will be a boon, especially in these hard economic times.

Of course, there will be critics and they will be heard – much like the critics of Via, the instant coffee line that Starbucks developed. If you remember, that line was surprisingly widely accepted by consumers!

While I was one of those naysayers when it came to Via, I am a bit more optimistic about Natural Fusions. What do you think?

The company is not going to sit back and let status quo prevail, though. Yesterday, Seattle’s Best Coffee launched a massive campaign that aims to make the brand as well known – or even better known – than Starbucks. It all started with a stunt, which MarketWatch describes as:

To celebrate the unveiling, red-capped “invaders” scaled Starbucks’ headquarters and stealthily replaced the famous “siren” atop the clock tower with the new Seattle’s Best Coffee logo. The intent? To put Seattle’s Best on the map as the universal symbol for great coffee.

It is an interesting stunt, I have to say. The siren superseded (albeit temporarily) by a modern looking red and white logo – never thought I’d see the day! Take a closer look at the logo.

Isn’t it just…blah? I don’t get it. I may have my complaints about Starbucks, but the logo is perfect. It is not boring. It’s a good conversation piece. It has recall. It is pretty to look at. But, this red and white thing? What are they thinking? Or maybe I don’t know anything about branding at all.

What do you have to say about the logo?