Archives for the 'coffee' tag
Mini Robot: You Want Cream and Sugar with That?
Duck, Coffee, and Fluff: Food Adventures Abound
Few food events worth noting (and attending)–one past, one present, and one upcoming.
The Duckathlon is still a cavalcade of awesomeness. Congrats to Lily & D’Artagnan! Crispy’s Duckathlon archive–I hit last year’s NYC for the feting and feats and had a blast, but was foiled by my Patent Law final this year–here.
The Southern Food & Beverage Museum in New Orleans is hosting a cool new exhibit called the Birth of Coffee. It opens this Friday, and is being sponsored by those “crystals” folks at Folger’s.
The excellent scholarly food mag Gastronomica is hosting a forum on Marshmallow Fluff in NYC on May 26. Fluff’s close to my heart, as I hail from nearby (but not too nearby) its still-current digs in Lynn, Mass. If you don’t have $25 to shell out or aren’t in NYC, click here, here, and here.
Friday Food (Drink) Song: Ei! Wie schmeckt der Coffee süße!
Give it up for Papa Bach and Ei! Wie schmeckt der Coffee süße! from the Coffee Cantata.
Ei! wie schmeckt der coffee süsse,
lieblicher als tausend Küsse,
milder als Muskatwein.
Coffee, Coffee, muss ich haben,
und wenn jemand mich will laben,
ach, so schenkt mir coffee ein!
My rough translation (It’s been a lot of years since I last studied German):
Ah! How sweet coffee tastes,
sweeter than a thousand kisses,
milder than Muscatel.
Coffee, coffee, I must have,
And if someone wants to refresh me,
Well, he must pour me coffee!
Senseless threat to Ethiopian microlots
From George Howell via Tim Wendelboe:
[...] the Ethiopian government determined a few months ago that all availability and traceability of individual coffee lots be scrapped. Regional coffee lots were to be graded by the government’s designated authorities and then lump-blended into large trademarked lots. You could buy Yirgacheffe Grade X and know nothing more. This adds value? After strenuous protests from shocked exporters the government relented somewhat: cooperatives could operate independently and retain traceability but not so with any private mills – who often paid farmers for their cherry more than many coops! So this means, as things stand now, that the organic superb Ademe Bedane we currently have will not be available as new crop this year. Even if they produce a lot as refined and flavorful as the one we currently have, tough – it will be dropped into the leveling sea of other lots all ideally from the same region, but in no way required to be. This is commodity thinking at its worst, the very way to guarantee there are no “Ah-hah!” moments that really determine why certain regions become stars commanding higher prices. We pray Ethiopia will relent even at this late time in the current season. Specialty coffee exporters, when recently protesting, were told they were irrelevant because specialty represented 1% of Ethiopia’s sales. That’s vision!”
This is tragic if accurate. Ethiopia grows some of the finest coffees in the world, and even after years in the industry tasting a new microlot from, say, Aricha can be a mind-blowing experience. It’s senseless to dump them into aggregated lots that, even when very good, don’t have the distinct flavor profile of an outstanding microlot.
I haven’t seen much coverage of this issue so I’m at a loss as to why the Ethiopian government has implemented the policy. It might be part of its strategy for preventing dilution of its regional brands, or it might be that the market for distinguished microlots is just too small to care about. Regardless, the new rules will block trade between farmers and bean buyers who’d gladly pay them a premium for their coffees and deny consumers some of the best Ethiopia has to offer. In the long-run this seems likely to hurt the country’s reputation, giving a competitive advantage to origins that are more transparent and able to reward their highest quality growers. I hope exporters and farmers can apply enough pressure to force a change.
Starbucks’ fast, hard fall
Early last year Starbucks took a few steps in the right direction to regain the reputation they’d tarnished when their focus shifted from quality coffee and espresso to Frappuccinos and retail products. They were retraining baristas on milk and shots, introduced a lighter roast, and rocked the coffee world by buying the Coffee Equipment Company (makers of the Clover brewer). These were positive steps to repair the brand.
That’s all changed in the recession. The company has closed several hundred stores and laid off thousands of employees. It dropped the quality control measure of pulling shots into glasses. In introduced combo meals, er, “pairings.” And now this:
Premium java giant Starbucks is venturing into what some would consider lowbrow territory with a soluble-coffee product called Via, according to three executives familiar with the matter.
Starbucks declined to comment on the launch, which is said to be a long-term pet project of Chief Executive Howard Schultz and as such will get a significant marketing push.
Starbucks will begin testing the soluble coffee — a term that conjures up images of instant brands such as Folgers, Sanka and Brim — by selling it in Starbucks cafes as early as next month. It’s unclear as yet whether the company will also extend the product to supermarkets, where it already has a presence with ground Starbucks-branded coffee.
A corporate memo to employees describes it this way:
We are hosting exclusive events next week in New York and other cities where we will unveil the product. We have been working on this project for over 20 years, and have a patent pending on the technology that enables us to absolutely replicate the taste of Starbucks coffee in an instant form. And as Howard has always said, “The proof is in the cup.”
Ouch. I realize Starbucks is in a bad way and Schultz’ goal of making his company the equal of leading indie shops was always a pipe dream, but this is completely throwing in the towel. There’s just no way to market your stores’ expertly sourced and roasted beans, high-tech brewing equipment, and skilled baristas while telling customers they can “absolutely replicate” the taste experience at home with an instant formula. This might be profitable in the short-term (SBUX stock is up today, in fact), but it’s brand suicide. Employees are justifiably furious; check the comments at Starbucks Gossip for some of their reactions.
I’m not writing this to gloat. As I’ve written before, I think Starbucks has helped advance the specialty coffee industry and I’m glad to see any shop, whether a corporate behemoth or a small independent, raise customers’ expectations. It would have been great if Starbucks continued in that role. Now, however, I’m more ticked than ever that this instant coffee company has exclusive access to the Clover. So much more could be done with it in better hands.
On the upside, an instant coffee cupping could make for a fun blog post.
Coffee on My Mind
For many, many, many years, I hated coffee. I hated it not quite as much as the protagonist of Memoir from Antproof Case hates coffee, but close–very, very close. To those who would listen, I would summarize my objections by quoting the “immortal” words of Queen Elizabeth I in Van Loon’s Lives, “I wouldn’t wash my pigs in it.”
Then at some point–after all formal schooling so I can’t even blame that–I started drinking coffee. I’m still not sure I like it, but I drink it pretty regularly. So thus I am heartened to hear that a study claims coffee delays the onset of dementia.
However, as this study was run by Swedes, I admit I view it as suspect. I work with a Swede. Her coffee consumption alone keeps at least three coffee-growing families from poverty every year, so I suspect there’s a little self-justification of behavior going on this study.
But what the heck, if drinking coffee does delay dementia, it’s a more pleasurable and less arduous way of doing so than this, and it could also lead to reconciliation between hostile peoples, which in my experience calorie-restricted diets rarely do.
This Week in Bacon
Bacon tastes good. We all know that. However, we also know that bacon has some undesired calories. So, what if you could enjoy the taste of bacon in the morning, without actually consuming it? Well, Boca Java just developed the perfect solution: Maple Bacon Morning coffee. This is how Boca Java describes the coffee:
Reminiscent of a hearty Saturday morning breakfast around the table, this sweet, savory coffee delights the senses with the smell and taste of home! Maple Bacon Morning has a base that’s full-bodied and complex, and it’s a delicious way to rise when the rooster crows!
So, now you can get your caffeine fix and your bacon fix, without the calories! (And it’s vegetarian-safe too!) What an effective (and much healthier) way to start your morning. I’m all for this coffee/bacon/maple syrup consolidation, but it could be a hit or miss, depending on how closely Boca Java could replicate the tastes of maple syrup and bacon in the coffee beans. Consumers so far, have given the coffee 4.5 of 5 stars, so it’s probably worth a try. Rise and shine!
Speaking of coffee…
My article about Starbucks, indie shops, and the competition between them is online today at Doublethink, originally published in the Fall print issue. Here’s a taste:
This antipathy was reflected in my own experience as a member of the libertarian think-tank world and a barista at one of Washington, D.C.’s leading independent shops. As I learned more about coffee, Starbucks seemed increasingly evil. The company was losing its focus on coffee quality, replacing skilled baristas with super-automatic machines, and burying its burnt espresso under heaps of milk and sugar. And wasn’t it driving independent shops like the one I worked at out of business? Yet my libertarian leanings had taught me to be wary of knee-jerk negativity toward corporations, and I suspected there was more to the story than anti-Starbucks sentiment might suggest.
Full story here.
Coffee @ Art: In the NYT, on My Arm
Illustrator Christoph Niemann’s clever and attractive NYT napkin-art homage to his long and varied relationship with coffee caught my eye. Not just because I’m a coffee lover, which I am, but because for fifteen years I’ve sported a coffee tattoo on my muscular left arm (pictured at right).
Here’s Niemann describing his earliest memory of coffee:
I must have been 5 when I first discovered the taste of coffee, when I was accidentally given a scoop of coffee ice cream. I was inconsolable: how could grown-ups ruin something as wonderful as ice cream with something as disgusting as coffee?
I find that especially funny, because I started drinking coffee as often as possible at age 6, first by stealing sips from my parents’ Dunkin’ Donuts laaahge regyahlahs, and soon ordering a cup (and refills) in every-Sunday breakfast sojourns to various North Shore (Mass.) diners with my grandmother.
The tattoo came later–only after having worked at an indie coffee joint did I consider the move to expressing my love in ink, and only after working at Starbucks did I actually earn enough money to put the plan into action.
Morning, Coffee Achievers!
Newsweek Writer’s Silly ‘Starbucks Theory of International Economics’
There have been lots of cockeyed pop-food theories to emerge recently. I’m talking to you Morning Banana Diet, and a little less so to proponents of the Bugs Will Save Us All worldview.
But those schemes are nothing compared to Newsweek writer Daniel Gross’s Starbucks Theory of International Economics.
…I propose the Starbucks Theory of International Economics. The higher the concentration of expensive, nautical-themed faux-Italian branded frappuccino joints in a country’s financial capital, the more likely the country is to have suffered catastrophic financial losses.
Gross goes on to list several economically souring countries that have tons of Starbucks, and several economically sound (or mediocre) countries that have very few Starbucks.
Presto! Theory affirmed. Sort of. Because while Gross does admit the “theory isn’t foolproof,” he calls it “close enough.”
Close enough to what or, specifically, where?
How about to Iceland, a country with exactly zero Starbucks, but whose bizarre banking system has wreck(ya-vick)ed the country’s economy faster than an Albanian pyramid scheme? Or how about North Korea? No Starbucks there. No economy (or food), either.
So the theory’s corollary is untrue. The number of Starbucks in a country (or its capital) doesn’t have much to do with the country’s economic situation.
But there may be something to a Starbucks Theory of International Economics. It’s just not what Gross thinks it is. And so I’m stealing the theory named by Gross, and re-defining it thusly:
Globalized countries, many of which have multiple Starbucks locations, are currently caught up in a global economic downturn.
That’s it. That’s my concise, cautious, correlative, and causational-folly-free cappuccino theory.
[Flickr snap taken from Colin Purrington.]
Coffee vs. Boobs: Celebrity Death Match
A quandary:
1) Coffee reduces breast size.
2) Coffee also reduces breast cancer.
Tie-breaker: Coffee is delicious.
Coffee wins!
A new Swedish study finds that about half of all women possess a gene shown to link size to coffee intake.
“Drinking coffee can have a major effect on breast size,” said Helena Jernström, a lecturer in experimental oncology at Lund University….While a regular brew appears to have a somewhat deflationary aspect, there is also one very positive effect in that coffee reduces the risk of breast cancer.
Thanks to fellow Crispy blogger Jacob for bringing this vital medical news to my attention.
Lunch Buffet
NASA says that space smells like steak, which apparently smells like “hot metal and motorbike welding,” the Sun reports. Yum.
The new horror movie Pig Hunt details all the horrible things–think Deliverance crossed with giant man-eating pigs–that can happen to you when you try to bring home the bacon with a shotgun, relays the Press Democrat.
Coffee may not be “Columbia’s national crop,” but that doesn’t change the fact that Juan Valdez is taking on Starbucks.
Murky Coffee’s Shot Glasses Are, Um, Murky
Though I am a former barista (having first worked at an indie joint and then Starbucks, beginning in 1993), I do live in the DC area, and I have been to Arlington, Virginia’s Murky Coffee on a few occasions, I didn’t weigh in on this summer’s headline grabbing espresso-over-ice controversy for the following reason: all parties involved in the argument were perfectly capable of making asses of themselves without my help.
To recap–for the benefit of those of you who were lucky enough to miss the story–Brooklyn hipster goes to Murky and orders espresso over ice. Barista says um dude we don’t do that. Customer asks like why not? Barista says it makes it taste yucky. Customer says but that’s how I want it. Barista… Well you get the picture.
Boring. And boorish. And blogged to death.
Ultimately, Murky should be able to decline to serve its customers whatever it wants. And the customer should be allowed to ask for his order however he wants it. But Murky should still be able to decline, and said customer should–if he feels so moved–take his business elsewhere.
I was in Murky earlier this week while killing some time waiting for a friend who works nearby. Frankly, if another place was closer and better, I’d have happily gone there. See, I have always found Murky’s coffee to be, frankly, not very good. It’s reasonably priced, and the shop offers a nice space to sit in and read if you can find a table, but let’s be clear that no one should go to Murky for the quality of its coffee.
But that’s not how Murky views itself. What always got me during the summer iced-coffee fiasco was the owner’s public stance about the “very exacting technique” Murky baristas use to brew their espresso drinks. I’d watched them before–as I’m wont to do, as a longtime barista and former Starbucks quality-control inspector–and hadn’t noticed them take any special considerations.
Earlier this week, though, after I ordered my drink, I noticed something quite different than the claimed “very exacting technique”: dirty shot glasses used in drink pours.
It’s barista/bartender 101 that you rinse out a shot glass between pours. Hell, I’ll go so far as to suggest it’s merely common sense. These are photos of my drink being made. The first shows the dirty shot glasses on the espresso maker. Moments later, you can clearly see espresso going into the same dirty shot glasses. (For good measure & authentication purposes, here’s a wider pan snapped seconds later at Murky.)
All of this is to say not that Murky sucks–it doesn’t–or that the iced-coffee guy was right. He probably wasn’t. But it is to say that when you claim to hold yourself to higher standards, and take a holier-than-thou approach with your customers–some of whom are themselves “very exacting” when it comes to the product you sell–you can expect to get bitten in the ass from time to time. As here.
Minn. Governor’s Coffee Cup Runneth Over (Onto Radio Console)
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s radio show came to a steaming halt this morning after the governor spilled his coffee all over the show’s control panel, reports Minnesota Public Radio.
I should just confess that I spilled some coffee into the control board here and now we’re experiencing a delay so we can’t take calls. This is not good.
Impressively, the Daily Kos put a coffee hex on Pawlenty and the GOP just two days ago.
Pawlenty, unknown among my synapses, is apparently the frontrunner and hot pick to serve as John McCain’s GOP running mate. Which I guess would make Pawlenty — potentially a cross between clumsy Gerald Ford and doofus Minnesotan Rose “Because I Come from the Land of Pawlenty” Nylund — a heartbeat away from spilling coffee on the button.
