Patriotic History of Coffee and Tea

Before 1600, alcoholic beverages with enough alcohol in them to kill bacteria were the safest and most popular drinks. Water was unsafe and unpopular. Coffee and tea became very popular because they used boiled water, which killed bacteria, and they tasted good and gave a nice caffeine mood boost.

Tea became so popular in England that the government, in order to offset falling tax revenues from alcoholic beverages, licensed coffeehouses and levied a tax of 8 cents per gallon. The English East India Company had been given the monopoly on tea in 1669 and its profits helped finance the colonization of India and brought about the Opium Wars between England and China. The East India Company further strengthened tea drinking in England in the late 1700's by a "Drink Tea" campaign. Cheap tea, high taxes on alcoholic beverages, and patriotism all combined to create the British tradition of tea drinking.

America was also part of the British tea drinking tradition, at least until Parliament's greed and disregard for the American colonists' rights allowed passage of the Stamp Act in 1765. The Americans boycotted English tea in 1767 and switched to smuggled tea and increased their consumption of coffee. The East India Company was hurt financially by the boycott so the British government gave it permission to sell tea without the tax. This tax-free tea was shipped to America in several ships and would have solved the "taxation without representation" protest but for the fact that American merchants were prevented from making profit.

It was the American merchants who rebelled at this tax-free tea. Their rebellion culminated when 342 chests of English tea were dumped into the Boston Harbor December 16, 1773.

The same patriotism that turned England into a nation of tea drinkers had the opposite effect in America. The choice of tea or coffee determined one's loyalty. Those loyal to the Crown chose tea, and the Americans, in their attempt to rid themselves of everything English, became a nation of coffee drinkers.

Proposal brewing for Seattle "espresso tax"

Thursday August 8, 6:08 PM EDT

By Reed Stevenson

SEATTLE, Aug 8 (Reuters) - A campaign is underway to slap a tax on espresso in the city that launched America's love affair with dark, strong coffee.

But so far few caffeine addicts living in the hometown of the Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) and Tully's Coffee Corp. are complaining.

That's because polls say that more than two-thirds of them favor a tax that would add 10 cents to the price of each cup of espresso or espresso-based coffee to help provide better child day care for low-income families.

More...

Just how much does that early morning slug of caffeine cost?

Andrew Murray-Watson Senior Business Reporter

THE first thing most of us do upon arriving in the office is to administer a large dose of caffeine into our shell-shocked systems.

Coffee, in its many welcoming forms, is a lifesaver for countless stressed and tired workers across the world. In the UK, we drink more of the stuff at work than at home and a world without coffee is, for many, a thought not worth contemplating.

But despite coffee’s central role in our working day, not many of us give a second thought as to where it comes from or how it is produced.

More...

RABBI PLISKIN'S DAILY LIFT

Daily Lift #88 641 Courage Is Relative

Courage is subjective and relative. For example, some people are naturally assertive. They can easily speak up. They can easily ask others for things. They can easily ask questions. They can easily stick up for their rights.

Others are naturally intimidated. They would rather do without, than say things that everyone would agree they have a right to say. For them, asking for what they need is an act of courage.

Asking questions is an act of courage. Sticking up for rights is an act of courage.


(From Rabbi Pliskin's book, "Courage")

A lot happens between the cup and bean

Comments By John Heuman (An exerpt from the Wall Street Journal)

When comparing raw (green) coffee prices with the finished product of vacuum packed coffee one must take into consideration the cost of additional factors that affect the final cost of the product. There is a shrinkage of 15% to 17% in the roasting process. In addition there is the cost of packaging, labor, overhead and shipping. All of these costs have risen substantially in the past five years. This narrows the differential between the cost of raw and finished product considerably. That is why retail coffee prices and raw coffee cannot decline or rise in direct proportion to one another.

More...

An oversupply of coffee beans deepens Latin America's woes

By PETER FRITSCH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

LA DALIA, Nicaragua -- Antonio Luna thought he had seen the worst life had to offer during the 1980s, when his village in Nicaragua's coffee-rich northern highlands sat in the crossfire of a guerrilla war between U.S.-backed "contra" rebels and the Marxist Sandinista government.

That was before this May, when his family's home became a plastic tarp pitched along the roadside here. Huddled with about 3,000 other unemployed coffee pickers, Mr. Luna is a hungry refugee from a potentially more devastating conflict than any he has known before: a global brawl over the $55 billion coffee market. The fight has left the world awash in java and has driven inflation-adjusted prices for beans to their lowest levels in more than a century.

More...

Are you ready to computerize?

What do I consider when purchasing a Point Of Sale (POS) system for my coffee shop or specialty coffee retailing business?

Imagine this!

It is Sunday night. Your Coffee Shop has just closed. It is the last business day of the month and monthly taxes must be post marked by the end of the day on Monday. What do you do?

If you are running a simple cash register to track your daily transactions, you are probably taking the daily Z Report totals and entering them manually into a spreadsheet and then reentering them into some kind of accounting software. Before you can proceed, you have to unravel the mysteries of why there were so many over and under rings on the register. Things just don't seem to add up! If you have not been keeping up with this task daily, you have many hours of work ahead of you. Time to pull a couple of shots of espresso for the long night ahead.

When you are done with the taxes, you need to produce a report for your business partner with sales analysis information. Where are you going to get that data?

It is about this time that you say to yourself, "There must be a better way"!

There is! Using a computerized Point of Sale (POS) program would solve these issues for you and give you up to the minute information to base important financial business decisions on.

Other benefits of running a POS system would be; Accuracy of Orders, Security of Cash Handling, Ease of Training, Theft Reduction, Barista / Cashier Control, Increased Sales, Sales Reporting, Credit Card reporting.

The decision is made. You are going to investigate the purchase of a POS system for your shop.

What do you need to look for in procuring a pos system for a Coffee Shop?

A coffee shop is a hybrid type of business. It is not exactly like a restaurant, although food and beverages are being prepared. It is not like a hard goods retailer, but you will find many coffee shops selling gift items.

The POS has to be flexible. Here are some things to consider when purchasing a POS system for your coffee shop?

• Can it handle the set-up of all your drink items in an organized and easy to follow way?

• Will it track the ingredients of those drinks so that you will be able to have food costing information.

• Can you easily train yourself and your employees?

• Does the system allow for the easy addition of non coffee related items.

• Does the system allow for you to integrate with an accounting software package such as QuickBooks.

• How does credit card processing work? Is it easy to switch from standard transactions to restaurant style, where tips are required?

• Does the System have a Loyalty / Prepaid / Gift Account system allowing you to track your customer activity and automatically provide rewards to your customers?

• Does the system have full reporting, including sales analysis reports and Z / X-reports, sales tax reports, and inventory listings. Export reports to Word or Excel documents, email or HTML pages.

• Will the system allow you to run multiple registers and multiple locations? Can this information be easily consolidated?

• What kind of password security does the system have?

• Can the system be accessed remotely (from off site)?

• Does the system have internet capabilities?

• What are the hardware requirements for your system? Can the system be run on your own computers? Are POS peripherals easily available for the system?

• Does the system allow for employee check in and scheduling functions?

• Does the system provide for an effective way for you to get data back-ups?

• What are the support policies of the software / hardware vendor's)?

• How much can the system be customized to fit your specific needs?

• How much does the software and hardware cost?

These are just a few of the things to consider prior to the purchase of a Point of Sale (POS) system for your coffee shop.

This article was provided by Lee Alexander (lee@coffeeshopmanager.com) and David Johnson (david@coffeeshopmanager.com) who design and develop applicatons for coffee shops. They are eager to respond to your specific software questions and your inquiries are invited.

Robert's Coffee Memories

Robert's Comments-Published Issue No. 5, June 23, 2000

Coffee is "Our Most Wonderful Beverage." Think about it. It's easy to buy, brew, and drink. It's not fattening. It tastes great (if done right). It makes you feel good. It's legal. It's socially acceptable. It can be simple or complicated, depending on your interest.

Coffee is really more than taste, smell, and energy boost. Think back to your childhood and what coffee meant to you. I grew up in a family that seemed to always have a pot of coffee going. When friends or relatives came to visit, my mother would make a pot of coffee. When we had any party or gathering, someone would make a pot of coffee. I associated the smells and sounds of my mother's old percolator with good times and comfort. No day ever started without those smells and sounds filling my favorite room, the kitchen.

My parents would never allow me to drink coffee as a child, even though I guzzled iced tea year 'round. It was a "rite of passage" into the adult world, so when my grandfather allowed me to drink coffee (without Mother's knowledge, of course), I was thrilled. I was about eight years old and it tasted awful! I remember it like it was last week. It was black as coal, strong, bitter, and had oily gunk floating on the surface. I hated it but I drank it anyway, because it was such a grown-up thing to do. To this day, when I taste bad coffee I think of that morning in my grandfather's kitchen.

How about you? Do you have memories of coffee you'd like to share? Contact me and share your thoughts.

Guatemalan Coffee History

In 1760, Jesuit Priests introduced a coffee plant in Antigua, Guatemala with the purpose of using it as an ornament for their gardens. Forty years later, Don Juan Rubio y Gemir cultivated the first plants of coffee in the outskirts of the city. Since that year, all the coffee plantations were supported by the 'Real Order' (Spain).

Guatemala signed their Independence in September 1821.

The new government in charge wanted to increase the productivity potential of all the fields. They established agreements to support the coffee plantations like 'Decreto 1ro. de octubre' (October 1st, decree), it said that 'We will give two hundred pesos to the first farmer who produces 10,000 pounds of coffee, one hundred pesos to the second, third and fourth Farmer'. Since 1871, the coffee business became the number one export for Guatemala's economy.

Guatemala is part of a highly mountainous region ideal for coffee crops in Central America. The mountains are further blessed by frequent rainfall and plenty of sunshine. The many volcanoes add additional nitrogen to the already rich soil. There are five coffee growing regions in Guatemala: Antigua, Atitlan, Coban, Fraijanes and Huehuetenango. These regions with their temperate weather and fields of rich soil have the perfect conditions for the world's best coffee plantations.

Guatemalan coffee is grown at an altitude ranging from 1,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level. Most of the best coffee plantations are located on mountain slopes. The reason Guatemalan coffee is of such high quality is due to the fact that "the finest coffee comes from highest altitudes".

Guatemalan Coffee is known for its tradition of receiving the highest awards among the world's best coffees.

Submitted by Luis Fernando del Pinal… TimeForCoffee Website

The Caffeine Archive

The Caffeine Archive has been a fun spot on the World Wide Web since 1994. This makes it one of the original fun sites on the Internet.

It was developed by programmers in Austin, Texas to celebrate the caffeinated beverages that keep the high tech community up all night coding. We have kept the original background and banner graphic over the years honoring what is old, like an old antique quilt.

The archive is links to reference areas on caffeine, caffeinated drink links, coffee vendors, miscellaneous stimulating links of all kinds, and a new section on Shade Coffee.

We invite everyone to email us to add their caffeine-related web site to our archive. We are also looking to add a new section on Internet Coffee Houses. We'd like to list coffee shops or cafes around the world that provide online access.

Caffeine Archive Website

More Coffee Storage Tips From Coffeeman

STORING COFFEE

When coffee is roasted, an oil is drawn to the surface of the bean. This oil is called coffee essence/coffeol/coffee oil. The oil is what makes coffee have its flavor. Without this oil, coffee would taste like a bitter brown powder.

Coffee oil is very fragile and will evaporate at an accelerated rate when exposed to oxygen or moisture. To prevent coffee from deteriorating, it should be stored in an air tight glass container at room temperature and placed out of direct sunlight. Glass should be used because it will not retain odor from the beans and will prevent contamination if you choose to store another type of bean in the same container.

Storing coffee in the refrigerator will destroy the flavor of the coffee. The moisture will dilute the oils, which are actually delicate water soluble substances. Refrigerators tend to be damp and most contain other odors which will be absorbed by the coffee bean.

Freezing is a better way to store coffee but the beans must be placed in a glass air tight container. Only lighter roasted coffee should be stored in the freezer. The darker roasted coffees tend to be more fragile. - Coffeeman

Visit Coffeeman's website

A Daily Dose of Wisdom from the Rebbe

Harmony
-------

This is the advantage we human beings have over the other mammals: Their brain and heart are on a single plane, but we stand erect, living in two planes at once.

We have a mind above, looking up to the stars, and from there all things begin. We have a heart below, pumping life into the mind's vision and drawing it down into the real world.

When the mind and heart work with this harmony, they make a wonderful pair. When their roles are lost, they create an acrimony worse than hell.

A Daily Dose of Wisdom from the Rebbe
-words and condensation by Tzvi Freeman

Great Quote from Robert's Collection

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts." Abraham Lincoln

Berkeley to vote on mandating coffee with a conscience

By Mercury News Wire Services
Associated Press

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) - In a city where the politics and the coffee come strong and hot, a November ballot initiative requiring cafes to sell only environmentally and socially correct brews is drawing mixed reaction.

``It ranges from 'Great idea! I love it!' to ... 'Get a life!''' said Rick Young, the recent University of California, Berkeley law school grad behind the measure.

The new law would make it a crime punishable by up to six months in jail and a $100 fine to sell brewed coffee that isn't certified as Fair Trade, organic or shade-grown. It would not apply to dry whole or ground beans.

More...

A bitter brew for coffee farmers

Growers struggle even as sales soar for gourmet beans
By Oakland Ross
Feature Writer

Maria Fiallos is not your average Nicaraguan coffee grower.

For one thing, she's making money, at a time when most Nicaraguan coffee growers — like most coffee growers all over the world — are losing their tattered and sweat-stained shirts.

For another thing, she doesn't live in Nicaragua. She lives in London, Ont., where she manages a small family-owned coffee-importing business called Aroma Nica.

More...

Online system makes caffeine fix even easier

Order over the Net, pick up 5 minutes later at Starbucks

By Rachel Brand, Rocky Mountain News
August 1, 2002

Could buying a latte from Starbucks be any easier? The company thinks so.

Starting today, the coffee retailing giant will test-market an online ordering system for 60 Denver stores.

In this latest version of clicks-and-bricks retail, customers order through the Internet or a cell phone, and in five minutes, their coffee's ready at checkout. Charged to a pre-arranged credit card number, the drinks come with a 25-cent fee.

More...

New Research Suggests Caffeine Elevates Blood Pressure, Stress

By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed By Charlotte Grayson, MD

Aug. 1, 2002 -- Like millions of Americans, self-described coffee addict Kathy Liebswager can't quite function in the mornings until she has had her caffeine fix. She typically drinks eight to 10 cups throughout the day, and she says she believes the caffeine has a calming effect on her.

More...