Coffee a Brain Booster for Women?

Women who drink coffee may get more than a quick caffeine energy boost. Researchers say life-long coffee drinkers tend to have more brain power as they grow old.

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Adventures in Home Coffee Roasting

James at The Coffee Project recently helped a food critic get started in home roasting coffee. The food critic has chronicled his first steps in home roasting on his website. If you are considering getting into home roasting, or if you would like to compare your experiences with eGullet.com, hit this link: Adventures in Home Coffee Roasting

Texan takes 5 year coffee break

Smith, an out-of-work software engineer from Houston, has a fascination with Starbucks. He is the self-appointed nomad of specialty coffee, wandering across the country in a quest to visit every company-run Starbucks store on the planet.

The fact that Starbucks is opening an average of three outlets a day from Puyallup to the Philippines doesn't seem to faze Smith. He has racked up more than 271,000 miles on his 1997 Acura Integra since starting his on-again, off-again journey five years ago. So far, he says he's visited more than 3,200 stores in North America and 38 in the United Kingdom.

"It's about doing something that nobody else has done," he said last week during a swing through Seattle, where he hit a dozen new Puget Sound-area stores between stops in Vancouver, B.C., and Eastern Washington.

Smith, 30, said he was at a Starbucks in Plano, Texas, in 1997 when he heard baristas talking about the company's one-time mantra to have 2,000 stores by the year 2000. The idea struck him: Why not visit them all?

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4 Bottle Rating Goes to Badgett's Coffee eJournal

This page is dedicated to food lovers who are looking for UK internet sites that sell fine food & drink on line. There is also a section devoted to web sites located in our own area of South Somerset in the United Kingdom. Each site is rated according to our judgement of ease of use, appearance and speed of loading. If a sales site, the maximum rating of 5 Champagne bottles can only be achieved if the site has a secure ordering system.

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North America's Sustainable Coffee Movement

St. Catharines, Ontario – October 31st, 2002 – Beantrends.com, President Catherine Benevides, announces the launch of its new website, www.beantrends.com

With a philanthropic approach, this new site is dedicated to fostering sustainability within the coffee industry. With their company motto, “North America’s Sustainable Coffee Movement”, the founders expect a big following of caring coffee lovers.

Coffee is the second most valuable internationally traded commodity in the world and studies conducted by the major coffee associations are indicating that consumer awareness of the specialty coffee industry is growing, so too is the need to educate on sustainable coffee.

With daily updates on industry related news, affiliations with major coffee organizations, a great selection of gourmet coffee and a program that takes a percentage of coffee sales and ‘gives back’ to the industry, Beantrends plans to do their part in helping to eradicate the crisis’ going on in third world countries and around the world.
“Coffee plays a predominant part in many environmental issues” says Mrs. Benevides who has been involved in the industry for many years.

Focusing on the main crises within the industry, Beantrends.com will focus on:

· Fair-trade issues relating to how farmers are being deprived of normal human rites like proper medical care and how children are out picking beans rather getting an education;

· Rainforest Alliance-certified (ECO-O.K.) The Rainforest Alliance works with farmers to make changes that will reduce environmental impacts, improve conditions for workers, conserve natural resources and protect biodiversity. The social and ecological benefits extend far beyond the farms in newly solidified communities, cleaner rivers, increased wildlife populations, cleaner water supplies, sanitary systems, collaborations between farm managers and neighboring parks, protected watersheds, and worker's paychecks that are on average twice the minimum wage. Thousands of farm families benefit from this program;

· Shade Grown Bird-Friendly addressing the lack of forests for migratory birds to encourage their sustainability including the role they play in growing coffee;

· Organic which often ties in with Shade Grown Bird Friendly as with Shade Grown coffee farmers need not use as much pesticides. Organic coffee is already notably growing in popularity.

The industry links page include non-profit organizations like Transfair Canada, The Rainforest Alliance, Coffee Kids, Seattle Audubon Society, Conservation International, The Songbird Foundation and Environmental Defense to name a few.

Beantrends.com 's main objective is to educate people about an industry that we all take for granted. People are totally unaware of the crisis' going on, however major coffee associations are targeting their efforts on the subject and with current world problems people are starting to care more. We want this industry and those exploited by it to receive the attention it deserves.

Cypriot Male Bastion of Coffee Shop Crumbles

By Michele Kambas

XYLOPHAGOU, Cyprus (Reuters) - The last bastion of the Cypriot male, the hallowed coffee shop, is being challenged by a group of grandmothers who have had their fill of husbands going off for hours on end as they mind the children at home.

Women of the farming village of Xylophagou, once not allowed down the road without a male escort, now say the boot is on the other foot.

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Vietnam's coffee exports expected to fall 30 percent

AP World Politics
Fri Oct 25, 6:50 AM ET

HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam's coffee exports in the 2002-03 crop season are likely to fall 30 percent to around 500,000 metric tons (551,000 US tons) because of low world prices and poor weather, an industry group said Friday.

In the past decade, Vietnam has become one of the world's top coffee producers. Rival coffee producers blame the country's rapid increase in output for triggering the worldwide price drop.

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RABBI PLISKIN'S DAILY LIFT

Daily Lift #127 Take Concrete Action

When you feel inspired or enthusiastic about something, take concrete action even if it's a very small step.

Sometimes we might hear an inspiring talk or read an inspiring article or book and feel fired up. If we push off taking action until we have enough time or knowledge or energy to do a proper job, we might lose our feelings of inspiration or enthusiasm. If, however, we start taking some action, then there is a greater likelihood that one action will lead to another and we will continue doing more.
(From "Enthusiasm: formulas, stories, and insights" (2002) p.45; available from http://www.artscroll.com)

Students want Beavercreek to regulate bean usage

By Amelia Robinson
Dayton Daily News

BEAVERCREEK | A cup of Joe goes for a buck or two in most area restaurants and cafes, but a handful of Beavercreek high school students said the expense means hours of back-breaking labor for little compensation for Central and South American coffee bean growers.

"You’ve got a lot of hard working people living in poverty," Michael Hachey said. "People work on these farms every day and they send their kids out to find work."

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Mr. Coffee Attempts To Perk Up Image

NEW YORK -- Mr. Coffee, the product made famous in ads three decades ago by Joe DiMaggio, said Monday that it will launch a "major brand repositioning" campaign that celebrates the brand's 30th anniversary and targets new and younger consumers.

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Kulfi Recipe

Kulfi is Indian ice cream and this recipe is very easy to make. The espresso is an option that adds a nice touch to the recipe and lessens the sweetness.

1 1/4 cups evaporated milk
1 1/4 cups sweetened condensed milk
1 (16 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 slices white bread, torn into pieces
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
double shot espresso, cooled (optional)


Directions
1. Combine evaporated milk, espresso, condensed milk and whipped topping in a blender and blend in pieces of bread until smooth.
2. Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish or two plastic ice cube trays, sprinkle with cardamom and freeze for 8 hours or overnight.
3. Cut into cubes (1 1/2") to serve.

Ten Great Reasons for Home Roasting Coffee

Roasting coffee at home is one of the few things that you can do which is truly All Good...

1. Home roasted coffee at home produces the best tasting, freshest coffee possible.

2. You will NEVER have to drink stale or freezer stale coffee again.

3. You only roast as much as you need.

4. Green coffee has a shelf life similar to any other dried bean. When you find one you like, you can stock up with virtually no loss of quality. (Roasted coffee is only fresh for a few days.

5. Roasting your own coffee is frugal. You’ll pay about half as much as roasted coffee for the finest beans available.

6. YOU have complete control. Like it darker? Lighter? A little of each? Create your own favorite blends or enjoy a single origin coffee as it is, straight from the farm.

7. Do you want to make it even easier? We have beans pre-blended to perfection.

8. You only drink decaf? No problem... You can roast your own decaf.

9. Do you want to save the world? Although we choose coffee primarily for its taste and quality, many of our coffees are certified organic, shade grown, or bird friendly. This doesn’t mean that others are not organic etc., just that some have the seal. Ask us about this!

10. Fresh roasted coffee is as good as fresh baked bread, But only takes about ten minutes to make. By the time you’ve done the dishes you’ll have FRESH roasted coffee for the morning.

You have choices. Do you prefer the classic taste of a premium Colombian Supremo or the winey brightness of a Kenya AA? Something wild and exotic like our Red Sea Blend? Or Kona and Kauai coffees grown and picked by Americans in our own state of Hawaii?

Bragging Rights: If you consider yourself to be a gourmand, if you think you love coffee now, Imagine roasting your own, sharing it with your friends and experimenting with the one ingredient of a perfect meal which is often overlooked. Anyone can bring wine to a dinner party… but imagine bringing fresh home roasted coffee, even Jamaica Blue Mountain which you roasted in your own kitchen. That is something special! You can almost smell it now, can’t you?

There are many more great reasons than can be listed here... Ten reasons isn’t even a drop in the cup! Try it. It’s easy. It’s good. You don’t need an expensive machine and you don’t need a lot of training. You can produce coffee today better than you’ve ever tasted in your life.

The Coffee Project