The Great American Coffee Scam

Coffee lovers in New York city are being ripped-off by shady operators as they enter the northern summer. Iced coffee is being watered down by dishonest baristas and people are not getting what they paid for. On average, a New York iced coffee costs 70 cents more than a hot coffee but contains 60 to 200 mls less actual coffee. Coffee shop owners have a series of excuses including the cost of plastic cups, the cost of making stronger coffee to compensate for melting ice, and the cost of the ice itself. But coffee crusader Joe Rinaldi, a café owner himself pointed out the costs of the ice and the cup add up to about 2 cents and the stronger coffee is offset by the smaller quantity in which its made. Calculations showed iced coffee is worth about 21 cents less than a regular cup. Mr Rinaldi’s customers on the other hand are treated to rich iced espressos and cappuccinos with ice cubes made from real coffee. It’s about time someone had a word to Australian cafés in time for next summer.(from an original article in the New York Post)

Coffee Memories

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, 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 those mornings in my grandfather's kitchen.

Robert

How about you? Do you have memories of coffee you'd like to share? Click on "Comment" and share your thoughts.

Coffee in the Desert

I just returned from a six month long, US Air Force all expenses paid vacation to the lovely nation of Saudi Arabia. We had it pretty easy compared to most and the only real complaint I had was being away from family. When I thought about why I was there, there were no longer any complaints. I had a roommate while there who is normally stationed out of Hawaii and what a great guy. He had one of his friends who is a coffee distributor send us pounds! of 100% pure Kona beans, Ethiopian Harrar, and some awesome Jamaica Blue Mountain.

It was really funny that we were in the middle of the desert enjoying some of the most expensive coffee in the world while we smoked Cuban cigars, I had a contact.

Thought you might enjoy that tale from the desert. Oh, we also had an espresso shop on base, Green Beans Coffee Inc., and when it temporarily closed during the war there was a definite hit to morale.

Take care and I am off to enjoy a nice hot cup of my Philippine Boraco coffee.

Coffee Loving Veteran

Coffee Links-A New Service of Badgett's Coffee eJournal

Starting Tuesday, June 3, we are offering our "New & Improved" Coffee Links on this website. If you have a website or know of a website that should be included, click on the Links link in the upper left area. This is a free service and it is just starting, so watch it grow!

We have attempted to categorize (22 categories!) the complex world of coffee websites so find the category that suits your website and add a short description (optional).

Feel free to place your link in more than one category. If you have a new category that is needed, please contact us with your suggestion.

Robert

Riding gourmet coffee wave

Business blooms at Watertown's Berres Brothers Coffee
By TIM CIGELSKE

Peter Berres hated his job.

Delivering coffee and convenience foods to businesses meant, among other things, driving around the state to dislodge a jam every time a quarter got stuck in the coin slot of a snack machine.

Frustrated with his job and searching for career inspiration, Berres flew to Seattle for a coffee sellers' convention in spring 1991.

More...

Quote

"Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco, and he will endure any privation, suffer any hardship, but let him be without these two necessaries of the woods, and he becomes irresolute and murmuring." U.S. Army Lt. William Whiting in 1849