SmellTheCoffee.com launches new design and features

Coffee site improves its look and functionality.

November 6th, 2003 – Coffee lovers who are having a hard time finding coffee related information and products will be thankful that an old favorite has undergone a major makeover. Over the last 8 months, SmellTheCoffee, Inc. has been redeveloping its entire look and features to improve the navigation to all types of coffee information.

“Our major focus has been to facilitate navigation for our visitors. We have a tremendous amount of information and resources but a lot of our visitors didn’t realize they were all on our site.” Says John Paulson, CEO of SmellTheCoffee, Inc. “By simplifying the design and using new technologies available we have created what we believe is the largest compilation of coffee information on one site.”

SmellTheCoffee.com (http://www.smellthecoffee.com) already has the largest worldwide directory of coffee shops on the Internet with both browser based and portable device access.“ The coffee shop directory features over 10,000 coffee shops around the world. “This is probably our most popular feature, however we offer a lot more than just a directory. We also allow consumers to shop, explore, learn and discuss their favorite coffee topics.” Paulson added.

Some of these new features include an improved shopping platform called the eCoffeeShop™. This one of a kind online shopping experience allows consumers to purchase directly from coffee shops all over the U.S. It features over 200 unique coffee products. In the “explore” category we have added a directory of coffee websites, a coffee industry employment board and a coffee industry events calendar. The “learn” category has expanded to include new articles, new coffee recipes and other coffee information. The coffee discussion forums are growing daily with the addition of the new forums platform.

“We’ve had an overwhelming response to the new look and features. We look forward to continually improving the experience of our site for our visitors.” Paulson concluded.

About SmellTheCoffee.com

SmellTheCoffee.com is an information portal, e-commerce and coffee community dedicated to the topic of coffee. Launched in 1999 with a small directory of coffee shops it gradually grew into one of the largest coffee consumer resource websites.

When professors get coffee, inventions happen

by Matthew Dolbey, Campus Editor
November 06, 2003

University of Wisconsin material-science professor John Perepezko said he and Chancellor John Wiley developed the concept for a microchip later installed in Playstation 2 over idle chitchat and a cup of coffee.
"One of [the] things when we're just sitting together having coffee is talking about ideas," Perepezko said.

Perepzko met Wiley, then an electrical-engineering professor, more than a decade ago. The two have seen their names in the media recently for a patent they made together that was allegedly used without permission by Sony in the Playstation 2 and in some Toshiba products distributed in America.

"[Wiley and I] got together for coffee," he said. "[Wiley] brought up issues that he thought would be roadblocks to progress."

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Pura Vida Coffee Now Available on Amazon.com

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 6, 2003--
As Part of Amazon.com's New Gourmet Food Store, Pura Vida Coffee Provides a Wide Selection of Organic, Fair Trade Coffee to Customers Nationwide

What goes better with a good book than a great cup of coffee? Pura Vida Coffee, the Seattle-based company that uses its profits to help children in coffee-growing regions, today announced that its products can be found at Amazon.com's new Gourmet Food store. Amazon.com, with 37 million active customer accounts, is the place where customers can find and discover anything they want to buy online.

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US may rejoin International Coffee Organisation after decade-long absence

TEGUCIGALPA : The United States may rejoin the UN-sponsored International Coffee Organisation, after withdrawing from the group in protest a decade ago, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said here.

"We are taking another look at participating in the ICO," Powell told reporters after talks with Honduran President Ricardo Maduro whose country is a major coffee producer.

"That's a subject of intense discussions in Washington now," Powell said. "We have a more positive attitude to it now, but we're not quite ready to make an announcement now."

The United States, the world's largest coffee consumer, caused a storm when it withdrew from the ICO in 1993, damaging the group which had then been challenged by the creation among its members of a coffee cartel, the Association of Coffee Producing Countries, to counter falling prices.

The US Congress had long opposed Washington's participation in the ICO, which it accuses of being a cartel in itself by controlling prices and production and demanded radical reform.

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Caffeine levels in takeout coffee can vary wildly, research shows

Dru Sefton
Newhouse News Service

A new scientific study is stirring controversy among coffee aficionados.

Researchers have found that the amount of caffeine in takeout coffee - even the same brew from the same cafe - differs greatly.

In one case, 16-ounce samples over six days of Starbucks Breakfast Blend from one outlet in Gainesville, Fla., had anywhere from 259 to 564 milligrams of caffeine.

"The results weren't what we expected," said Bruce Goldberger of the University of Florida, who led the study. "The caffeine concentrations varied quite a bit."

The findings, "Caffeine Content of Specialty Coffees," appear in the latest issue of the Journal of Analytical Toxicology.

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COFFEE FEST SEATTLE POURS BIG NUMBERS

The specialty coffee industry is thriving, if attendance at Coffee Fest Seattle is any indication. Held this last weekend (October 24-26, 2003) at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, over 4,900 coffee shop retailers, restaurateurs, entrepreneurs and other specialty coffee professionals sampled the latest in specialty coffee, tea and related products.

Attendance was up 7 percent and exhibitor participation was up 17 percent over the Seattle’s 2002 show figures.

“In light of the continued sluggish economy and corporate uncertainty we’re elated that we not only matched but soundly beat last year’s numbers,” David Heilbrunn, Coffee Fest Show Manager, said. “This is a clear indication that the specialty coffee and gourmet tea industries are continuing to thrive.”

Awards were given to the top three new products at Coffee Fest Seattle. San Francisco Chocolate Factory took home the first place prize with their innovative “Coffee Lovers Chocolate Collection.” Second place went to Timolino, for their Countertop Carafe, and Innovated Products received the third place prize for their new Metal Coffee Bean Bin for the home.

The second annual Dillanos Latte Art Competition was a tremendous success and featured the defending champion from both last year’s Seattle show and this year’s Las Vegas show. Both Zack Lacik (Seattle ’02 champion) and Sammy Piccolo (Las Vegas ‘03 champion) are baristas at Caffe Artigiano in Vancouver, B.C. Both were early favorites to win the Seattle ‘03 championship. In addition, competitors participated from Tokyo, Japan and Taipei, Taiwan. When the qualifying rounds had completed Saturday the stage was set for the Coffee Fest Seattle Free Pour Latte Art Championships on Sunday. Both Zack and Sammy qualified as did a representative from both Japan and Taiwan. The finals were truly a global affair with Japan, Taiwan, United States and Canada all represented.

The championship was ultimately won by a barista from Caffe Artigiano. The surprise, however, was that it wasn’t one of the defending champions, but instead their counterpart, J.C. Morris. Barely squeaking into the competition as the last of ten qualifiers, J.C. led off the competition on Sunday, set the bar, and, as it turned out, the bar was never raised. Final results were as follows:
1st place JC Morris, Caffe Artigiano $1,000
2nd Place, Zack Laic, Caffe Artigiano $500
3rd Place, Bronwen Serna Hines Public Market Seattle Washington $250
4th place Sammy Piccolo, Caffe Artigiano, Vancouver, B.C. $0

After three Coffee Fest Free Pour Latte Art Competitions, it is clear that Caffe Artigiano in Vancouver, B.C. is the reigning Latte Art Café Champion of the world.

Coffee Fest Seattle attendees and exhibitors alike reported nearly 100% satisfaction with the event. 91% of the attendees surveyed upon exiting the show could come up with no suggestions on how the event could be improved in the future. 93% report that they are likely to return for Coffee Fest Seattle 2004.

Coffee Fest is a trade show catering to the specialty coffee and gourmet tea industries. Coffee Fest’s next show is slated for the New Washington D.C. Convention Center, March 19-21, 2004. Coffee Fest will return to Las Vegas June 12-14, 2004 at the Sands Expo Center/Venetian Hotel and will be co-located with the Great American Dessert Expo.

Colombian Specialty Coffee Faces Hurdles

By Bruce Kamich

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Despite a commitment to spend $2.3 million over the next 3 years, Colombia may find it difficult to promote its specialty coffee and double its exports, roasters and importers said.

"We used to buy a lot more of it. But we found the quality varied a lot, and we started to switch to Nicaraguan beans,'' said Larry Challain, president of Batdorf & Bronson Coffee Roasters in Olympia, Washington.

Specialty coffee commands a premium in the marketplace and Colombian growers want more for their efforts. They face a number of hurdles though, industry experts said.

"There are good opportunities to find high-quality coffee in Colombia, but you have to be prepared to take an active role because quality-wise things can be a little dicey,'' said Lindsey Bolger, coffee manager for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) of Waterbury, Vermont.


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Coffee? Make mine Dota Select, pure Costa Rica

Story by Tony Tedeschi
naturaltraveler.com

In the lush mountains that define the Central Valley of Costa Rica, there is an area called Dota, where some of the world's finest coffee is grown and processed. Locus of this activity is a tiny town called Santa Maria de Dota, about two hours south of the capital city of San José. With nearby towns called San Cristobal, San Pablo, San Ignacio, San Gabriel, San Lorenzo, San Marcos, the region is known as La Ruta de los Santos, and if the saints are, in fact, hovering here in some nether land or parallel universe, it is surely the aroma of roasting coffee beans they find irresistible. Is there anything that quite measures up to that aroma? People who don't drink coffee swoon over it.

I visited Santa Maria de Dota with Matias Zeledon, founder and director of a company called Down to Earth. Matias is a friend of long standing and one of those entrepreneurs who recognize opportunities, turn them into something viable, but never lose sight of where the resources are being generated and the need to keep them viable. The motto he has chosen for Down to Earth is "Started by Mother Nature, finished by hand." He markets food, paper, jewelry, health products, crafts and other items via the Web at www.godowntoearth.org. One of the reasons his company is a "dot org" is that every sale includes an opportunity for the buyer to designate 6% of the net as a contribution to one of four Costa Rica foundations that are involved in conservation of the country's remarkable biology. One of the products Matias retails is Dota coffee, single-origin, pure and unblended.

"This is simply the best coffee in the world," he says. "It's a combination of climate, precipitation, soil composition and the care involved in every step of the process, from the tender loving care of the small farmers who grow the plants to the way the beans are handled at the cooperative."


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Coffee roasters feel heat from competition

As numbers increase, concerns of market saturation are percolating

Steve Bloom/The Olympian

Espresso bars have become as common in the Northwest as the gray skies that invite a caffeine shot.
But what java-philes might not think about while they sip their morning ambrosia -- whether it's a cup of black coffee or a more embellished concoction -- are the people who roast the coffee beans.

Or that a growing number of gourmet roasters are rooted in South Sound.

For coffee lovers, the thickening competition creates more choices. For roasters, a more crowded field means working harder to stand apart.

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The Art of Coffee

Santa Rosa's Ecco Caffé proves there's more to coffee than meets the eye (and nose)

By Sara Bir

Bad coffee--diner coffee, served with a greasy heart-attack breakfast, or 7-11 coffee drunk to fuel a road trip--is like Pabst Blue Ribbon. It has its place, but as a pure expression of the integrity of the beverage, it's . . . well, it's embarrassing.

Though it seems that everyone drinks coffee, most of us have no idea what we are drinking. When it comes to coffee, people tend to think in terms of light or dark roasts, latte or au lait. There's no shame in that, though once the politically charged and deeply involved backstory of coffee production is taken into account, it gets pretty mind-boggling; a bean is no longer just a bean. Where was it grown? And, for that matter, how was it grown? Who grew it? How was it roasted, how was it brewed, and who brewed it?

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Dan Flannery column: Do you want a cup o’ joe or a grande Arabian Mocha Java?

Those who know me will tell you this: I am a simple person with simple tastes.

Simple concepts (e.g., days are light, nights are dark) and I get along well. The most complex questions are satisfied by simple answers in my world.

Because of that character trait, however, some areas of life give me trouble. To wit, ordering a simple cup of coffee has become decidedly not simple.

I am intimidated. Some of you probably are, too.

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Cathedrals of coffee

By Leslie Gillilan

Sitting opposite me in a corner booth of the New Piccadilly, Adrian Maddox is putting the world to rights. It is, perhaps, what people do - or used to do - in postwar Soho cafes - a bit of sociopolitical table-banging over endless mugs of Typhoo or cups of espresso.

The New Piccadilly certainly sets the scene perfectly: the fading 1950s decor, the atmospheric fug of steam, fags and chip fat; and Maddox himself, the angry young-ish writer, railing against a society which he fears will allow the New Piccadilly - indeed, a whole generation of "vintage Formica cafes" - to be wiped out by the "scourge of fast-breeder US coffee chains".

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Starbucks sees China as top market

NewsTeam | CBS [MarketWatch]

Starbucks founder and chairman Howard Schultz said Friday that China could be the global coffeehouse-chain's biggest market outside of the United States in the future.

In an interview with the coffee tycoon in Tokyo, Schultz also said he expects the company's loss-making Japanese operations to turn profitable in 2004 and thinks the U.S. market still has lots of potential, with growth being driven forward by its focus on wi-fi wireless technology as well as the introduction of a debit/credit card that offers membership benefits for caffeine addicts.

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