Finally, I'm in a survey

A recent survey tells us that two-thirds of Americans are obese or over-weight.

It's about time someone included me in a survey.

Robert

Coffee futures trading from 66.45 cents

Arabica coffee futures for July delivery, a little above the six-month lows of two weeks ago, will begin the new week Monday from 66.45 cents a pound on New York's Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange.

The price began falling from 83.25 in mid-June, bottomed out three weeks ago at 67.80, then rebounded for awhile. Futures then sank to eight-month lows this past week.

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Small coffee chains on the rise

TASTING THE FUTURE: As the younger generation trades its tea cups for coffee mugs, small coffee shop franchises have become highly lucrative

By Tina Yuan
Contributing Reporter
TAIPEI TIMES

Coffee may be one of the things many Taiwanese people associate Western culture and lifestyle.

But for Wu Meng-tsung, a cup of filtered coffee is not just about Western tastes, it is his livelihood.

"People like my coffee," said Wu, owner of a small coffee shop on Fushing South Road in Taipei.

Wu quit his civil engineering job last year after his employer delayed paying him for two months.

After thorough consideration and market research, the 42-year-old Wu decided to become his own boss by embracing the fast-growing coffee franchise business, capitalizing on the trend that increasingly characterizes the younger generation is preference for sipping coffee instead of drinking tea.

A year and a half ago, Wu joined E-Coffee, an express-style chain where customers can purchase a cup of coffee on the go. His shop was only the chain's fourth franchise.

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Striving to make unforgettable coffee

The Korea Herald

The sight of people rushing to workplace with a Starbucks coffee in one hand is no longer rare in Korea. It is fair to say that for some these days, Starbucks has become a synonym for coffee.

However, Lee Dong-jin, the owner of a small coffee shop near Ewha Womans University, hopes to change the coffee culture here.

The small shop, called Bi-mi-nam-kyung, looks ordinary, but it roasts its own green coffee beans after employees sort them by hand. Those steps enhance the quality of its coffee drinks.

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Coffee shop brews flavor of old Mexico

Geri Koeppel
The Arizona Republic

Dan Skultety of Ahwatukee Foothills drives through Guadalupe every day on his way to work instead of getting on congested Interstate 10. Like many commuters who take this route, he has seen a large A-frame sign for Coffee de Mexico at Guadalupe Road and Avenida Del Yaqui, advertising fresh-roasted beans and pastries.

This week, he stopped to check it out.

"It looked like something unusual and different," he said. "I prefer mom-and-pop places to chain places."

The self-confessed "foodie" ordered a plain cup of java and was impressed.

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Cat droppings yield chic coffee

Emma Marris

Discovery shows unusual beans can be created in the guts of different civet species.

A food scientist has cracked the secrets of the world's most expensive coffee, Kopi Luwak, whose beans pass through the intestinal tract of an Indonesian civet before being roasted and savoured. But the elusive blend looks unlikely to be copied any time soon.

The beans, which cost over US$1,000 a kilogram, are eaten and passed by the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), which is a musky, tree-climbing cat-like creature. The supply of Kopi Luwak has always been tiny, but political turmoil in Indonesia has strangled production even further: less than 230 kilograms of the coffee are now being made each year.

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Home Machines Won't Hurt Coffee Houses

By Brad Dorfman

CHICAGO (Reuters) - New machines that brew individual cups of coffee in seconds are not likely to lure consumers away from coffee houses, according to a study that could signal a blow to the coffee marketers and appliance manufacturers that sell them.

"The majority of the people said it is not going to change their behavior in going outside the home," Peter Greene said. vice president and general manager at NPD Houseworld, a unit of research firm NPD Group, said of a survey the company recently conducted.

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Hot Spots Are Happening

Arik Hesseldahl

NEW YORK - The first time you sign on to the Internet via a Wi-Fi hot spot from outside your home or office, you'll suddenly feel just a bit freer.

At least we did, when we tried T-Mobile's HotSpot service. This is the service that offers Wi-Fi connections in places like Starbucks and at airports and other public places. Last week, T-Mobile, the wireless company that is a division of Deutsche Telekom (nyse: DT - news - people ), announced it would start placing hot spots in Hyatt hotels and resorts across the United States.

In case you're not familiar, here's how the T-Mobile Hotspot service works: You sign up for a plan with T-Mobile that gives you a user name and password to access its thousands of wireless Internet connections. That means that when you take your laptop to Starbucks or to Kinko's--a division of FedEx --or other locations, you can sign on to the Internet, check your e-mail and do whatever business on the Web you have to do.

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