Heavy coffee drinkers show no blood pressure rise

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Coffee lovers who are in good health may have little reason to cut back, at least as far as their blood pressure is concerned, a new study suggests.

Because the caffeine in coffee and other foods can cause a short-term spike in blood pressure, there's been concern that coffee drinking may over time raise the risk of high blood pressure. Studies, however, have come to inconsistent conclusions.

In the new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that healthy women who drank upwards of six cups of coffee per day were no more likely than abstainers to develop high blood pressure over the next decade.

On the other hand, women who drank coffee occasionally or in moderation -- reporting anywhere from zero to three cups a day -- had a higher risk of developing high blood pressure than the heavy coffee drinkers or the abstainers.

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Starbucks aims for 40,000 locations worldwide

By MARY JANE CREDEUR, Bloomberg News
Posted Thursday, March 22, 2007

Starbucks Corp., the world's largest coffee-shop chain, will open at least 10,000 new stores over the next four years and double its size within five years, Chairman Howard Schultz said Wednesday.

Starbucks is serving 45 million customers a week, Schultz said at the company's annual meeting in Seattle, where it is based. Starbucks's long-term goal is to have 40,000 locations worldwide, compared with 13,168 stores at the end of 2006.

Starbucks has added breakfast sandwiches and entertainment offerings such as books to boost sales of items other than espresso drinks. Schultz said he'll continue to challenge the status quo at Starbucks, affirming comments he made in a February memo that was leaked to the media.

"I have written hundreds of memos, and there is a common thread of self-examination, pursuit of excellence, a willingness to constantly challenge yourself and not embrace the status quo," said Schultz, who has been with the company for 25 years. "It was not a memo that was intended to be in any way critical of or demonstrate a lack of faith in management."

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Chorreador - The Low-Tech Coffee Solution

Jeanne Leblanc | Coach Class

I'm a technophile, all about the iPod, the digital camera and the associated gadgetry. But when it comes to making coffee on the road - a very serious matter in my tribe - my solution is about as low-tech as you can get. It's a chorreador de cafe.

A chorreador is a small cloth bag hanging from a wire loop. You put the coffee in the bag, you pour boiling water through it into some sort of container, even directly into a cup. Voila. Coffee.

I first ran across the chorreador in Costa Rica, where it is still much used to make coffee. Many Costa Rican homes have a stand or a wall-mounted holder to put the chorreador in, which is easier and safer than holding it while pouring boiling water through it. (Here'a nice explanation.) I once had such a stand, which I used to make coffee at home. I've since gone over to an electric coffeemaker for convenience, but I have used a chorreador more than once when we had a power failure.

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Making Perfect Espresso at Illy

DavidLebovitz.com

When I told a friend that I was going to Italy to learn hot to make coffee, she responded, "You just dump the coffee into a filter and pour coffee over it. What else do you need to do?"

Well, since you asked, plenty.

First of all, there's an important distinction between 'brewing coffee' and 'extracting espresso'.

Brewed coffee is steeping ground beans in hot water, which any fool like me can do, whereas making espresso involves a couple of crucial steps and the deft use of a high-pressured machine combined with several specific techniques. It's not easy to make the perfect espresso, but anyone can make a pretty decent one, even using an inexpensive home machine.

And how do you know what a good espresso is?

It's a very tiny cup of deep-brown liquid, just a couple of sips, not bitter-tasting, but rich, complex and lingering, which endures on your tastebuds for 10-15 minutes afterwards—one singular, perfectly-extracted shot of true Italian espresso.

I was really anxious to visit Illy, since I've been having trouble getting just the right little shot to taste good at home. Mine was either too watery, or bitter and virtually undrinkable, even though I was using a very powerful espresso maker. But I was also curious why the espresso in Italy tastes so much better than it does anywhere else, even in the humblest caffè. So when Illy invited me to come to their roasting plant and Università del Caffè in Trieste, I cleared my calendar and jumped on a plane.

So what did I learn at Illy?
I learned that anyone, even me, can pull a great cup of espresso at home.
Here's the 1, 2 and 3's of it...

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Starbucks meeting still steamy, if a little weak

Enthusiasm there, but expansion has some wondering if it’s simply too big

ANALYSIS
By Allison Linn
Senior writer
MSNBC

Starbucks Corp.'s annual shareholders meeting is typically as much a cheerleading session as an investor powwow, marked by song-and-dance routines, earnest employee testimonials and a host of other feel-good performances.

And, oh yeah, there’s free coffee.

It wouldn't be fair to say that this year’s shindig, held Wednesday in Seattle, was exactly somber. Still, it wasn’t hard to catch the faint whiff of anxiety among the top executives, and who could really blame them?

Shares in Starbucks have fallen more than 10 percent over the past year, amid concerns over whether the company can maintain its brisk store growth and reach its aggressive revenue targets without diluting its brand or making any other major missteps.

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How caffeine works

BY MARSHALL BRAIN
HowStuffWorks.com

If you are an adult in the United States, chances are that you have taken some caffeine today.

Around 90 percent of Americans consume caffeine in one form or another every single day. More than half of all American adults take more than 300 milligrams (mg) of caffeine every day, making it America's most popular drug by far.

Have you ever wondered what it is that makes caffeine so popular? What does this drug do that causes its use to be so widespread?

Caffeine is known chemically as trimethylxanthine. Medically, caffeine is a cardiac stimulant and also a mild diuretic (it increases urine production). Recreationally, caffeine provides a "boost of energy" or a feeling of heightened alertness. Many people feel as though they cannot function in the morning without the boost that caffeine gives them.

Caffeine occurs naturally in many plants, including coffee beans, tea leaves and cocoa nuts. So you find caffeine in lots of different food products. Let's look at the most common sources of caffeine for Americans.

Typical drip-brewed coffee contains 100 mg per 6-ounce cup. But who drinks a 6-ounce cup of coffee anymore? If you are buying your coffee at a coffee shop or convenience store, or drinking it at home out of a big mug or a commuter's cup, you are consuming it in 12-, 14- or 20-ounce containers. You might be getting 300 mg of caffeine with every "cup" you drink. Typical brewed tea contains 70 mg per 6-ounce cup.

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Starbucks sorts investor complaints today

By CRAIG HARRIS
P-I REPORTER

Like other investors in Starbucks Corp., Elizabeth Moon hasn't been thrilled with the company's traditionally high-flying stock taking a considerable slide this year.

Yet the retired Seattle insurance adjuster views the 11 percent drop since the end of 2006 as a blip in the road and says she's looking forward to today's annual meeting in McCaw Hall.

"The stock has gone up the past couple three days, and that is good, because we had a down trend for a while," said Moon, whose investment in the past six years has increased more than 200 percent. "But I think it's a well-run company and one of the things that impresses me is that it treats its employees well."

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Analysts said Schultz also is expected to discuss his now infamous leaked e-mail that lamented the challenges at Starbucks and what he called a "watering down" of the company.

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James Maher, an analyst with San Francisco-based ThinkEquity Partners, expects Schultz to use the meeting to calm investors by confirming growth projections that were announced in October.

At the time, Schultz said Starbucks could grow to 40,000 stores. The company currently has 13,168 stores in 39 countries.

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One Cup - Documentary Film

A short documentary film about Fair Trade and coffee farmers in Timor Leste, filmed in the mountains of Timor-Leste January 2006, 'One Cup' offers rare insight into the struggles of coffee farming in the poorest country in Asia. Among the immense everyday difficulties described by coffee producer communities, health concerns are paramount. Featuring Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta, Oxfam Program Director Keryn Clark and scores of Timorese Coffee farmers, One Cup illustrates the benefits of the international Fair Trade system. One Cup is a moving and visually arresting reminder of the ever increasing need for support for the millions of third and developing world farmers across the globe.

View Movie

Free Iced Coffee at Dunkin Donuts

Dunkin Donuts will give away 16 ounce iced coffees all day Wednesday, April 21, in celebration of the first day of spring. Or maybe it's a San Jacinto Day (Texas Independence Day) celebration?

BLACK GOLD Movie Trailer

PBS will air this movie April 10, 2007. Check your local listing.

Local coffee shops compete in national brew-off

By APRIL LISANTE
The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA - It's a typical weekday morning, and you saunter into your corner coffee shop to place your order: "I'll take a decaf, skim, no whip, extra foam, double-shot soy latte, please."

While you wander away to decide whether you want a croissant or scone, what happens behind the barista's counter is nothing short of pure art and science, skill that takes years to perfect , if a barista-in-training ever manages to perfect it at all.

To get your specialty coffee to taste just the way you like it, baristas have two minutes behind an unforgiving, high-tech coffee machine to "flush the group head," "clear the portafilter," "dose and tamp" 14 ounces of espresso grinds, make sure it brews in about 15 seconds, then "stretch" the milk until it reaches 150 degrees.

Sound complicated? It is.

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