At Last, a $20,000 Cup of Coffee

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

WITH its brass-trimmed halogen heating elements, glass globes and bamboo paddles, the new contraption that is to begin making coffee this week at the Blue Bottle Café here looks like a machine from a Jules Verne novel, a 19th-century vision of the future.

Called a siphon bar, it was imported from Japan at a total cost of more than $20,000. The cafe has the only halogen-powered model in the United States, and getting it here required years of elliptical discussions with its importer, Jay Egami of the Ueshima Coffee Company.

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5 Free Classes at Coffee Fest Washington, D.C. Not To Miss

Coffee Fest Washington, D.C. will feature more than 100 educational sessions with more than 50% included in the standard attendee registration.

With nearly every session selected specifically to assist the coffee retailer or restaurateur in improving productivity and profitability, perhaps 5 of the most relevant sessions will be:

1) Brewing a Hot Brand—27-Day Action Plan

Twenty-seven-day action plan to serve up profits and decaffeinate the competition.

What if you were to remove your name from your building? Would your customers still be able to recognize your brand of doing business? This fast track to increased profits will ease you into a day-by-day business branding that promises to maximize sales and profits at little additional expense. You will discover huge hidden increased income opportunities in your business, available through your own Specific Brand Image (SBI).

As razor-sharp branding experts, LaFlamme and Morris have teamed up as The Brand Coaches (thebrandcoaches.com) to power your business out of the box and into that coveted position as THE local favorite.

2) Built To Lead—20 Leadership Secrets to Compete and Beat Your Corporate Competitors

The secrets behind effective leadership will be revealed in this must-attend seminar. The profitable single and multiple location specialty coffee businesses of tomorrow will only survive and thrive under strong leadership.

This seminar will arm you with the action-driven tips required to compete and beat any marketplace competitor. By examining and defining how the large chain leadership strategies and advantages build a loyal customer base, you will be able to better sculpt your own success strategies and leadership principles.

3) Legendary Customer Service

Why the Golden Rule just isn't good enough for an espresso bar or cafe that wants to stand above the crowd.

Brad Carpenter, President of Forza Coffee Company and Jeff Woods, sales manager of Dillanos Coffee Roasters have each authored articles for Tea and Coffee on providing quality service for their customers. Learn the basics on providing over the top service and developing long term relationships inside your business.

4) The Ambiance of Your Cafe— Getting Crowds in Your Door

One sure way to increase your chances of success in the specialty coffee business is to make sure the environment and ambiance of your cafe speaks to the audience you want to attract. This seminar covers in detail dozens of factors that you must realize and institute in order to help you, the retailer, meet your goals. Interior will be discussed and examined, but “your ambiance” needs to go far beyond your color scheme. This seminar is helpful for both those new to the industry and existing retailers wanting to re-examine their business model.

5) The 10 Commandments to Build Skyrocketing Profits

Learn the keys to the right combination of branding, building design, concept decor and team selection for your business from someone with fresh insights and a track record of success. Miller has boldly applied his retail savvy and cutting-edge insights to building a specialty coffee business that is far exceeding industry averages for daily sales. In this seminar, Miller boils the keys to his success down to highly insightful must-do basics: “The 10 Commandments to Build Skyrocketing Profits.” Whether you haven't opened your first location or are itching to grow into a chain, this seminar is a must!


To view the entire Coffee Fest Washington, D.C. 2008 Educational programming please visit: www.coffeefest.com.

Starbucks testing $1 coffee, free refills-WSJ

Wed Jan 23, 2008 2:59am EST

NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research) is testing $1 coffees and free refills, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, as the global coffee chain faces increasing competition from fast-food rivals.

The report said Starbucks is experimenting with a "short" $1 cup as well as free refills for brewed coffee in its Seattle-area stores. Starbucks charges around $1.50 to $4.00 for a coffee, depending on size and flavour.

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Adulteration of Kona coffee by Wawa

Wawa is a convenience store chain in the northeast and mid-atlantic areas that sells lots of coffee. They claim on their website (wawa.com) to sell over 125 million cups a year.

I recently counted 84 coffee pots in a large Wawa. One of them is labeled Kona. I asked the coffee manager if it is 100% Kona or a blend. She wasn't sure but asked the store manager, who said she thinks it's a blend. I asked, "Don't you think you should label it "Kona blend" instead of just "Kona"? And, as long as you're labeling, why not state the percentage of Kona and the origins of the rest of the blend?" She didn't understand my question.

I have long contended that the real competition to gourmet coffee shops is not Starbucks, but the Wawas, 7-11's, and other convenience stores. When a person buys a cup of "Kona" coffee from a Wawa and finds it's no better than any other cup in the store, you can be sure he will never, ever pay $30 a pound for the real Kona.

Kona coffee deserves better treatment. Coffee consumers deserve better. Wawa is deceiving its customers and Kona coffee is being adulterated.

Robert

Grinding Tip

Never grind more coffee than you will use for immediate brewing. Once the beans are ground, the flavorful oils are exposed to the damaging air. As these oils dissipate, so will the flavor of your coffee. Once ground, coffee will begin to lose its flavor almost immediately.

Different methods of brewing will require different grind consistencies. Typically, coffee used for drip brewing should be ground to a consistency similar to granulated sugar. The complete drip cycle should occur within four to six minutes. If the drip cycle is completed in less than four minutes, grind your coffee finer. If the cycle takes longer than six minutes, grind your coffee coarser. When using a French press, the coffee will need to be ground extremely coarse. Espresso requires an extremely fine grind...almost powder-like with a slight grittiness. The key to the proper espresso grind is the extraction time. After the proper dose and tamp, one ounce of espresso should be extracted in approximately 25 to 30 seconds. Like drip coffee, if the one ounce extraction occurs in less than 25 seconds, grind your coffee finer. If the extraction occurs in longer than 30 seconds, grind your coffee coarser. Talk to you local coffee professional for additional information.

Source: coffeeuniverse.com

Coffee Facts and Trivia You Will Enjoy

Coffee is actually a term that was once used for a wine that was made from the berries of a coffee tree. In fact, the black wine, as it was referred to during that time, is used in religious rites as wine by people of Mohammed. Of course, as time passed, coffee became a staple and not just wine for religious ceremonies.

Caffeine, although universally taken, is actually one of the substances that are being prohibited by the International Olympic Committee. In fact, there are athletes that are banned from competing because of caffeine.

They must not have 12 micrograms of caffeine in their urine. This can be reached when you drink about five cups of coffee straight. And here we thought it is only steroids were being banned in the Olympic battle ground.

Did you know that the body can absorb as much as 300 milligrams of caffeine at one time. This can be gotten from about 4 cups of coffee. Additional cups don't work because after this limit is reached, they don't provide any more stimulation. In fact, the body has an internal system that neutralizes caffeine every hour.

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Coffee: Conquering hearts

By Sreekumar Raghavan

It is black like the devil, hot like hell, and sweet like a kiss, and it is spreading its aroma cross the world now. The finest organic suspension ever devised in the world COFFEE is steadily conquering the taste buds of millions of people irrespective of caste creed or colour. The case in India is not different. The concoction made from the coffee beans is minting money for several coffee bar chains in India.

No wonder then coffee outlets are sprouting in amazing numbers all over the country. Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Co Ltd (ABCTL), which owns the largest chain of coffee bars Café Coffee Day, has 485 full service cafes in 84 cities and plans to expand it to 100 more cities very soon. Barista, a distant second with 172 cafes, and several others are in the race. The 'Undercover Economist', a recent bestseller by Tim Hafford, quoted a Financial Times report saying that few companies are making money in the UK coffee bar market.

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