Late Links, June 18, 2011

Here are Friday’s “missing links.”

Portland-based Coava has a new version of its Kone filter that gets some love from Gizmodo. link

Willamette Weekly has written a good analysis of the Stumptown sale to TSG. link

Uganda’s coffee farmers and government are working together to keep more of the money from the country’s coffee crop inside Uganda (with video). link

Forbes is decidedly optimistic about the future of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, based on the increasing market penetration of the company’s K-cup machines. link

The Philippine government is undertaking a tree-planting program, and coffee trees have been designated a “re-forestation species.” The thing I find fascinating about the article is that while most of it is written in English, the quotes are not (something a linguaphile can appreciate). link

The coffee industry needs to consume less water, argues a piece in The Guardian. link

Caffè Vita is offering free French press coffee for dads on Father’s Day (June 19). link

Have a great weekend!

Caffeinated links for June 3, 2011

Here are the links for the week. They come with lots of sunshine and warm weather (hooray!), so enjoy:

From the legal department: a woman is suing Dunkin’ Donuts for putting sugar in her coffee. A legal liaison for DD was quoted as saying: "If you fail to request a sugar substitute, we can't read your mind. We sell doughnuts, not crystal balls." Ouch. link

Groupon, who filed paperwork this week for a $750 million IPO, had better look out. Google Offers debuted this week with a successful sale of over 1600 $10-vouchers (at a price of $3) for Portland’s own Floyd’s Coffee. Floyd’s is known for having outlets at all its tables, as well as serving Stumptown Coffee. link

Speaking of Stumptown—in case you missed it, here’s the NY Times article about the PDX-based coffee roaster’s expansion plans. link

On the same day that he published the rumor about Stumptown’s alleged sale to TSG, La Colombe’s Todd Carmichael was the subject of a feature in the Philadelphia Inquirer. La Colombe is investing in the revival of the Hatian coffee industry. link

In a contrarian move, Nectar of Life is lowering the prices for its Coffee of the Month club. link

McDonald’s, the coffee giant (what, you didn’t know?), is apologizing to Australians for the sorry state of the coffee the chain serves and is promising to do better. link

Another one from the legal department: Peet’s is being sued by Aegis, its development partner for the New York City market, who claims that Peet’s is trying to cut it out of the deals it had secured for the coffee company. link

Sumitomo Metal is going to buy used coffee grounds to fuel one of its power plants in Japan. The company isn’t going to use a lot, mixing 1% coffee with 99% coal, but it’s a start. link

Coffee juice, anyone? Coffee fruit flavor might be the next new fad in the cold beverage market. link

And finally:

Beginning August 1^st, if you visit the Oregon Convention Center, you will be able to drink coffee at Portland Roasting Coffee’s first signature café. The venue dropped Starbucks and switched to the Portland company because of Portland Roasting’s commitment to sustainability. link

Coffee highlights of the week plus links

[Note: I just made two corrections to this article. The first was the spelling of the name of the espresso at Oblique. I changed Derailer to the proper Dérailleur. I also had written that Oblique's owner was Jim Chandler. It is not. His name is John. Sorry for the mistakes!]

I tried two different coffees this week that were worth mentioning. The first was an espresso of the Dérailleur Blend at Oblique Coffee. The shot was balanced, chocolaty and super smooth—almost silky. It went down very easy, without any sugar. John Chandler, Oblique’s owner, said that since the weather had become warmer, his espresso machine seemed to really be “dialed in” and was pulling great shots. I’m not sure why that is true, but I would have to agree with him.

The second noteworthy coffee was a cup of Stumptown’s Kenya Gatomboya, brewed on a Clover (normally, you only find Clovers at Starbucks, but Vancouver’s River Maiden Coffee still has one from the early days). Stumptown just released the Gatomboya this week, and the early reviews have been good. The flavors that came through were cherry and butterscotch. Tasty!

Here’s some links to get you through the weekend:

You can no longer get cannabis in the coffee shops of Amsterdam (link), but you can still get coffee in the cannabis shops of Portland. link

Portland Roasting Coffee made it into an article in Sustainable Business Oregon. link

Instead of me discussing rising coffee prices, I’ll let an article at Salon.com do it. link

CNN Money has another analysis of prices that says pretty much the same thing: in the near future they’re only going UP. link

In the other Portland (PWM) this week, Dunkin’ Donuts was selling iced coffee to help support cancer research. link

Time magazine asks if you would hang out in a Subway café. My response? An emphatic no. link

Howard Schultz was in Vancouver, B.C., this week, talking about his company, coffee prices and a multitude of other things. link

You might have heard of a CSA for vegetables, but have you ever heard of one for coffee? link

There’s a movement underway to rid Seattle of disposable coffee cups (yeah, right). link

Enjoy Memorial Day Weekend. Summer is (reportedly) here! #whenits55andrainingthatsnotreallysummer

Coffee Links (with commentary) for May 20, 2011

Another day, a few links, and lots of coffee. If you’re in Portland today, enjoy the sun!

From the newly created bad puns department, Starbucks fans will soon be going gaga over. . . . . Gaga. link

In last week’s links, I wrote that Seattle’s Best claimed it could now be found in 50,000 locations. Not for long. link

An Australian tourist visits Portland to see if the city really lives up to its Portlandia reputation. He (or she?) visits a few coffee shops and especially likes Heart and Public Domain (must have a thing for modernist décor). link

For coffee techies and espresso nerds, David Schomer has a great new post on his blog about the science of grinding beans. It’s titled “Micro-particle Migration in Conical Grinding Systems” (some people really get into their coffee). link

It appears that drinking coffee significantly reduces the risk of prostate cancer by 60%. link

Having just finished reading Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences, I am a little skeptical. The relationship between coffee and cancer might be a correlation, not a causation. link

Might the next roasting industry in Portland be chocolate instead of coffee? Not for a while, but maybe someday. link

Cellar Door Coffee Roasters is optimistic about future growth, according to an article published in Portland Business Journal. link

Consolidation in the coffee industry: Smuckers buys Rowland Coffee for $360 million. link

In other industry consolidation news (and what may be a sign for the impending rapture tomorrow), Starbucks is in talks to buy Stumptown Coffee in order to help the coffee giant set up a new “Specialty Coffee” division. An unnamed executive at the coffee giant was quoted as saying that “our coffee quality has been sliding and we need to get back to our coffee roots. With its exquisitely-roasted coffee and nationwide name recognition, Stumptown seemed like the perfect partner for us.”  (if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge for sale that you might be interested in. link)

Note: there is no truth to the last one. None whatsoever. There’s not even a rumor. Just wanted to see if you were still paying attention. Have a great weekend!

Links, links

Some coffee news from the last week:

Stumptown’s beans made it into the Oliver Strand’s New York Times column about his trip to Philadelphia. link

If you are concerned about how “green” your coffee is, the most important factor is how the coffee was grown, according to a study done in Switzerland. link

Italian authorities won a recent battle against the coffee mafia. link

In Oakland, California, a company is growing mushrooms out of used coffee grounds. link

Starbucks’ Howard Schultz once again blames high coffee prices on speculators, and predicts that the price of coffee is going to come back down this year. link

Taiwan’s coffee production and consumption are increasing rapidly. link

A difference between men and women: women prefer the smell of coffee to help them wake up, while men prefer fried food. link

Sounds like the Garden Grove City coffee shops were getting a little too wild. There was too much nudity and gambling (the most interesting part of the story is the fake Pac-Man games). link

On a similar note, the Grand View (topless) coffee shop in Vassalboro, Maine, will no longer offer quite the same view. They were busted for putting up illegal signs and have decided to leave town. link

Seattle’s Best Coffee (a misnomer) can now be bought at 50,000 different locations. Now that’s ubiquity. link

Bad news if you have a brain aneurysm. No more coffee or sex. link

These days, many people choose to not carry cash, only using credit or debit cards to pay for everything. While the cards are convenient, the fees associated with them are very hard on a café’s margins. A battle to regulate these fees is raging in Congress. link

Saturday night links

I am going to be out of Portland for most of the next two weeks, so you won't see me lurking around any coffee shops for a while. I went back to Dayton to help my family get caught up with spring work. Portland is not the only place that has been cold and rainy this year, and the weather has delayed planting. It's time to get the spring crops in and they can use an extra (experienced) hand. I'll try to write a story or two, but if the posts get sporadic, it's because I'm out driving around in circles in a field somewhere. Blame my brother.

Then, at the end of the month, I will be traveling to San Francisco for a couple days. Does anyone have any recommendations on what to see? Any hidden secrets (that you're willing to share)?

Here are a few links for the weekend.

Kraft wasted no time after its divorce with Starbucks before finding another coffee company to partner with for supermarket coffee distribution. The company announced that it will begin stocking shelves this fall with coffee from Gevalia (who?). link

Starbucks isn’t sitting still either. It looks like the big green apron is working its toward becoming a major player in the food industry. In fact, if you read this article, it sounds like Starbucks is becoming more like. . . .Kraft. link

Someone might need to call an optometrist in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Police searched an office building after a worker reported someone entering with a gun. Turns out it was a coffee mug with a big handle. link

Are you a coffee addict? Blame your parents. Well, maybe. link

Who has the most loyal coffee drinkers? McDonald’s, of course…(Yikes). link

Women are boosting the sales of coffee capsules in South Korea. link

If you have been thinking about buying Howard Schultz’ new book Onward, you should read this review. link

Poetry, a picture and some links

It’s April 1st, but where’s the rain?

Does this mean spring has come again?

You see the sun, but dare not blink

It might be gone before you think

Today on this, the day of fools

Hopefully you broke some rules

Now set aside your long-week blues

Sit back and read some coffee news

The sun is fighting valiantly against the clouds

Good news for coffee drinkers in the Windy City! Stumptown is planning to open another roastery this year, in Chicago. It will be the company’s fourth city with a roastery, after Portland, Seattle and New York. Will Intelligentsia reciprocate in Portland? We'll see. link

Click to read more ...