Vacation caffeination

I’m on vacation the next couple weeks, which really means that I went home to work harvest. If you missed it last year, I wrote a few stories about harvest. Here’s one of my favorites that I wrote while I was in Beijing (link). I’ll try to post a few times while I’m here, spending all day in the field doesn’t leave a lot of time for writing.

Here are a couple links from around the coffee world:

Headed to LA and need some coffee recommendations? Oliver Strand, who writes The New York Times’ Ristretto column, just visited and has some thoughts to share with you. link

Could coffee drinkers finally getting some good news about coffee prices? It appears so, at least if you drink Maxwell House. link All of those recent price hikes? They’re working, at least for shareholders (according to the video embedded in the article).

Starbucks’ Howard Schultz is urging CEOs of American corporations to stop all political campaign donations until Congress starts compromising and coming up with forward-thinking, long-term solutions to our nation’s economic problems.  link [Note how the content of the article was molded to fit the WSJ’s political viewpoint. The CEO quoted in the article was not even a part of Schultz’ group and he was only quoted as concerned with cutting spending.]

I know it’s bad form to answer a question with a question, but the answer to this headline should be, “Will anyone care?” link According to the author, DD’s “pastries and coffee are craved by a large portion of the western United States.”  Really? How many DDs are there in Portland?

And with that, I’m out…

Friday Links - August 19

Some coffee-related links to distract you from your Friday afternoon work:

I have a hard time imagining anyone getting kicked out of a Portland coffee shop for bringing in their guide dog, but Dovercourt, Essex (UK), is not Portland. link

Guatemalan coffee is famous around the world for its quality, but coffee from Honduras, just next door, isn’t. This is changing, according to the WSJ. link

Green Mountain Coffee’s founder is betting big on the revival of Krispy Kreme’s fortunes. Chairman Robert Stiller now owns over 7 million shares of the donut chain. link

Here’s a link for coffee-loving science enthusiasts. Have you ever seen a coffee stain on a napkin or tablecloth and noticed how there seems to be a dark ring around the edge of it? Ever wondered why? Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have figured out why, and it has to do with particle shape. link (includes a video)

Starbucks is trying to limit Laptopistani colonization in some of its New York cafés by covering up electrical outlets. With extended-life batteries that are increasingly more common, I doubt the move will have much impact on the number of laptops in the cafés. link

Speaking of people using computers in cafés, check out this guy (shall we call him a Macistani?): link

Score one for free speech. A defamation lawsuit by Gorilla Coffee, a NYC coffee shop, against former employees who posted their complaints against the company online, has been thrown out. link

Starbucks has been in the news in China lately, receiving criticism for selling mugs with a drawing of a famous 11^th century Chinese judge on them. Apparently, the deceased judge’s 36^th-generation ancestor saw the image and was not happy. This is a great example of how much longer historical memories are in some countries than in the United States. link

I don’t normally link to companies’ press releases, but since this one is from Portland, and is sort of related to coffee (a coffee shaving system?), I figured I’d pass it along. #keepitweirdpdx  link

Enjoy the weekend!

This week's links: July 29

It was a quiet week for coffee news, but nevertheless, here are a few links:

Coffee drinkers worried about high coffee prices may get some relief in the future. It looks like Brazil is set to have record coffee crop in 2012. link Ghana is also set to increase its production over the next several years. link

Need a caffeine jolt? An entrepreneur from Berkeley is selling a cold vacuum-brewed coffee concentrate with 40 times the amount of caffeine that regular coffee has. That’s right—40 times. I hope it comes with a warning label. link

Apparently, specialty coffee is unique enough to make it onto Bizarre Foods, a Travel Channel show. link

I already gave some of my thoughts on Dunkin’ Donuts’ IPO earlier this week, and CNBC has an interview with the company’s CEO about what he thought. One interesting fact in the article was that the only DD on the West Coast is located in Portland. link

Wait! That might not be true. I tried to find out which Portland neighborhood was lucky enough to have the store, but according to Google Maps, all three former locations are closed. Aww, too bad… link

Here’s a “Portland” photo for the week:

Enjoy your weekend!

July 22 Links (no decaf here)

July 22, 2011 Links

One more week done, one more weekend arrived. Must be time for links. But first, on Sunday, I’ll be publishing a feature on Jim Roberts and the story of Coffee People. Coffee People was a Portland coffee company who tried to go national in the 1990s, but didn’t succeed like its owners had hoped. Be sure to check back Sunday evening for the story.

The filmmaker who directed and produced “Hot Coffee,” Susan Saladoff (from Ashland, Oregon) did an interview with the Connecticut Law Tribune. If you care about the civil justice system or about tort reform, it sounds like you should watch the film. link

UK-based Costa Coffee is not letting Starbucks go unchallenged in the Chinese market, recently announcing it plans to open more than 100 new stores in the world’s most populous country. link

Truth in coffee advertising? Australians make me laugh. link

Speaking of Australia, some of its cafés are soon going to have milk on tap, at least for the baristas. In an effort to reduce the need for plastic milk jugs, a Sydney coffee company has come up with a new way to transport and supply milk to where the cafés need it. link

If you have questions about cold coffee and/or iced tea, The New York Times’ Harold McGee probably has an answer. link

Barista Magazine’s Sarah Allen just got back from a trip to Brazil, where she was traveling with a group of super-skilled baristas, including Portland’s (and Coava’s) Sam Purvis. link

Two researchers from the Global Coffee Quality Research Initiative are using mapping systems to help develop the Rwandan coffee industry. link

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has made it back into the ranks of the billionaire club with the recent increases in Starbucks’ stock price. Now maybe he can afford to bring the Sonics back to Seattle. link

Caffeinated Links July 16, 2011

The next time you drink a cup of hot coffee, be sure to take a couple nice long whiffs and enjoy the coffee’s aroma. New research shows that people who drink hot coffee and tea may be less likely to carry strains of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a “superbug” that hangs out in some people’s noses. One theory for why this would be is that when people drink hot coffee, some of the volatile compounds coming off the surface of the coffee act as antimicrobial agents. link

Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic gives an in-depth review of the HBO documentary “Hot Coffee,” which covers the famous McDonald’s case where a woman from New Mexico was awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages after she spilled her McDonald’s coffee, causing serious leg burns. The review includes a more in-depth discussion of tort reform that does not always make it to the media. link

I didn’t know what a “serial coffee offender” or a “smoko” was until I read the following article. Guess I need to spend more time in Australia. link

Unionized Starbucks employees in Chile are on strike, the first strike in the company’s history. link

A Taiwanese company is incorporating recycled coffee grounds into a new fabric. The coffee reportedly helps control odors and makes the fabric dry more quickly. link

Mashable has a great article about coffee shop etiquette. It’s especially appropriate for those who spend very much time working or studying in cafés. link

Dunkin’ Donuts is going to IPO soon, but (thankfully) it doesn’t sound like the company is going to use the money to expand the number of stores across the country. The money will instead be used to pay down debt. link

As usual, the big green apron is in the news a lot this week. Starbucks released some new ‘bistro’ food options (at least in Chicago), split its international division into two regions and announced that it has signed an agreement with a Chinese coffee company to create a joint venture to process and export coffee grown in the Yunnan region.

Coffee(ish) Links for July8

It’s been a slow week around here for posting articles. I have had my head buried in a couple other projects, including learning everything I can about cold coffee, a summertime favorite.

Speaking of summer, it came and left this week. Hope you enjoyed it.

The biggest coffee news of the week in the Portland area was the fireworks-caused fire that caused thousands of dollars of damage to Barista (the café) on Alberta Street. http://bit.ly/pnjMNB The fire didn’t keep the shop closed for long, thanks to Stumptown, who loaned Barista its mobile coffee cart until the café is repaired (photo here).

This New York Times article discusses the growing market for iced coffee. Stumptown gets a mention for its new “stubbies”. http://nyti.ms/nYo8Dy

Investors in the stock market know the difficulties of trying to pick the correct companies for investing. An article from CNBC yesterday presents the arguments for and against buying Starbucks stock. One of the analysts interviewed was quoted as saying that “Starbucks needs to clearly define their long-term vision ‘to become a food conglomerate rather than merely coffee.’” Hmm... http://bit.ly/pbyihq

Is the use of the internet for news taking us back in time? The Economist compares interactive online news with the coffee shops of the 18^th and 19^th centuries. http://econ.st/pLH1Bc

When you go to a coffee shop, do you notice the art on the walls? Apparently, some coffee shop art in San Francisco has stirred quite a debate over what should and should not go up on the walls of a café. http://bit.ly/p2MZAA

Speaking of coffee shop art, I saw this not too long ago on a café wall around town. Rubber chicken art.

Let the debate commence.

Links (and laughs?) for June 24

A few links to help you waste time this Friday...

Entrepreneur has a long article on Stumptown founder Duane Sorenson in its latest issue. link

If you are interested in coffee, social media, website design and driving traffic, you might read the following story from the New York Times. The Times “You’re the Boss” blog explores why a company in Colorado isn’t getting much traffic. I bet it gets a lot this week…link

Kitsap County, Washington, has become a popular place for topless espresso stands, but that might change soon thanks to proposed regulation. One of the proposals is to limit all patrons of the kiosks to people over 18. link

In other news, every sophomore and junior boy in the Kitsap high schools just threatened to never drink coffee again…

The latest hotbed for quality coffee is. . . . Detroit? Apparently. link

The Seattle Times’ Melissa Allison details the resurgence of Starbucks in a recent post. link

This next link is only a press release, but if I were opening a coffee shop, I would have to look into selling “Weasel Premium Coffee” (if only for the name). I mean, who doesn’t “love their weasel?” link

If you are worried about a caffeine addiction (or even if you aren’t worried), you might watch this video about the history and benefits of coffee consumption. link

The best quote from an article in the Christian Science Monitor about coffee prices comes from a coffee roaster, who hopes that “somebody is going to lose their shirt” by speculating on coffee futures. link

Speaking of coffee prices, coffee consumption in China is expected to increase 15-20% each year. The average Chinese consumer drinks three cups of coffee per year, which means that the country has along way to go before it reaches the average of 240 cups per year. As consumption increases, so will the competition for beans. link

And finally, from Southeast Portland, some woodshop humor:

Everybody could use a free hole...