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Coffee Connoisseur's Secrets

Coffee is far more than simply the brew that wakes people up in the morning. Coffee shops dot the city streets around the world with specialty coffee drinks drawing lines of customers. We will share the nuances of coffee from how to select the roast that suits your palate, to secret recipes of your favorite specialty drinks. We even have some marvelous recipes using coffee as a flavoring or spice to add a very special touch. If you love coffee, you will love these secrets. affiliate


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The Coffee Connoisseur's Secrets

Friday, July 14, 2006

Coffee Prices May Go Up On Rise In Demand

Coffee prices, near a six-year high, may rise as Indians, Indonesians and Mexicans are urged to drink more of the beverage.

Coffee consumption in the three countries, which are among the world’s six largest coffee exporters, may grow more than 25% in the next three years, the International Coffee Organisation (ICO) said.

ICO executive president Nestor Osorio plans to replicate an advertising campaign in Brazil, the world’s biggest exporter, which doubled its coffee drinking.

There will be a “significant,” increase in prices, Christopher Wyke, who helps manage London-based Schroders Plc’s $75 million commodity fund, said. “As producing countries get richer, they use more resources, use more metals, eat more food and drink more coffee,” Wyke said.

The ICO, which is funded by its member countries, plans to start promoting coffee drinking in those countries to balance supply and demand. By curbing the amount of beans exported, it plans to lessen the extent of price swings. The campaigns in India, Indonesia and Mexico start in September.

Schroder’s commodity fund is “likely” to increase its “substantial investment” in coffee because consumption may outpace production in those countries, Wyke said in an interview. “There are constraints on supply in terms of how much land is available to expand coffee production.”

Coffee futures for September delivery fell $12 or 0.9%, to $1,305 a metric tonne on London’s Euronext.liffe exchange as of 1:19 PM local time. Coffee climbed to a six-year high of $1,340 on July 7. It has risen 11% this year.

“We are now working with the governments and institutions in India, Indonesia and Mexico to do something similar,” to the campaign in Brazil, the ICO official said on Wednesday in an interview in London. These three countries are “traditional coffee-producers without a strong coffee-drinking culture.”

India, the world’s second-fastest growing economy with a population of over 1 billion, consumed 1.3 million bags of coffee last year, while its farmers produced 4.4 million bags, according to US Department of Agriculture figures. One bag weighs 60 kg (132 pounds).

The US, the largest coffee consumer, used 20.8 million bags in 2004, according to the international organisation’s data.

Indonesia’s 245 million-strong population drank 2 million bags, while the country produced 6.75 million bags.Mexico, with 107 million people, consumed 1.5 million bags and produced 4 million bags.

—Bloomberg








Thursday, July 13, 2006

Companies Brew Up a Kinder Cup

Many people take cream with their coffee, but how about some corn?

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters of Vermont and International Paper Co. unveiled an ``eco-friendly" cup made from corn and paper yesterday. Because the insides of conventional paper cups are lined with petroleum-based plastic, they can theoretically live ``for an eternity in a landfill," said Green Mountain spokeswoman Sanda Pecina.

The eco-friendly cup uses a corn-made ``bioplastic" lining, which can help the cup break down into ``water, carbon dioxide, and organic matter," according to the companies.

The cup represents a ``fantastic advance," said Stephen McCarthy , director of the Center for Biodegradable Polymer Research at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Starbucks Corp. recently started using cups made of ``10 percent post-consumer recycled content." While always studying innovations, Dunkin' Donuts said it has no plans to change cups.

As part of a national launch, eco-friendly cups are being distributed to about 800 Massachusetts outlets that offer Green Mountain coffee , Pecina said.

But will the cup change the taste of your java?

Said International Paper vice president Austin Lance : ``Consumers will notice no difference as they enjoy coffee with this cup, but the environment will."

CHRIS REIDY

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company




Sunday, July 09, 2006

The Coffee Buzz

By Susan Morse
smorse@seacoastonline.com

Drinking coffee is good for you, according to study after study, the most recent released last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association Archives of Internal Medicine.

Coffee reduces the risk of Type 2 diabetes, it said, the result explained not by caffeine, but minerals and antioxidants in both decaffeinated and caffeinated coffee.

ABC News ran with the story in a recent "Good Morning America" segment, and previously reported on its Web site, abc.news.go.com, that daily cups of coffee have been linked to a reduced risk of Parkinson's disease, liver cancer and gallstones.

A study released last year by the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania cited the benefits of coffee as an antioxidant, reducing the risk of getting cancer. Caffeine also revs up brain areas tied to short-term memory, according to webmd.com.

It's a coffee addict's dream -- and good thing. Many of us drink plenty of it, if the number of mom-and-pop coffee shops, chain staples such as Dunkin' Donuts and Honey Dew, and express drive-throughs for java junkies on the go are any indication.

Among the latest is Jumpin' Jack's Java on Lafayette Road in Hampton, a drive-through shop featuring double express lanes for morning commuters.

"It's great," said operations manager John Birmbas, brother of owner Nick Birmbas. "We've been here six months. We're definitely giving our competition a run," he said, referring to coffee chain giant Dunkin' Donuts.

In the morning, drivers are lined up on both sides of the diner-looking shop, reaching for their morning buzz. The store also sells muffins, doughnuts and other pastries.

"It's all to go along with coffee," Birmbas said. "It doesn't matter -- hot or cold."

There are also noncaffeinated drinks, but the big seller is still a hot cup of regular coffee.

"Everybody has to have their caffeine," he said. "For me, it's an enjoyment. I love to have a nice cup of coffee on the road. It's not about the caffeine."

For some, it is. They want that extra jolt from the lattes and cappuccinos.

"You'd be surprised," Birmbas said, "how many people go for the heavier stuff."

Mike Wheat has run the Coffee Station kiosk on Route 108 in Newmarket for three years.

It's a tiny closet of a drive-through business. Wheat bought the business from a couple of guys from Washington State who started it.

"The whole West Coast is coffee crazy. It's coming east," he said. "If you know good coffee, people have their little favorites they go to. It's more personal. You see them coming -- have their coffee ready."

He brews Barrie House out of New York for regular and sells the Commonwealth Roasters variety for flavored.

His biggest seller is regular iced coffee, all year round. Wheat credits the all-important teen and 20-something market for boosting those sales.

"What you're seeing now is a lot more young girls drinking iced coffee," Wheat said. "I call it the Britney Spears factor. They see it in the magazines. They're all dressing like Britney; they might as well drink like Britney. I also do a Red Bull energy drink, flavored shots. The kids love that, too."

There is no law against selling coffee to minors, Wheat said, though he draws the line when adults ask for a cup of coffee for their young children.

"I've had parents pull up and want to give young kids coffee," he said. "I don't tell them. I give them decaf."

On average, 120 to 150 people a day ride through the Newmarket drive-up window, with 7 to 10 a.m. the busiest time.

In June, the Iowa Women's Health Study on coffee and diabetes was released. It looked at more than 28,000 postmenopausal women over 11 years and found coffee intake may be associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus because of minerals, phytochemicals, and antioxidants in coffee, according to pubs.ama-assn.org.

Coffee intake was categorized as zero, less than one, one to three, four to five, and six or more cups per day. Compared with women who reported zero cups of coffee per day, women who consumed six or more cups per day had a 22 percent lower risk of diabetes.

This association appeared to be largely explained by decaffeinated coffee rather than regular coffee, the study said. Its conclusion: Coffee intake, especially decaffeinated, was inversely associated with risk of Type 2 diabetes mellitus in this group of postmenopausal women.

The maximum recommended amount of coffee is four 8-ounce cups a day.