Oops

So apparently I goofed on the link to the new Dunkin Donuts slogan in use (I added an extra http://)

this one should work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ino6sVc6-ug

Coffee and Sex???

Heres something funny I read about coffee. Turns out coffee is linked to sexual potency and sexual activity in both men and women. Years ago experts did a study which determined that elderly people who drank atleast a cup of coffee a day were more sexually active and the men were more potent. Research has shown that coffee was even precedented as grounds for divorce because the husband could not provide his wife with enough coffee. So next time you're asked on a date and its to "Grab a cup of coffee" think of what else could be on their mind.


Read more here:
http://www.decentcoffee.com/CoffeeHistoryV.html

Coffee House History

Heres a little bit of interesting coffee house history for you all. Coffee houses first appeared in Italy in the early 1600's. They made there way to America aboout 100 years later. Coffee Houses first appeared in important port cities like Boston and New York. One of the oldest Coffee Houses in Boston, the Green Dragon, is actually the site where the Boston Tea Party was planned, ironic huh. Coffee House conspiracy to boycott tea sounds like early competition to me.



Read more about coffee house history here:
http://www.decentcoffee.com/CoffeeHistoryIV.html

Slogan Answers

Here are the answers to the slogans I posted on the 16th:
(in order)

1. Maxwell House Coffee
2. Marylou's Coffee
3. Honey Dew Donuts
4. Folder's Coffee
5. Dunkin' Donuts
6. Eight O'Clock Coffee

New Slogan in use

So after recently finding out Dunkin' Donuts had changed their ever famous "America runs on Dunkin" slogan to "You 'Kin do it" I wondered why I haven't seen or heard anything about it yet. Turns out the company introduced the slogan in one of their Superbowl Commercials this past February so without further adue, check out the premier of "You 'Kin do it"


http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ino6sVc6-ug

America Runs No More...

So I was surfing the web for my marketing class and I came across an interesting article. Turns out Dunkin' Donuts no longer will fuel America. NO, they are no filing for chapter 11 or going out of business like some other popular names we were once used to seeing in other industries, they're changing there slogan. Dunkin' Donuts will no longer be using the famous "America runs on Dunkin'" slogan that they have been using for years. As of March 2009 the company will begin to roll out their new slogan "You 'kin do it". To me the slogan sounds like something out of a Happy Madison Movie (Adam Sandler's production camp). I guess we'll just have to see how well the new slogan goes over with America, I wonder what cute little pictures Dunkies will use on there cups now?


http://adage.com/abstract.php?article_id=133572

Coffee Slogans

Can you name these coffee producers based on their slogans???

1. "Good to the last drop"
2. "The BEST coffee in town"
3. "Cool Beans"
4. "The Best part of waking up"
5. "America Runs on ___________"
6. "Wake Up its Eight O'Clock"

Chocolate Coffee Clusters YUM!

Sweet coffee, candy and nut clusters, covered in chocolate. Not a recipe for the novice candy maker. You won't regret the effort, though. These crunchy nutty treats are better than cookies.

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup strong coffee
4 lbs chocolate, chopped
1/4 tsp salt

Preparation:Butter a 2-quart saucepan. Combine sugar, corn syrup, salt and coffee. Cook on high heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to a boil. Stir constantly. Cook to hard ball stage without stirring. Remove from heat. In a large chilled bowl, beat egg whites to stiff peaks stage. Pour the hot syrup into the egg whites (slowly!) while beating at high speed. Once the syrup is added, continue beating until you get soft peaks. Add nuts and beat for another 5 minutes. Let cool down, then cover and put in the freezer. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate. Line several cookie sheets with waxed paper. Remove the other bowl from the freezer. Spoon out a teaspoon of the cold mixture and drop in the melted chocolate. Scoop out and place on the waxed paper. Repeat. When the mixture is used up, you can store the remaining chocolate for another use. Let the candies cool and harden, then store in the refrigerator.

Here is an interesting recipe involving Coffee

Rainforest Crunch Shake

2 shots espresso, 1 hot and 1 cold
2/3 cup frozen yogurt, vanilla
1 banana
1/4 cup coconut cream
3 tsp brown sugar
2 tbs peanut butter, crunchy
1-5 strips of dried mango, chopped
2 Brazil nuts, chopped
1/2 tsp coconut, shredded

Mix the brown sugar into the hot shot of espresso, and let cool. Blend everything except fruit and nuts, in a blender until smooth. Stir in the chopped mango and nuts. Top with coconut.
Serves 1


I have to try this one

Here's a delicious latte recipe

Caramel Latte
Makes 2 servings.
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping plus additional for drizzle, if desired
4 teaspoons instant coffee, divided
1 cup very hot water, divided

Microwave evaporated milk and ice cream topping in small, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 2 minutes or until very hot. Carefully pour mixture into blender; cover. Blend on high for 1 minute or until very frothy on top.Put 2 teaspoons coffee granules into each 12-ounce coffee mug. Add 1/2 cup hot water to each mug; stir. Gently pour milk mixture into each mug, spooning foam on top. Thinly drizzle foam with ice cream topping, if desired.

(you can substitute instant coffee for espresso and milk)

Arabica

Arabica coffee is the superior grade of coffee that most people usually refer to as gourmet coffee. They contain about half of the caffeine of robusta and have more desirable flavors and aromatic properties.
Much of the coffee grown world wide is of the arabica species, but only a fraction meets standard set by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
Many retailers like Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks use 100% Arabica beans because of the flavor and grade.

Robusta Beans

Robusta coffee is a lower grade of coffee that is typically grown at lower elevations. It has more of an astringent flavor and contains a higher amount of caffeine.
The robusta trees are easier to grow and maintain. They are also more disease resistant and produce a higher yield. This type of coffee is typically used to achieve a lower price.

Not Quite Beans???

So this just in apparently coffee beans aren't beans??? It turns out coffee beans are actually seeds from cherries that grow on the coffee trees. Harvesting coffee beans is a very labor intensive job. Each cherry ripens at a different time so they have to be picked individually. One cherry yields two beans so in order to harvest 1000 beans, you need 500 cherries. Usually one tree yields about 2 pounds of coffee beans. Thats a whole lot of picking just for that morning pick me up.

Attempt #1 Unsuccessful

So after seeing all the coffee art videos and websites I was inspired to try some art of my own. I studied the videos and the techniques before making my first attempt. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful. But don't worry I plan on trying again. I am going to do some more research first and will keep you all updated

Crazy Coffee Art

After seeing the coffee art videos I decided to look up some other designs here are some of my favorites:

My next step is to try and make my own design

Coffee Art

After reading other posts about youtube findings I decided to find some youtube videos about coffee. I didn't know what to expect so I just searched coffee and see what it gave me. I happened to stumble on something very interesting, COFFEE ART. Coffee art is when you take heated milk and pour it into a cup of coffee. You have to turn the cup and pour the milk a certain way to make patterns on the surface of the mixture. It actually looks pretty cool.

More about instant coffee

Well, I must say that I am really intrigued about this whole instant coffee thing. I guess I never really realized how popular it is. Foldgers, Maxwell House, and Nestle (NesCafe or Taster's Choice) all produce a line of instant coffees that include both regular and decaffeinated coffee. Instant coffee is a huge market because of its conveinience. It allows people to make a cup of coffee on the go and brew a single cup of coffee rather than making a whole pot. It also takes the pot out of the mix completely. I can't believe I have never heard of this.

After reading about Starbucks making an instant coffee I became curious as to how instant coffee was made so I did some research.

Surprisingly, instant coffee is in fact coffee. The way it works is, coffee is brewed regularly, then it sits out so that all the water can evaporate leaving a highly concetrated coffee powder. Once the coffee powder is obtained there are two choice of what to do next.

To preserve the most flavor the coffee powder can be freeze-dried. This is a highly involved process that freeze the powder to -40 degrees celcius, leaving dry coffee crystals which can then be added to hot water which melt the crystals and diffuse with the water to make coffee.

The other option is called spray-drying. In this process, once the water evaporates from the brewed coffee it is sprayed from a tower in a hot air chamber. The hot air evaporates any remaining water and the coffee crystals fall to the bottom of the chamber.

I was surprised to find that not many additives are added to instant coffee.

Instant Coffee???

Well according to CNN Starbucks in jumping on the instant coffee band wagon. It is said that Starbucks will be launching a line of instant coffee called VIA. The line will be distributed by Starbucks and allow all you Starbucks lovers out there to brew delicious Starbucks coffee INSTANTLY from your own homes.

My take on the whole idea. Economically it is a great idea for Starbucks to distribute this line of instant coffee. It is low cost and will bring in a whole new market of coffee drinkers who don't have time to stop for coffee in the morning. The downfall is that you have to go to Starbucks to purchase the coffee so if there is not a Starbucks in the area, some consumers will not be exposed to this new product.

As for instant coffee itself, I fear the whole concept. I can't fathom how anything with the word INSTANT in front of it can be nutritions. To me instant coffee just means artificial coffee, which more likely than not results in more additives including added caffeine not the natural caffeine that can be found in coffee beans.

THE WRAP UP:

• Starbucks' coffee sales are dropping
• Decided to launch instant coffee line to reach a new target market
• VIA can only be found at Starbucks stores
• Instant coffee more like instant energy drink

To read the full article from CNN visit: http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/13/news/companies/starbucks_instant.fortune/?postversion=2009021312

Coffee linked to heart disease???

According to the website www.anti-aging-guide.com coffee is linked to many diseases including heart disease. This is not the first time the two have been linked together. Coffee, or more specifically caffeine, has been linked to cardiovascular disease in the past but because it has been so hard to isolate caffeine as the main cause in studies the belief has been put on the back burner. A recent study has shown that high intakes of caffeine were present in subjects who have developed cardiovascular problems but again, it is to hard to isolate caffeine as the cause.

To find out more about this and other diseases linked to coffee check out:
http://http://www.anti-aging-guide.com/41coffee.php#7

How Much Do You Love Coffee???

Would you consider yourself a coffee lover? Do you love coffee enough to run your own coffee shop?


Did you know that Dunkin' Donuts the most popular coffee selling industry in America is a franchise. So you yourself can run your own coffee shop. To find out whats involved in opening and running your own Dunkin' Donuts franchise check out the website below

http://www.dunkinfranchising.com/aboutus/franchise/franchise-home.html

Caffeine in Coffee

Did you know that like most teas, dark roasted coffee has more caffeine that light roasted coffee. Most regular coffees, excluding decaf, have about 60-100mg of caffeine per 8oz. 10g of caffeine is considered a lethal dose, so does that mean if 100 cups of coffee will kill you?


Here's a list of caffeine content of some popular beverages:
http://coffeetea.about.com/library/blcaffeine.htm

So this was interesting to hear, on October 1st Japan celebrates National Coffee Day. The day celebrates the trade and economic benefits of coffee as well as the beverage itself. After hearing this I did some more research and found out that other countries have National Coffee Day celebrations including Nepal, Ireland, and Brazil.

Here is a list of other coffee holidays around the world: http://www.gone-ta-pott.com/National_coffee_holidays.html

Coffee Consumption

You hear the slogan everyday, "America Runs on Dunkin" but how much coffee do Americans really drink?



According to the National Coffee Association on average each American drinks 3.1 cups of coffee a day. That doesn't seem like much until you really analyze this fact. Considering not all Americans drink coffee this means that for every one person that doesn't drink coffee 3.1 people are picking up an extra cup. Thats a lot of coffee, but not as much as other countries. It is said that per capita the United States consumed about 3.0 KG of coffee in 2006, very reasonable compared to Finland and Norway who both came in at over 10Kg per capita, WOAH!


See where other countries ranked: http://www.swivel.com/data_sets/spreadsheet/1001132

The 21 Best Cups of Coffee

Oct 1st 2008 2:22AM

By Fletch
Dining
Trends

The weather is definitely changing for the colder in parts of the United States and it's a good time to talk about coffee. A brilliant cup of coffee can be your best friend on chilly days.We've looked all over the country for these best friends and came up with the 21 best cups of coffee in America.Twenty-one is an arbitrary number, but the picks are not. We did stay clear of big coffee chains like Starbucks, Seattle's Best and Dunkin' Donuts. It's not that we think we're too cool to be caught in these cookie cutter coffeeterias, but everyone knows what they're getting with a chain cup of coffee.The cups on this list are special and unique in their own way and most focus on hand-crafted processes and socially aware practices.
The 21 Best Cups of Coffee in America
21. Novo Coffee - Denver

20. Mugshots - Philadelphia

19. Copper Star - Phoenix

18. Lucky's Cafe - Cleveland

17. Urth Caffe - Los Angeles

16. El Diablo - Seattle

15. MoKaBe's - St. Louis

14. Coffee to the People - San Francisco

13. Coffee Slingers - Oklahoma City

12. Lamill Coffee Boutique - Los Angeles

11. Gimme! Coffee - Brooklyn

10. Octane Coffee Bar & Lounge - Atlanta

9. Caffe Trieste - San Francisco

8. Busboys & Poets - Washington, D.C.

7. 7-Eleven - National

6. Espresso Vivace - Seattle

5. Cafe du Monde - New Orleans

4. Cafe Brazil - Dallas

3. Stumptown Coffee Roasters - Portland

2. Intelligentsia - Chicago

1. Jack's Stir Brew - New York City