Mid-May Links

A smattering of news from around the coffee world:

Oregon Public Broadcasting has a nice video about the USBC in Portland. In the article, the producer did forget to mention two other PDX baristas who competed, Laila Ghambari (Stumptown) and Tom Pikaart (Water Avenue), so we’ll make sure they get a mention here. If we're being picky, it's Brett Felchner, not Brett Fletcher (edits!).

Leave it to Philly – From a city that boos Santa Claus and throws batteries at its underachieving NFL team, this might not come as a surprise. A man who apparently did not want to pay for his sandwich threw his coffee at the cashier in a Philadelphia doughnut store.

At least he didn’t steal cash and cigarettes too.

It’s up, it’s down, it’s up, it’s way down. Investors holding Green Mountain Coffee Roasters stock have been on a quite a ride over the last year. The company’s stock price went from below $40 to $115 to back down to about $45 at the end of the year. This year has been more of the same. So far, the first five months of the year have brought changes of +19%, +22%, -28%, +4% and -50%, respectively. With K-Cup patents running out this fall, traders aren’t sure what to do. Then again, judging from the last two weeks, maybe they are.

Do you find it hard to carry your coffee around without spilling it? If so, you should probably slow down and keep your eye on the cup. You will be less likely to match the “sloshing frequency” of the coffee with your gait.

One of Japanese eating champion Takeru Kobayashi’s world records is eating 69 hotdogs in ten minutes, so he probably didn’t find his latest stunt too difficult. Kobayashi drinks 42 cups of coffee in about three minutes in a promotional video for Eight O’Clock Coffee.

Fresh-roasted (really fresh) coffee is coming to Detroit. Roasting Plant, the New York coffee company that roasts, grinds and brews coffee on demand is expanding out of the Big Apple and into the Motor City. I question the assertion that it is the “best coffee in Manhattan” but it would be interesting to see how the whole operation works. link

Tension is growing between people who work/study in cafés and those who go there to drink coffee or meet friends.

Friday (the 13th) Links

The lines in your favorite cafés might be a little longer next week. Portland is gearing up for the Specialty Coffee Association of America 2012 Event (annual conference) next week.  Thousands of coffee enthusiasts are expected to attend the event, which runs concurrently with the US Barista Championship. Kelly House, from The Oregonian, has a preview.

OregonLive.com (the online partner of The Oregonian) has selected the finalists for its coffee photo contest. The winner gets a $50 Starbucks gift card. I'm rooting for the Case Study picture.

One of the stranger things I’ve seen in a while: A few cafés in Tokyo let you pet rabbits while you drink your coffee. You just can’t make these things up.

Starbucks recently announced its policy favoring “marriage equality”. In response, the National Organization for Marriage, a K-Street lobbying firm based in Washington, D.C., created a “Dump Starbucks” online petition to get people to forego Starbucks until it changes its position. The petition has about 31,000 signatures so far. That’s an average of about 2 people per Starbucks store.

It appears that SBUX customers are not going anywhere, although they might if they knew how good the coffee at their local micro-roaster can be.

The New York Times has a long article about Andrew Rugasira, founder and CEO of Good African Coffee. Rugasira wants to use trade to develop the economies of Africa instead of aid. 

Truth in advertising? In Seoul, South Korea, Dunkin’ Donuts is enhancing its radio ads on commuter buses by having an atomizer spray coffee fragrance on the bus while the spots run. I have two questions. First, is DD really doing this or is it just an internet rumor? Second, would you consider this type of advertising intrusive? I would. Then again, it might be a welcome intrusion if they were spraying something that smells like Ristretto, Sterling or Extracto.

This week, the Huffington Post readers got their chance to hear about how Portland is such a fine place to visit, sharing “10 Things We Love about Portland, Oregon” (coffee was #7). HuffPo editors managed to spell Extracto and Coava correctly, unlike Fox News a couple weeks back.

Smarter Travel, a travel blog, called Spunky Monkey one of America’s Best Coffee Shops. The café certainly has a lot of PDX character.

Seattle techies have come up with a coffee machine that takes orders by text message. 

More cafés should do what a café in Norwich, England did. Baristas will no longer take orders from people talking on cell phones.  If you can’t put your phone down long enough to talk to the person behind the counter, you’ve got a problem.

In a blind taste test, the Huffington Post determined that Starbucks Via Colombia was the best tasting instant coffee. If you bother to click on the link, be sure to read the comments of the people who tried the coffees, especially on the lower-rated ones.

Not-so Laconic* Links

Looking for a way to keep your coffee warm? Apple’s latest iPad will keep it warm for you (do the wonders of Apple ever cease?). Some enterprising programmer, taking advantage of the fact that the new iPad runs hotter than previous models, wrote an app to turn the tablet into the world’s most multifunctional hot plate. I bet Steve Jobs never thought of that one… [update: the sfluxe.com site seems to be down as of 3/26, so here's an alternative link.]

It was time for the Starbucks annual meeting last week, so there’s lots of news about the Big Green Apron. Starbucks announced it would be bringing some manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., opening one factory in Ohio to make coffee mugs and another in Georgia to produce instant coffee (VIA). The company continues its evolution toward becoming the next big consumer food conglomerate (a la Kraft or Yum! Brands) with its recent purchase and rollout of its Evolution Fresh juice bars. The rollout was a little rough, though, at least in the spelling department. Starbucks is also trying to get into the fast-growing energy drinks industry, selling a new line of beverages with green coffee extract in them.

In other news, Andrew Revkin of the New York Times interviews Todd Carmichael on his project to make the coffee trade in Haiti better support the farmers. As always, Carmichael calls things as he sees them.

If you’ve ever tried to like coffee but just could not do it, you can probably identify with the author of this article in the Washington Post.

Another reason for Bostonians seeking alternatives to Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks to rejoice: Counter Culture is coming to Somerville as early as this summer.

Drip coffee enthusiasts, tip your hats. In 1972, two friends came up with an idea to brew better coffee at home, creating a home brewer called Mr. Coffee. One of the friends, Samuel Glazer, died this week at 89. 

Portland’s coffee scene (and this blog!) got a mention on FoxNews.com this week. Fox must have sensed the love that the New York Times has been giving Portland lately and did not want to miss out, writing an article called “10 Reasons to fly to Portland, Oregon right now.”  The news outlet, known for its ‘fair and balanced’ coverage, did not win any points for being ‘accurate,’ however. Whether intentionally or not, the author misspelled not one, but two local roasters’ names. Perhaps some editor at Fox wanted to tweak Portland because of its left-leaning politics.  

Don’t forget to sign up for Happy Cup’s Roaster for a Day contest. You can win the opportunity to learn how to roast your own coffee, plus win 52 bags of coffee to take home. To enter, “Like” Happy Cup on Facebook or enter at the company’s website. The deadline is March 27^th.

*brief, short, to the point

Linking up

A technological threat to baristas’ employment security:  Coinstar is rolling out a new vending machine that freshly grinds coffee beans and brews a cup of coffee in about a minute. The $1 cup of coffee “tastes pretty close to a cup from any upscale coffee bar,” according to the New York Times. Has the article’s author been to Coava? I doubt it. link

On the other hand, Oliver Strand, who writes the Times’ Ristretto coffee blog, has been to Coava, as well as several other PDX cafés. link

For Boston-area readers: George Howell, one of the northeastern United States’ coffee pioneers, and founder of Coffee Connection, a successful chain of cafes in Boston sold out to Starbucks,  is now trying to reintroduce high-quality coffee to the Boston area. He recently opened a new café in Newton under his own name. link

Another story from the Bay State: Apparently, in Massachusetts and New York you can buy a product called an AeroShot, a portable caffeine inhaler. Instead of drinking espresso (or even one of those terrible-tasting energy drinks) to get a lift of caffeine, you can just pop the cap on the little plastic tube, press a button and breathe.  Isn’t technology wonderful? link

The Seattle Times has a nice article about the ups and downs of La Marzocco’s business, if you are into coffee technology history. link

Starbucks has given the world another place to enjoy coffee – the ski slopes. The big green snowsuit opened a ski-through café in Squaw Valley, California. Skiers can ski up to the takeaway window and order coffee without taking off their skis. How is it that Mount Hood wasn't the first to get one of these? link 

Linked

Since Starbucks released its Veranda blend, light-roast coffee has been seen in the news a lot more. That’s a good thing for people who care about coffee quality. The Wall Street Journal gives an in-depth look at the trend of light-roast coffees, even among large companies such as Peet’s, Tully’s and Starbucks. The author of the article should take a trip to the Northwest, where light roast is becoming the norm. link

Convenience, convenience, convenience. Latest consumer research shows that 17% of US coffee drinkers prefer to get their coffee from a single-serve brewer. link

In related news, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters stock jumped more than 23% one day this week as the company’s beat Wall Street’s expectations (for earnings, not taste). One big question looming over the company’s future is, what happens when the patent on the K-Cups expires later this year? link

Leonardo DiCaprio is getting into the coffee business, partnering with La Colombe Torrefaction to sell LYON coffee  to raise money for environmental causes. La Colombe co-founder Todd Carmichael is featured in a video on the page cataloguing his trip to Haiti, where the coffee will be sourced. link

Coffee is well on its way to being considered a “superfood” (er, superdrink) as long as it is consumed in moderation, according to this piece in Fox News. link

Is this for real? I mentioned David Lynch’s coffee brand a few weeks back. To promote it, Lynch produced one of the strangest (and kind of disturbing) commercials I have ever seen. It’s what you would probably expect from the producer of Twin Peaks.  link

Coffee Links for the Week September 26, 2011

Lots about Starbucks today…When you are the world’s biggest coffee company, you’re going to make news.

A Starbucks employee got fired recently after making a video of himself singing about his day at work. Oops. For anyone who has worked as a barista (especially for the big green apron), or any other service industry, there is enough truth in the song to be funny (warning: contains family-unfriendly language). link

Can we just go ahead and label coffee a superbeverage? A study now shows that the drink helps older female smokers avoid depression (but what about younger male non-smokers?) link

To celebrate its 40^th anniversary, Starbucks has released a t-shirt with a coffee-stain design that costs $85. Anyone running out to get one? link

A car running on coffee grounds recently set a speed record, reaching 77.5 mph. Looking at the pictures, is that a flux capacitor they’ve got in there? link

Coffee + hard alcohol = Four Loko for the upper class. link

National Coffee Day is coming September 29^th. Krispy Kreme is giving away free coffee. link

There are some sick people out there. No question about it. I would be mad as hell if this happened to someone in my family too, and I hope that they nail the sick sonofabi--- who put the camera in a Starbucks restroom. But suing Starbucks for being negligent? That doesn’t make a lot of sense either. link

Coffee news and notes

After two weeks away from Portland, I made it back down the gorge. It was sooooo nice to be welcomed back with 60-degree, cloudy weather all week. Okay, maybe that’s not true, but it was nice to get back to some good coffee shops. My favorite café in Dayton has closed, so I spent a couple weeks coffee-free, surviving (but barely).

In other news, school has started up again in most places, and hopefully, so will the regularity of these blog posts. Here are a few links for your Friday afternoon:

Better watch what’s in that coffee: a woman in Florida spiked her husband’s coffee with Xanax (a prescription drug used to treat anxiety) in an effort to “calm him down.” The local police disagreed with her account, charging her with attempted murder. link

Fortunately, we live in a very different era than 50 years ago, especially when thinking of coffee, advertising and the relationship between men and women. Someone put together a video called “Coffee Jerks,” with TV clips from the 1950s and 60s. It’s almost painful to watch.  link

High school students across Ontario, Canada, will have to sneak their caffeine into schools after the government banned coffee from being sold on campus. Toronto’s Globe and Mail (newspaper) is not too impressed with the ban. Student seem to be getting around the ban, however, as some are bringing coffee makers from home to plug in by their lockers. Really? link

Think that having a light rail line outside your door will help your coffee business? Some café owners in Minneapolis might disagree. link

Alec Baldwin complaining about a Starbucks barista with an attitude problem? The axiom “it takes one to know one” might be applicable here. link

If you only read the headline to this article, you might think to yourself “what happens when we run out of bags?” Not to worry, though. We can always re-use them…

Starbuckian K-cuppers will be able to get their fix at home starting in November. link

I’m going to leave out the link to the article for this one because I want to support local businesses, but when a coffee shop owner brags about having 30 flavors of syrup available, she ought to take coffee out of their business name…

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...

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