How big is big in the World of Coffee? · Saturday April 19, 2008 by colin newell
So I pop over to Google for a couple of seconds…
and type in the word coffee.
It seems that I am number 4 in a list of 250 million references.
Starbucks is 3rd.
I guess the point is – diligence and tenacity pays off. In some small way.
Funny thing is – Although I have been writing about coffee, online, since the mid-nineties and experimenting with it since the seventies, I still feel that I have just shaved off the tip of the iceberg… with a 99 cent box cutter.
I am sure of it in fact.
And as I cruise through my late-forties (how did I ever get here!?), I think… I am definitely going to need another 40 years to master this bean thing.
Speaking of Starbucks – starbucks has now surpassed McDonalds as the most parent-requested outing from children.
No kidding.
Children, aged 4 and up, are now more likely to ask mommy for a hot chocolate at Starbucks than a happy meal.
Damn.
For the Love of Africa · Sunday March 9, 2008 by colin newell
If you love Africa as much as I do, you are going to want to mark your calendar for Sunday, April the 6th, 2008 for an event in Victoria B.C. Canada.
For the Love of Africa is hosting a coffee and chocolate event from 11AM til 4PM.
8 of Vancouver Island’s best coffee roasters will be there doling out samples of their product. And there is most definitely a chocolate component to this event.
So. What about this Love of Africa group? For the Love of Africa has been in existence since 2005, the Society having had its roots in an original team of fourteen people who visited Dodoma, Tanzania in September of 2004 to assist in the construction of the new Kizota School and Student Centre.
They are a humanitarian society interested in projects which focus on two key areas – Education and Health. The issues are critical to the long term development and stability of both Tanzania and Africa in general and they feel it is in these areas that they can most effectively make a difference.
Based in Victoria BC, Canada, they welcome people from across Canada and around the world, thanks to the internet, to join them on their journey in the hopes that together we can bring health and hope to one small corner of the African continent.
Discount brew at the Green Machine · Thursday January 24, 2008 by colin newell
Starbucks is testing $1 coffee and free refills in its Seattle outlets as the global specialty coffee chain grapples with a downward trend in consumer spending and rising competition from fast-food rivals like McDonalds.
It seems that their share price is now half of what it used to be. Chances are this is more an indicator of investor jitters than anything else. It is not like the quality of their coffee has gone down hill or anything – because it hasn’t.
Combine that with a healthier new attitude about fat and calories and the result is – The classic Vente Mocha with extra whip is not getting ordered as often as it once was.
So. Starbucks has Howard Schultz back in the chief executive saddle. It also said it’s closing under-performing U.S. outlets to speed up international growth.
Times they are indeed a changing.
Comment [2]
Would you like Crema with your Big Mac? · Tuesday January 8, 2008 by colin newell
McDonald’s will begin to roll out one of its biggest and most expensive new product concepts ever in a bid to put the heat on Starbucks in the battle for upscale coffee drinkers.
And if you think you are having a deja cappuccino moment, you are because if memory serves me correctly, Ronald McDonald did some clowning around with gourmet and specialty coffee about 7 years ago…
and it was an udder failure.
I was in a McDonalds Cafe in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in the year 2000 or 2001 and it was quieter than lunchtime at Mime School.
Perhaps it was timing.
And like the late-seventies Laser-Disk that was so totally wrong thing, wrong time this shot of espresso coffee supremacy could actually take off.
Starbucks, it appears, is suffering from an excessive softening in growth – and hence: Starbucks announced Monday that CEO Jim Donald is out and that founder and Chairman Howard Schultz would retake the reins as CEO…
It is all falling into place. Strike while the coffee pot is hot.
And so McDonald’s is diving into the frothing pitcher anticipating taking a chunk of upwards of over one billion dollars in market share.
Comment [1]
It is tough being Santa · Wednesday December 5, 2007 by colin newell
Consider the life of the Red Elf in the year 2007.
Saint Nick’s white gloved hands are always visible and he buys liability insurance, for good measure. He never asks where children live and he has no political stripe.
The man in the red suit endures criminal background checks like everyone else… and if you are Santa, don’t even try to get on an Airplane in North American air space – his instincts for being pilot are simply too strong.
Today’s Santa is poked, prodded and shaped to fit the 21st century. It’s no longer enough to show up at the mall, laugh merrily and balance children on his lap.
In shopping malls across Canada, Santa Claus is watching his back. Todays Santa is politically ignorant… neutral. Santa does not curse and is always Holly Jolly.
One would hope if there’s anyone in this world you can trust, it’s Santa. In 2007, however, Santa is verified by Verisign, MasterCard, EBay and Visa first.
Liability insurance, underwritten from the North Pole, spares Santa from unwarranted litigious grief. And with the question… “Is there Lead in this train-set Santa?” Santa had better answer correctly!
Imagine: A child is walking by and trips – not even near you – and gets hurt – Santa is sued as an attractive nuisance.
Santa shares the same choreographer as Madonna: each word and hand movement is tightly regulated. Tricks of the trade are passed down from Santa to Santa at places like The International University of Santa Claus.
Curriculum includes how to hold children correctly, managing tough conversations and proper care of hair, beard and hygiene.
Santa must never, ever make promises he can’t keep.
But what of the average pre-teen or tween? I picture a 9 year old whose Blackberry incessantly rings during recess… In the guise of Santa I approach with the caution of a seasoned alligator wrestler.
Hello. Excuse me young person… I ask. “Uhm – I am currently skyping, podcasting and social networking here Mister!” as I ask a supervised question – teachers and parents look on… The blackberry chirps again… “Excuse me”, the youngster says… “I have to take this…”
But what of the children?
In my day, lead was an active and prominent ingredient in virtually every toy. And Santa was more like Hulk Hogan than Mister Rogers. Any 300 pound man in a frilly red suit was meant to be scary – it built character and caution into the young ones.
But what of the children?
