Tim Horton's Rant #2 · Friday April 13, 2007 by colin newell
Pulling into Port Alberni on the way home from Tofino on the Easter weekend…
Stopped at the Tim’s for a quick bite before the push to Nanaimo.
Ordered up some tasty grub.
When offered the roll-up-Cups by the luscious and buxom maiden behind the counter, I offered: “No thanks.”
She said: “What? No cups?”
and I said: “Just trying to save a twig…”
and she said (in her best Barry White…): “Right on, right on…”
I kid you not.
I no longer felt alone.
My journey complete.
The wonderful world of online... · Thursday March 22, 2007 by colin newell
Is there anyone out there that buys their beans exclusively online? I am curious.
Photo-left – There is no such company as funkie-coffee. I whipped this up with Photoshop
And I am not looking for names of online vendors – just information on consumer practices.
I hit someones nerve a couple of days ago when I did some research on people who spam or seed guestbooks and forums, promoting one online vendor or another…
What I found surprised and amused me.
Now I know some of you think I get a little obsessed by spammers and forum taggers (and I do…) but you have to remember: Time taken to clean defacements off this forum take time away from me responding to e-mail and writing articles. It is that simple.
Anyhow – what I did find was (after search Google with a couple of keywords based on the spam I was encountering) was that there were over 3000 websites marked with this perculiar spam — promoting one particular online coffee vendor.
In addition, the english or writing style of all the form entries was the same – the writer was obviously not from North America, English was not their first language AND they learned how to write English from a textbook over 75 years old!
Examples: Vendor-X is a fantastic coffee with magical smooth taste. You don’t need sugar or milk to enjoy it. And it is really madly popular now
Vendor-X is for special occasions too. When I make it my family has festive mood. Have you tried it? And I never use milk. ——- has too pure taste to be spoiled by milk or sugar. My husband likes to add it, me – never. I think that “elite” coffee doesn’t need it.
Vendor-X went down a bomb at the party we had last week. I can’t forget this godlike taste.
Vendor-X, zested with a peculiar bouquet, is really can be compared with nectar
I vote for Vendor-X. So rich taste… Amazing. I agree that Starbucks is bitter and it is the grave disadvantage. Vendor-X is smooth. You feel only taste of coffee.
Magical smooth taste? godlike taste? So rich taste?
Peculiar bouquet? Madly popular!
Other references go on to tell how Vendor-X coffee calms stirred nerves… or is a wild and healthful drink.
This is ad copy right out of the 40’s!
When I approached the vendor about this, I was threatened with legal action — so I removed the references to the company. Fair enough. For all I know, the spammer is working for a competing company to discredit this company. For all I know, their coffee is truely wonderful, a godlike drink, that calms flustered coffee nerves.
I do not know. What do you think?
Comment [2]
Conscience in a cup - the coffee trade · Thursday March 15, 2007 by colin newell
One of the things I brought up on my CBC interview recently was just how volatile the coffee trade is. I am going to try and spend more time on this issue as it is a message that is not getting out enough.
Fact: Coffee changes hands 100-125 times on its journey from the farmers field to the cup –
That is an indicator of how many middle-men there are – this number is shrinking thanks, in part, to
internet auctions.
Now take all the coffee that is grown annually —
and multiply that quantity by ten and that is
the volume that trades on the commodity indexes
in New York and London. This is a totally staggering reality that impacts on the farmers and their families.
Back to the trade indexes for a moment: The coffee prices rise and fall faster than a theme-park roller-coaster.
And with these wild fluctuations, comes hardship for the
12 million farmers and families that rely on the meager
income that the coffee produces.
Is there hope? Yes: fair-trade, internet auctions, the cafe-culture phenomenon in the West that is paying more attention to the ethical issues and so on.
How can the average consumer help? Look at the label.
Is your coffee fairly traded? Is your coffee organic? Is your coffee labelled and branded by a gigantic trans-national like Folgers, Nescafe and the like. Read your label carefully.
Yes, you might be able to buy your 2-pound bins of ground Folgers at the Wal-Mart for $9 – but ask yourself this:
Who is really paying the ultimate price in human suffering when we screw farmers and their families out of a decent living?
Think about your coffee and how you can make a difference.
Clover coffee · Wednesday March 14, 2007 by colin newell
I am peeling the bulk of this off of the L.A. Times. It is an important read because, unless you did you not know this, Victoria has a Clover Coffee brewer at Discovery Coffee on Discovery Street.
And if you love coffee and have not been Clovered yet, you are truely missing out.
Anyhow… here is some of the article:
In the breve new world of coffeehouses, espresso has been getting all the love. Tattooed baristas pull perfect shots from loud machines the size of Fiats. Lattes come crowned with filigreed leaves drawn in foam; macchiati appear in dainty demitasses of Italian porcelain. The drip coffee drinker, however, is handed a paper cup and directed to a stoic thermos, exiled near the napkins and sugar packets.
But a seismic change is on the way in this highly caffeinated world. Drip coffee is getting a serious upgrade, thanks to a new machine called the Clover. A high-tech gadget that looks like a cross between a water cooler and a microwave (and it’s the size of a small one), the Clover brews a single cup of coffee at a time, to order, through a process that allows the barista to adjust the brewing to fit the flavor profile of specific lots of coffee.
Coffee brewed in the Clover has the depth of flavor of a French-press brew with none of the sediment; it has a clarity and focus, even an elegance, that you just don’t experience with other brewing methods.
And the price for a cup of such brilliant coffee? Two bucks. At least that’s what it costs (for most brews) at the new downtown branch of Groundwork Coffee Co., which has the only Clover in operation so far in Los Angeles. Not bad, when you consider that the machine costs a cool $11,000. read the rest
Victoria B.C.‘s Discovery Coffee has not just installed a new coffee machine – they have reset the bar for great coffee in the city of Victoria. This is drip coffee after all. Sure there are great shots of espresso to be had elsewhere in the city. But the drip coffee? Well, in most cases (and in most espresso bars and cafes around Victoria) drip coffee is an afterthought relegated to dusty old vac-pots… and neglect.
I list about 20 or more cafes on my favored list of great coffee joints in Victoria. And very few of these places really get drip coffee if you know what I mean. Some do. But few.
Consider this: drip coffee needs to be consumed within 20 minutes of brewing (or less…) before the ravages of oxygen turn a great bean into a bitter dreg. The coffee must be ground consistently. The water must be clean and fresh with just the right amount of mineral content (yes, minerals in the water make the best coffee!). Coffee must be brewed into an “air-resistant” thermal cafe. With the Clover, your cup is brewed right before your eyes for immediate consumption. It can’t be beat.
There is a cheaper alternative: The french press.
Chi-chi cafes, like Artigiano in Vancouver, serve press-pot/bodums with some of the finest ground coffee beans available. What is important with this method is timing, temperature and grind style. Done right, it produces a remarkable cup – done wrong, a cup of muddy bitter murk.
Alas, that is another blog entry.
Cheers!
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