Posted by TheShot on 26 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends, Fair Trade
According to today’s Globe and Mail (Toronto), Kraft’s Maxwell House coffee will soon be airing new Canadian television ads that may do less to promote their coffee than to assuage consumer guilt: globeandmail.com: Selling good feelings, one cup at a time. In short, the idea is for Maxwell House — who, when it comes to [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 23 Mar 2008 | Tagged as: Beans, Fair Trade, Foreign Brew
Tacoma’s The News Tribune published an unusually lengthy bio piece today on Stumptown Coffee Roasters owner and founder, Duane Sorenson: Coffee’s benevolent Mr. Bean | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA. One of the big, early supporters of SF’s Ritual Coffee Roasters, Duane is quite a famous character in the industry.
Among many other things, the article mentions [...]
Posted by TheShot on 05 Jan 2008 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends
It may be a new year, but often it is only the calendar that changes. Take this article in today’s New York Daily News — yet another installment in a long line of ever-popular wine analogy/”gee whiz, there’s this thing called cupping” pieces: Coffee: Hey, I’m no ordinary Joe. It comes with the obligatory Counter [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 31 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Café Society, Fair Trade
Today’s London Times published something of a book review of a new four-volume series, Eighteenth-Century Coffee-House Culture (Markman Ellis, editor): Smell the coffee - Times Online. It’s a long-winded article. But compared to the British tolerance for long-winded, academic tomes (it clocks in at a whopping 1,840 pages), the article is a walk in the [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 07 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Fair Trade, Quality Issues, Roasting
The London Times today published a business section interview of Andrea Illy, the head of IllyCaffè: The original Mr Bean - Times Online.
More of a financial/business article, it discusses Illy’s role in the world of specialty coffee — touching on Illy’s technical innovations (some of them regrettable, IMO), brand positioning, and even Mr. Illy’s belief [...]
Posted by TheShot on 05 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Home Brew, Machine, Quality Issues, Restaurant Coffee
An article in yesterday’s Dublin Independent perhaps thought it was exalting the Nespresso espresso. However, it did more to underscore how clueless high-end restaurants are when it comes to espresso quality: The cult of Nespresso - Food & Drink, Lifestyle - Independent.ie. Pre-ground coffee that has aged for weeks in plastic pods since the second [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 01 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Fair Trade
For the latest installments that hash and rehash the pros and cons of Fair Trade, we turn to yesterday’s Oakland Tribune and today’s International Herald Tribune.
The International Herald Tribune covered the big chains and the impact on some growers: ‘Fair trade’ certification yielding benefits for Brazilian coffee farmers - International Herald Tribune. Of particular note [...]
Posted by TheShot on 25 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Café Society, Consumer Trends, Fair Trade
In the mixed feelings department, the Washington Business Journal recently reported on Counter Culture Coffee’s newest regional training center in D.C.: Counter Culture Coffee opens training center in Adams Morgan - Washington Business Journal:. As with Counter Culture’s other training centers, it is designed to educate industry wonks and general consumers alike on coffee flavors [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 20 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: Fair Trade, Foreign Brew, Quality Issues
Time Out London just announced their votes for the best London area coffee bars for 2007: Time Out Eating & Drinking Awards winners - Features - Eating-and-drinking-awards-2007 - Time Out London. They named Fernandez & Welles as London’s finest this year — followed by Bullet, Flat White (pretty much Southern Hemisphere for café com leite), [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 17 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Fair Trade
While the relentless drumbeat of blindly obedient Fair Trade support continues — vilifying anything that isn’t certified Fair Trade — we have yet another reason why it doesn’t exactly achieve the results consumers may be expecting. Yesterday’s National Post (Canada) reported on how the minimum prices paid to Fair Trade co-operatives have not changed in [...]
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