Espresso News and Reviews – TheShot.coffeeratings.com

In the headlines today, Consumer Reports continues to explore the merits of ghetto coffee: Lack of excellent coffee blends: Consumer Reports | Reuters. Whereas before they chimed in on the McDonald’s vs. Starbucks debate — something we’ve always likened to a beauty contest between Courtney Love and Joan Rivers — this time their “expert” taste [...]

Tags: barefoot_roasters, coffee_blends, coffee_quality, consumer_reports, press_releases, single_origin_espresso

No Comments »

We’ve been harping on the ethically and intellectually bankrupt medical infotainment industry for years now. Publicity stunts masked as science are bad enough (see: Tuesday’s example). But bad science transformed into a publicity stunt is far more irresponsible. A textbook example came to us all this week in the form of a flawed study linking [...]

Tags: caffeine, coffee_health, medical_journalism, press_releases

No Comments »

Why we entertain the unscientific musings of a discount health care company is beyond us. It’s probably because we’d rather report on it before much of the local press undoubtedly picks this bubblegum lifestyle piece up and makes it out to be something remotely substantial: Caffeine Survey Reveals Most, Least Caffeinated Cities.
A year ago we [...]

Tags: caffeine, coffee_consumption, press_releases

No Comments »

When PR flacks try to get their clients noticed above the crowd noise, a common and effective tactic is the city rivalry vanity/voyeurism survey. Hey, it worked for us. Which is why we’re reporting on the “news” that San Francisco/Oakland ranked #1 among least caffeinated cities in the country: Caffeine Survey Reveals Most, Least Caffeinated [...]

Tags: caffeine, coffee_consumption, press_releases

No Comments »

Last year I asked the question, “Where are all my coffee varieties?”. Today a press release from a Florida roaster picked up where I left off: Espresso like no Other and perhaps a little like Wine.
The broken English is pretty amusing for a press release — even if they make an obligatory wine comparison (yes, [...]

Tags: coffee_choices, kenneth_davids, press_releases, wine_analogy

No Comments »

Not all public relations professionals are brain-dead. Really. Unfortunately, there are armies of brain-dead PR zombies that routinely clog the media firehose with inane chatter.
One of their favorite zombie techniques? Take a rather inane topic that seems trendy in the media — say, oh, blogging. Then take whatever tired idea you have in front of [...]

Tags: bloggers, clover_brewer, coffee_tech, drip_coffee, press_releases, public_relations

No Comments »

Has TheShot been taken over by “splogs” (spam blogs)?!
For anyone who has run a blog, I don’t mean the regular stream of bogus insurance adverts and “great post – I had never thought of that” comments. I mean all those splogs out there that have disguised themselves as online “lifestyle magazines” — i.e., shorthand for [...]

Tags: barefoot_roasters, bloggers, french_press, press_releases, public_relations

No Comments »

Yesterday, Consumer Reports announced that their taste testers rated McDonald’s premium coffee as superior to Starbucks‘ coffee. (Isn’t that a bit like a beauty contest between Courtney Love and Joan Rivers?) But the real story behind this isn’t their ratings so much as the response to these ratings: Coffee taste test stirs hot debate – [...]

Tags: coffee_marketing, mcdonalds, press_releases, public_relations, Starbucks

1 Comment »

I came across a coffee-related press release yesterday (as I often do), and I truly resisted writing about it — hoping it would just go away unnoticed. But then the company behind it is based out of San Francisco, and the press release hit the Associated Press today: AP Wire | 01/11/2007 | Mysterious `Meth [...]

Tags: caffeine, coffee_marketing, energy_drinks, press_releases, tullys_coffee, wine_analogy

3 Comments »

Yesterday’s Sunday Times (London) ran a story concerning McDonald’s UK’s announcement of a coffee supply partnership with the Rainforest Alliance: McDonald’s brews up £1m fair trade deal – Sunday Times – Times Online. At first read, I opted not to add a blog entry on how the Rainforest Alliance served as another alternative example to [...]

Tags: big_four_coffee, coffee_marketing, fair_trade, mcdonalds, press_releases, public_relations, Robusta, sustainability, uk_coffee

No Comments »