COFFEE NEWS

It turns out that it’s possible to develop film in a mixture of instant coffee, washing soda and vitamin C. This is, to me, amazing. Here’s the recipe.

12 oz. water

5 teaspoons instant coffee crystals

3 1/2 teaspoons washing soda

1/2 teaspoon vitamin C powder

Dubbed cafenol (its a geeky photochem joke), the developer is used just like a regular developing solution, only you can make it by raiding the kitchen cupboard (apart from the instant coffee, of course. We know you all have French presses and espresso machines). You will still need a real fixer solution to deactivate the light sensitive materials, and you’ll need to take the same care in loading the film into a developing tank as you would if using regular ol’ Perceptol, but the results are surprisingly good.

Cafenol will turn any film into a black and white negative, similar in effect to cross processing (developing a slide film in color print film chemicals, for example), and you’ll still want to keep the extractor fan running. Despite the ingredients, this mixture is foul smelling.

Source: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/03/develop-film-in.html

Starbucks instant coffee is almost here, its called Via and will be sold at Starbucks stores in packs of three for $2.95 and packs of 12 for $9.95.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has been hyping a major announcement for weeks, hinting only that it would involve “innovation, competition, and value.”

But before he could present the idea at a Feb. 17 press junket in New York, executives close to the project spilled the beans Thursday to Advertising Age: Starbucks is going to sell instant coffee.

The new product, called Via, will be sold at Starbucks stores in packs of three for $2.95 and packs of 12 for $9.95, according to the Wall Street Journal. Customers can “brew” the coffee by emptying the granules into hot water.

Vivek Varma, senior vice president of public affairs, told employees in an e-mail that Via will “absolutely replicate the taste of Starbucks coffee,” and that it is a “transformational product.”

Varma also said that the $17 billion instant coffee market offered a significant opportunity for Starbucks. Kraft’s (KFT, Fortune 500) Sanka and Folgers, and Nestle’s Nescafe are the dominant brands of instant coffee. While the product has fallen out of favor in the U.S., it is still widely consumed in countries like Brazil and England.

Analysts have been awaiting a turnaround concept from Starbucks for more than two years, ever since the company’s profits started declining due to over-expansion and increased competition from McDonald’s (MCD, Fortune 500) and Dunkin Donuts. Schultz’s attempts to attract buzz with new products - Vivanno smoothies, Pike Place Roast, and, more recently, breakfast foods - have mostly fallen flat.

The new instant coffee, says UBS analyst David Palmer, may be more of the same. “It’s no big deal,” he says. “What’s different about soluble coffee is that it’s equated with poor quality.”

Starbucks’ claim that Via tastes just as good as brewed coffee will be put to the test soon enough. Coffee guru Andrew Hetzel, who owns a coffee consultancy called Cafemakers, is skeptical.

“I have an expectation of what it will be like, and I think it will be harmful for the brand,” he says. “They’re really looking to generate revenue in the short term to meet the expectations of investors.”

What would do a better job of revitalizing Starbucks’ flagging profits? There’s no shortage of ideas on Web sites such as mystarbucksidea.com or the snarkier starbucksgossip.com, a popular rumor site for tipsters and baristas. Suggestions range from free Wi-Fi to the buzzed-about 8 oz. coffee for $1, which has already gone through trial runs but has yet to be institutionalized.

Another idea floating around - and one that Schultz has firmly rejected so far - is to franchise Starbucks, or sell individual stores to private operators. Schultz announced on Feb. 3 that Starbucks would expand its Seattle’s Best franchise, but he made no mention of doing the same for the flagship brand.

Nicole Regan, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, says Starbucks can accelerate a turnaround by re-franchising, or selling existing stores to employees. “Management is hesitant to re-franchise because they fear that they’d lose control of their brand,” she says. “But the decision to do it with Seattle’s Best signaled a change in their business strategy.”

Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) currently takes in about $1 million per store in revenue. Regan believes if the company re-franchised the entire Starbucks base, it could produce an additional $4.55 per share from licensing fees and repurchases.

Palmer says it would also boost Starbucks’ margins, which he says were too low even when the company was performing better.

“Why not allow their partners to buy the stores and create a little bit of entrepreneurial spirit?” he asks. “It’s a great idea, but it seems like management doesn’t want to do it.”

Despite its earnings woes, Starbucks seems wary of implementing structural changes. The company’s pipeline of announcements has consisted mainly of new products and pricing strategies like bundling - and that’s fine for now, says Palmer. “Starbucks should keep being Starbucks, and part of that is inspiring and surprising people,” he says.

But if Schultz doesn’t produce the next Frappucino soon, consistent innovation might not be enough - and his instant coffee won’t be the only thing in hot water. 

Source: http://wallstnation.com/Starbucks-SBUX-instant-coffee-via-02202009.html

Source: http://news.balita.ph

Source: http://www.wpxi.com/consumer/17581403/detail.html

So California company OnTech spent 7 years and 24 million bucks to develop a coffee can filled with quicklime so that you can have a hot latte in seven minutes. Its market: “the people who want to have hot coffee in their car without going anywhere or cooking anything at home” says OnTech Prez Jonathan Weisz.

“I’m not trying to replace your dinner, but when you’re on your way to work and you need some oatmeal and you can’t get to the microwave, we will be there for you,” “This is going to be a huge, huge part of society in the United States. In two years everyone will be drinking from self-heating containers.”

and throwing them out their windows. How do you recyle this? How do you justify this? How do we tell everyone to boycott Wolfgang Puck until he pulls his name off this? Will all the eco-celebs boycott Spago?

Source:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/05/wolfgang_puck_d_1.php

Soft Drinks
12-ounce beverage milligrams

Red Bull (8.2 oz) 80.0
Jolt 71.2
Pepsi One 55.5
Mountain Dew 55.0
Mountain Dew Code Red 55.0
Diet Mountain Dew 55.0
Kick Citrus 54.0
Mellow Yellow 52.8
Surge 51.0
Tab 46.8
Diet Coke 45.6
Diet Coke with Lemon 45.6
Diet Coke with Lime 45.6
Diet Vanilla Coke 45.6
Shasta Cola 44.4
Shasta Cherry Cola 44.4
Shasta Diet Cola 44.4
RC Cola 43.0
Diet RC 43.0
Dr. Pepper 41.0
Diet Dr. Pepper 41.0
Diet Sunkist Orange 41.0
Mr. Pibb 40.0
Sugar-Free Mr. Pibb 40.0
Red Flash 40.0
Sunkist Orange 40.0
Slim-Fast Cappuccino Delight Shake 40.0
Ruby Red 39.0
Storm 38.0
Big Red 38.0
Pepsi-Cola 37.5
Pepsi Twist 37.5
Diet Pepsi 36.0
Wild Cherry Pepsi 38.0
Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi 36.0
Diet Pepsi Twist 36.0
Aspen 36.0
Coca-Cola Classic 34.0
Coke C2 34.0
Cherry Coke 34.0
Lemon Coke 34.0
Vanilla Coke 34.0
Diet Cherry Coke 34.0
Snapple Flavored Teas (Reg. or Diet) 31.5
Canada Dry Cola 30.0
A&W Creme Soda 29.0
Nestea Sweet Iced Tea 26.5
Nestea Unsweetened Iced Tea 26.0
Barq’s Root Beer 23.0
A&W Diet Creme Soda 22.0
Slim-Fast Chocolate Flavors 20.0
Snapple Sweet Tea 12.0
Lipton Brisk, All Varieties 9
Canada Dry Diet Cola 1.2
Diet Rite Cola 0
Sprite 0
7-Up 0
Mug Root Beer 0
Diet Barq’s Root Beer 0
Sundrop Orange 0
Minute Maid Orange 0
A&W Root Beer 0
Slice 0
Sierra Mist 0
Fresca 0

Other Beverages
8-ounce Beverage milligrams

Coffee, Drip 115-175
Coffee, Brewed 80-135
Coffee, Espresso (2 ounces) 100
Coffee, Instant 65-100
Tea, iced 47
Tea, brewed, imported brands (avg.) 60
Tea, brewed, U.S. brands (avg.) 40
Tea, instant 30
Tea, green 15
Hot cocoa 14
Coffee, Decaf, brewed 3-4
Coffee, Decaf, instant 2-3

So you go to the diner and have a cup of coffee. You order decaf, milk and sugar on the side.

Where it comes from is not at the top of your agenda.

But the World Wildlife Fund, in a report titled “Gone in an Instant,” says some coffee beans are being grown illegally by poor farmers in a nature reserve called Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Nearly 20 percent of the jungle there, the group says, has been hacked down by farmers so they can grow coffee.

So elephants, rhinos, tigers and other wildlife, the report says, are losing habitat so that people elsewhere can have instant coffee.

Is Anyone to Blame?

The farmers are not necessarily shooting the animals, but “they might as well be,” said Carter Roberts, the organization’s president, “since habitat destruction is the main cause of the decline of these species.”

The group documents how peasants, trying to make a living any way they can, clear away jungle foliage to find more land to plant coffee beans.

When the peasants harvest their crop, bringing it to market in carts or on motor scooters, the illegally grown beans are mixed in with beans grown on regular farmland.

The coffee involved comes from a type of plant called robusta coffee, typically used in instant coffee and in energy drinks. Premium coffees mostly come from other plants.

Large importers indirectly subsidize the habitat destruction, the environmentalists said. Coffee beans from the Bukit Barisan Selatan park make their way to 52 different countries.

This is not a simple case of good guy, bad guy, though. As the report concedes, coffee importers “may have been unaware that the coffee they were procuring was grown illegally at the expense of protected elephant, rhino and tiger habitat.”

“Yet the international coffee market,” the report says, “played and continues to play a key role in creating market forces that drive deforestation in Sumatra.”

The largest importer of coffee beans from the region is Kraft Foods, producer of such brands as Maxwell House and Sanka, followed by several companies from Europe, Hong Kong and Japan.

Source:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2800140&page=1