Kona is King at Hawaii’s First Cupping Contest
Onouli Farm of Kona won top honors at Hawaii’s first coffee-cupping competition this weekend at the Hawaii Coffee Association’s 14th annual conference at Maui Tropical Plantation. There were 69 entries who were judged by 3 judges. The scores were based on wet and dry aromas, acidity, body, balance, sweetness and aftertaste.
In other cupping news, Rusty’s Hawaiian, a coffee company in Kau, earned the top score in a cupping of Bourbon varietal coffees by “Coffee Review: The World’s Leading Coffee Buying Guide.”
Mocha Mondays at McDonalds
McDonald’s is giving another push in their quest to become number one in the coffee world. Starbucks started giving away ice cream. How will McDonald’s counter this freebie? Two words, “Mocha Monday”.
July 13 through August 3rd, participating McDonald’s will be giving away 7oz iced and hot Mochas on Mondays. Admittedly, the free Mochas are smaller than the regular 12oz size that the Mocha’s usually come in.
McDonald’s is estimating that they will give away around 10 million Mochas during this campaign. Neil Golden, chief marketing officer of McDonald’s USA said, “This is one of the largest sampling initiatives we’ve taken on as a company.”
Aerobie Aeropress Coffee & Espresso Maker Review
The Aerobie Aeropres is a single cut coffee & espresso maker. It
The coffee is micro-filtered. It so pure and particle-free that it can be stored for days as a concentrate. The concentrate can be drunk as espresso, mixed with milk for lattes, or diluted to make American coffee.
Its easy to use and clean, which is a must! It also makes your espresso and coffee taste great! Also, you cannot beat the price. Total immersion of the grounds in the water results in rapid yet robust extraction of flavor and allows for a moderate temperature, which results in a smoother brew. The air pressure, created by the plunger, shortens filtering time to approximately 20 seconds. This avoids the bitter taste associated with the long process of traditional drip brewing. The air pressure squeezes the last goodness from the grounds, enriching the flavor of the coffee. Due to the lower temperature and shorter brewing time, the acid level of the coffee is much lower than traditional brewers. Aeropress released laboratory pH testing results which measured the brew’s acid as less than one fifth that of regular drip brew. The low acid is confirmed by coffee drinkers of the product who confirmed that coffee made with the Aeropress was much friendlier to their stomachs.
The Aeropress is slightly more time-consuming for the user than traditional french press or drip coffee makers. It takes about the same amount of time as a standard espresso machine.
Starbucks Recalls Coffee Grinder
Starbucks is voluntarily recalling approximately 530,000 grinders sold between March 2002 and March 2009 under the names of Starbucks Barista Blade Grinder and Seattle’s Best Coffee Blade Grinder .
Three incidents have been reported where the consumer received lacerations while cleaning their grinder. There have been 176 reports of the grinder turning itself on and off unexpectedly. Consumers should immediately stop using the grinders and contact Starbucks for a free replacement grinder at 866-276-2950 or look online at Starbucks Coffee Grinder Recall
Zaget’s #1 pick for Fast Food Coffee
Zaget’s has made its pick as to who is number one when it comes to fast food coffee. No surprise, Starbucks is the winner, beating McDonalds and their McCafe’s. As you already know, McDonald’s was hoping for the top spot. It was not to be. However, YouGov’s BrandIndex shows that McDonald’s and Dunkin’ Donuts both beat out Starbucks in terms of perceived value.
In response Starbucks is pitching a new campaign to celebrate their ranking. The ad campaign is straight forward stating simply “Zagat says we’re the country’s No. 1 best coffee. Actually, you said it, but Zagat repeated it (which is nice)” They are also planning to appear at least once on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Starbucks, which posted its first-ever fiscal loss in August 2008 and has financially struggled since, continued slumping in the second quarter of its fiscal year 2009. The company reported consolidated net revenues of $2.3 billion, a 7.6% decrease from Q2 2008.
Columbia Coffee Output Drops for May
Columbia, the world’s third largest producer of coffee, is predicting that there output of their beans could drop to 10,000,000 bags less this year than last year, according to Jorge Lazano who is the president of the National Association of Columbia Coffee Exporters. The numbers for May are not good, compared to the same time last year. The crop may fall 13% from the amount harvested this time last year. The Association is sticking to it previous prediction for this years crop being between 10.5 million to 11.5 million bags this year, each bag weighing 132 lbs. They expect to still meet the needs of all contracted shipments, even with the lower output. The prediction that Columbia will harvest less beans this year than in the past has made coffee gain 22% this year. Coffee may exceed $1.70 per pound, which is a ten year high. This is due to excessive rainfall which has damaged the crops, according to the growers federation.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a_yzWGDTYQpA&refer=latin_america
Port Shut In Honduras After Quake
The port of Puerto Cortes, located outside the city of San Pedro Sula, was closed on Thursday after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. Puerto Cortes is the Carribean port for 80% of Honduras’ products such as coffee, bananas, hardwood and coconuts. The port suffered damage to machinery and equipment.
Jose Angel Saavedra, a major producer and member of the IHCAFE coffee growers’ group, said there were no signs of damage to Honduran coffee farms.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE54R4D820090528
Recall on Bunn Single Cup Coffee Maker
The Chicago Tribune has reported that Bunn-O-Matic,d Corp. has recalled 35,600 of their Single-Cup Pod Brewers because there is a potential burn hazard associated with them. Although the recall was voluntary, it was done after the US Consumer Products Safety Commission disclosed that they had received 10 reports of the coffee brewer coming open during the brewing process,resulting in one customer suffering minor burns.
If you think you may be affected by this recall, please contact Bunn at 1 (800) 741-3405 or visit their website at www.bunn.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-biz-bunn-coffee-pod-recall-may21,0,3203525.story
Coffee Can’t Hurt, Might Help
There is always ongoing research as to how coffee effects the body. Coffee used to get a bad wrap, but not anymore. Studies show that it couldprotect against diabetes, heart disease and stroke, liver cancer, cirrhosis and Parkinson’s disease. Coffee is also helpful for athletes to help them achieve the optimum in performance.
Why did earlier studies not show this? Perhaps it is because many coffee drinkers also smoke which skewed the previous tests on coffee. It is important to account for all factors when doing medical research so that you can truly evaluate the specific thing that you are testing, in this case, coffee.
For more information and to read the full story, check out the following link.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/la-he-coffee18-2009may18,0,2647860.column?track=rss
This article was written by Judy Forman. You can check out her site at www.myhealthsense.com
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