Coffee Bean Issue 15
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in this issue.... Cleaning your Coffee Grinder with a hint Coffee grounds are good for your plants Green or unroasted, coffee can produce a significant decline in weight Pro-Fondi, clean filters in a quick and ergonomic way
Editor: Jay Cee jaycee@coffee-magazine.co.uk
Design: The Coffee Bean Team jaycee@coffee-magazine.co.uk www.coffee-magazine.co.uk
Guatemala’s coffee rust ‘emergency’ devastates crops Kate gets a Starbucks
Editorial While putting this issue together I came across a lovely story about Kate Middleton she was just buying a coffee out at Starbucks Well we all know cleaning your coffee grinder can be a real bind so check out our coffee hint on page three. We have a story once again about green coffee being good for weight loss - must be true because this is one of a number of recent articles about this in recent weeks. From across the pond PU’ER, China and more about coffee from that area. EAT poaches rival Costa Coffee’s UK retail boss - this has got to be good for EAT but not for Costa. Then there is Guatemala’s
coffee rust ‘emergency’ this disease destroys coffee crops and is really serious for that area of coffee bean growing. The Coffee Enema this is not really a nice article but you have to give it a read because I could not believe this but don’t try this at home. I spent some time trying some Fair Trade coffee beans and grounds and was very suprised about varieties out there now, the best place on the High Street was Asda but I also have been trying some locally roasted beans and grinding them as needed which makes a real difference. The Darnley House in Stirling,
Scotland is one of the first to use cutting edge technology with iZettle which I think soon will be everywhere as iphones are still one of the most widely used smart phones. Choosing the perfect cup to drink your hot beverage of choice can depend on a number of factors: the size, the type of handle, and the design. Take a look at our coffee bean gadget section you may find it interesting! till next time. The Ed
A new coffee gadget has become available, or should we say a REALLY expensive novelty item. $500 and up. The portable espresso machine has little unique features to offer, except the ability to brew 16 shots of espresso on a fully charged battery, and plug into your car’s battery charger if needed. That pretty much sums it up.
Trisa Electronics new “Coffee To Go” battery powered espresso machine is a whopping
I personally don’t know anyone that is too keen on the idea of grinding fresh coffee in their car, and then brewing a fresh cup while driving. It just seems easier to brew at home and throw in a thermos. And typically anyone that can afford a $500 coffee machine will have outlets in their home. So….buying this product probably isn’t the best idea, unfortunately. Unless you want a ridiculously expensive gag gift for a friend. Sorry, Trisa Electronics!
Cleaning Your Coffee Grinder with a hint The great thing about a coffee grinder is that it can be used for more than just a cup of your favourite coffee. Many people use the machine to also grind spices. The only downside is that you can find yourself sipping a coffee that tastes a little like rosemary, or whatever else you recently ground. Luckily, we have a great tip for you found on the internet.
This is such a simple and instant cleaning solution and it allows you to continue to use your grinder for multiple tasks.
Simply process a handful of Cheerios (yes, as in the cereal) in the grinder for 30 seconds. This will remove the smells left by the spices when planning to use the machine for coffee.
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You’ve probably heard that coffee grounds are good for your plants? You’ve probably heard, haven’t you, that coffee grounds are good for your plants? No? Well, various green-fingered souls use their coffee grounds to add nutrition to the soil, to give their plants a bit of a boost. In fact, if you are chums with your local coffee shop, some shops give out their old grounds to customers for this very reason. Can we also help plants,
even if grounds are not to hand? The answer appears to be: yes. Some argue that it’s good for a plant to have the leftover coffee poured on it,it has a reasonable amount of nitrogen in it, plus other elements which are helpful to plants such as magnesium, potassium and calcium. There are a few factors to bear in mind though. Most plants can only
tolerate so much of this nutritional treatment (eg, once or twice a week with coffee diluted to half its strength) and obviously the coffee should be cold. It should also be ‘neat’ ie, no sugar, milk or flavourings. Why not try out these suggestions and see if you can help your plants with a little caffeine treatment? Coffee Bean Research
Striking new evidence that green or unroasted, coffee can produce a significant decline in weight There has been striking new evidence that green, or unroasted, coffee can produce a significant decline in weight in a relatively small span of time. In the analysis, it described how several overweight or obese individuals who used a few milligrams of ground green coffee every day lost about 10 percent of their body weight. Based on results, getting multiple supplements of green coffee extract per day - while eating a low-fat, healthy diet and exercising regularly - seems to be a safe, effective, cheap method to lose weight. The study included 16
overweight or obese people aged 22-26 years who took capsules of the extract or capsules containing a placebo, an inactive powder, for an overall total of 22 months. The topics alternated between a low dose and a greater dose of the extract. The reduced dose contained 700mg of the coffee extract, and the high dose was 1,050mg. It was a socalled “crossover” study in which people cycled through the placebo and the 2 amounts, each for six weeks. Such studies have each individual as his or her own “control,” increasing the probability of getting an accurate result for the study.
Most of the participants were monitored because of their overall diet (calories, food consumed, etc.) and exercise on the study period. Fats, carbohydrates, and their calories and protein intake did not change throughout the study, or did their exercise routine change. Those who participated dropped an average of 7 pounds during the 22 months of the research. It included a whopping average of 16 per cent decrease in body fat.
Coffee Bean Research
From Across The Pond This remote southwestern city near the borders of Laos and Myanmar is named after one of China’s most famous teas, grown on mountain terraces painstakingly carved out of the region’s rich red soil. But in recent years, pu’er tea has surrendered prime real estate for a more lucrative brew: coffee. Chinese farmers have taken to the new crop, which thrives in high-altitude areas of Yunnan province and commands up to three times as much money as tea. Behind the change are major foreign producers, including Seattle’s Starbucks Corp. and Switzerland’s Nestle.Those multinationals are training farmers and buying beans from the region to meet the world’s growing thirst for coffee. More important,Yunnan has the potential to thrive as a production base in a country that is becoming increasingly hooked on the caffeine-loaded beverage. Long dismissed by many Chinese as being too bitter, coffee has enjoyed a surge in popularity among the country’s young, urban elite. Few pairings denote upward mobility more than an iPhone in one hand and a whiteand-green Starbucks cup in the other. In central Beijing, the company’s smallest
PU’ER, China
cappuccino costs about $4.33, making a Chinese Starbucks habit one of the most expensive in the world. “Starbucks in China for the young generation is almost like religion,” said Liu Minghui, head of Pu’erbased Ai Ni Coffee, China’s largest coffee production and exporting company. “They want to be seen drinking their coffee. A lot of these Chinese kids have come back from studying overseas where they’ve been introduced to this new lifestyle.” Quiz: How much do you know about the Chinese economy? At 120,000 tons last year, China’s coffee consumption was only 6% that of the U.S. the world’s top consumer of hot joe. Meanwhile, about 1 million tons of tea was consumed in China in 2012. Still, analysts for Barclays expect Chinese coffee demand to grow nearly 40% each year until about 2015. More stores and shops are stocking instant coffee. Nestle’s Nescafe brand has captured more than twothirds of the Chinese market, thanks in part to blends mixed with powdered milk and sugar to make it more
appealing to local palates. Coffeehouses are percolating too; sales are projected to expand 23.5% annually on average to about $1.6 billion by 2016, according to Euromonitor, a global research group. Much of that growth is expected to come from Starbucks, which plans to more than double its Chinese stores to 1,500 by 2015. That would make China its second-biggest market, following the U.S. This is a long-term commitment, from Starbucks Coffee China and Asia Pacific so we believe. Part of that effort will be raising the profile of Yunnan coffee. Starbucks released a special blend in 2009 for Chinese consumers called South of the Clouds, which includes beans from Baoshan, a city northeast of Pu’er in Yunnan. A year later, the company partnered with Ai Ni Coffee to grow and test four coffee varietals on a plantation in Pu’er. Those beans could reach domestic and global markets in a few years. Yunnan, considered one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world, is responsible for almost all of the roughly 60,000 tons of coffee grow in China. The provincial government has plans to increase coffee
production to 200,000 tons by 2020. But growers will have to invest heavily to guarantee
consistent quality, experts said. A big test is whether Chinese farmers will remain committed to the crop through price
fluctuations. This year, growers are being offered about $1.20 a pound, half of what they earned two years ago.
EAT poaches rival Costa Coffee’s UK retail boss British food and coffee chain EAT has recently poached a top executive from Whitbread’s Costa Coffee to be its new chief executive and oversee plans to double its estate. Adrian Johnson, who worked under Costa MD Chris Rogers heading its UK retail division, leaves the firm after 22 years and
will join EAT in June. Costa has expanded rapidly on an explosion in popularity of coffee shops in Britain, growing sales consistently as well as its store portfolio, which stands at over 1,400 in the UK and some 800 more overseas. Food, soup and coffee firm EAT, majority owned by private equity firm Lyceum Capital, said recently that Johnson
would oversee plans to double its portfolio of over 100 stores. The group also appointed former Waitrose retail director Tony Solomons as a non-executive director. Costa owner Whitbread, Britain’s biggest hotel and coffee shop operator, also runs Premier Inn hotels and restaurants including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre.
sa Kate get like just s k c u b r a St I you and Kate Middleton is determined to live a normal life. Kate was recently spotted strolling through Kensington Gardens with Lupo her dog on her way to her nearest Starbucks,this is surely proof that royalty won’t stand in
her way of a good snack. Her security guards reportedly remained close by and even waited with the Middleton’s pup outside the coffee shop as she ordered a decaf latte and cookie. The Duchess of Cambridge previously expressed to Vanity
Fair that royal life can be rather stressful with up to five changes of clothes a day. I wonder how many decaf lattes she needs to get through the day. All I can say is well done Kate and keep enjoying your coffee.
Lavazza tackles the UK coffee shop jungle Lavazza, the family-owned coffee company, has arrived in the UK coffee shop ring with its chain of cafes. Headed by four th-gen Alber to Lavazza, the Italian family business has plans to create a potential 400 Lavazza Espression cafes in the UK over the coming decade , with the first 50 opening in the next two years. Lavazza has kept coffee shops well stocked for more than 100 years. Luigi Lavazza first made a name for himself in 1895 by selling his own blends of coffee in his Turin grocer y store , but Lavazza didn’t venture into cafes until 2007 – the Espression cafes star ted out in Lavazza’s hometown of Turin. Lavazza already has a ver y small stake in the UK coffee shop market; its flagship Harrods store opened in 2010 and it has a number in airpor ts across the UK. The Espression cafes will be run as franchises with Lavazza supplying the coffee , food products and staff training. As we all know the UK high street is a bit
of a scrum market for coffee shops, but a spokesman for Lavazza told CampdenFB: “It is not Lavazza’s intention to go head-to-head with high street coffee shop chains as Lavazza are first and foremost roasters and not ‘pure’ retailers. This move is about building the Lavazza brand equity worldwide.” With a certain big-name coffee shop falling from grace in recent months, maybe the time is ripe for a new player.
Guatemala’s coffee rust ‘emergency’ devastates crops Guatemala has declared a state of agricultural emergency after a coffee tree fungus blighted about 70% of the national crop.
$13.7m (£8.7m) in emergency aid to help small farmers buy pesticides to fight the fungus.
Coffee rust causes trees to lose their leaves, resulting in fewer beans, of inferior quality.
Honduras and Costa Rica have already declared national emergencies. El Salvador and Panama are also affected.
Guatemala is releasing
Coffee rust first became a
significant problem in the 1860s in what was then called Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). More than 90% of crops were wiped out, and coffee growing was abandoned on the island. Coffee growers warn that hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost as coffee is Guatemala’s main export.
Coffee Charity S.O.S The jungle drums are drumming.
Well can continue to help and provide a valuable service to the community. The Well is a coffee shop and provides a useful hub for those who visit.
Will anyone listen and come to the rescue of an ailing coffee shop and counselling service?
It is not just a coffee shop, however as it also provides other very important services to the local community.
It would be a shame to see The Well disappear! What’s going on?
It is a registered charity and has, over the years, hosted many different events, including divorce recovery seminars, outreach dinners.
Something of an SOS signal has been sent out via the Stourbridge News online service recently.
There is a valuable service which has been working away for over two decades on the Stourbridge High Street. It is called The Well and it’s in trouble.There has been a plea to help it survive the current challenges and changes in the marketplace, so that The
It also provides book shop facilities. So what’s the problem? According to reports, given our growing appetite for coffee and coffee shops, competition has grown up around the town
of Stourbridge. The Well needs increased funds to compete successfully with this competition. Given that some 12 people are on the payroll and given the additional services provided by The Well, it would be wonderful if these funds were found to keep the organisation up and running. Similarly, the bookshop element of The Well is under threat, thanks to the growing strength of online retailers. Hopefully, funds will be found soon, so that the format and presentation of The Well is updated and reinvigorated so that it continues to help those who need it.
UK: United Coffee In Tie-Up With Tea Firm Numi United Coffee UK & Ireland has announced a partnership with Numi Organic Teas, which will see them provide a range of premium teas to the out-of-home tea drinker. The exclusive foodservice UK deal will cover a dozen teas, including Moroccan Mint, Jasmine Green, Aged Earl Grey and Breakfast Blend. Foodservice tea starter packs with eight
flavours and display rack are available from £173. All Numi products are produced from full tea leaves with only real herbs, fruits, flowers and spices. They do not contain any oils, natural or artificial flavourings, fragrances or perfumes. All teas and herbs are sourced sustainably and it is the only tea range in the UK with Organic certification,
Fairtrade accreditation and is completely GMO free including the tea bag material. United Coffee noted: “Consumers are becoming more discerning and are looking for a high quality premium organic tea. Working with Numi means we can offer operators a high end product to complement their coffee offer.”
Pro-Fondi, clean filters in a quick and ergonomic way A device which removes the coffee grounds from the filter quickly and to perfection, without the noise and the effort required by the classic hand-shaking of the filter, as well as with no dispersion of the grounds. Pro-Fondi is the exclusive, patented, electrical device by Ambrodesign that speeds up the extraction of the coffee grounds and optimizes professional machine filter cleaning, thanks to the action of three rotating blades. Simple, quiet and functional, designed to be installed next to the espresso machine: it is sufficient to drill a 10cm diameter hole on the counter top, and then insert into it the steel cylinder containing the brushes, from which, in the underlying part, hangs a bag where the coffee grounds fall by gravity, without dispersion. Thanks to that, the platform does not get dirty, but, above all, there is no proliferation of insects caused by the grounds
that filter below it. The builtin version is paired with an external one, whose size is similar to the one of the classic tray. It does not require periodic maintenance, but only a few seconds’ daily cleaning with a special brush at the end of service, necessary to remove the residues off the inside of the steel cylinder walls. Ergonomics is one of its major advantages: the operator’s arm is no longer subjected to stresses and shocks causing inflammation of the joints. Pro-Fondi can do the intensive work required by businesses serving more than a thousand espressos every day, smoothly. It is present in more than 700 businesses; the last important recognition of its great features was the purchase of one hundred devices by illycaffè, which is going to install them in its premises. A close examination Pro-Fondi comes with a steel pipe inserted into the counter top of the bar, from which it protrudes by 10.5 cm, and to which it is fastened with four screws. On its top there is an impeller where the three blades allowing the cleaning of the 1 or 2 cup filter are fixed. The engine driving the impeller operates at 12 volts;
therefore, it ensures maximum operational reliability. The front is made of black plastic material obtained from a slot, inside which are two protruding ignition springs; when the filter is inserted, the engine starts the rotation: two blades clean the inside of the filter, adapting to different sizes and shapes. The third blade cleans the coffee grounds from the edges, which, if not removed, can cause the imperfect closure of the brewing chamber with subsequent leakage and coffee granules ending in the cup, which would alter the taste and quality of the espresso. The steel pipe goes under the counter by 17 cm. Here is a ring with a snap closure where the coffee grounds collecting bag is attached. You can replace it every day or when it is full: the exhausted coffee aromas, oily and heavy, do not come out of the upper compartment. Pro-Fondi was ranked second in the Premio Horeca 24 Innovazione dell’Anno 2013, category “Migliore Idea Prima”, promoted by the magazines of the Gruppo 24 ore horeca industry. Watch the videos showing how it works on www.pro-fondi.com.
The Coffee Enema We all have our vices, but this coffee addiction is bound to leave a bad taste in the mouths of many. This couple say they simply cannot function without their daily caffeine fix - in the form of an enema. It’s unclear why Florida couple Mike and Trina decided traditional
oral consumption was unacceptable and instead turned to alternative methods. The pair were featured on a programme titled ‘My Strange Addiction’. While neither of them drinks java, citing health reasons, they’re both addicted to coffee enemas. They spend five hours every day prepping and
administering the enemas, refraining from travel and working from home to maintain their habit. The couple estimates they each do at least 100 coffee enemas a month. Trina, who started the household practice two years ago, admits there was a time she was doing 10 enemas a day.
Traditional coffee house adopts cutting edge payment technology The Darnley House in Stirling, Scotland may be situated within the confines of a 16th century cellar, but its customer service is purely 21st century. The Bow Street café was one of the first businesses in Scotland to use an iPhone to take card payments. By using the free iZettle app and a mini card reader, the café turns its mobile phone into a secure payment terminal. “We’ve never taken card payments before,” says owner Niall Pleace. “For small coffee houses like us the cost of traditional card payment terminals is far too high. We want to keep costs as low as possible for our customers so iZettle really helps as there are no rental fees or contracts involved. It’s important, too, as
many customers expect cafés to take cards these days, even if it isn’t practical for the owners.”
iZettle also allows users to email customers a receipt for their transaction, helping to cut down on paperwork and eliminating the problem of lost receipts. “It’s had a direct, positive impact on our business,” adds Niall. “Often people pop their head in the door to check if we take cards as they have no cash on them and there is no cash machine within a five-minute walk. In the past we would have lost that custom. It’s really got customers talking as well. We recently had a bunch of Spanish tourists so excited by seeing iZettle in use they took a few photos! “A recent YouGov survey
found nearly a third of the UK public have been inconvenienced by a business not taking a card payment in the past 12 months,” says Stewart Roberts, UK managing director at iZettle. “High rental fees have previously been a barrier to small firms taking card payments, but iZettle has removed that obstacle. Our mission is to allow anyone to take payments at anytime and anyplace.”
Coffee Gadget Section Each Creature Cup is available in an 11oz. regular and 15oz. large versions and cost $14.99 or $19.99 respectively. Be warned, however, that if you intend to ship one outside the US the shipping charge can easily be more than the price of the cup itself. For example, getting a 15oz. cup to the UK costs an additional $29.99.
Choosing the perfect cup to drink your hot beverage of choice from can depend on a number of factors: the size, the type of handle, and the design on the outer surface. What’s on the inside isn’t usually thought about too much, but that’s where Creature Cups differ from the norm.
The choice of creature is varied and includes an octopus, pelican, crocodile, sea otter, shark, spider, and even a skull. It certainly offers up something a bit different, and probably a lot of amusement the first time you see someone unknowingly drinking from one–imagine an obliviously tea sipper uncovering that spider.
It’s too late for Christmas, but maybe a Creature Cup is the perfect purchase with which to return to work in the new year. It will certainly form a talking point and may encourage someone else to wash the cup for you in order to take a closer look.
Creature Cups add a surprise to the bottom of your cup either for your enjoyment or someone else’s surprise. As the drinker takes the final few mouthfuls of their beverage from a Creature Cup they will uncover one of several ceramic creatures.
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