Coffee from Poop
Weighing in at $100-$600 a pound, I was surprised to hear about kopi luwak coffee. This unique coffee is made by red coffee berries already picked and eaten by a small cat-like animal! Yes, you heard it right, the Luwak, better known as the Asian Pacific Palm Civet, eats the coffee berry which is collected later in the animal’s poop. After it is collected, the berries are lightly roasted. The enzymes in the civet’s stomach breaks down protein that gives regular coffee its bitter taste.
Kopi Luwak is very rare. Only 1,000 pounds are produced each year, Japan buying the majority of the coffee available. There has been question whether it is sanitary, but so far there is no public record of anyone getting sick from disease such as E. coli. The coffee is made on the Islands of Sumatra, Java, and Salawesi. Coffee coinsurers swear by kopi luwak’s mild smoothness and say it has a chocolate-like flavor.
The Barako Coffee
A type of coffee only available in the Philippines and exported worldwide because of its gourmet characteristics as well as its superior taste compare to arabica and robusta coffee beans.
Unfortunately for barako coffee lovers, it is not available to mega coffee shops like Gloria Jeans, Seattles best, Starbucks and other global brand. Its a good thing we have other coffee shops that sells barako. Cafe Amadeo, named after a coffee growing town in cavite is a fast emmerging cafe in the metro. Our Father’s Coffee located in Robinsons Galleria sells not only barako but also benguet coffee from the highlands of mountain province. And of course, the globally competitive and well established Figaro Coffee Company. Visit some of these shops and experience barako coffee like you never tasted before.
April 21st, 50 cent Iced Coffee Day @ Dunkin Doughnuts!
Today April 21st, Dunkin Doughnuts is offering any small iced coffee for 50 cents. On top of that, Dunkin Doughnuts is donating 10 percent of the iced coffee proceeds to Homes for Our Troops, a non-profit organization that builds modified houses for wounded veterans.
Along with their philanthropy work, Dunkin Doughnuts has also thwarted themselves into the new technological world with Twitter and Facebook pages. The company can also be found on You Tube and has a Flickr group. While online at dunkindonuts.com, one can buy merchandise, coffee equipment and gifts. There are also contests and promos available such as the opportunity to win two pounds of coffee delivered to your home for a whole year! What could be better than that?
Behind the franchise glitz and glam which is Dunkin Donuts sits some great coffee. In many taste tests Dunkin Donuts brand coffee has out tasted heavy-hitters such as Starbucks and Mc Donalds. If you are too busy to pick up a cup of Joe yourself, go online to dunkindonuts.com and start receiving regularly scheduled deliveries of delicious Dunkin’ Donuts coffee beans to your home. Or if you are stuck at the office have Coffee and other refreshment essentials delivered directly to your breakroom by a certified refreshment specialist, who will restock and refresh your breakroom based on your needs.
Other Uses for Coffee…Some may Surprise you!
Coffee is good for more than a morning pick-me-up. Here are some uses for coffee, and coffee grounds, that I found. Some of them I knew already, and some were a total surprise.
-Hangover relief. Have a cup (or two) of strong black coffee the morning after. Caffeine constricts blood vessels, reducing those throbbing headaches.
-A quick rinse with some cold, dark coffee lends a rich shine to brown or red hair.
-Add one-quarter to one-half teaspoon of instant coffee to your spaghetti sauce, for nice color and less acidity.
-Deodorizing your refrigerator. Put a bowl full of ground coffee in the back of the fridge. It absorbs all those nasty smells!
-Fertilizing plants. Add some coffee grounds to the topsoil.
-As an ant repellent. Sprinkle coffee grounds outside doors and in cracks and crevices.
-Minimize dust in your fireplace by tossing in some wet coffee grounds after you put the fire out. The wet grounds will hold the dust in place, keeping it from getting all over when you clean the fireplace.
These are just a few unconventional uses for coffee, and coffee grounds. Feel free to comment with more!
Kona Coffee
![cup[1].jpg](http://meridiancoffeehouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/cup[1].jpg)
Kona coffee is gown on the Hawaiian hillsides of Mount Hualalai and Mount Mauna Loa. The Hawaiian climate and volcanic soil is perfect for growing the rare and expensive coffee bean. In late August the bright red fruit (characteristic of the Kona coffee tree) are ready for harvest. After harvesting, the beans go through a rigorous pulping, drying and roasting process.
Approximately 600 farmers grow coffee on The Big Island’s Kona district. Originally Japanese immigrants worked the fields, but in recent years, coffee farmers include a wide diversity of growers. Because of its fragile and unique cherry-like fruit, the bean can only be cultivated by hand and not by machine. Great pride is taken in producing the unique coffee.
When brewed, Kona coffee has is a wonderful mix of delicate yet rich flavor. It is one of the best coffees in the world not just because of its rarity, but the detail in which the farmers produce the beans. Kona is the only coffee produced in the United States. When purchasing, make sure you are buying the real deal. If the product says “blend” it only contains approximately 10% pure Kona coffee. Authentic, pure product can be found at specialty coffee shops and online.
Brazil Fazenda Ipanema Natural Rainforest Organic Coffee
Brazil Fazenda Ipanema Natural Rainforest Organic Coffee is Alliance Certified by the UtzKapeh certification. This means that you can feel confident that not only is the coffee organic, it is environmental friendly. Strong food safety standards are followed to keep the certification. Additionally, all of the local workers that produce and make the coffee are educated and even trained so that they will be safe and improve their quality of life. There is also health care and even cultural diversity on the farm that produces the Brazil Fazenda Ipanema Natural Rainforest Organic Coffee.
The Brazil Fazenda Ipanema Natural Rainforest Organic Coffee has in fact become so popular because of its certification that it received the Cup of Excellence Award in the year 2002. The farm that produces the coffee was built in the year 1970 and has been growing and improving techniques ever since to create a terrific Brazilian coffee that is respected in European countries and among United States coffee buyers.
El Salvador San Mauricio Fair Trade Organic Coffee
Many people do not realize it but the area of El Salvador is primarily agriculture based. The land of this area is ideal for growing coffee beans. In fact, the area is so much suited for coffee that it has become known for helping with the wildlife of the region, particularly the birds that migrate to the region as well as local endangered species. You will find some of the most environmental friendly and highest quality organic coffees coming from this region.
The region of El Salvador has not always been kind to the coffee growers. During the late 1900’s civil war forced coffee growers to pay huge taxes for war and many of the buildings used to process the coffee were burned to the ground leaving the coffee growers helpless. In fact, things got so bad that many farm owners and business people for coffee were kidnapped and held for high ransom prices to be paid by the workers on the farms.
In 1994 Brazil put a freeze on coffee production and it drove coffee prices to a new heights. This turned out well for the locals of El Salvador region because the value of their coffee was enough to replace the buildings to process coffee, build new areas to grow coffee and even obtain health care, education and better living conditions. Now the coffee coming from the El Salvador region even helps to recover the homes and the area that was hit by the massive earthquakes. The Organic Crop Improvement Association helps to oversee the fair trade of coffee from the El Salvador region to make sure that this Altura variety of coffee is sold fairly and the proceeds go back into the community where the organic coffee is grown.
Organic Coffee from la Rochela
Organic coffee is very popular and very tasty. You can feel confident that organic coffees have a rich flavor that is very good and fresh. In fact, with so many consumers concerned about the environment and wanting to do their part in saving the Earth, there is an increasing market for organic coffees.
Coffee from la Rochela is one of the leading organic coffees on the market. One of the reasons is that you can get for under $6 a pound which makes it not only great for the environment but very affordable for coffee houses and for people to use in their homes.
Coffee from la Rochela is produced by a family that has been making coffee for around twelves years. They are located in the area of Trujuillo, Valle del Cauca in Columbia. Around 1998 they converted approximately twenty percent of the family land to making organic coffee instead of using the traditional methods of non-organic coffee. You will find that it has a medium sweetness, consistency, acidity and aroma. It is really a good cup of organic coffee.
Bolivian Cenaproc Fair Trade Coffee
More and more customers are requesting organic coffee. People are very concerned about health and wellness issues and are turning to organic coffees as their preference for coffee drinking. If you can offer several organic coffees on your menu, you are sure to build a larger loyal customer base with your coffee house.
Bolivian Cenaproc Fair Trade Coffee is very popular for organic coffees in coffee houses. The coffee is cultivated and grown in the mountain areas of Bolivia from colonies such as Villa Caturapi, Collasuyo, Alto Ascension and others. The main purpose of the organization is to provide coffee that has a rich flavor and is environmentally friendly to grow. The coffee has a bourbon flavor blend to it. For example, they have raised bed patios for the drying of the beans. The nurseries for raising coffee are supervised by technicians to ensure that they are environmental friendly. So not only is the coffee rich in flavor it helps to sustain the environment and the local farmers in Bolivia.
You can expect to pay around $6.18 per pound for this type of organic coffee. However, there are places that offer it wholesale so that you can buy it in bulk to help your inventory budget for your coffee house.
Cafe Vita, Seattle, WA
Cafe Vita
1005 East Pike, Seattle, WA. (206) 709-4440. http://www.caffevita.com/. A unique cafe and coffee roasting company in the heart of Seattle’s Capital Hill. Enjoy a cup of coffee or chai while watching the beans get roasted and coffee truly produced. A local Seattle-based coffee company (not new in concept since Seattle is a coffee city) which specializes in small-batch coffee roasting, espresso preparation, and espresso equipment. A great spot and great staff. Free wifi. Visited 12/27/2006. Rating 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
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