Mail Order Coffee Shop

Starbucks + Driving = Danger

Joe Mochacheti — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 12:56:24 +0000

It’s true folks…just seconds after being served a tall Starbucks coffee by her bodyguard, Britney Spears ran over a Police Officer’s Foot.

Via Celebrity Starbucks

How To Roast Green Coffee At Home

Joe Mochacheti — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 12:42:31 +0000

Coffee is a small red fruit that must go through many stages to become the tasty brown bean we all know as coffee. Most good coffee is first wet processed to remove the outer skin, pulp (which is actually fermented away), and inner parchment skin. Then the inner seed, or bean, is dried and becomes the green coffee that is shipped and stored around the world. Green coffee is a lot like a dry pinto bean- it can be stored for a long time yet still become a fresh and aromatic food item after it is roasted or cooked.

The final step to make the coffee bean ready for brewing coffee is to roast the green beans. Without roasting, a beverage made from the green coffee bean would be bitter and extremely acidic- in short, undrinkable. The relatively simple act of roasting coffee used to be a common home task, but it todays modern society it became shrouded in mystery as the process was taken over by large companies in the late 1800’s. The growing popularity of gourmet coffee has sparked an interest in reviving the traditions of roasting coffee at home. Fortunately, today we have the advantages of modern knowledge and devices to make coffee roasting easier than it was over a century ago.

Green (unroasted) coffee beans

Buy organic green coffee

During the roasting process the green coffee changes dramatically. The process of roasting forces water out of the bean, causing it to dry and expand in the process. Some of the natural sugars in the bean are transformed into CO2 gas, and others are caramelized into the complex flavor essences that make a good coffee. The colors darken and at the end of roasting the bean is about 18 % lighter in weight and 50 to 100% larger than when it was green. After roasting the coffee continues to “degas”, emitting CO2 which helps protect the delicate flavor and aroma of the coffee. Just one week from the time it is roasted, the coffee has already started to lose some of its best flavor and aroma- the best reason to roast your own!

Learn more about roasting your own coffee at home.

How Starbucks Coffee Became a Worldwide Success

Joe Mochacheti — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 12:33:46 +0000

Starbucks coffee is one of the top names in the coffee industry, producing high-class beans, brewing accessories and building coffee shops worldwide. However, Starbucks coffee started out the same as any other business – with a few shops and enough products to sell.

The history of Starbucks coffee began in Seattle around 1971 when three friends (Zev Siegl, Gordon Bowker and Jerry Baldwin) opened their small shop and began selling freshly roasted coffee beans and brewing accessories. It branched out to six outlets throughout Washington around 1980, when Zev Siegl sold out in pursuit of other ventures.

Howard Schultz and His Vision

In 1982, a plastics salesman named Howard Schultz was hired as head of the marketing department of Starbucks coffee. During a trip in Italy around 1983, Schultz found himself obsessed with Italy’s coffee beans and industry, which started his idea of setting up a coffee shop in the United States. Unfortunately, Baldwin wasn’t too excited about Schultz’s idea, but he did let him test the idea by implementing a small espresso bar in one of the Starbucks stores. Because of its immediate success, Schultz opened up his own store named “II Giornale”.

It was only in 1987 that Shultz started a worldwide name for Starbucks coffee when Baldwin decided to sell the company for $3.8 million. Schultz convinced several investors of his vision – 120 Starbucks outlets for the next five years. He converted the six Starbucks shops into coffee houses and changed the name of II Giornale shops into Starbucks.

In 1992, the Starbucks coffee shops in operation totaled 165, exceeding Schultz’s original vision. Today, over 8,000 cafes in thirty countries are in operation with annual revenues of over $7.5 million.

Starbucks Coffee Liqueur

Starbucks coffee liqueur is the company’s “adult-only” version of their line of coffees. Sold in 750 ml bottles, the main idea of the company is to sell the liquor, their coffee and the name Starbucks into one. The product itself comes from 100 per cent Starbucks coffee combined with 20 per cent alcohol. This line of liquor-coffee product is a result of a joint venture with Jim Beam Brands, which is a major player in the wine industry. The reason for the marketing of this product was due to a Starbucks survey that revealed that over 50 per cent of their loyal clients consumed coffee liquors.

Starbucks coffee has collaborated with other companies, such as Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream and Pepsi-Cola Company. With the company’s collaboration with Jim Bean, Starbucks coffee reports that their DoubleShot remains the number one in the liquor-coffee category.

With the production of high-class coffee beans, brewing accessories, coffee makers and espresso machines as well as the collaboration of different top players in other industries, Starbucks coffee continues to produce well-known products that both loyal patrons and new coffee drinkers love.