Archive · October, 2009
Former SCAA Chief Operating Officer Sentenced
Saturday, October 24th, 2009Scott Welker, former Chief Operating Officer of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), received his sentence in U.S. Federal Court last Monday; he was charged with embezzling nearly half a million dollars. According to the SCAA’s blog, “Welker’s sentence includes a 33 month jail term to begin in January, 2010, three years of probation following release from custody, and a restitution order of payment to SCAA of $467,665.73.”
It’s hard to believe someone could make off with that much money, but obviously it does happen. They discovered the “accounting irregularities” right after Welker resigned from the SCAA in August 2005. It may have taken a while, but I’m sure this is a huge relief to the SCAA.
Source:
- Read the full SCAA blog entry, “Justice prevails-SCAA finally gets closure“
Quote: "I Like Coffee So Much That I Have Tea…"
Saturday, October 24th, 2009“I like coffee so much that I have tea for breakfast: The first cup of the day in particular is so good that I’m afraid I won’t be able to properly appreciate it when I am half-asleep. Therefore, I celebrate it two hours later when I am fully conscious.”
-Christoph Niemann, Abstract City Blog – New York Times
I came across this quote yesterday on Christoph Niemann’s Abstract City Blog, posted on the New York Times’ web site. Many people use coffee to help wake them up, but it appears Neimann looks at the all-important morning coffee in a different light, and I’m with him. Coffee doesn’t wake me up, or keep me awake for that matter; I drink it because I love the taste of coffee.
Although the date posted on his blog is from back in December, 2008, this was pretty creative and entertaining. As I began looking through his other entries on Abstract City Blog, I found out I like not just his coffee stuff, but his other work too. This led to a Google search, which quickly resulted in me discovering his personal web site, http://www.ChristophNiemann.com/. So after you get done checking out his coffee page, go visit his personal site. It’s worth the time.
Sources:
- Christoph Neimann’s Abstract City Blog
- Neimann’s Personal Site
Now accepting cash, credit, and…Smug?
Friday, October 23rd, 2009Thanks to Chris Hallberg’s new Smug, you may be able to pay for your drink by swiping your coffee cup, instead of your credit card. Hallberg has found a way to integrate radio frequency identification (RFID) inside a coffee cup, called a smug. According to an article by WISN, this will be “like having a debit card in your coffee cup.”
This may help build loyalty, but why limit it to individual shops? I know many people enjoy trying new coffee shops, even if they already have a favorite – Heine Bros. being mine. You would think there would be a way for credit card companies to pick this up and use it in a way similar to the popuar gift cards from Visa, Mastercard, or Discover.
Will this really benefit me all that much? Probably not. I take my Heine Bros. coffee cup with me almost every time I go, so it won’t save paper there. It’s really not much of an effort for me to pull out my wallet and swipe my card or hand them some cash. That being said, would I buy a Smug? I probably would if it were from Heine Bros., or it worked like a gift card as I mentioned above. It’s a cool idea.
You should be able to find the smug starting next year at the Milwaukee-based Stone Creek Coffee. Other independant coffee chains have shown interest, hopefully with large corporate chains to follow. I’ll be interested to see if this idea takes off.
Sources:
- Smug Coffee
- WISN Milwaukee’s Channel 12
- WISN: Read the full article
- WISN: Watch the video
Pick One: Coffee or Chocolate
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009If you had to pick, would you choose coffee or chocolate? I know they’re delicious together, but what if you could only have one? I’d easily take the coffee, but it looks like Kraft Foods is leaning towards the chocolate. Kraft is negotiating with Sara Lee Corporation to sell off its Maxwell House Coffee brand. The proceeds of the sale would help Kraft increase its $16 billion offer to buy Cadbury, the bid having been previously rejected by the company.
The New York Post reported, “under British Takeover law, Kraft has until Nov. 9 to make a new formal proposal — or back off for at least six months.” November 9 isn’t that far away, so this may be a negative thing for Kraft Foods, despite their confidence to raise the funds. For the public, that may mean we’ll be able to find out what’s going to happen with Maxwell House and Cadbury sooner. I don’t drink Maxwell House Coffee very often, but I do like it. On the Cadbury side, those Cream Eggs are amazing; rich, but amazing. I wish I could find them year-round and not just around Easter.
Source:
- New York Post. Read the full article, “Bittersweet decision. Kraft CEO faces tough decision on Cadbury.”
Coffee Ice Cubes
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009It’s only 67 degrees in Louisville right now, and that’s warm compared to what it has been, so iced coffee may not be on your mind; if you were in Hawai’i though, an iced coffee would probably sound good right now. There are a lot of good iced coffee drinks out there, but they always get watered down as the ice melts. A quick fix to that is using coffee ice cubes, and they are almost as easy to make as the water ones.
Make a fresh pot of coffee and pour into ice cube trays. Place ice cube trays in freezer for several hours. Remove and add to your favorite iced coffee drink.
You can be a little more creative by making the ice cubes in a plastic candy mold, like I did in the photos above. The ice cubes melt pretty fast, but I like the look of it while they last.
Consider adding other stuff to your coffee prior to freezing it; you could try a couple whole coffee beans, milk, sugar, cinnamon, or anything else to add a touch of flavor. You could also make seperate milk or creamer ice cubes and add a few of those along with a few coffee ice cubes to each drink for color more variety.