Tags · Products
Are You Using Knock-Off K-Cup Technology?
Friday, December 18th, 2009
According to lawsuit recently filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, however, one particularly well known purveyor of single-serving technology is having trouble getting their innovations recognized by the government. Reading, Mass.-based Keurig, Inc. filed suit on Dec. 11 against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, claiming officials there had wrongly rejected a patent application on the company’s K-Cup coffee filter cartridges.
Read the full article, “A Fight Brews Over Coffee Making Technology “. Posted 12/18/09.
Coffee-Talkies Gift Idea
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Although I have absolutely no use for walkie-talkies, these coffee-talkies really caught my eye. Then I found out it’s just a prank gift box. I think I’d actually be disappointed if someone gave me this, and I opened it up only to find it wasn’t real. The idea is pretty cool though, but I’d like it even more if the coffee-talkies were real, working walkie-talkies. The boxes, available through The Onion Store, cost $6.00. If I had more room to display stuff like this, I would really consider ordering one of these; I’m sure it would be a conversation piece. I’m continually amazed at all the coffee-related products people come up with.
Nescafé Green Blend: Why Roast the Beans?
Thursday, November 19th, 2009
The goodness of Nescafé Green Blend lies within the unroasted green coffee beans. They are naturally rich in polyphenol antioxidants which can help protect the body’s cells from day to day damage. Polyphenol antioxidants are also found in green tea and cocoa.
I’m sure this may have been done elsewhere, but this is the first time I’ve seen roasted and unroasted coffee ground together for brewing. I’d be curious to know how this blend tastes. The results from my quick search online seem to indicate this is only released in select areas right now, or maybe ever. Has anyone tried it? Or seen it in stores?
I originally found this posted at Big Hospitality.
CADDi Helps You Carry Coffee With One Hand
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Whip out your Beverage CADDi, of course, and off you go. The CADDi is a fun new gadget that does one thing really well: it lets you hold onto a drink with one finger.”
Read the full article, A low-tech solution to a coffee conundrum at CNET.
Coffee Grinder Salt and Pepper Shakers
Monday, October 26th, 2009
I got these coffee grinder-shaped salt and pepper shakers several years ago at T-Ted Ceramics in Dunkirk, OH, for just a couple dollars. Although T-Ted sold mostly greenware and bisque (ceramics ready to bake or paint), this set was already finished when I bought it. I don’t know what it is about those types of coffee grinders, but I’m facinated by them. I wish I could have bought the ceramic mold, but they didn’t have it; that’s probably a good thing or I’d have 50 sets of coffee grinder salt and pepper shakers sitting around right now. It may be a little awkward to actually use this set due to their shape, but I really like them anyways. These have only been used as decoration so far; I’ll use them eventually, but I don’t want them to get broken. Someday I would love to get an actual coffee grinder like these, but for now, this will have to do.
Resources:
- T-Ted Ceramics: I always used to drive by this whenever I came home from college, and it was in the process of going out of business for the couple years that I would stop in. It may still be in business, but I’m not sure. You can always do a Google search for “T-Ted Ceramics Dunkirk Ohio“.
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