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May
31,2010

Specialty Coffees Win!

Author | Marc Wortman

Earlier in the year, a consumer study was released by Market Force Information, a “worldwide leader in customer intelligence solutions”.  2,000 people were surveyed.  One focus was the coffee (and tea) sector and here’s what it had to say:

- Of 2,000 respondents, 82% of them said they drink coffee.  Most cited the bigger “mass” brands like Folgers as their regular choice.

- But of those who regularly drink coffee from the bigger brands, specialty coffee enticed the majority (52%) to try a new brand that they hadn’t tried before.

- The #1 new brand tried by consumers was Starbucks.  They received approximately twice as many mentions as the #2 brand, Dunkin Donuts.


What’s it all mean?  For the record “specialty coffee” refers to any premium or gourmet coffee identified by and sourced from a specific source and climate.  For my own purposes, it’s any coffee of quality that isn’t one from one of the big grocery retail names.

I might drink my coffee black, but I drank it “double-double” for most of my life.  I switched to black so I could appreciate subtle differences in the specialty coffees of different regions, but even in the content you’ll find across this website, I won’t admonish the non-purists who add cream or sugar to their coffee.  In fact, I still encourage it if that’s how you best enjoy a coffee.

When it comes to specialty coffees, there’s an almost limitless number of varieties of how coffee can be enjoyed.  If it only came in black, there would probably be half as many people drinking it.  However, if coffee can become AN ingredient in a more complex or “specialty” drink, then I am happy for coffee to be able to play that part.  Coffee purists should relaaaax!  However people choose to enjoy their coffee is not only their business but a great opportunity to experiment.

And it’s these specialty coffees that have brought more coffee drinkers to the table.  I wouldn’t personally buy a specialty coffee from Dunkin Donuts because they can’t do it right.  They’re introducing them simply to compete, not because they have a trained barista that knows how to properly prepare one.  If coffee was only available in black, I might never have come to enjoy it so much…but I got there gradually.

Learn more about specialty coffees and what makes them great at Peet’s Coffee and Tea and Starbucks Store.  These two sites have a lot of information and coffee expertise.

Categorized In | Buying Coffee,Coffee News

May
29,2010

Coffee Maker Report Card

Author | Marc Wortman

I am pleased to announce the return of the MakeGoodCoffee.com Coffee Maker Report Card.  Last year, we undertook a big consumer evaluation of the different coffee maker choices out there to help you get the most value for your buck, whether you are upgrading your coffee maker at home or else buying one for the first time.

We did this in a couple ways.  First, we determined which primary criteria every coffee maker needs to have to ensure it makes you good coffee at home.  Next, we determined of all the bells and whistles that manufacturers load onto their machines, which ones truly add quality to the coffee in your cup and which detract from it.

On that basis, each machine reviewed was given a score as a percentage up to 100%.  There is no perfect coffee maker out there, but to put it in perspective, our first place pick scored 99%.  Our fifth place pick scored 71%.  On price, the most interesting thing we noticed is that while those machines that fell anywhere from first to fourth place fell into roughly the same price range, the fifth place machine came in at a significantly lower price point.  While it wasn’t the best machine we reviewed, it offers ALOT of value by making a good cup of coffee for a lower cost machine.

To see which coffee makers made the cut, check out the Coffee Maker review page.

To read a detailed account of our Report Card method, check out the Coffee Maker Report Card criteria.

If you have tried any of these machines, please drop a quick comment.  Did it live up to expectations?  Do you agree with our assessment?  I’d love to hear what your experience has been.

Categorized In | Brewing Coffee

May
25,2010

Caffeine and migraines – more coffee magic

Author | Marc Wortman


I hope you like the clip art.  Yes, I have become fascinated by the medicinal effects of caffeine.  Use of caffeine to increase alertness and decrease fatigue is definitely what made the brewed coffee drink originally popular.  The Sufi monks in Yemen used it to stay alert during their prayers and meditations, and the world of coffee grew from there.

Caffeine is recommended for migraine sufferers and with a close friend that suffers from them, I found this interesting enough to research further.  Here’s what I learned:

  • Caffeine is a common ingredient in many headache medications.  They don’t necessarily treat headaches, but rather make pain relievers more effective.  This would explain why caffeine as an ingredient in medication can accelerate relief, but too many coffees will make a bad headache worse.  One coffee and one Advil should give you significant relief from a headache, the first ingredient helping the second.
  • By adding caffeine as a supplement to medication, it reduces the chance of you becoming addicted or overdosing to the medication through overconsumption.  Since caffeine helps the drug do its work, you need less of the drug.
  • Many believe the onset of headaches is related to blood vessels, and caffeine narrows blood vessels.  Some caffeine then will thin the blood and provide headache relief.  Too much caffeine will bring its own side effects, one of which could be to induce a headache through the inevitable caffeine withdrawal you’ll experience once it’s out of your system.
Categorized In | Coffee and You

May
20,2010

Coffee and exercise – do or don’t?

Author | Marc Wortman

I recently ran a race for the first time.  It’s one thing to be at a point in my life where I need all the help I can get, including whatever bars, shakes, or magic beans will give me extra energy.  But, it’s different with coffee where it’s not just a pick-me-up, I’m sure my bloodstream depends on it.

The conclusions on the health benefits of coffee are that there are not yet any conclusions.  In fact, I’d read from one source that once your bloodstream becomes dependent on the caffeine after years of routine drinking it, that you will no longer feel its effects, only the effects of a lack of it.  As an aside, I challenged this theory at a recent coffee tasting where I drank so much coffee and definitely felt the effects again.

I hit Twitter to see if anybody could help me and got some good research back.  Here’s the jist of it.

  • Athletes have been using caffeine as a stimulant for physical activity for many centuries.
  • Caffeine affects nerve, muscle, and blood cells in how pain is perceived, limiting muscle pain while working out.  The University of Georgia found in 2003 that caffeine reduced muscle pain during exercise and pain following the workout.
  • Other research found that coffee released huge endorphins (“feel-good hormones”) into the system during heavy workouts like a race.  BTW, this was the point in the research where I was convinced.  Yes, I had a single large-serving cup of coffee about two hours before the race started.
  • Now, my favorite finding because I wasn’t expecting it.  You’d think a system addicted to caffeine would need more of it to get its beneficial effects.  The International Journal of Sport Nutrition found different last April.  Caffeine-”naive” subjects and caffeine-habitual subjects reported the same reduction in muscle pain after consuming a caffeine pill before a heavy workout.  The caffeine pill was meant as the equivalent to 2-3 regular cups of coffee.

Want to learn more?  Check out this article from ABC News.

Categorized In | Coffee and You

May
17,2010

Peet’s Blend 101 – put it on your list

Author | Marc Wortman

I’m a member of Peet’s Coffee and Tea coffee subscription plan, called Peetniks.  Well actually, there are a couple reasons that’s not true.  Really, the Peetniks membership was a gift for my parents and I have hijacked it for my own greedy coffee needs.  The other thing is that I keep getting Peet’s to delay my monthly shipments while I work through a coffee overstock at home.  And before I could stop the flood of coffee, the last delivery was of one of Peet’s three big custom blends, their Blend 101.

I’m mixing it up between this and an Ethiopian Harrar coffee.  I love Peet’s Blend 101 but I also love their Major Dickason blend.  If you’re wondering how they can all be so good, there are a couple reasons.  First, Peet’s knows coffee and few people know that it was the inspiration for now-rival Starbucks itself.  So when it comes to blending coffee to recipe, they don’t make a bad blend.  Which leads me to the second reason.  A good roaster should have more than one blend, each one trying to include different coffee accents for different coffee tastes.


While the Major Dickason might be their “signature blend” (the Pike Place to Starbucks) and while they have a formal House Blend like any good roaster,  the Blend 101 has its own stand-outs.  It’s good to know what you like and don’t like in a coffee so you can decide for yourself.  And while I think you should put Blend 101 on your list of coffees to try, here’s what you should know about the flavor:

  • Body: Its heaviness between being watery and syrupy is middle of the road.  It is fuller than their House Blend but not as full-bodied as their Major Dickason.  I like a full body, anything less reminds me of the junk coffee-flavored water that McDonald’s used to sell us years and years ago.  But a medium body isn’t too bad so it doesn’t have to be as full as the Dickason for me to like it.
  • Acidity: The pop of coffee.  You won’t find a “brighter”, higher-pitched blend from Peet’s, and this one has it over the Dickason blend.  Acidity -not to be confused with stomach acid from drinking coffee- is the pop that makes coffee taste like coffee.  The more acidity, the more exciting although not everybody is looking for that pop.  I like a lively cup of coffee and this one delivers.
  • Complexity: There are lots of different and complementary coffee accents captured in this blend.  As Peet’s advertises it, it has “spicy notes” that you won’t find in the other blends.  I like a blend that captures a broad range.

I suggest putting this coffee on your list.  While not as heavy as the Major Dickason blend, it makes up for it to me personally in a blend that’s anything but simple.  Check out the Peet’s Coffee and Tea website.  If you ordered one pound each of the Blend 101 and Major Dickason, I believe you’ll find you enjoy both but for different reasons.  And that’s what I love about coffee.

Categorized In | Buying Coffee

May
15,2010

My First Coffee Tasting Experience

Author | Marc Wortman

On a recent tour of the Fire Roasted Coffee Company (FRCC) in London, Canada, owner David Cook set up me up with a half-pound of Papua New Guinea coffee and a half-pound of Ethiopian Harrar coffee.  As I was preparing this morning for my first formal coffee tasting experience, to be hosted by the FRCC, I went with the Ethiopian coffee in my cupboard over the Peets Blend 101.  I figured for consistency, if I was going to drink FRCC-roasted coffee all morning, I should stick with this roaster’s product from my first cup of the day.

Coffee Tasting

These tastings are done 4-6 times a year by the FRCC.  As roaster Patrick Dunham explained to me, it isn’t to provide a lesson in tasting as if you were on a winery tour and learning to properly pick up accents in sips of wine.  Rather, the tasting is for the FRCC to profile their more exotic coffee offerings – and often, some new shipments.  The FRCC serves a high-end local coffee market that wants to try new varieties and knows they can count on the FRCC to research and source everything the world of coffee has to offer.

Here’s what I tried…

Kopi Luwak Civet Vietnamese Coffee – the “cat’s ass” of coffee


If the word “civet” caught your eye and you remember it from the movie Bucket List, I won’t sugar-coat it for you.  This feline loves to eat the coffee cherry but its system only partially digests the seed (the coffee bean itself).  What’s more is that its digestive system “processes” the bean in such a way that it gives it a flavor coveted by many coffee drinkers.  Yes, the civet’s poop is collected, roasted as a coffee bean, and ground and brewed just like regular coffee.

Some of you know that Vietnam’s entry into the coffee growing market going back some 15 years has been mainly the cheaper robusta coffee.  But this is the higher-quality arabica species of coffee.  How high-quality?  Retail price is $240/lb versus conventional $15/lb.  And FRCC has no doubt they will move all of the Kopi Luwak coffee that they recently ordered in.

Hawaii Kauai Estate Reserve

This was a great reminder of the Kauai coffee I was drinking on a recent trip to Hawaii.  Not to be overshadowed by its neighboring Kona coffee, Kauai coffee is a more reasonably-priced well-balanced coffee.

Hawaii 100% Kona

Also nostalgic of my recent trip to a plantation in Kona, Hawaii, FRCC sources their Kona coffee from the Greenwell Farms.  I certainly recognized the Greenwell name from my trip.  FRCC sells this coffee for $40/lb so not quite three times as expensive as your “regular” coffee.  While American wages and other associated costs drive up the retail price of Kona coffee, it is not without its merit for fetching a premium among coffees.  A nice acidity and unique flavor.

Jamaican Blue Mountain

Along with Kona coffee, Jamaican Blue Mountain is the other “mainstream-popular” coffee that fetches a premium over other specialty coffees.  Of the handful of plantations there, this particular bean is one of the lower-grown and that means FRCC can sell a pound of it for $30, rather than the typical retail price of $60/lb.

But as far as whether the low-grown nature affected flavor, this was one of my favorites of the day, simply because it had the most distinct flavor in my humble opinion.  Without a very sophisticated sense of taste, I had David explain to me what makes this one different.  David explained that basically, there are three stages to experiencing coffee flavor: the first that it touches the taste buds, the main taste recognition of flavor that follows, and finally, the after-taste.  The Blue Mountain coffee in the middle main phase offers sweeter tones than most.  This was probably my pick of the day.

Bolivian Peaberry

My first peaberry coffee was from Kauai.  The peaberry is a “coffee aberration” in that the two parts of the seed within the coffee cherry are not separate as is normally the case but rather grow together as a single rounded oval “coffee bean”.  It isn’t necessarily a better coffee, but a different coffee with its own flavor characteristics.  The medium-roasted Kauai peaberry coffee I’d tried while in Hawaii was a big favorite of mine…this Bolivian coffee didn’t quite knock my socks off as much.

But having said that, I didn’t have a single bad coffee today.  They were all great and unique in different ways.  The coffee tasting itself was a great experience, and I thank David and Patrick for spending as much time with me as they did to answer my million questions and make me that much coffee-smarter.  Check out the website for the Fire Roasted Coffee Company.

Categorized In | Uncategorized

May
13,2010

The Story of Juan Valdez

Author | Marc Wortman

Coffee was introduced to Colombia in the early 1800s.  It is grown today all along the Andes Mountains that cross Colombia from north to south.  There is a misconception that Colombia is the world’s largest producer of coffee, which is to be expected given the success of their marketing that dates back to 1959.  That was the year that Colombia introduced the world to the fictitious character known as Juan Valdez.


Go back 32 years further still to 1927 when Colombian coffee growers founded the FNC, or the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia.  The group was formed for common purpose, including the maintenance of quality from that region, which benefits all of its growers.  Also, an opportunity for growers to collaborate in improving the quality of life and development of coffee growing areas, and ensure an organized economy for exporting it worldwide.  Today, the FNC represents something in the order of half a million Colombian coffee farmers.

It was in 1959 that the FNC partnered with DDB Worldwide, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, in order to launch a North American ad campaign that first featured iconic Juan Valdez.  The intent was to give a face to the Colombian coffee grower for consumers.  While Brazil produces more coffee, this campaign made Colombian coffee perhaps the most famous coffee among North American consumers.  The campaign lives to this day and Juan Valdez remains the familiar face of Colombia coffee.

Since launching the icon, FNC has taken protection of its brand very seriously.  There have been two recent and well known instances of lawsuits by the FNC.  One of the most well known was its action in 2006 against the “Juan Valdez drinks Costa Rican coffee” slogan.  Cafe Britt in Costa Rica was to launch a t-shirt displaying the slogan.  The original meaning of the slogan that also appears on bumper stickers in Costa Rica, is in reference to the original actor that played Juan Valdez in the commercials, Jose Duval, and his love of Costa Rican coffee.  Given the popularity of the name “Juan Valdez”, Cafe Britt was able to produce a Costa Rican by the same name to justify the campaign.

More recently in January 2009, the FNC brought action against cartoonist Mike Peters, creator of the Mother Goose and Grim comic strip.  The lawsuit contends that Peters made unauthorized reference to Juan Valdez and Colombian coffee.  The suit was filed for $20 million in damages.

Hand it to the FNC, they have surpassed the world’s largest coffee producer in recognition on the strength of a marketing campaign.  This has meant an increase in quality of life for this coffee producing country.  They have created an instantly recognizable icon that many people attach to coffee in general, much less that specifically from Colombia.  And like any good marketer, they keep a tight grip on the brand’s integrity which is now over 50 years strong.

Categorized In | Coffees of the World

May
7,2010

The LeWhif Coffee Inhaler – look out, kids!

Author | Marc Wortman

Thanks to Jacques for sending this in.

I remember when Jolt Cola first came out.  The concern was that we were going to end up with younger and younger caffeine addicts.  Sure, coffee doesn’t have a minimum drinking age but it’s simply not as accessible to children as soda.  When caffeine equivalent to a cup of coffee was put into a soda on store shelves, the schools would be filled with tazmanian devils.


Then came Red Bull, just as accessible as Jolt but slightly more dangerous because the period of consumption is shorter.  Now you get all the same effect compressed into a smaller drink.  Heck, it’s not even carbonated so it doesn’t take as long as Jolt to drink.  To be sure these “energy drinks” are more about the affect than flavor, where is Jolt?  I know it’s still around (barely), but Red Bull and the knock-offs all but kicked it the back of the shelf.

And now, David Edwards, professor of biomedical engineering at Harvard University (yeah, I checked, he’s still there – I was expecting “former professor”) has designed a product called LeWhif.  Originally designed so people could inhale the flavor of chocolate without the calories, its second generation version promises the “kick of coffee without the cup”.

Now while you drink your coffee, your toddlers can enjoy the same high without the hot bitter beverage. Look at the guy in the grey jacket on the far left, even he knows there's something wrong with this.

How does it work?  Users place one end of the stick, which is about the size of a lipstick tube, to their lips then inhale gently.  “Whiffers” intake about 100 milligrams of caffeine which is equivalent to a small cup of espresso and less than a single calorie per Whif.

Remember where you were when I predicted this will be a huge problem in the public school system!

Categorized In | Coffee News

May
4,2010

Where does Tim Hortons coffee come from?

Author | Marc Wortman

Question: Ok Marc, Where the #### does Tim Horton’s coffee come from?  And why is it, every Tim’s Horton’s store has different tasting coffee (BIGTIME) what’s up with that, and where does Tim’s rate on your scale, 1 being absolutely NOT on your list, to 10 being better than Guatemalan?  — Kevin (Janet if you’re going to be harsh)

Answer: Thanks Kevin, I’ll tackle it one question at a time.  First of all, Tim Horton’s follows a blend.  Any blend has been carefully put to recipe by professional, yes professional coffee tasters who usually have a sense of what flavor accents they’re trying to capture and mix beans from different sources to get a balanced flavor that they think people will like.


I’ll tell you what Tim Horton’s is willing to share, and then I’ll tell you what I think.  I’ve been very interested in the same question and here’s what Tim’s has to say:

“Tim Hortons uses a premium blend of 100% Arabica beans from several of the world’s renowned coffee-producing regions. Tim Hortons coffee is served within 20 minutes of brewing or it’s not served at all. It’s that quality and focus on “Always Fresh” that we think makes Tim Hortons coffee our customers’ favorite.”

I’ll break it down.  Arabica is a better tasting bean that is more complicated to grow.  Its cheaper more mass-produced sister is called Robusta.  “Several” of the world’s renowned regions could mean anything, but the “coffee belt” is quite simply the world’s equator so there could be Latin American, African, Pacific etc. beans in that blend.

So, if we look at the Tim Hortons Coffee Partnership to see what growing regions the company is actively helping to ensure improved conditions, they are most active in Guatemala, Brazil, and Colombia.  I would suspect that’s where alot of the beans are coming from, so you can assume a strong Latin American presence in the blend.  The whole blend might be Latin American.

I’ll jump to your last question because you  mention my personal favorite, Guatemalan coffee.  It’s a safe bet that Tim Horton’s is importing more coffee into Canada than any other company.  In 2008, Guatemala produced 3% of the world’s coffee, but 14% of the coffee imported into Canada was Guatemalan.  That’s disproportionate and suggests that Canadians favor Guatemalan coffee.  I’m speculating alot just based on these numbers, and it’s alot more likely that coffee is being imported by Tim’s from the big world producers like Brazil and Colombia.

How do I like the stuff?  I drink it black and I rate it 7/10.  It’s good IMHO!  Although maybe I’m not so humble, because a 7/10 on my scale is probably a really good coffee.

Here’s my last bit of speculation.  Tim Horton’s knows that their coffee is most often ordered “double-double”, so I have to believe that is a consideration in the blending decision.  They would make a coffee recipe of beans to suit all that cream and sugar, whatever that recipe is exactly.

What I can’t explain is why it tastes different for you with each Tim’s location.  It should taste the exact same.  The coffee is sent from a central location to the individual outlets so it’s definitely the same coffee.  And the equipment used in each outlet is the exact same from location to location, so it’s prepared to the same standard.  And like they say above, it will never be burnt with their 20 minute policy, so you should be getting the same cup everytime.

Want to appreciate Tim Horton’s coffee more?  Try Dunkin Donuts coffee.

Categorized In | Brewing Coffee

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