Coffee Shops

Espresso Served in the Bike Lane

by Jason Best, Posted Oct 28th 2010 @ 1:00PM

The trend in gourmet food trucks may still be going strong, with mobile units serving everything from tapas to dim sum. But wait! What do we spy? Is it the next generation in the mobilization of food?Get ready for BikeCaffe. That's right; as Mother Nature Network reports, the U.K.-based company is looking to unleash an army of its pedaling baristas on U.S. shores, with at least one BikeCaffe operating in Denver already and others planned for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and (of all places) Phoenix. (Not sure we'd want to commit to trying to hawk hot coffee in the desert from the seat of a bike, but okay.)

The fancy, three-wheeled contraptions are outfitted with a full-service coffee bar in front, which serves 100-percent fair-trade coffee, Italian-style espresso, and most other coffeehouse staples. And as the fact that the story was picked up by MNN suggests, the company is billing itself as ultra-eco-friendly. (After all, this is a bike we're talking about -- no worries about global-warming emissions here.)

There would seem to be another side benefit of operating a BikeCaffe: after a few months of pedaling that thing uphill, you're pretty much guaranteed to be able to eat all the biscotti you can manage and never pack on a pound.

Filed under: Fast Food, Coffee Shops, Eco-Friendly

Barista, Please Show Me the Starbucks Wine List?

COMMENTS 10

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Oct 19th 2010 @ 4:00PM

Photo: USA Today

Have a little pinot noir before your grande cappuccino? Yes, you can. And you don't even have to go to a wine bar before you hit the local Starbucks...if you live in Seattle, that is.

As we told you in an April post on Starbucks, the company began experimenting with branching out into wines and beers at its Roy Street Coffee & Tea. Now, reports USA Today, another Seattle Starbucks, the Capitol Hill branch, on Olive Way, has received a groovy modern face lift and has jumped on the wine and beer train. Perhaps what goes down in Seattle will soon be coming to a branch near you. With 16 million of them, there's bound to be one nearby.

Is this a Starbucks move to take us up, take us down, fill us up with an artisanal-cheese plate and never let us go? Pop-culture professor Robert Thompson, of Syracuse University thinks so. He was quoted in the USA Today story as saying, "The idea of serving coffee all day to hype up consumers and alcohol at night to calm them down sounds like a perpetual motion machine." But maybe for the go-go joe and booze hounds, that's an answered prayer.

Filed under: Coffee Shops, News, Chain Stores / Restaurants

Starbucks Drops "Tall" Off Drive-through Menu

COMMENTS 3

by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Sep 14th 2010 @ 3:00PM

Starbucks drive-thru window Photo: guruscotty, Flickr

In case you've never encountered the convenience yourself, there's a drive-through window attached to one-third of the nation's Starbucks outposts. And the company has recently taken some heat over the newly designed menus offered at those drive-throughs. On August 31, listed items dropped from about 70 to a mere 25, and leaves out the option to buy a Tall (translation: smallest and least expensive) cup of coffee.

The Tall is still an option, just not an obvious one. Company spokeswoman Deb Trevino tells USA Today the change came in response to customers' requests to simplify the menu -- they were "frustrating" to read -- adding that Talls don't sell as well as Grandes and Ventis. She also says the company is making room for calorie postings, which will be required next year.

Filed under: Business, Fast Food, Coffee Shops

Starbucks is Having a Sale

COMMENTS 2

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Dec 8th 2008 @ 4:59PM

Do you have a Starbucks lover on your holiday shopping list this year? If you do, you're going to want to get yourself over to a Starbucks store sometime in the next couple of days, because they are having a big old sale. Starting Tuesday, December 9th, all merchandise (this means tea, coffee, mugs, coffee makers, gift packs, ornaments and other 'bucks ephemera) will be 20 percent off. The sale runs through Sunday, December 14th.

Sadly, the bargains do not include your morning cup of java, baked goods, gift cards, newspapers, sandwiches or other in-store edibles.

Filed under: Holidays, Coffee Shops

Snobby coffee intervention

COMMENTS 10

by Annie Scott, Posted Oct 6th 2008 @ 10:01AM

Unsnobbycoffee.com sounds like it might be something really good for your dad or uncle who still can't pronounce "grande" and thinks "frappuccino" is a made-up word (and to be fair, "frappuccino" is a made-up word, by Boston's The Coffee Connection chain which was bought by Starbucks).

Actually, unsnobbycoffee.com is the website for McDonalds' new ad campaign.

"McDonald's has made it simple and easy to get the delicious espresso drinks you crave. No crazy names or sizes. No second language required. So hang out and have some fun."

What? McDonald's wants to be a coffee house?

Source

Filed under: Drink Recipes, Chefs & Restaurants, Coffee Shops, Fast Food, New Products, Restaurants

Starbucks launches the Piadini

COMMENTS 2

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Sep 30th 2008 @ 10:31AM

For more than a year now, Starbucks has been working on improving their breakfast offerings. In spring of 2007, they launched a line of breakfast sandwiches, only to announce a year later that they were pulling them from the stores (they then changed their minds again, announcing that they were only going to retool the sandwiches). Earlier this summer, they started selling a line of whole grain pastries, cups of "perfect oatmeal" and a platter that lives in the refrigerated case that contains a hard boiled egg, a small whole wheat bagel, a few slices of cheese and some fruit.

This morning, they launched the latest addition to the breakfast line-up. Called the Piadini, this savory breakfast pastry comes in two varieties - Portobello Mushroom or Sausage, Egg and Cheddar. Energized by a Starbucks-led breakfast and coffee pairing event I attended last week, I stopped by my local Starbucks today to try out this new breakfast option.

Filed under: Coffee Shops, Fast Food, New Products

Coffee compendium

COMMENTS 1

by Eric Diesel, Posted Sep 15th 2008 @ 2:02PM

image of coffee beans

Has anything we eat or drink infiltrated our cultural vernacular as thoroughly as coffee? Maybe coffee can't help itself: just as caffeine enters our bloodstream, perhaps so must coffee itself work its way through our culture. Whatever your position in the dialogue over chain coffee houses versus the local coffee place, here is a cup of hot coffee culture to start your day.

Read about it. If you watch AMC's Mad Men, you just learned that a cup of joe is called that after Joe Martinson, a New York City street coffee vendor who went on to found one of the lynchpin coffee businesses of the early twentieth century. Like most urban legends, there is no definitive proof that we actually got the saying from Joe Martinson, but it's a great story, as is the story of coffee itself. Mark Pendergrast 's Uncommon Grounds: the History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World takes you through the global coffee scene, from the inception of coffee trading through American mass marketing. If you'd rather enjoy a good novel with your latte, then try David Liss' The Coffee Trader or Cleo Coyle's coffeehouse mystery series.

Continue Reading Coffee compendium . . .

Filed under: The History of..., Drink Recipes, Books, Coffee Shops

The New York Times Dining & Wine section in 60 seconds: Snobbery, specialty coffee, slow-cooked beans

COMMENTS 1

by Emily Matchar, Posted Aug 13th 2008 @ 7:00AM

Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter picks up his second restaurant, Monkey Bar. His first, the Waverly Inn, has been luring a high wattage crowd for two years, despite not being officially open.

L.A.'s fast food moratorium raises questions about choice and personal responsibility.

The Minimalist makes chapati, Indian flat bread.

A recipe for slow-cooked green beans.

Eric Asimov sips the crisp white wines of Spain.

Specialty coffee roasters hit New York.

Source

Filed under: Business, Newspapers, In Sixty Seconds, Ingredients, Drink Recipes, Celebrities, Coffee Shops

Coffee: Suddenly, it's good for you!

COMMENTS 2

by Bruce Watson, Posted Jul 21st 2008 @ 1:00PM

Over the years, I've had a love/hate relationship with coffee. On the one hand, when I worked in a cafe/bakery, the free, unlimited chocolate-covered espresso beans made it a lot easier to bake bread all night. On the other hand, when I developed acid reflux, coffee was the first thing that had to go. Over the years, I've repeatedly reunited with coffee, only to leave it again a few months later. Between warnings about digestion, blood pressure, and various other problems, I've learned to fight my deep love of the beloved elixir, settling instead for water or tea. Right now, I'm drinking one or two cups a day, which seems to be working well, although I have to fight my feelings of guilt and fear with every sip.

Recently, however, a 24-year study by the University of Madrid has given me hope that coffee and I might be able to enjoy a rich, guilt-free relationship. According to Esther Lopez-Garcia, the lead researcher, the scientists have discovered that up to six cups of coffee per day may have a positive effect on one's health. According to their data, coffee seems to lower the chances of heart disease and other illnesses.

The study, which followed the coffee-drinking habits 84,214 American women from 1980 to 2004 and 41,736 American men from 1986 to 2004 showed clear linkages between reduced heart disease and coffee consumption, although it was also clear that decaf had almost the same results as caffeinated coffee. Although I won't be able to drink the full six cups of coffee that the study seems to endorse, it's nice to know that my little 2-cup habit may actually be good for me. The only question remaining is what I'll use to toast the researchers: French Roast or something a little milder?

Filed under: Science, Newspapers, Health & Medical, Guilty Pleasures, Drink Recipes, Coffee Shops

Starbucks releases list of stores to close

COMMENTS 5

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Jul 19th 2008 @ 10:01AM

As Shayna (and every major media outlet) noted a couple weeks ago, Starbucks is going to be closing just over 600 stores (616 to be exact) over the next year. Yesterday, they announced which stores, across 44 states and the District of Columbia, are going to get the axe. California, Florida, New York and Texas are losing the highest number of stores. The list on the Huffington Post is searchable, which makes it easy for you to check out and see if your local store will be closing.

Filed under: Food News, Drink Recipes, Coffee Shops