"consume reports" news and stories

bConsumer Reports recently taste-tested four widely available brands of coffee - McDonald's, Burger King, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts - to see where you could find the best coffee in the country. They were treading old water with their report, as both AOL and USA Today have done identical taste offs in the past. Unlike the previous tests, however, CR picked McDonald's as offering the best coffee of the bunch, describing it as "decent and moderately strong. Although it lacked the subtle top notes needed to make it rise and shine." USA Today, in their test, picked Starbucks.

Needless to say, you can do a lot better than McDonald's - no matter what CR says. One option is to brew coffee at home. With a little practice, you can beat out any store bought coffee, and it's less expensive in the long run. Another option is to try different local coffee houses, where you will be able to find a real cup of coffee, not just fast food coffee that is better than the rest.

New Yorkers can get started with the recommendations in the NY Post, where they didn't look too kindly upon CR's taste in coffee. Their top picks include Amy's Bread, 71 Irving Place and the MUD Truck.

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Consumer Reports has a little application to test your organic IQ. The program lets you select common items from the "aisles" of their virtual market and lets you know whether it is a good idea to buy them organic or not, as well as supplying the reasoning behind their advice. The three different categorizations are: buy organic as often as possible, buy organic if price is no object and don't bother buying organic.

They mostly recommend "organic if price is no object," but some of their specific recommendations include:

• Buying dairy organic as often as possible. It could cost twice as much as nonorganic, but will help you avoid hormones, antibiotics and "potential toxins in nonorganic feed." (The cost could be mitigated by opting for hormone free dairy).
• Buying organic pasta if price is no object to avoid over-processed food (Nutritional benefits could be increased by opting for whole wheat pasta, though).
• Don't bother with organic cosmetics. CR says that they are allowed to use the organic label if they are water-based and use water in which something organic (like lavender) has been soaked. They also say that they found violations of food labeling standards in their investigation of cosmetics companies.

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