Coffee Tao

[I haven’t gone anywhere…for some reason WordPress keeps eating my posts. Going to try to tackle this technical issue but if it seems like there’s a recent posting drought that’s why. -a]
The UK paper The Guardian ran a story today about a “50 GBP cup of espresso” (about $80), served at the Peter […]

The most recent post on That Other Coffee Blog about roasting with an audience got me thinking about my own experiences roasting coffee in a public (or semi-public) environment. At my last shop our roasting room was actually set apart from the retail floor; we used to have our 12k Samiac sitting on the […]

Another recent article in the New York Times describes a Starbucks closing down across the street from an indie coffee shop in Kansas City. For the first time the trend of Starbucks pushing out small shops seems to be reversing, and lagging sales and a stale formula has caused Howard Schultz to consider shutting […]

Even if, coffee-wise, you’ve been keeping your ear to the ground these past few months, you might have missed the press release that came out in November announcing the founding of R Miguel Coffees and its, er, unique method of marketing.
In almost any industry requiring a degree of craft, from making cupcakes to speaker boxes, […]

As you may or may not know, Starbucks–in their continuing all-out war on the trade language–has recently taken to branding some of their drinks with what they call the “skinny platform”. Now when you order a “skinny drink”, you get not only skim milk but sugar-free syrups and no whip, or other similar modifications […]

The Starbucks/Ethiopia trademark debate has just taken a potentially disturbing turn:
Starbucks to Open Regional Farmer Support Center in Rwanda
(press release)
“We are very excited to have a regional Starbucks Farmer Support Center here in Rwanda. We look forward to working with Starbucks to offer additional support to the coffee farming community here and in the […]

It was only a matter of time, but McDonald’s has finally jumped with both feet into the coffeehouse fray, announcing that they are planning on retrofitting many of their stores to accommodate espresso machines and beverage equipment. That’s right: you’re going to see McMochas soon. About 18 months ago, McDonald’s introduced their “premium” […]

(This is part three of a three-part series addressing the debate of Fair Trade vs. direct trade, their political ramifications, and why I prefer direct trade. Read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.)
In Part 2 I discussed why I don’t think Fair Trade is the best option for getting the best beans at […]

(This is part two of a three-part series addressing the debate of Fair Trade vs. direct trade, their political ramifications, and why I prefer direct trade. Read Part 1 here, and Part 3 here.)
Many socially-conscious coffee lovers peek into the windows of their local shops looking for the tell-tale sticker with the Fair Trade […]

(This is part one of a three-part series addressing the debate of Fair Trade vs. direct trade, their political ramifications, and why I prefer direct trade. Read Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.)
If you spend enough time in the coffee industry, it’s almost impossible not to get mixed up in a cause. […]