Brotherhood of the Bean

Let’s be honest, in the competitive world of coffee having an attention grabbing name is crucial.

Faced with hundreds of choices and an olfactory overload walking through a coffee isle, many times a coffee choice comes down to the name that sounds the best.

When I first heard about “Bad Ass Coffee” I knew they had a name that would compel people to try their coffee.

I found myself instinctively wanting to buy it just to offer some bad ass coffee to my friends and family.

But like anything, what appeals to some infuriates others. That is the case in Arizona where a recently opened “Bad Add Coffee House” is causing quite the stir.

The Arizona Republic reports one such residents feelings:

“We all have small children . . . and we don’t want to swear around them,” Surprise mom Heather Sutton said. “Now, you drive down the street, and there’s a swear word on someone’s sign.”

Despite the fact that Bad Ass Coffee is based on a Hawaiian Legend, and used in the context to refer to a donkey, the collective wail to “Save the Children!” is being heard around the world (hey, it did make the internet).

Heather Sutton’s comments make me wonder if she understands that the word “ass” has another meaning other than its more derogatory reference to a derrière? Maybe this sign is a good opportunity for her and other residents to talk to their children, and teach them something about words with multiple meanings?

Some other words they might talk about could include — bitch (female dog), gay (happy), fag (cigarette), and why not touch upon the offending “ass” word while they are at it?

In the case of the “ass” word there is a great teaching guide they can use, its called the Holy Bible which uses this offending word seventy-six times (King James Version). Just how sensitive have we become as a society?

I have to say that I really enjoyed the Arizona Republic’s article. Apparently this is not the first time residents have responded to the word ass — Ass Kickin’ Hot Sauce has just learned to ignore the residents since coming to town in 1989.

Councilman Gary “Doc” Sullivan knows that this will not be the last time the residents get up in arms over a name, a dog grooming business has recently applied for a business license. Its name? Doggy Style.

Who knows, maybe it will invoke thoughts of Snoop Dog instead of its other meaning.

Tempted by decaffeinated coffee? Thinking of making the switch because of high blood pressure or other health concerns? Unable to get past the thought of drinking coffee that has been made from beans that might have has sat in methylene chloride or ethyl acetate for ten plus hours?

If the answered yes to any of these questions, the time to make the switch may have finally come.

The Brazilian coffee company Daterra has announced recently that they have created a naturally decaffeinated coffee. It took over twelve and a half years of natural breeding (no genetic modification, done the old fashion way) but they have succeeded in producing a 100% Arabica coffee that has only 1% caffeine!

The Opus 1 Exotic coffee is Rainforest Alliance certified, ISO 14001, and Utz Kapeh certified and poses no threats to the environment like other GMO products.

The time and money invested to succeed in this project must have been staggering.  With the bevy of decaffeinating processes available today seeing a project like this succeed it truly amazing.  And not surprising given this information about Daterra from their press release:

“Daterra started 20 years ago as a project of premium and sustainable agricultural products. Today, 100% of the agricultural business of Daterra is coffee. Its vision is to preserve the planet and protect its people. These are the seeds for a better world and great coffee. Daterra’s values revolve around massive investment in research, quality improvement, solid partnerships and responsible governance, environmental protection, and social development. Daterra grows its own seedlings and uses organic composting in 100% of the plantation. Daterra coffees participated as finalists in two Cup of Excellence competitions and were the coffee of choice of the 2005 and 2006 World Barista Champions. “

This is certainly a coffee company to keep an eye on in years to come.

Picture this… you have a nice little coffee shop, you have built up a nice and loyal customer base, life is pretty good.  One morning you hear that a new tenant will be move in next door.

You find yourself hoping they will be cool and begin to think about ways to generate more traffic for each other, whatever their business might be.  And then you learn who is coming — Starbucks.

Time stops for what seems like eternity as you contemplate the horror and impending doom.  But then you break the spell and decide you aren’t going to roll over and die, you decide to fight.

In what can only be described as a classic David versus Goliath fight, one Salt Lake City coffee house found itself in this exact situation.

For two months now the Cafe Villa Bella coffee house has been waging a veritable coffee war against Starbucks and using the leviathan’s reputation and consumer draw to the smaller shops advantage.

As independent shops, Bella Villa and other local merchants are free to add whatever they want to their menus, or stores.  Starbucks is for the most part constrained by it’s corporate image and corporate approved products.

By incorporating unique aspects in their shops such as live music, local art, full meals, and any number of other unique measures that Starbucks cannot, they have been doing what so many independent coffee shops have failed to do — Use Starbucks against Starbucks.

Its an idea just crazy enough that it might work.  Best of luck Bella Villa, we will be thinking about you!

Posted: 10:07 AM- OGDEN - A small coffee shop in Ogden has been serving up specialty brews for about seven months.
And for the last two, Cafe Ville Bella has had new neighbors — coffee behemoth Starbucks.
The owners of Ville Bella says it’s good and bad. Starbucks draws more people to the area, but the small shop is also in direct competition with the popular coffee chain.
Ville Bella and other independent shops have been trying to set their businesses apart by offering things like meals to local arts and music.

The associated press recently reported that illy coffee, the Trieste, Italy, coffee producer will be joining forces with Coca-Cola to bring premium ready-to-drink coffee products to consumers around the world.

Ready-to-drink coffee products are a ten billion dollar a year industry that is growing at a rate of around ten percent annually.    The alliance of illy and Coca-Cola will harness illy’s coffee experience and couple it with Coca-Cola’s marketing and distribution engine.

Some may recall Coca-Cola Blak, Coke’s initial foray into the read-to-drink coffee market.  An interesting product that had its merits but was not embraced by the public as I believe Coca-Cola had initially hoped it would.

The new illy/Coca-Cola coffee drink will be based on the illy freddo.  Listen to what illy has to say about the illy freddo:

“illy freddo is the way to enjoy espresso even in summertime. The same blend is used and the coffee is always prepared on the spot: so the typical illy espresso aromas of honey, caramel and toasted bread are savored in an iced version…”

Based on my experience to date with illy espresso coffee, this is a coffee drink to keep an eye out for when it makes its appearance here in the U.S. and abroad.  For those who have not had a chance to try illy coffee you might want to take a look at our review of illy Medium Roast Expresso Coffee.