Victoria Beckham Coffee Fiasco

I love celebrity gossip and the invented drama over the simplest of things. Sometimes it makes me laugh at the fickle/excentric/idiotic/funny behavior of the celebrity; and sometimes it makes my laugh at the idiocy of the paparazzi.

Its no surprise that I take an interest when I run across something on the RSS feeds that deals both a celebrity and coffee. It would seem that the UK paparazzi is up in arms over a perceived diva transgression made by none other than Victoria Beckham.

While visiting her father-in-law Ted Beckham at a hospital where he was recovering from a heart attack, Victoria caused quite the stir when she asked if a cup of coffee she was offered was made with tap water or bottled water.

When informed that the coffee was indeed made with tap water, she politely refused the offer with a “No, thank you.” Does this make her a diva or just someone who is concerned about water quality?

Or maybe she feels like many that coffee taste better when its made with filtered water and a gold filter. I know I do. A lot of people do. Coffee does taste better in general with filtered water. Does fuels this perception? Is it due to the purity of the water or the relative lack of discernible taste smell that bottled water generally has over tap water?

Maybe Victoria like all the other people who spend billions of dollars each year on bottled water thinks its better than tap water? If that’s the case I personally know a lot of divas.

But, it made me start to wonder about tap water versus bottled water. Is it safer? Is it better? I’ve always meant to do some reading on this topic but never really got around to it, but thanks to Victoria Beckham, I did. What I found was not what I expected.

According to the National Research Defense Council’s report — “Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?” the first thing that surprised me was the difference in control and testing requirements used for tap versus bottled water.

Key Differences Between EPA Tap Water and FDA Bottled Water Rules

Bottled Water

Carbonated or Seltzer Water

Big City Tap Water (using Surface water) (b)

Small Town Tap Water (using a well) (d)

Just looking at this data its clear that tap water goes through much more stringent testing and oversight than any bottled water. What then fuels public perception of bottled water being better? Certainly marketing plays a big role. I mean who wouldn’t want to drink water that comes from a mountain spring in Switzerland over water from Lake Michigan?

The principle problem seems to stem from the fact that most tap water smells different or has a slightly different taste than bottled water. Add in the hype that has been beaten into our heads about bottled water being “pure” and its no wonder we look at these abnormal tastes and smells as an indication of a deficiency in water quality.

Looking over this post its funny how a UK gossip rag’s ranting over Victoria Beckham’s coffee snobbery sparked my exploration of bottled water versus tap water safety, this is sure to be a great discussion over coffee with friends. But what water will I use?

There is a transformer in New York City’s Columbus Circe. Its more than meets the eye. It looks like an unassuming shipping container — All that adorns it is an a sign that says “Illy”. But watch closely and you just might get to see it transform into an espresso bar.

From November 28th to December 29th this unique espresso bar will be available for your viewing and tasting enjoyment. Serving the Illy take on the pod coffee system, a free espresso will be yours for the taking if you stop by to see Illy’s take on Adam Kalkin’s “Quik House”.

Who is Adam Kalkin? A noted architect whose contemporary designs turn conventional shipping containers into usable living space.  Normally the “Quik House” has three bedrooms and two and a half baths with a 2,000 square foot floor plan.  The shell just takes a single day to put together, from start to finish the entire building can be completed in two to three months.

I have to hand it to Illy for coming up with unique and functional marketing idea.  This really comes as no surprise to me given Illy’s unique vision of what a coffee house should resemble.  Just take a look at the Illy website and its clear that they offer an uniquely European view of coffee and espresso.

While I have never had the opportunity to try their pod coffee, I have tried their traditional coffee offerings and have enjoyed them immensely.  Its times like this that I wish I had a travel budget so I could fly out and see this concept coffee bar.  If you are a Brotherhood of the Bean reader in New York City, I hope you will go to Columbus Circle in November and post your review.

Props to Gizmodo for getting the scoop on this, great site worth a read!

Starbucks has announced a voluntary recall of 250,000 plastic drinking cups designed for children. Starbucks joins the ever growing list of U.S. companies had to recall products from China due to faulty material and safety issues..

To date Starbucks has received seven reports of the cups breaking, including two where the children started to choke. Luckily none of these incidents have been fatal.

There are four ten once cup designs that are being recalled, they are:

• Red Ladybug
• Green Turtle
• Pink Bunny
• Yellow Chick

Back in August, 2006 Starbucks recalled 73,000 coffee makers made in China, yet despite this incident a Starbucks spokesman is quoted on MSNBC as describing the incident as:

“… an isolated incident and said the company had no plans to change its current product sourcing practices.”

When I read this statement I was not filled with a warm fuzzy feeling that Starbucks is taking this situation seriously enough.  For your trouble Starbucks will give you a free cup of coffee when you return one of the cups in question.  Gee, don’t I feel cared for.

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission the mug faces on these cups can break off exposing sharp edged, or have broken apart causing a choking hazard.

While only coffee related due to its association with Starbucks I wanted to make sure you knew about this recall.  I myself think we may have bought one of the ladybug cups and if I have bought it, there is a chance that you have bought it.  Better safe than sorry! Please share this info with your coffee drinking friends.

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On occasion my wife and I gather with a group of friends on Sunday for “Dim Sum”, the Chinese equivalent of lunchtime tapas. In Cantonese dim sum literally means - “touch the heart” or “order to your heart’s content” and the small serving sizes of the dishes lend themselves to ordering en masse.

What is important to this story is not so much the food (which was to die for), but in my case the Chinese grocery store next to it (For those in Illinois - the restaurant in question is Triple Crown, on 34 & 83). For it offers many an adventure in sight, sound and taste.

Since my wife and I are in the process of adopting from China, and the group we were with was comprised wholly of people either waiting to go, of who have always gone going to this grocery store is almost as anticipated as the dim sum.

On most occasions it gives me an opportunity to bring back various treats for the guys I work with. Spicy seaweed found its way to work one day, a chex like mix that included tiny dried up minnows another, and after this last weekend, squid on a stick jerky (brutal).

I don’t know why any thoughts of coffee never entered my head before, but this time I was determined to see what Chinese coffee had to offer. What I found was the saddest coffee aisle in the world.

Walking down to the “Coffee & Tea” aisle I kept waiting to get to the coffee. Ninety-nine percent of the aisle was tea, one percent coffee. Of that one percent, one hundred percent of it was instant coffee. Not a whole bean in the lot!

But I just couldn’t resist trying some of it. I decided to buy the Owl brand White Coffee Tarik, it had after all been established in 1956, and longevity of production can’t be a bad thing when it comes to Chinese coffee.

Interestingly enough, every one of the coffee products sold at this store were what is called a “3 in 1″ product. Literally meaning that each package includes coffee, creamer and sugar. I noticed that some of the teas offered also had this option, although the vast majority of them were more traditional.

What intrigued my was the name, what was “White” coffee? What was “Tarik”? It sounded exotic, and I immediately began conjuring up images in my head.

The “White” as it turns out can only be used to describe the included creamer and the rather nice foam that accumulates on the top of the coffee when stirred.

Interestingly enough, tarik refers to a method of making tea in Malaysia (Teh tarik) where the tea is poured from one pot to another to produce a frothy top like that of a cappuccino.

Faced with scalding hot coffee, I decided to opt for the slightly less dangerous “vigorous spoon” method to obtain somewhat of a similar effect.

It took me a long time to put a finger on the aroma of this coffee. In my exploration of Chinese cuisine and products I have found that the smells, spices and tastes are often very different than what I am used to experiencing.

The aroma reminded me of almond cookies. Its funny to me that I have finally come to this conclusion because during my tasting of the coffee I rated it as mildly sweet with a cooked almond aroma. One of my co-workers went so far to say that he thought it smelled like charcoal just to give you an idea of the aromic extremes we found ourselves experiencing.

I really expected it to have a bad taste, it was instant coffee after all, but the 3 in 1 combination somehow pulled it off and its slightly sweet, almond and mocha taste was not bad to be honest. I gave this coffee a 2.5 out of 5 rating for its unique nature. If you find yourself in China and you can’t find a Starbucks, hopefully you will remember this review.

Art comes in many forms, varieties and subject matter. Occasionally, something coffee related makes its way into art. Maybe its a diner serving coffee like in Hopper’s Nighthawks, with its silver coffee urns that have the most detail of any object in the work. A subtle yet powerful dehumanizing effect in the work.

In the case of Ralph Goings, the focus of his photo-realist or hyper-realist art has on occasion coffee or coffee related items as its subject matter. As one of the founding members of the 1960’s photo-realist art group, Mr. Goings has continued to evolve and expand upon his already impressive abilities over the last forty years.

On Ralph Goings website he is quoted as saying the following about his work:

“My paintings are about light, about the way things look in their environment and especially about how things look painted. Form, color and space are at the whim of reality, their discovery and organization is the assignment of the realist painter.”

– Ralph Goings

I have always had a fond appreciation of photo-realist art. I’ve always considered my tendency toward it to be an indication of my inability to fully appreciate more abstract works. And that may very well be the case, what I do know is that I appreciate coffee, and when I run across something truly amazing that showcases it, I feel the need to share it with the rest of the coffee community.

If you enjoy these images, please do yourself a favor and visit Ralph Goings website, you will not be disappointed!

Perusing the coffee news this morning I ran across something interesting on the Guardian Unlimited about McDonald’s recent announcement that Wi-Fi would be coming to it’s stores in the UK.

The article goes on to talk about how McDonald’s Wi-Fi can save it patrons, up to 260 pounds a year if they use McDonald’s free Wi-Fi over that offered at a cost at many UK coffee houses.

Now ordinarily news like this would get me fired up, its no secret that I am a proponent for independent coffee houses, they offer a coffee cultural experience that corporate coffee chains, much less McDonald’s could ever hope to provide.

The Guardian article made mention of U.S. hot spots which was a bit of a surprise to me.  A bit of investigation led me to McDonald’s Worldwide Wireless Connectivity Location page.  I was shocked to learn that four of the five closest McDonald’s location near me offer Wi-Fi.

I suppose the McDonald’s Wi-Fi threat has never really been a threat here in the U.S. because most if not all coffee houses here offer free Wi-Fi.  If UK coffee houses are still trying to supplement their earnings with Wi-Fi charges, this may be the time to rethink those policies.

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It all started with bagels. My co-workers and I were hunger and just not up for another cup of what our company calls coffee. Its not surprising that it didn’t take much arm twisting before we were on our way to Panera.

Walking into the store my thoughts quite honestly were on the Asiago cheese bagel that I would soon be eating. The aroma of coffee hit me almost immediately and my eyes were drawn up to the list of Coffee related items for sale.

As luck would have it, a new coffee drink was available — the Pumpkin Spice Latte. It sounded interesting and I was in an autumnal mood, so I ordered one to go.

So how did it taste?

It tasted like a combination of mulling spices, caramel and sugar. Notice I didn’t mention anything about having a coffee taste, that is because any trace coffee tastes were gone.

The espresso flavor was obliterated by pumpkin syrup, corn syrup, molasses, spices, spice mix (water, evaporated cane juice crystals, natural flavors, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, xanthan gum, citric acid, clove, gellan gum), caramel syrup and vanilla extract among other things.

Now I understand the point of these speciality drinks is to emphasis the special characteristics it is trying to embody, but this may be the first time I have had a drink that eliminates the coffee flavor all together.

Weighing in at 410 calories, with 90 of those coming from fat, this will not be a drink I will be having again. If you don’t like the taste of coffee, this very well may be the drink for you.

Walking through a supermarket coffee isle can be a confusing experience for many people. The intoxicating coffee smells make you swoon with desire. But how do you choose a coffee?

Are the over the top flavored smells you encounter really the best indicator of what you will like? Or is there a better way to narrow your choices? How the coffee is roasted can play a big part in how it tastes, and seems like the logical point to start.

Unroasted coffee beans start out green and through the roasting process they gradually change color. Depending on how long the beans are roasted they go through a series of “cracks” as the internal temperature of the bean begins to rise.

Coffee Roast Guide

Cinnamon - Light brown, almost tan in color. This roast is generally sour and acidic. Some people have described it as tasting like toasted grain.

American - Medium light brown. Many commercially available canned coffees have an American roast. This is also commonly used with robusta beans (less flavor than arabica beans but more caffeine).

City - Medium brown. City roast is obtained just after the first crack of the roasting process, at this stage the beans are still dry and lacking any surface oil.

At this point in the roasting process the aroma of the beans starts to really come out. It smells like you would expect roasted coffee to smell like.

City + - Marginally darker than the City roast. A City+ roast is obtained during the period between the first and second crack of the bean as it is being roasted.

Full City - Here we get into a medium dark brown color. Fully city roast beans will have a slight amount of surface oil. It is at this point the beans start to get into a bittersweet roast character.

Full City + - Ever so slightly darker brown than Full city. Here the beans are beginning to have a glossy appearance. The beans may now be considered to be “dark roast”. We have reached a good point to start making espresso!

Vienna / Light French - At this point the beans are dark brown. Surface oil has become much more apparent and the beans have a more pronounced bittersweet/caramel taste. The beans start to have a smokey flavor.

French - Dark brown. Oily. Starting to get a burned undertones, and is frequently used what should be no surprise — French Presses.

Italian -Very dark brown. Very oily. Low acidity for those coffee drinkers sensitive to coffee acidity this might be a good choice. Significantly more burnt undertones.

Spanish Dark brown/Almost Black - Very shiny. I have read that the Spanish roast has charcoal undertones.