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I am currently on a rant on my Twitter account.  I am 'factually' taking aim at the K-Cup.  What say you?  Please visit and comment.  Utmost thanks! 

Moderate Coffee/Tea Drinking Lowers Heart Disease Risk

Drinking coffee or tea in moderation reduces the risk of developing heart disease, and both high and moderate tea drinking reduces the risk of dying from the condition, according to a large-scale study from Dutch researchers.

The study, led by physicians and researchers at the University Medical Center Utrecht, examined data on coffee and tea consumption from 37,514 residents of The Netherlands who were followed for 13 years.

It found that people who had two to four cups a day of coffee had a 20 percent lower risk of heart disease compared to those drinking less than two or more than four cups a day. Moderate coffee intake also slightly -- but not significantly -- reduced the risk of death from heart disease and all causes.

Tea's performance was stronger on both counts. Drinking three to six cups of tea a day was associated with a 45 percent reduced risk of death from heart disease, compared to drinking less than one cup a day, and drinking more than six cups of tea a day was associated with a 36 percent lower risk of getting heart disease in the first place.

The apparent protective effects may be linked to antioxidants and other plant chemicals in the beverages, but how they work is unclear, according to researchers.

No effect of coffee or tea consumption on the risk of stroke was seen in the study.

Study authors found, however, that coffee and tea drinkers in The Netherlands had very different health behaviors, with more coffee drinkers smoking and having less healthy diets.

Read the rest of the article here.

Could a Coffee Maker Be Worth $11,000?

The following excerpts are taken from a column written by James Joyner which appeared in Outside the Beltway.

The machine in question, the Clover, isn’t aimed at consumers but rather coffee shops. And it sounds pretty spiffy:

It brews coffee like a French press, but it’s more dramatic to watch and much more precise. Unlike lesser methods of making coffee, which are no more reliable than their users and can’t be counted on to produce the same cup twice, the Clover is equipped with a “PID algorithm” for regulating temperature and “programmable workflow modes” to help micromanage the brewing process. Latourell enumerates six variables that contribute to the taste of brewed coffee—choice of bean, grind, “dose” of coffee, brewing time, temperature, and amount of water. The first three, for better or worse, are in the hands of the barista (“Call me when you get a better grinder!” Latourell half-teases the Grumpy staff)—but the Clover can precisely regulate the last three.

The result, apparently, is some pretty good coffee. More importantly, it’s a different idea of coffee.

Starbucks uses these in select stores as do many smaller coffee houses around the country.

You can read the low down on this high tech brewer here.

A K-cup challenge

Here's a challenge. A challenge to all you glorious and exuberant K-cuppers out there, stand up for your cups of mediocre, at best, and that's a very big stretch, insipid watery brew.

And for God's sake stop referring to them as PODS! They are not PODS! Pods contain anywheres from 9 to 10.5 grams of COFFEE. K-Cups produce a substance, all be it dark that tastes like it was filtered through a homeless man's underpants.

They are little plastic non-recyclable housings for ultra fine grind grounds that were once coffee before being subjected to obliteration and then being placed into k-cups.

K-Cuppers are happy to state it only takes 45 seconds or less to get a cup of  coffee -again, I can't bring myself to say the word coffee and k-cup  in the same sentence. Anyway...45 seconds...they hoop and hollar at this as being genious, when it is not.

Time for an educative moment... Dontchatink...something gravely has to suffer if water is pushed through a miniscule little shitty plastic cup no bigger than that little milk capsule that is brought to you in a restaurant where you peel the foil back?

In comparison, Pods produce coffee in 3+ minutes. If you get the right brewer it will have a spary head which evenly distributes your filtered water in, around, and through the pod producing a true cup of coffee.

It is unbelievable the enormous amount of people in this country who consume k-cups. Someone please tell me why?

The K-Cup Revolution... WHY?

Operating on the assumption that no one’s opinion is ‘right’ for anyone but themselves, I want to add discourse to the K-Cup Revolution! I want and expect K-cup loving people to disagree with me. Stick to the facts as I have and we will get along fine. Dispute what I am about to say and correct me if you can. I strongly believe that everything I am about to put forth is factual.

Distinctive characteristics be it about food or in this case K-cup coffee, are objective not subjective. Having personally studied, read and written about coffee, I feel that I have a basis on which to evaluate coffee. That revealed, here is my factual research on K-Cups, and it ain’t pretty.

K-cups make great lousy watery coffee. You can not argue that K-cups are great, and in no way are K-cups world class.

Matter of fact, the word "great" and "K-cup" should never appear in any honest coffee review together, although they do and to me that is a ‘no-no’.

Let’s face it, K-cup coffee is no uber-brew! So, if you lack taste, want to continue to pollute the environment and want a crappy, less than 8 oz cup of coffee pretty darn quickly and with no effort on your part, then have at a cup of stale K-cup coffee. Go ahead, knock yourself out!

Not mentioned in any K-cup advertisement for obvious reasons, I will have to hold my nose while I say this, K-cups have only a six month shelf life!!!

With that in mind, here is a quote from a roaster:

“K-cups have a 9 month shelf life. However, if each unit is sealed, the k-cups will last longer although the coffee may not taste as fresh.”

They added 3 months to the shelf life and then the truth!

The following shows the lunacy of K-cuppers, it appeared on a search engine site:

“I was checking out some of the websites and I found one which has k-cups past their expiration dates for a very good price. Is it worth the savings or should I just pay top dollar?”

The operative words are "pay top dollar".

I am a POD man. I began with it when Senseo came out and have stood with the pod and have retired my Senso for a StarBuck’s Barista Aroma Solo. I re-engineered the Barista Solo because it had a design defect which allowed water to spill out and puddle. Now, through my retrofitting I can enjoy any pod, or ground coffee I desire. I bought T-Fal bags and can make my own pods, or use the nylon perfect basket.

I own a Grindmaster commercial coffee grinder. This permits me to create the freshest coffee from properly stored beans, (liQuid heaVen). I can now fill up my Starbucks Barista Aroma Solo's durable re-useable nylon filter basket with 2, 3 or 4 tablespoons of the coffee of my choice!

Why am I mentioning this? Have you ever cut open a K-cup?

I did...

It weighed 22.8 grams or .81 oz of coffee!!

Remember, that is after it was perked and the grounds were wet.

I refuse to spend any money and actually buy a K-cup to open it dry and weigh it, it ain’t worth it people!

This leads me to this little dramatization. Play along with me...

If someone was to offer you a free bag of money, which bag would you choose?

A small bag, lets call it bag A or a large bag, we'll call bag B.
It’s a no brainer, you would pick bag B the larger bag!

Yet, when it comes to enjoying coffee all the K-cup people are settling for A, the small amount of crappy coffee that permeates the tiny little cup! They rationalize to themselves and to the gullible that it is great coffee, when it is not!

I often wonder with this K-cup explosion and popularity, just how many previous Senseo owners and single cup coffee pod people are among this wayward group.

You see, when the single pod first made its entrance along with the Senseo pod brewer, many people where complaining that the pods from Dewy Egbert were weak and not any where near their own ground coffee that they enjoyed.

Also remember, pods were weighing in at 9 grams plus and one was out there at 10.5 grams! And yet a huge amount of people complained back then! Could it be that they are now K-cup enthusiasts? That leaves me with this final question... WHY?

Its not just me, here is what others have said about K-cups...

From: http://forum.dvdtalk.com/other-talk/546120-keurig-coffee-makers-some-advice.html

My advice would be: avoid the Keurigs altogether, and go with a pod coffee maker. Two main reasons: coffees I've had from every K-cup machine I've used (a few commercial models, with a variety of coffees) ALL taste weak and thin (regardless of coffee volume selected), except for a couple of extra-bold varieties (Sumatra was one, forget the brand), which were barely passable. And those stupid k-cups take up a lot of room to store. Silly design.

OTOH, the pod machines make a much better cup of joe in my experience. There are several levels of machines to choose from,and a huge variety of pods. The pods are flat and easy to store (imagine that!) in individual foil packets.

I would seriously recommend trying coffee from both types of machines before buying. I just don't understand how people who like coffee find k-cups acceptable.

Also, there's lots of good info (even from people who prefer k-cups, go figure!) at singleservecoffee.com.

Oh yeah, and by all reports, the 'reusable k-cup filter' sucks loads. Don't plan on using it if you go that route.

Just a few from: htttp://www.epinions.com/review/Keurig_B100_Coffee_Maker/content_238673694340

- Honesty can be a brutal thing, and I just gotta be brutally honest with y'all....the Keurig B100 is the WORST coffee maker sold in America, and the WORST VALUE to boot. You can buy cheaper coffee makers, you can buy flimsier coffee makers --- but you can't buy a WORSE one overall.

- I use a Keurig B2003 ("B" stands for "behemoth") on a frequent basis, since my company's facilities manager got duped into wasting our money on one a couple years ago, so I'm pretty familiar with the whole K-cup scam, which is why I would never have bought something as utterly useless as the B100 model.

- Unfortunately, somebody over at the Hyatt hotel chain isn't as smart as you or I, and they got duped into buying a whole slew of these coffee makers to put in hotel guest rooms. My review is based on my disgust at having one foisted on me by Hyatt on a recent business trip. The experience is enough to make me want to stay in a Hilton next trip!

- Why the Keurig B100 is a STUPID Device to Buy for the Home...
You'll find Keurig coffee makers in malls, or even in online stores. My advice is simple: stay away from them!

I've already told you about the bad coffee that they make and about the tiny portions (at work, we use 2 K-cups to fill our typical ceramic mugs). There's another reason to avoid Keurig coffee makers like the plague: they are a HORRIBLE value.

The bad value proposition starts when you start shopping around. You pay dearly for the Keurig name. The machines are typically priced at about 5 to 10 times what they're worth. They've got a basic model that I've seen at Target for $100, and you can move up to the smaller, less featured B100 for a mere $250.

Compare that to the cost of mainstream brands of 4-cup coffee makers that you can buy as cheap as $12, or fully loaded for around $30-40, and it doesn't take a whole lot of neuron power to start seeing the holes in Keurig's value argument.

Buying the machine is just the tip of the iceberg though.

Adding insult to injury, you'll also start getting socked with the cost of buying K-cup packaged coffee. Today, I stopped my friendly local Target to see what it costs for a box of K-cups. 5.75 ounces of Green Mountain coffee cost $19.99.

Just in case you failed basic math classes (a highly likely scenario if you think Keurig coffee makers "are worth it"), that works out to roughly $60 a pound!!!

Now I don't know what kind of prices you pay for coffee, but where I live, I can get a pound of crummy coffee for around $3-4, I can get pretty decent gourmet roasts at my local grocery store for $6.99 a pound, or I can buy top-line brands at a coffee specialty store for around $10-12 a pound. Even your basic Starbucks coffees can be had for around $7 for a 12-ounce bag.

$60 a pound!! The mind is boggled. Especially when I factor in that Green Mountain coffee is NOT as good as Starbucks, and is a huge step down from the better coffees that I'd normally use.

In Keurig's defense, it is possible to avoid the cost of store-bought K-cups. You simply buy the reusable filter for another $15-20.

If you do so though, then you've nullified Keurig's one supposed "advantage" of not needing to throw away coffee grounds and filters (am I the only person in the world though who never thought that was a particularly tough thing to do???)

Bottom Line... Keurig coffee makers are the biggest waste of money in the kitchen gadget store. They're hideously expensive, rely on outrageously overpriced consumables, and they produce bad tasting coffee to boot. Their supposed "advantages" are of no real value, and K-cup packaged coffee is not sold everywhere, making it inconvenient as well.

If you're the kind of person who wants to know just where the pentagon buys their $5,000 screwdrivers so you can get one too, then the Keurig B100 is right up your alley. To everyone else though, I say "avoid this overpriced money pit."

US Coffee Statistics

How much do you know about your cup of Joe? Let's break it down.

• Specialty coffee sales have been increasing by 20% on a yearly basis, and they make up almost 8% of the US coffee market that encompasses $18 billion.

• 50% of the US population, which equals 150 million people, regularly drink specialty espresso beverages.

• The average consumption for a United States coffee drinker is 3.1 cups of Joe each day.

• Small, independent coffee houses gross 12 billion total in annual sales.

• The average coffee shop drive-thru sells up to 300 cups of coffee and espresso on a daily basis.

• For all Americans over 18, 50% drink Java daily. However, Finland takes the cake with the highest coffee consumption worldwide each day.

• In the US, men consume as much coffee as women do, though women are more concerned with paying the price for expensive coffee drinks.

• Up to 65% of all coffee that is consumed is during breakfast, 30% is during the day between meals, and the last 5% is with lunch or dinner.

• 35% of US coffee drinkers enjoy their Java black.

• 65% of American coffee drinkers add cream and sugar to their cup of Joe.

• Not surprisingly, Seattle has the highest number of coffee shops per 100,000 residents in the city. Manhattan and San Francisco nearly tie for second but are nowhere near as close in their coffee shop population as Seattle.

• The United States alone imports over $4 billion worth of coffee products on a yearly basis.

 

* Taken from  thecoffeebump 's blog.

BUNN 3.8 Liter Lever Action Airpot

The BUNN 3.8 Liter Lever-Action Airpot. Thats one gallon of heaVenly liQuid people!

The BUNN 3.8 Liter Lever-Action Airpot is the perfect choice (it is liQuid heaVen's viewpoint, that its THE only one) for fresh coffee dispensing!

This is ideal for a commercial and professional coffee brewing setting because it will allow you to have your coffee kept fresh with the aroma sealed for hours at a time.

The BUNN 3.8 Liter Lever-Action Airpot is transportable, so it is easy to move from one location to another.

It offers a brew-through lid that uses lever-action for added convenience, and it is lined with stainless steel for the best in temperature control.

So many people prefer the BUNN 3.8 Liter Lever-Action Airpot for their commercial or home setting because it allows you to transfer your brew product to any location, all the while maintaining the integrity of its freshness.

Once you begin using the BUNN 3.8 Liter Lever-Action Airpot in your commercial coffee service setting, you will immediately be able to tell the difference in the flavor and taste of your coffee product!

This is the coffee brewing accessory that you are looking for to make your production and service that much easier. You can take that to the bank!

Best price observed on the web is $49.99 from the people at thecoffeebump.com.