Touch sensitivity may affect taste

If given the choice between sipping your coffee out of a ceramic mug or a paper/plastic cup, then which would you choose?

If you chose the paper/plastic cup for any other reason than portability and fitting in your car's cup holder, then please enlighten me.

If you chose a ceramic mug, then it's likely you prefer to have a hold on something heavy and sturdy, right?

There may another reason to choose a thick-walled cup over a thin one, marketing professors Aradhna Krishna and Maureen Morrin have found: taste.

In a study to be published in April's issue of Journal of Consumer Research, 1,000 college students were blind-folded and given water to drink from sturdy and flimsy cups. Many of them gave harsher evaluations of the taste of the water from flimsy cups. These harsh evaluators were students with a low sensitivity to touch. Students who a high sensitivity to touch weren't as likely to have taste be influenced by the kind of cup they sipped out of.

People with a high sensitivity to touch tend to be better evaluators of noting when touch is important or not, like when you're sipping coffee. Touch-sensitive people are those of us who get so much satisfaction out of feeling silk, leather or similarly textured items, can't stand itchy wool sweaters and cut out labels/tags from clothing.

Schultz's six steps toward Starbucks' success

Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz spoke to shareholders at the annual meeting in Seattle yesterday (shortly after my last blog post) and came up with six resolutions to fix Starbucks' image:

1. The Masterna. A newer, smaller model espresso machine than the one currently in use, the Verisimo, which is too tall to allow customers to interact with the barista and watch their drink being made, breaking the intimate experience.


2. Freshly-ground beans, freshly brewed coffee. Beans will be ground fresh in-stores, something Starbucks has not done in at least a decade. Coffee will be brewed in smaller batches to ensure truly fresh coffee.
   
3. mystarbucksidea.com. A social-networking site where consumers can submit ideas, comment and vote on others' ideas, and watch ideas get put into action.
   
   No, consumers won't reap rewards for adopted, profit-earning ideas.


4. The Starbucks Rewards Program. That's right, a customer loyalty card. Finally, Starbucks will offer freebies starting next month for card holders who buy specialty coffee drinks, including free refills on brewed coffee.
   
   Well, free for the initial period, anyway.


5. French-press-ness. Coffee - one cup at a time; now that's premium service! Starbucks will put their newly-acquired French-press machines in select locations over the course of the year.


6. Getting greener. Starbucks is offering to further aid Conservation International, a non-profit organization concerned with responsible land use. That's as much as Schultz will say about this goal for now.

What advice would you offer to Starbucks to improve their products and service? Tell them. Create an account at mystarbucksidea.com and submit your suggestions for improvement. I'd be interested to see what other ideas you coffee connoisseurs come up with.

Starbucks to make more changes

Let's face it: coffee drinkers and investors are getting tired of Starbucks. CEO Howard Schultz is determined, though, to keep Starbucks fresh by giving the company a face lift. Schultz will announce more changes for Starbucks' stores to carry out at the company annual meeting Wednesday.

One of the all-ready decided changes is getting rid of the breakfast sandwiches. The heated sandwiches hide the coffee aroma.

Another change is how to make the coffee. Stores will grind beans on site and brew coffee in smaller batches. To save time and money, Starbucks pre-grinds and packages coffee, a compromise in quality they have reconsidered. So you'll have to wait even longer for a cup of coffee. Great...

If Starbucks sales haven't been bad enough, McDonald's coffee beat them in a Consumer Report's taste test. Ouch.

Consumer experts suggest helpful changes for Starbucks, like creating a customer loyalty program and opening fewer locations, but Schultz is reluctant to adopt every change suggested.

Rwandan coffee industry media briefing

How has Rwandan coffee become so high-quality? What are the specific benefits of Rwandan coffee for farmers and their families? What value does Rwandan coffee hold to US coffee importers? What does the future hold for the Rwandan coffee industry?

A panel of coffee experts will discuss these questions and the economic and social benefits of the Rwandan specialty coffee industry at a media briefing on Monday, Mar. 24 at 10 a.m. Hosted by The National Press Club, Rwandan coffee from Counter Culture Coffee will be served.

One panelist will be the commercial attache from the Embassy of Rwanda, The Honorable Kaliza Karuretwa. Karuretwa's expertise on the Rwandan coffee industry has been crucial in the development of the Rwandan Path to Peace project. She is also a powerful agent for the Rwandan women.

A second panelist will be Director of Coffee and Co-Owner of Counter Culture Coffee, Peter Guiliano. He is a world-renowned expert on coffee history, quality and trade. Guiliano has played a leading role in bringing Rwandan coffee to US markets.

A third panelist will be Karol Boudreaux, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and head of the Enterprise Africa! project. He has recently produced a report entitled "State Power, Entrepreneurship, and Coffee: The Rwandan Experience."

7-Eleven introduces the Slurpuccino

Coffee is a favorite drink to many Americans. 7-Eleven's Slurpee® is one of America's top-selling drinks as well, delivered in many satisfying flavors, both carbonated and uncarbonated. 7-Eleven, Inc. put the two together and recently introduced the Slurpuccino, a coffee-flavored Slurpee.

The Slurpuccino is not milk-based, but is caffeinated, fat-free and 61 calories of delicious per 8-ounce serving. Most frozen cappuccinos on the market do not have as few calories as this. Prices are like any other Slurpee drink, which range from 99 cents for a 12-ounce to $1.69 for a 40-ounce drink. Category manager for Slurpee and Big Gulp® fountain drinks Jay Wilkins said the Slurpuccino focuses on the coffee-driven trend, both in younger and older adults. The coffee- and caramel-flavored frozen drink target audience is young adults, male and female, ages 18-34. A hazelnut-cappuccino flavor of the new drink is expected to be offered this fall.

Americans' coffee drinking trends in 2008

Daily gourmet coffee drinkers
make up 17 percent of the US
adult population.

According to the 2008 National Coffee Drinking Trends market research study, Americans are drinking less coffee this year. Overall daily coffee consumption of adults eases from 57 percent of adults last year to 55 percent.

But more Americans are drinking gourmet coffee than ever before - 17 percent of adults drink espresso-based beverages, like lattes and mochas, daily. Last year, it was 14 percent.

Conducted by The National Coffee Association of USA, an Internet and telephone poll collected responses of over 6,000 American adults in January and February 2008 to compile the NCDT survey.

Preliminary data was released at the NCA's annual convention in Florida on Saturday. Here is a table created by yours truly of the preliminary data given:

Americans' Daily Coffee Consumption by Age Group, 2006-2008

	% Daily Coffee Consumption
Age Group	2006	2007	2008
18-24	31%	37%	26%
25-39	47%	44%	47%
40-59		61%
60+		74%	71%

The full data report will be published in May.

Caribou Coffee review

Caribou Coffee is the second largest company owned specialty coffeehouse business in the U.S., with nearly 500 locations in 18 states. Several people have told me they are crazy about Caribou Coffee. I had never experienced Caribou Coffee until Tuesday.

Driving home from an unfamiliar around 7 p.m. with Google Maps directions in hand, I missed a turn. Straight ahead was a shopping center with a Caribou Coffee shop on the corner. All of a sudden, I did not want to make a u-turn. I hadn't had coffee in nearly two weeks (doctor's orders). I'd heard nothing but praise. I decided to make an unscheduled stop.

Caribou Coffee has a warm, inviting atmosphere. It reminds me of a ski lodge or log cabin with wooden furniture and accents with a Panera Bread feel to it.

Service was friendly but slow. I ordered a small Northern Lite vanilla latte, made with two shots of espresso, steamed skim milk and sugar-free vanilla syrup. It took four minutes to make my drink. Four minutes is a long time, considering two baristas were working and there were no other customers.

My first sip was a mouthful of milk foam and bitter espresso, thanks to not stirring it. I walked over to the stir stick and sugar packet station, removed the lid, stirred it and took another sip. Much better.

Caribou Coffee drinks are more potent than Starbucks'. Caribou's size small (12 ounces) boasts two one-and-a-half ounce espresso shots with 180 milligrams of caffeine. Starbucks' size tall (12 ounces) is made with one espresso shot with 75 milligrams of caffeine.

Made with more than twice as much espresso as a Starbucks drink, you'd count on your Caribou Coffee drink to taste really strong; however, it doesn't. The espresso has a smooth flavor. It is neither over-roasted nor bitter, common complaints about Starbucks' coffee. The espresso is not overpowering, so it blends well with other ingredients.

The Northern Lite vanilla latte needs a little something extra (maybe the sugar-free syrup isn't sweet enough for me), but for 80 calories, I can't complain.

If you appreciate well-calibrated espresso with a smooth flavor profile that's deliciously subtle, then Caribou Coffee is worth a taste.

Olsen twins writing coffee-table book

The Olsen twins at The Chanel Fashion show
at La Grand Palais in Paris yesterday.

The 21-year old twin actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are adding another line to their extensive repertoire: authors.

The ladies are writing a coffee-table book about fashion titled "Influence," due to be published in Fall 2008 by Penguin Young Readers Group, Razorbill. "Influence" will include exclusive photos of the fashionistas by esteemed photographer Rankin, interviews and more from their personal collection.

"Influence" will feature shoe extraordinaire Christian Louboutin, actress Lauren Hutton, magazine journalist Bob Colacello and more of "the most interesting, challenging, creative people we know," Ashley Olsen said, sharing what influences and inspires Mary-Kate and her to pursue their fashion passion.

There's no doubt these two are an inspiration themselves. On Forbes "Top 20 Richest Women in Entertainment" in 2007, the multi-million dollar retail group owners are the youngest. The Olsen twins started Dualstar Entertainment Group in 1993 at age six!

Mary-Kate Olsen with
two Starbucks Venti lattes.

How could this dynamic duo be so wildly successful, accomplishing so much by 21 years old? Besides ambition, talent and hard work, the girls have been coffee drinkers since ten years old. Both sisters are true "Starbucks junkies."

The twins love coffee so much, their only request at a photo shoot besides food was being near a Starbucks to satisfy their Venti latte cravings. Who knows where they might be today without java to keep them going? (I'm just kidding; however, it's possible coffee had a lot to do with it!)

More recently, Gawker and E! Online teased celebrities, including the Olsen twins, ability to handle Starbucks' three-hour closing to retrain employees last Tuesday. The Starbucks cup, after all, is Mary-Kate Olsen's "most identifiable accessory," consuming two to four coffee drinks a day. Her espresso machine is her most-prized possession, she told W Magazine in their January 2006 issue.

Currently, Ashley Olsen is working on promoting her luxury line The Row for the fall season while Mary-Kate Olsen continues her acting career.