Most Expensive Starbucks Rewards Coffee Ever

I haven't posted a coffee related link in awhile but this one is too good to pass up. From Boing Boing:

Most expensive, caffeinated Starbucks drink ever

Andrew Chifari of Dallas, Texas used the free drink earned with his Starbucks Rewards card to get a $54.75 frappuccino containing 60 shots of espresso.

What makes it even more awesome is it was his "free" drink. As well this post brought the website Caffeine Informer to my attention.

Coffee is Good For You

Another great post on why coffee is good for you courtesy of Lifehacker.

How much caffeine is too much?

A good post on how much caffeine is too much?

I felt like reposting this as I've had some conversations lately with some of the guys I play hockey with. They are slamming Monster energy drinks and 5-Hour Energy before the game and some of their kids do it as well. I'm not a doctor but I'm okay with an adult making that decision but having a kid take in that much caffeine before exercising strenuously seems like a bad idea to me.

Association of Coffee Drinking with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality

It's been awhile since I've posted about coffee but this study is too good to pass up. The conclusion of Association of Coffee Drinking with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality by the New England Journal of Medicine states:

"coffee consumption was inversely associated with total and cause-specific mortality. Whether this was a causal or associational finding cannot be determined from our data."

In other words coffee is good for you. They can't seem to pin it down but people who drink coffee are less likely to die from a wide variety of issues.

Coffee Snobs from Funny or Die

This is too hilarious not to share immediately:

Coffee Snobs from Frankie Shaw

Brew Strong K-Cup Coffee

Thanks to Lifehacker for linking to this post on the Instructables that shows how to brew better, stronger (sadly not harder or faster*) coffee. By combining a My K-Cup with any used K-Cup you can increase the amount of pressure used when brewing your coffee for better flavour extraction from your ground coffee. I think this is an excellent trick to add to your home brewing arsenal.

* If you prefer the Kanye West version here it is.

Coffee: The Greatest Addiction Ever

Coffee vs Tea

Great infographic I saw linked from Lifehacker:

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Cool Starbucks Storefront

Starbucks Ticked at Kraft

Apparently Starbucks is very ticked off at Kraft foods right now.  Starbucks entered into a 13 year agreement with Kraft to push their coffee out into grocery stores and other venues.  To say the partnership hasn't been a success is a bit of an understatement.  Sales of their instant coffee, Via, in grocery stores seems to be tanking.  See the picture left for an example of how my local grocery store is slashing the price (over 50%) of Via to move the product off it's shelves.

In addition to that Starbuck's is missing out on the single serve coffee bonanza that is currently going on.  Since Starbucks is only available on the Tassimo (3% market share) coffee maker it is unavailable to the majority of single serve coffee makers as the Keurig brand controls about 70% of the market.

As much as I enjoy Starbucks coffee the availability of many different k-cups for the Keurig was the tipping point when we were deciding what single server coffee maker we would get at Christmas.

Where to Buy K-Cups in Ottawa

Thanks to Meegs I was directed to the Tweed and Hickory as a good place to pick up K-Cups. They had an in-store deal that allowed you to create a sample pack of 24 k-cups for $16.49 taxes included. The offer similar deals on line for 5, 10, 50 and 100 sample packs.

So far my favourite brew of the k-cups we picked up was Coffee People's Tree Hugger which is currently sold out on the on-line Tweed and Hickory store so I'm guessing other people like it as well.

K-Cup B-ball

I will begin practice immediately!

Twitter Enabled Coffee Pot

Learn how to make your own over at the Instructables.

But Does Caffeine Actually Work

Yesterday I posted the effects of caffeine on your brain but does caffeine actually work?

How Caffeine Works on Your Brain

A great article explaining exactly how caffeine effects your brain.

The Anthropology of Coffee

A good three part look at the anthropology of coffee.  Thanks to Boing Boing for the link.

Is Coffee Losing it's Edge?

A recent study shows that 18-24 year olds prefer caffeinated energy drinks to coffee.  If this trend continues coffee may be dethroned as the dominate energy drink.

LifeHacker's Guide to Tea

A great write up on tea from Lifehacker.com.

Roast Coffee Beans at Home

Brew Coffee Like Tea

Brew coffee like tea with the Sowden SoftBrew.