The Reading Room

Starbucks caused somewhat of a tempest in a coffeepot when the foremost coffee company worldwide announced a change to its third logo in forty years. It was said that part of the reasoning behind the change was expansion into Asian...

Vac pots are special in their combination of (1) total-immersion brewing (2) stable hot-but-not-too-hot temperature (3) cloth filtration. (2) and (3) are especially important I think. Cloth isn't necessary but in my opinion it's the best way to go. The...

Location: Vietnam and Cambodia Storyteller: American businessman Plot: Businessman goes to Southeast Asia and decides to travel to his next destination over the roads rather than in the air. On the way, among other adventures, he gets attacked by a...

It might be a little late for helping with those post-New Year’s party hangovers, but a story posted by Dan Holmes this week uses rats to explain how to use coffee – or caffeine – to cure those day-after headaches....

I read on the Roaste Facebook page about adding salt to make coffee less bitter. I told that to my dad who was intrigued. He "found" his cup of coffee from this morning in the microwave (he forgot it was...

Douby partial, in the same way that history is: necessarily incomplete and subjective.This post does double work too as both confession and (tentative) guide.I'm a mostly recovered coffee upgrader/obsessive/pocket-protected-dork. That is, whenever I saw a cool new brewing gizmo at...

Many things have started with coffee. Lots of great relationships started off with a cup of coffee; people have met each other while getting coffee; and many a business deal likely started in a discussion over a cup of coffee....

In the cafes of Naples Italy, it's an old tradition for a customer who has just benefitted from fortune or luck (getting a new job, getting engaged, having a baby, etc.) to order a "Caffe Sospeso" -- literally a suspended...

Parisi Artisan Coffee, one of ROASTe’s micro-roasters, announced plans this week to open their first coffee shop in Kansas City Missouri’s Union Station. Since 2006, they’ve been selling their coffee through local cafes and restaurants, and more recently, through ROASTe....

It might come as a surprise, but contrary to what many think, the coffee break - the two daily15-minute breaks that have become accepted in the US work world - are not mandated by law. Most unions include a clause...

Have you heard WINE enthusiasts describe wines with bewildering language like "Up front, with green apple, melon and butter hints. Just tangy enough on the finish to keep it all honest?" Sometimes wine reviews don't make a lot of sense,...

Hot coffee played a role in a robbery attempt again last Saturday. As reported in the Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor, the would-be robber first knocked on the apartment door before entering. The resident went to meet him, expecting a friend,...

The story won’t go away. Just when you thought everything had been said that could be said about the updating of the Starbucks logo, someone comes along and posts yet another wrinkle on the subject. On his website this past...

Lately it seems as if everything is getting smaller. We hear of nanoseconds, quarks, nano-molecules and quantum physics, all focusing on the smallest of objects. Specialty coffee now comes riding the crest of other small batch foods and beverages in...

United flight 940 from Chicago to Frankfort Germany got off on the wrong foot - or wing - last Monday. It seems that one of the three members of the cockpit crew was drinking coffee when some slight turbulence caused...

First it was coffee and books - bookstores combined with coffee shops. Now it’s bikes and coffee, not quite as natural a combo, as bikers don’t usually bike and sip at the same time. More people probably associate biking with...

You know a commodity must be big when the mob muscles in for a piece of the action. A recent New York Daily News article reported that over the past thirty years the Colombo crime family extorted hundreds of thousands...

Coffee is one of the most studied dietary substances in the world. Regular coffee consumption is associated with improved alertness and focus, a significant antioxidant intake, and reduced risk for several chronic conditions in observational studies. This guide covers what the research actually shows about coffee benefits, where the evidence is strong, where it is more limited, and how much coffee produces the best outcomes.

Brian Jurgens and Renee Kloeblen are an inspiration as they daily demonstrate how to take hobbies and turn them into a career. They each took a life change and transformed it into gold – income - for both of them....

Kenyan coffee factories are battling a coffee theft ring which has stolen an estimated 10,000 metric tons of coffee beans, costing farmers millions of dollars and several security guards their lives. Last week it was reported than an agricultural economist...

It’s a new year and maybe you’d like to take up a new hobby. If you have some leftover coffee in your pot and feel artistic, grab a paintbrush and try painting. For inspiration, you could travel to England to...