Coffee, Tea and Mecoffee beans |

Is Coffee Beginning to Get Scarce?

RT Cunningham — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:54:04 +0000

It may not be time to start hoarding grind coffee, instant coffee or coffee beans just yet. According to reports, however, a coffee scarcity is just beginning. Whenever something starts becoming scarce, prices go up. Have you noticed prices going up for coffee yet?

Coffee Exports to Drop

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, "Coffee Exports to Drop Amid 'Scarcity,' ICO Says".

The chief exporters, Colombia and Brazil, just aren't capable of producing more coffee right now. I don't know what the deal is with Colombia, but Brazil apparently received too much rainfall last year.

Stock market investors are having a field day, expecting prices to rise even further than they already have.

Home Grown Coffee

It may be time to start thinking about buying coffee grown in your home country. It wasn't by design, but I've been buying a local brand of coffee since I've lived in the Philippines: Nescafé. I buy the instant coffee that comes in 200 milliliter jars, at a cost of 215 pesos or a little less than USD $5.00 per jar. It's grown, packaged and produced by Nescafé Philippines even though it's not locally owned. The price hasn't gone up in the last year, of that I'm sure.

It's far cheaper than any of the imported coffee products and tastes better than most. Nescafé is also sold as canned iced coffee, just like other well-known brands. I have been trying to put aside some money to buy a decent automatic drip coffee maker but… not only have I not set aside the money, I haven't actually seen a decent automatic drip coffee maker since I started looking around.

I don't think Nescafé is sold as grind coffee. I could be wrong, but I've never seen anything but what I mentioned (and that includes their pricier brand, Taster's Choice). If coffee exports are indeed dropping and prices are rising, then it's in my best interest to just continue drinking what I've been drinking – Nescafé instant coffee.

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Memories of Mornings with Folgers Coffee

RT Cunningham — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:40:11 +0000

The logo and style of the can may have changed since I was young, but the Folgers coffee can is something I can distinctly remember, along with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting its way from our glass percolator. Good times and good coffee in the original grind is something I am unlikely to ever forget. (My grandmother used to use an empty Folgers can as a spittoon she kept outside her front door. Yuck!)

Regular Grind versus Automatic Drip Coffee

I don't know if it's just me, but some I think something was lost in the transition between regular grind and automatic drip coffee and Folgers coffee is no exception. The aroma isn't the same and doesn't invade my senses as I wake up in the morning.

Does Folgers sell regular grind, the kind made for percolators, anymore? I don't know because it isn't sold locally (in Olongapo City, Philippines). I can find the automatic drip kind and the Folgers coffee crystals (instant), but not the regular grind.

I'll soon be buying an automatic drip coffee maker, but I may end up buying a percolator as well, if I can find one. Even if I have to grind my own coffee beans, I think the flavor and the aroma will be worth it. Of course, it's low on my "to do" list because I have a lot of home things to take care of first and I need to take care of them within the next six months.

Do you remember Mrs. Olsen? She was the lady in the commercial that said Folgers was the best coffee because it was mountain grown, the freshest kind. I don't know about all that, but that was replaced by something along the lines of "the best part of waking up, is Folgers in your cup". A coffee cup, I presume.

To wrap up my soliloquy, I present you with:

The Best Part of Waking Up

A sweet little boy surprised his grandmother one morning and brought her a cup of coffee. He made it himself and was so proud. He anxiously waited to hear the verdict on the quality of the coffee. The grandmother had never in her life had such a bad cup of coffee, and as she forced down the last sip she noticed three of those little green army guys in the bottom of the cup.

She asked, "Honey, why would three little green army guys be in the bottom of my cup?"

Her grandson replied, "You know grandma, it's like on TV, The best part of waking up is soldiers in your cup."

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When Trying to Save Money by Buying Cheap Coffee, Never Settle for Second Best

RT Cunningham — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:37:55 +0000

I recently made a big mistake when buying cheap coffee at the Royal Subic store at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. I normally buy Nescafé Classic, but the regular jars of it were out-of-stock. The store is in a remodeling phase and food products are being moved around. It's difficult to find what you're looking for, even if you know where it's supposed to be.

The Best Instant Coffee Brands

I don't know why certain brands of instant coffee are made differently from each other. Whether it's coffee powder, freeze-dried coffee, or coffee with coffee crystals makes no difference to me. The best brands I've ever personally consumed are those made by Folgers and Nescafé, regardless of the particular variety.

My parents have been drinking "Taster's Choice" for years (and I obviously leech off of them whenever possible) but it was only recently that I discovered that it was a brand owned by Nescafé and only when they put that word on the label. It didn't used to be there (kind of like when they changed the "Quik" chocolate drink to "NesQuik"). I've been drinking Nescafé and Folgers (instant coffee only) for quite some time myself.

In the Philippines, Nescafé is also the cheapest, good brand of coffee and it's made in the Philippines even though Nescafé is a Swiss product. When I shop for coffee, I normally shop for Nescafé. If it's not available and I can find Folgers coffee on the shelf, I'll opt to buy the Folgers coffee even though it's usually twice as expensive.

The Worst Instant Coffee Brands

When it comes to coffee, you can't substitute a good brand with a generic-sounding brand. You just can't. It will taste like crap compared to what you're used to. Even certain brand name coffees taste like crap compared to what I'm used to.

Maxwell House instant coffee, for example, just doesn't taste good to me. I don't know if it's due to their manufacturing process or if they just use inferior coffee beans. Whatever the case, I don't like it.

On my last shopping trip, I couldn't find the Nescafé varieties or the Folgers coffee anywhere. I ended up buying an offbeat brand called "Sunny Select". It was a big mistake. That coffee tastes like I boiled my socks and tried to make coffee out of the results, it's that bad. Sunny Select makes a lot of food products and lot of it's good, but they have failed when it comes to coffee. I didn't buy this brand because it was cheap coffee. I bought it because it was all that I could find that wasn't Maxwell House.

Automatic Drip Coffee is a Different Story

I don't own an automatic drip coffee maker, but I plan to get one in the next few months as my budget allows. In my past experiences with automatic drip coffee brands, several brands always topped my list. In the case of drip coffee, Maxwell House is actually very good even though their instant coffee sucks.

Folgers is another good drip coffee. You really can't go wrong with Folgers. There are some other brands that I won't touch with a ten-foot pole and the reason is because they aren't 100 percent coffee. Some brands include things like chicory and I want my coffee pure. I like the taste of coffee, not that other nonsense they use to dilute the flavor. When they do something like that, it tells me their coffee beans are inferior to start with.

I've learned a lesson — never settle for second best. If I have to settle for second best from now on, I believe I'd rather do without having any coffee at all.

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Coffee Bean Fountains by Nescafé

RT Cunningham — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 02:17:47 +0000

A reader (Sarah) pointed me to two videos put up on YouTube by Nescafé. The first is an advertisement for Nescafé Original coffee and the second is a video of how they made the first one. The advertisement imitates the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas with over a million coffee beans and is set to the music of the "Don Pasquale" opera. I haven't seen the Bellagio fountains in person even though I've been to Las Vegas several times. I've only seen them in other YouTube videos. Before I watched the second video, I expected green screens to have been used. When I actually viewed the second video, I found out I was right on the money.

I'm posting both videos for your viewing enjoyment.

Nescafé 'More Beans, More Taste'

Nescafé 'More Beans, More Taste' Making Of………

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Is Kona Coffee a Gourmet Coffee?

RT Cunningham — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:57:53 +0000

If Kona coffee isn't considered a gourmet coffee, it should be. An arabica variety of coffee, it has a rich, full taste sought after by coffee connoisseurs like myself. I once spotted a bag of Kona coffee at the Royal Subic store, Subic Bay Freeport Zone (adjacent to Olongapo City, Philippines) and I wanted to buy it, but it was just too expensive for my budget at the time. I haven't seen any there since.

The Kona Coffee Bean Process

A lot of people are unaware that a coffee bean is actually the seed of the fruit from a coffee plant. The very same people that say coffee isn't healthy will go on an on about eating more fruit to stay healthy. Coffee is a fruit! Specifically, it's part of a berry, a form of fruit.

I watched something on TV once about the Kona coffee bean selection process and how they dry them and prepare them for shipping. I think it was either on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel, I can't remember.

I really don't remember the complete process. I do remember that they're sun-dried for a period of time. The Wikipedia article on Kona coffee goes into detail.

Maui Wowi

While I was searching the net for places that sell Kona Coffee, I stumbled across the "Maui Wowi Hawaiian Coffees & Smoothies" blog, which supports their main website, and simply had to laugh out loud.

I hadn't heard "Maui Wowi" since watching "Up in Smoke" back in 1979. In the movie, Tommy Chong described a marijuana joint that was composed of mostly Maui Wowi and some Labrador (a dog ate the marijuana and pooped it out and he and Richard "Cheech" Marin smoked it).

The amazing part of finding that blog is that the store is located not far from where I used to live in Phoenix, Arizona (59th Ave and Peoria in Glendale, to be exact). The next time I'm in Phoenix, I plan to stop by there and get me a cup of something. I didn't see any prices at their website, but their coffee can't be any more expensive than Starbucks or Seattle's Best.

I need a coffee maker!

What good does it do to buy a bag of gourmet coffee like Kona coffee if I don't have a coffee maker to brew it in? Most people here in the Philippines drink instant coffee, like Nescafé, and don't have anything to brew coffee in and I haven't seen a coffee maker in any of the stores.

I guess I'm going to have to go on a search and find mission to get me something like a "Mr. Coffee" coffee maker or something.

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