While it seems that nearly everyone is doing their best to simply survive the global recession, the coffee franchises seem to be unaffected by it. If the recent coffee franchise report at franchisedirect.com is to be believed, the coffee industry is doing very well despite the receding economy.
Everyone in this world is addicted to one thing or another. Anytime you crave something, whether it's harmful or not, it's an addiction. Is a coffee addiction harmful? If you believe what some other folks have written, you may be inclined to quit drinking coffee entirely. I'm not saying they're wrong about coffee addiction. I just believe it's what they believe.
It seems that all of the coffee drinks in US coffee shops start with espresso as the base. It may not be true for all coffee shops, but it's certainly true for Starbucks and Seattle's Best.
Unlike most people who come and go and pay little attention to anything but what they're doing at the time, I observe everything that goes on around me. I have seen how both of these companies make coffee drinks — I purposely observed every facet from start to finish.
There are some things in life where I will accept no substitutes. Coffee and tea are two of these things.
This is the second of two articles I wrote for my main site. This one was originally published in April of 2008 and I've moved it here (with minor rewriting) because this site is about coffee and tea and the other is not. Keep in mind when it was written as I made references:
Recently, I was reminded by Claire (A little piece of me) that while some people like lemon in their tea, others do not. She, like me, does not like lemon in her tea. She needs "proper" tea, whatever the heck that means.
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.
After watching the employees at one of the Starbucks locations in Phoenix, Arizona, my wife decided to do an experiment to see if she could make coffee that tasted as good as their coffee. More specifically, she wanted to reproduce the taste of their lattes.
