Gourmet Coffee Habit Costing Consumers as Much as $1,500 Yearly

A recent Washington Post article discussed Seattle law students spending money from their student loans for Starbucks coffee across the street from the Seattle University School of Law. Gourmet coffee consumers rarely consider the cost of their daily coffee in terms of the expense to brew premium whole bean coffee at home (50 cents to 75 cents) with prices of a pound of gourmet coffee beans versus a two or three cup a day ($4.50 to $6.00) coffee drinking habit when purchased at premium coffee houses.

An online calculator has been posted for those interested in calculating their caffeine expenses at: http://www.hughchou.org/calc/coffee.cgi That borrowed money takes years to repay and many students don't do the math to see that study time with 2-3 cups of coffee at Starbucks over 4 years can cost them significant sums - as much as $4500 in principle, interest and fees on their student loan - over the course of their education. She points out that students are spending education loans on luxuries like latte instead of necessities like a loaf of bread. Erika Lim, director of career services at the law school has launched a campaign to reduce coffee consumption by students attending the university on student loan money.

But smart gourmet coffee consumers have long known that premium coffee brewed at home costs just 12 cents or so per cup, depending on preferences for coffee strength. Gourmet Coffee drinkers have become accustomed to paying $2 or more per cup for fresh brewed coffees at Premium coffee houses - and many sources are predicting those prices may increase to as much as $4 per cup soon due to expected increases in green coffee prices.

A pound of gourmet beans! Starbucks recommends double that amount for stronger coffees at 2 tablespoons per 6 ounce cup. Many coffee producers recommend starting with 1 tablespoon of fresh ground gourmet coffee beans per standard 6 ounce cup of water.

So if you have expensive tastes and want a 12 ounce mug of the rarest and most expensive coffee on the planet, you still need only pay what some premium coffee houses charge for a latte ($3.50) for that rare privilege. So if you have expensive tastes and want a 12 ounce mug of the rarest and most expensive coffee sold, the exotic Kopi Luwak, at $175 per pound, is still less than $1.75 per 6 ounce cup when brewed at home! Even the rarest and most expensive coffee sold, the exotic Kopi Luwak, at $175 per pound, is still less than $1.75 per 6 ounce cup when brewed at home! Prices of premium gourmet coffee beans range between $10 and $18 per pound, making a cup of home-brewed gourmet coffee, made fresh to your liking, cost only between .10 cents and .25 cents per cup or between $1.00 and $2.00 per pot of coffee!

When consumers learn that they can purchase gourmet whole bean coffee for between $10 to $18 per pound, then fresh grind and brew at home for significantly less than gourmet coffee companies charge, many see home brewing premium gourmet coffee as luxurious treat. Purchasing a thermos or a large travel mug to take coffee with them from home makes drinking rich, fresh roasted coffee a possibility for about one-seventh the cost of buying that coffee from expensive and crowded coffee shops.

Many so-called premium coffee houses keep their coffee heated on warmers after brewing, but this practice causes the flavor to turn bitter after less than an hour of warming. It is actually more likely you will get a rich flavorful cup of coffee from an insulated thermos or insulated type pump containers. Reheating coffee can destroy the flavor of good gourmet coffee - just as quickly as extensive warming.

Coffee purists prefer to make individual cups with a coffee press, fresh grinding beans for each cup and drinking the entire amount brewed before it turns cold to get the maximum enjoyment from their beans. Microwave a good cup of coffee that has gone cold and you'll see how much better it is freshly brewed. Using good clean, fresh water is essential since coffee is 99% water and bad tasting tap water can quickly ruin even the best fresh ground beans.

You can enjoy great gourmet coffee more and pay less for the privilege by starting with whole beans and grinding them yourself with a $20 coffee grinder. Make only what you can drink or carry with you in a nice thermos or travel mug instead of reheating coffee later. Use good tasting water and keep your brewing equipment clean to prevent the rancid bitterness that can come from previous grounds in crevices.

You can brew at home with fine gourmet coffee beans, fresh ground and brewed in a French press coffee maker, carry a fancy thermos of great coffee to work or school and enjoy the best coffee available for far less money than you would spend at crowded and expensive premium coffee house.

© Copyright 2005 http://www.TastesofTheWorld.net

"If you are happy tell a friend if you are not tell us" Rare Gourmet Coffee is their business so they make shopping with them risk free. Written by Mike Banks Valentine for Tastes of The World coffee company, focusing on specialty gourmet coffees which are not readily available in the United States.

Read this Article if You Like Starbucks Coffee

As a matter of fact let me recommend a book to you; "Pour Your Heart Into It" By Howard Schultz; it is the History of the making of the greatest coffee house chain in the World; Starbucks. It is truly amazing what Global Strategist Howard Schultz built; a world wide coffee brand which just keeps growing, where employees truly poor their heart into it with Starbuck's Legendary Service. The average store volumes are up 27% over last year and that means more and more people are switching to Starbucks. If you have been watching the stock charts at Starbucks you know that folks love Starbucks Coffee, some say they will drink nothing but Starbucks Coffee.

All in all this proves to be quite the winning combination both for the customer and for Wall Street; think on it. But why; well it is a combination of strategic locations, brand name, appealing coffee flavor and the fact that coffee is a basically a drug which effects the central nervous system of the human body in a way which pleases folks. In observing Starbuck's Success in the market place it is quite fascinating indeed as people line up to over pay; that is to say pay three to four dollars for a cup of custom coffee.

New Career; Coffee Franchise Options, Good or Bad?

Are Coffee Shop Franchises a good business? Well consider the average Starbucks does over $80,000 per month. An interesting book primer to learn more about the coffee business might be "Pour Your Heart Into It" by Howard Schultz. It is worth a read and you can find used books on Amazon.com cheap enough, you will be glad you did.

Of course Starbucks is not a franchise. Recently, I met the head trainer for one of their licensees; Sheridan Hotels which was putting 1000 Starbucks Coffee Shops in their Hotels. But for the average person you cannot become a licensee or franchisee in the United States. So, you will need to look for other options such as; Coffee Beanery, Caribous or It's a Grind. Actually there are about 8 fairly good and growing options out there now. Now then, over all in studying Coffee Shop industry.

I have also talked with many franchisee's as I travel the country and do a little business writing and most are very happy with their businesses. One former franchisee said his business had failed, but as far as the Coffee Franchise option, well that is a good business model so I am not sure what went wrong there.

He claimed that it was not his fault and that arbitration was stacked against the franchisee and yet in arbitration both sides have equal say generally my experience has been that arbitrators are usually way too liberal and pro-franchisee, siding with them and not with the Franchisor. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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starbucks coffee the history and background of starbucks coffee

The largest coffeehouse company in the world, Starbucks was named after the first mate in the book Moby Dick. While everyone recognizes the logo and knows of a local franchise, few people know where Starbucks Coffee got its name. The higher prices are a direct result of their ingenious marketing strategy. Interestingly enough, the prices found at Starbucks Coffee are significantly higher than the market average. The stores all sell drip coffee, espresso drinks, tea, blended drinks, coffee mugs and other coffee accessories. There are more than 13,100 Starbucks stores in the world, spanning 40 countries. Selling books, music and film, the brand is developing into something much larger than a Venti Frappucino. Moving beyond beverages and coffee mugs and makers, Starbucks has started an entertainment division that features the Hear Music brand. Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1971, Starbucks Coffee began growing exponentially. During the 1990s, a new Starbucks store was opening somewhere in the world every single working day. This continued into the new millennium, however domestic growth has since slowed down quite a bit. Abroad, however, the brand is still expanding rapidly. Starbucks Coffeehouses began to give consumers a different kind of feeling about drinking coffee. Even employees, called partners, get a different kind of experience than one a regular barista would expect. Between two and six partners are working at any given time. The same can be said of the UK stores, which were voted among the top ten best places to work by the Financial Times in 2007. In 2005, Starbucks was rated the 11th best place to work in the United States by Fortune magazine. Stock option grands are also available, as is 401k with matching to employees who work 20 hours a week or more. Starbucks Coffee offers full benefits to partners, including vision, health and dental insurance. Coffee Masters are partners that have gone through extensive training in tasting, roasting, purchasing and growing regions.

The largest coffeehouse company in the world, Starbucks was named after the first mate in the book Moby Dick. While everyone recognizes the logo and knows of a local franchise, few people know where Starbucks Coffee got its name.The higher prices are a direct result of their ingenious marketing strategy. Interestingly enough, the prices found at Starbucks Coffee are significantly higher than the market average. The stores all sell drip coffee, espresso drinks, tea, blended drinks, coffee mugs and other coffee accessories. There are more than 13,100 Starbucks stores in the world, spanning 40 countries.Selling books, music and film, the brand is developing into something much larger than a Venti Frappucino. Moving beyond beverages and coffee mugs and makers, Starbucks has started an entertainment division that features the Hear Music brand.The same can be said of the UK stores, which were voted among the top ten best places to work by the Financial Times in 2007. In 2005, Starbucks was rated the 11th best place to work in the United States by Fortune magazine. Stock option grands are also available, as is 401k with matching to employees who work 20 hours a week or more. Starbucks Coffee offers full benefits to partners, including vision, health and dental insurance. Coffee Masters are partners that have gone through extensive training in tasting, roasting, purchasing and growing regions.

coffee shop culture in singapore and malaysia a different art of coffee drinking

Before there are Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaves, most people in the region of Singapore and Malaysia know only kopi, a Baba Malay language for coffee.  Kopi is basically robusta coffee.  Espresso and cappuccino are extravagant coffee in the early days, meant for the rich, and only available in hotels.

Today, a cup of kopi is only between 70 and 90 Singapore cents.

Latte or long black is unknown in local coffee stalls and kopi tiam.  Tiam means shop in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect.  Instead it is commonly called kopi, kopi-o, and kopi-c.

Kopi is not brewed in coffee maker, but steep in a tall metal pot with a long spout with a cotton coffee filter, a long cone bag, within.  Milk and sugar are not served separately on the table.  When you order your kopi, you have coffee with condensed milk, a sweetener, and sugar, already added.

Kopi-o is black coffee, with sugar added.  O sounds like black in Hokkien.

Instead of condensed milk, Carnation evaporated milk is added to kopi-c, with sugar.  The c stands for Carnation, a brand, even though some have replaced it with other brands.

Most of the early kopi tiam are started by Chinese who are Hainanese.  Today their lingo still stays.  Ask for kopi-c siu tai, it is coffee with evaporated milk and less sugar in the cup.  More sugar, ka tai.  But for no sugar, it is kosong, a Malay word which means nothing.

Sarabat stalls are coffee stalls run by Indians and Malays.  They are famous for their teh tarik.  Teh means tea, and tarik means pull back.  A cup of tea with milk and sugar added is then juggled between two cups at an altitude.  The original purpose is to lower the temperature of very hot tea for easy drinking on a hot day, for the climate in Singapore and Malaysia most of the year is of summer.  However, the action has also produced a foamy top for the tea, much like cappuccino.  This spurs the creation of kopiccino, using the same method but instead of tea, it is coffee.

Many migrants came from China in the old days.  Chinese meal will always have a cup of Chinese tea besides their food.  It is not surprising to find in the local coffee shop and food court, too, that coffee and tea are usually ordered together with meals, much like having a cup of Chinese tea, or ice water in western meal.  But for some, hot kopi is still best reserved after a meal.

Nevertheless, for those who still crave for a piece of cheese cake with gourmet coffee, it is still Starbucks, hotels, or café.  For others with a budget, Ikea offers value for money for a cup of brewed coffee with cheese cake.

Any opportunities to travel to Singapore and Malaysia, kopi with roti kaya is a must.  Roti is bread in Malay, and kaya is a coconut egg jam.