Source: The Telegraph, GETTY

From: “AE” <xxxxx@gmail.com>
Received: 10/7/10 8:23:48 AM MDT
To: <sbxinfo@buf.sitel.net>
Subject: other

Dear Starbucks:

Do you want your more nutrition-conscious customers (diabetics, low-glycemic index consumers, health nuts) to like you a lot more? Instead of the array of crap sweeteners you stock (or in addition to them), start offering stevia. It’s made from a plant you can grow in your own yard. Has been used all over the world with no issues for decades, as compared to those highly controversial packets of Deathwish McNasty, also known as Nutrasweet (just google ‘Donald Rumsfeld’ and ‘How did aspartame get FDA approval’ and then we can talk).

Also, three words for you: unsweetened almond milk. High in nutrition, lower in fat and your pre-teen son won’t grow boobies like he will if he’s consuming a ton of soy.

Please feel free to call me. I have suggestions galore.

Sincerely,

Amanda

***

From: Starbucks Customer Care <cardinfo@starbucks.com.au>
Sent: Thu, Oct 21, 2010 10:49 am
To: <xxxxxxxx@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: other <<#16693-468094#>>

Hello Amanda,

Thank you for contacting Starbucks Coffee Company.

We’re always excited to receive feedback from our loyal customers about their Starbucks experience.  You know better than anyone else what you want from Starbucks.  We are constantly looking for ways to improve the quality of our products and service to create enthusiastically satisfied customers. I will be more than happy to forward your suggestions and the health benefits you provided to our marketing and development teams for their review.

With that in mind, I also invite you to visit www.MyStarbucksIdea.com. This website is a forum where you can share your ideas, tell us what you think of other people’s ideas and join the discussion that will help shape Starbucks future. Many of the ideas shared have already been turned into action.

Thanks again for taking the time to write us!

Roman

Customer Relations

Starbucks Coffee Company

800 23-LATTE (235-2883)

Monday through Friday, 5AM to 8PM (PST)

***

From: “AE” <xxxxx@gmail.com>
Sent: 10/21/10 11:55:22 AM PST
To: <sbxinfo@buf.sitel.net>
Subject: other

Thanks, Roman! I love the name Roman. Wanted to name my boy Roman because I adore Italy but then my husband, who’s Mexican-American, wanted to pronounce it ‘Romahn,’ which I thought made my very Middle Eastern-looking baby sound like a Latin lover so then I pulled a switch and now he’s a Rohan. Like Bob Marley’s boy.

Anyway, I’m veering off-topic. Does your email mean Starbucks is or is not going to start stocking stevia and offering unsweetened almond milk? Because I’m an ex-lawyer and I can read about seven layers of subtext and nowhere in your reply did you I sense any commitment about either stevia or almond milk.

Also, thanks for the offer but I’d rather not visit a forum where I can “share my ideas and hear other people’s ideas and join discussion about Starbucks.” Because, you know, I have a life. Also, I don’t really drink coffee (ever). But I like your bathrooms!! Very handy when you’re potty training.

Just occurred to me to clarify: No interest in visiting forum unless you can make it worth my while. In which case, Roman, I will happily live and breathe Starbucks forum. You know, the bad economy and all.

Sorry for the overlong email. I’m kinda Good Weird … actually, maybe it’s Bad Weird. Yeah, long story.

Lemme know about the forum.

Hugs,

Amanda

Cappuccino from the Pilgrim's Coffee House on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne

I got to visit the Holy Island of Lindisfarne last week, and came across this little gem of a coffee shop there too.  You can read more about in the feature post Zomppa Lena and myself put together Irish, Scottish and English Sweet Stuff Explored.

This is a cappuccino from Mourne Grange coffee shop in the Irish Mourne mountains.  I will tell you more about this awesome place in a TidBit later this week

Cake from Tante Helga’s coffeeklutch, or Kaffeekatsch, a time of the day when friends gather for a chat, coffee, and cake. Tante Helga hosts one every day at 3 or 4 PM…with at least three different kinds of cakes, chocolate pound ones, cheesecakes…. A German tradition that should be replicated everywhere!

Instant boost: A cup of hot camp coffee with a cool reflection

While canoeing out in the Boundary Waters recently, this little wake-up treat served me quite well. Just in case you’re wondering, it’s Starbucks Ready Brew instant, rated high among campers. Boy, they really are everywhere.

The Spanish Steps

Growing up in Italy, I was always surrounded by good food. Plenty of fresh in-season fruits and vegetables, fresh pasta, fresh out of the oven pizza, gelato, the list goes on. It was always about good quality fresh ingredients. To this day, my favorite meal consists of opening up the fridge and bringing out fresh veggies for a salad, a selection of cheeses, a selection of cold cuts (prosciutto, salame), olives, and any other tasty bits and pieces. You then slice up some freshly baked bread and hey presto! Dig in!

Little fruit & veg shop in Jewish Ghetto part of Rome

Italian cuisine is pretty rich in carbs. Bread and pasta are staples to the diet and these are big no nos in our new “diet” culture to bring down our weight in the U.S. and the U.K.  Growing up, I never saw obese people in Italy, sure there were some well-rounded folks around but that was not the norm. Generally, people enjoyed their food, pasta and all, but stayed slim. How could that be? Well, I boil it down to some pretty common sense reasons:

• Low usage of processed foods,
• Fresh fruit and vegetables that have stayed on the plant/tree long enough to gain all the proper nutrients
• Small portions (a standard pasta portion at an Italian dinner table is 100gms, about 3.5oz)
• Lots of walking
• Drinking plenty of water
• oh, and a touch of vanity!

Casa del Cafe - one of the most famous bars in Rome by the Pantheon

The common breakfast in Italy is cappuccino and a pastry standing at a bar. Nutritionally, this is not the best start to your day, I get that, but let’s just look at the fact that it’s a small portion and you have it standing up.  Lunch is generally the main meal of the day there although with the Western work ethic hitting Italy too these days, dinners have become more substantial.  Most Italians, especially in the south and in the warmer months, make it a point to go out for a walk each day.  In the evenings this is very much a social activity as you will go down to the town square and walk around or many seaside towns have special walkways along the sea-shore. Everyone is out there, young and old, walking sticks, dogs and all.

Standard breakfast al bar

With food being such an integral part of Italian culture, Jamie Oliver would certainly not have the problem of kids not being able to identify a tomato or cauliflower in a line-up.  I recall some 15 years ago sitting behind two young married men on a plane having a discussion about the best approach to cook a ragu (basic bolognese sauce). Only in Italy! ha ha.

My solution to obesity: let’s all just move to Italy to loose weight, lol!

I should add that there is a downside to all of this, and that is that obesity is a growing concern amongst Italian schoolchildren now.  Sadly, the world of cheap processed foods and video games has started to infiltrate Italy too.  I came across this old WHO report from 2005 which outlines many of the issues there: Obesity a Heavy Issue for Italians.  There are programs popping up there too, and hopefully they will not reach the crisis level that the U.S. currently faces.

The fire went out over night so I had to start it up from scratch and get some good heat out of it before the water started to boil.

I measured in 2 nice tablespoons full of Sainsbury’s premium Fair Trade coffee from South America, and hey presto – a delicious cup of coffee in front of a wood burning stove. Ah, the simple things in life!

Well, I have been in one of my home lands these past couple of weeks spending some time with the family and focusing on getting my web communications business set up.

I am staying in a gorgeous little converted attic of an old house out in the Co. Antrim countryside outside a town called Cullybackey (the corner of the river bend).  A good friend of mine is in the process of building and opening up a retreat center here.  It is a beautiful house with surrounding outhouses which, for the most part, have now been converted into cottages and event spaces.  Don’t let me start on the garden and the lake! oh and wood burning stove ovens!!! I am obsessed with those now, and with fire generally.  My mission is to test out some Zomppa recipes over this stove in the next few weeks.  Patty, that tomato soup is on the cards for this week!

One of my work projects is to set up a website for this retreat center, but in the meantime, you can check out some pictures below and at the Facebook Fan Page: The Dreen

Many of you see on the backs of coffee bags: 100% Arabica. What does that mean? Well, it appears that every time you drink coffee, you are really having Ethiopian food.

Say what?

Coffee was originally ONLY grown in the southwestern part of Ethiopian in the mountain area known as the Great Rift Valley. This area is also known to be where people originate…coincidence? Anyways, it continued to grow there for hundreds of years before it was finally brought elsewhere.

No one really knows where the word coffee came from or how it got started. Many people swear by the legend of Kaldi. Kaldi was a goatherder who had goats (duh). One day, his goats ate the leaves from a plant and started to dance (duh). Kaldi became curious and so he ate the leaves and started to dance (double duh). A passing monk came by and thought, this is peculiar sight, a dancing goatherder and dancing goats. So he decided to make a beverage out of the beverage that made them all dance.

Legend or not, coffee traditions have continued, including the Ethiopian coffee ceremony which is still a strong tradition rich in history and symbolism. Women elders have the honor of making and serving the coffee. A charcoal fire is lit, frankensense is lit, grass is laid. Stories are shared, family updates are given, and much like any coffeehouse, the ceremony gives time for participants to share, inform, and exchange.

Photo: visionary founder Brett Smith giving tour.

In any case, continue on my brief history: after coffee reached eastern Ethiopia and Yemen, coffee became extremely popular in the Ottoman Empire and it spread to the Mediterranean (which is why there is also a strong Turkish coffee tradition). The Turks spread it to the Near and Middle East…then off to Europe via Vienna (during wars with the Ottoman Empire) and Italy. After it crossed the Red Sea, the coffee ceremonies lost its association with women in many places, but maintained the concept of a coffeehouse where information is exchanged. In the 17th century, coffee was smuggled from Yemen to southern India, and the Dutch smuggled it to the Indonesian archipelago (Java, anyone?). In the 18th century, the French got a coffee plant from the Dutch (who called it Café Arabica in light of the Ottoman influence) and the French brought it to the Americas to Martinque…and the rest is history.

Whew! How’s that for history in a hurry? Let me get to another fun part of coffee tradition I learned: cupping. It sounds kinda naughty…anyways, cupping used to be this super secret society thing. It was started in the 19th century to formalize a process for coffee buying houses in New York to set a standard for price setting. Counter Culture – always challenging the status quo – decided seven years ago to make cupping available to the broader community.

There are rules and guidelines, i.e. Rule of Silent Work to avoid sensory distractions. Glasses of unidentified coffee grounds sit on a table, and each cupper takes turns to smell and taste the coffee. It is so super cool. So on this day, Counter Culture held the largest cupping in one room ever (about 70) people, all quietly observing, smelling and tasting coffee, writing down thoughts and impressions. The seven areas to evaluate include:

• Fragrance: smell of coffee when dry
• Aroma: smell of coffee when wet
• Break: smell of coffee when coffee is stirred (to break the coffee crust)
• Brightness: mouth-watering characteristics of coffee (similar to fruit)
• Flavor: everything on the tongue except brightness
• Body: feeling (i.e. same sensation as whole versus skim milk)
• Aftertaste: taste when coffee has left the mouth

Usually, coffee has one descriptor for me: bitter. But this time, I actually could smell and taste things I never thought imaginable! Although I wasn’t as sophisticated as others (one cupper tasted buttered beans and the pavement of an asphalt road after a rain. Who knew?), But I did smell and taste lemon, orange peel, molasses, steak (yes, steak!), almond. WOW. It gave me such a greater appreciation for coffee’s complexity and by the end, I could begin to understand where my preferences lie.

Counter Coffee offers free cuppings every Friday at each of their training centers. I highly recommend it.

Aside from cupping, we also learned to brew coffee. For me, this was some education. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that I finally learned how to use a Mr. Coffee. Well, it turns out there are a billion ways to do this.

These glass things are not part of science experiment, even though it looks like it. The left one is a siphon where you make the coffee over an open flame and it uses the heat and vacuum to make amazing coffee without remnants of coffee grinds, as you may get in a French Press. The other is something called a Chemex coffee pot. With one paper filter, you can control the speed and flow of your water to adjust your taste accordingly. And it’s so easy. This might be someone’s Christmas present this year….

We also spent an afternoon learning how to properly steam milk (use the palm of your hand and wrist, not fingers – they are too sensitive to heat changes) and all about foam. Foam. Any proper espresso or latte or cappuccino needs proper foam.

So apparently (I’m paying homage to the great Alton Brown), milk is comprised of fats, proteins, and sugars suspended in water. Proteins are like wound-up stress cases and when you add heat to it, it loosens it up. But it’s clingy and wants to find something else to latch on quickly, and that something can be air, creating air bubbles. There is a science to ensuring that the milk is heated and aerated enough for solid micro-foam, but not so hot that it loses its sweetness.

However, if you think coffee is just a science, think again! You can PLAY with it. And who can turn down a chance to play?

We got to play with foam and milk art. After properly steaming the milk for a stable micro-foam, we learned the three stages of The Pour. To make proper cappuccinos and fancy milk art, you have to first “sink” the milk to get it under the espresso, then create the “dot,” which then becomes the “design.” You may have seen some fantastic cappuccino art like faces of monkeys and pictures of trees from award-winning baristas.

My first attempt (not so bad, eh?) was a quirky heart.

In any case, thank you for staying with me on this history/science/art journey. Opportunities like this gave me a chance to play and learn about coffee, but also to connect with different cultures, traditions, and people with the same interest: food. Learning can be fun.

And afterwards, you can dance your quirky latte milk heart out.

I am an absolute novice when it comes to coffee. Remember, I’m the one with the baby taste buds and so yes, coffee has traditionally been too bitter for me. And it makes me pee like nobody’s business.

But when I heard there was two-day coffee camp at Counter Culture, the awesomest, coolest, happiest place, I jumped at the chance. Counter Culture is headquartered in Durham, NC and have training centers from New York to Atlanta. It was started in 1995 to challenge the existing paradigm of cheap, tasteless, lonely coffee. The founders imagined up a company with a passion for “coffee perfection…real sustainability…cutting-edge education.”

A company that hand-selects the best handcrafted coffees from around the world DIRECTLY from coffee farmers and not through anonymous coffee “buyers” and wholesalers? A company that cares about working conditions of its farmers AND the coffee experience of its consumers? A company that develops real relationships? Is that possible?

Folks as far as Wisconsin came for Counter Culture’s inaugural Counter Intelligence Camp, an incredible learning experience that included workshops on everything from the history and origins of coffee, to the coffee buying industry, to how to brew coffee in a gazillion ways. There were café owners, baristas, home enthusiasts. And me.

There is far more that I learned than I can fit here, so stay tuned for a next piece on my hands-on coffee fun. For now, I’m just blown away by the complete harmony between their ethics, philosophy, and action. They KNOW their coffee. They KNOW their farmers. They KNOW their stories. Many companies talk about being green, going organic, but how many actually live and breathe their talking points?

Counter Culture (I swear they are not paying me or even know I’m writing this, I don’t even buy coffee!) is the first coffee roaster to be certified organically in the state of North Carolina. What does certified organic even mean? Well, we’ve all heard the argument that you can be organic without being certified, and while technically true, it’s not so simple. Being certified is more than not using pesticides or using organic soil, it’s an entire philosophy. It’s about complete ecosystems in harmony.

Organic also impacts taste and flavor. I have heard from many coffee enthusiasts that Counter Culture’s coffee is truly one of the best, and this is no doubt in part due to the fact that they proactively reach out to farmers and hand-selects their crops. Their roasts can be seasonal because, well, it depends on what’s good, where it’s growing, and when. There’s no all-purpose blend of non-descript coffee remains. This is the real deal.

At the heart of everything they do are people, fairness, and sustainability. They set the bar, paying the highest prices to ensure the highest quality, partnering with each artisan farmer to ensure environmental, social, and fiscal responsibility. They investigate and evaluate every working condition, including seemingly small details like changing the chairs to be more ergonomic. One story that I was particularly touched was of an intrepid 30-something year old woman named Aida Battle who goes to El Salvador to run her family’s coffee farm without any previous experience and ends up with award-winning and record-setting coffee. Read about Aida here.

How many coffee roasters can equal that? Or the more important question is: why don’t other coffee roasters equal that? That is exactly what Counter Culture is trying to do: change the existing culture and current thinking that coffee should be cheap, tasteless and empty. Coffee is not just caffeine. It is about people; it is about life.

Note: local restaurant favorites with their own personalized coffees. Relationships are global AND local. It can be done.

Join the Rebellion.

Our main hangout joint ended up being Campo dei Fiori which is a square near Piazza Navona that is not quite as crowded and filled with tourists, and there’s a great little coffee shop there leading on to Piazza Farnese (where you will find the stunning French Embassy).  Our other lounging spot was in the Trastevere neighborhood where the people from Rome mostly hang out at night.

So, a day in the eternal city Kat and Sarah style commences with breakfast al bar: cappuccino and bombolone or cornetto (not the ice-cream but the croissant type thing).  You then proceed to walk around the Eternal City walking the cobble-stoned streets and taking in the sites for a couple of hours.  Side note and quick tip: 2nd week of August is the best time to be shopping in Rome as the sales are at their peak!!! Additional side note: 2nd week in August is also easily the hottest week in the year and you will just want to collapse after a couple of hours walking around so make sure you make lots of pit stops for coffees and granitas.

Wanting to keep food costs on the cheap side, lunch consisted of a “pizza al taglio” which is essentially a slice from a big rectangular pizza (check out the pic).  Topping selections vary, but caprese, prosciutto, quattro formaggi, melanzane (eggplant) are usually present on the list.  All of this washed down with a Coke, a European Coke with actual sugar in it and not corn syrup – tastes so much better.

After some more walking around and shopping, we decided to keep dinner on the light side seeing as it was still pretty hot by 10pm.  I opted for some rotoli of mozzarella di bufala with bresaola on a bed of rucola (arugola).  Very good choice and actually quite filling.  Sadly, I could not get a decent shot of the dish as it was too dark and I only had my iPhone with me.  On this particular day, I was so tired and full that I wasn’t able to make room for gelato.  Made up for it the next day though!