Wednesday, March 13, 2002


so much coffee news today!

first, a surprising development: pepsi and starbucks are teaming up together to introduce a new espresso drink, doubleshot. while there have been espresso drinks on the market for a while, this is really the first one (besides their bottled frappucino) that will be heavily marketed by a major distributor all across the usa. unlike the frappucino, this one is supposedly targeted at serious coffee drinkers. . .

second, more great coffee health news. everyone has heard how green tea is widely believed to fight various cancers, based on the fact that it contains potent anti-oxidants called polyphenols. so-called flavonoids are a powerful form of these polyphenols. truth is, coffee also contains tons of these good chemicals, but they are lost in the standard roasting process. researchers now claim they have found a way to preserve these polyphenols in roasted coffee.

(it's also worth noting that these polyphenols are also found in large amounts in -- you guessed it -- dark chocolate. see here too. skip the red wine and eat chocolate, because dark chocolate has much more of these polyphenols than many other foods.)

and finally, hawaiian coffee growers are finding that aerial photographs of their ripening fields, taken by a new solar-powered self-guiding airplane, enables them to determine which fields of coffee are perfectly ready for harvest. these photographs can also be used to help determine the health of the coffee trees themselves.

posted by fortune | 10:16 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments