Jasper asked:


Ellie made a Mocha Cake on her show I believe last week. My computer will not let me go to the FoodTv site so that I can retrieve it. Does anyone have the correct recipe? I do remember most of it but not all!

Elizabeth

hrishi11 asked:


A potential coffee shop manager once asked me how he could compete with big brands such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks.

It can be quite a challenge to compete with big brands that have been well established in a city. Companies like Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks spend millions of dollars a year marketing themselves to get people to buy their coffee and baked goods. On top of that, these stores are at the corner of almost every street. But where does your small coffee shop business fit in?

Does your coffee shop have hope? Yes, it does. However, it depends on a few important factors:

Location: Your coffee shop should be at least 500 metres away from the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks. If you hear of any of these stores proposing to build a store near yours, I suggest you do one of two things: either relocate your store or come up with a unique and special product or service that the other two corporations don’t have. In the end, it’s not up to you; it’s up to your customers. However, if you want to continue selling coffee, I suggest relocating to another area where the competition is minimal.

Product: Your coffee shop should offer some special products that other shops don’t have. At the same time, you should try and maintain a standardized menu like the other stores, such as chocolate donuts, tea, and hot chocolate. When it comes to taste, your coffee should be almost similar to corporate coffee. Me personally, I love the coffee at Dunkin Donuts. Hence, the only reason I would love your coffee was if it tasted like theirs. The idea behind this is to get them to come in for the “special” products (e.g. strawberry cookies) and then try to sell them your cup of coffee. You need to show them that your coffee tastes exactly like Starbucks or any other major brand. If they are a new customer, make their coffee extra special because your first impression really matters. Please don’t think of trying any “product differentiation” strategies for the standardized items (coffee, donuts, etc.). For example, where I live, there is a smaller coffee franchise that has around ten stores. Their coffee is different from Dunkin Donuts’ coffee, and that’s why I **** it. This could be because millions of people are so used to drinking Dunkin’s or Starbucks’ coffee, that another coffee just wouldn’t make their day feel right - sort of like wearing those uncomfortable pants that you’re not used to wearing to work. So what’s my advice? Make your coffee taste like Dunkin’s or Starbucks’ coffee. Think about it. They did all the research and came up with the perfect cup of coffee that everyone loves. All you have to do is create a recipe that is similar to theirs, without directly copying them. This way, everyone will love your coffee too!

Promotions: Promotions are extremely vital to the success of your store. You may not have a corporate-sized marketing budget but you can still make this work. Since you may have just one store, concentrate your marketing efforts only on that particular geographical area. People aren’t going to drive kilometres just to taste your coffee. Hence, you have to try appealing to the local population. Another promotional tool is coupons. Gimmicks such as “buy six coffees and get the seventh one free” tend to work really well since people depend on coffee almost every day. However, your coffee better be good if you ever want to see them come back for their second coffee. Here’s another tip: Avoid the use of flyers to promote your coffee shop. Don’t bother using flyers unless the flyer has valuable coupons or offers. So basically, don’t use a flyer to “advertise” your store. A flyer isn’t going to make people change their minds about their preferred coffee shop.

There are lots of other factors that could affect a coffee shop but these are the three major ones. But if you start off working with what I’ve mentioned, you should be fine. It’s sad to see many independently owned coffee shops fail due to poor management skills. If you’re the only owner of your shop, you need a variety of skills from coffee making skills to accounting skills to customer relationship skills. In the end, the best skill you can use is your natural instinct - or what you think will be good for your coffee shop.



Jimmy

Dharmendra Chaudhary asked:


If you are told about a phone which is full of useful features and that its from Sony, you immediately believe what is said about. Thats because Sony has created phones which stood time and tension. One such model is W890i.

There are many models of Sony, but Sony Ericsson W890i mocha is a brilliant choice. The 3G phone has some significant features in the phone which are useful to all users.

If we compare the features of Sony Ericsson W890i mocha with some other 3G smart phones of different manufacturer it becomes easy for us to decide how far the phone can be useful to us. Let us compare the phone with the features of a very good phone called Samsung G800. This is a smart 3G phone with some brilliant features in it. Let us first go through the features of Sony Ericsson W890i to first learn the features of it to compare it with G800.

Sony Ericsson W890i mocha is a 3G smart phone which supports 3G network of HSDPA 2100. The phone has dimensions of 104 x 46.5 x 9.9 mm and it weighs only 78g. The TFT 2 inches color screen supports 256 K colors and the resolution of the screen is 240X320 pixels. There is a card slot to fix Memory Stick Micro (M2) upto a desirable level for memory extension. The internal memory of the phone is 32 MB which is also good for data storage and collection.

Sony Ericsson W890i mocha is equipped with GPRS, EDGE, HSCSD, HSDPA and features like WAP 2.0/xHTML browser along with a HTML (NetFront 3.4) along with a RSS reader. The phone enables you to access the web and download and upload data very fast for the 3G facilities. Transfer of files, music, and other data from one device to another is quite fun with a Bluetooth V2.0 with A2DP. You have also USB port for the same function.

Here is a comparison between Sony Ericsson W890i with the features of Samsung G800. Samsung G800 is a tri-band phone equipped with 3G HSDPA and 2.4 inches of screen. The phone has GPRS, EDGE, but no WLAN, no instant messaging. The only area in which it can compete is that it has a 5 MP camera with some good features and has document viewer. Otherwise the G800 cannot prove itself a better phone than Sony Ericsson W890i mocha.



Ryan

Jenny Ku asked:


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 espresso coffee or any other gourmet coffee still costs a few dollars, and 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.



Wendy

Ellen Bell asked:


Traditionally, almost all coffee was shade grown.  The coffee plant in its natural state isn’t very tolerant of direct sunlight; thus most coffee plants grow best under the shade of a canopy of trees.  In an ideal setting, the leaves from the overhanging trees would decompose and compost into the soil, creating a rich, moist soil in which the coffee plants thrive.  Furthermore, the trees overhead provide a home to native birds that eat many insects which would otherwise threaten the coffee plants.  Coffee grown in this type of environment would need little to no fertilizers or pesticides to grow; rather, it would grow quite well on its own.

In 1972, scientists developed a new hybrid type of coffee plant.  This new plant boasted a much larger crop of beans than traditional coffee plants, and in addition, the crop was easier to harvest because the plant remains small in size.  Soon, coffee farms around the world were converting to the new hybrid plant.  In turn, coffee farms cut down their native forests to provide direct sunlight for the hybrid coffee plants.  Out of the some 6 million acres of coffee-producing land around the world, it is estimated that 60% of that land has been deforested since 1972 as a result of hybrid sun coffee plants.

The loss of forest on coffee plantations has created numerous problems.  First, the migratory birds that lived in these trees no longer have a habitat.  It is estimated that the population of migratory birds has declined 20% over the last ten years, mostly due to loss of habitat.  The lack of trees not only interrupts the bird population.  It has a direct impact on the entire ecosystem of an area.  A study conducted by the University of Michigan found that shade coffee plantations support a significant number of other species of animals and insects.  For example, the study noted that one tree on a shade coffee farm in Costa Rica was home to 27 different species of ants and 126 species of beetles.  When the shade trees disappear, so do other animals and insects, upsetting the fragile balance of the natural ecosystem.

Another problem with sun grown coffee is the enormous amount of synthetic chemicals required to grow it.  Because there aren’t as many native birds present to eat the insects, pesticides are required to keep the insect population down.  Sun coffee plants are also treated with chemical fertilizers, because there is no canopy of trees present to provide organic matter that would naturally enrich the soil.  Furthermore, plantations growing sun coffee must also rely on the use of herbicides to keep down the weeds that grow in the increased sunlight (shade coffee plantations don’t have as many problems with weeds, because the weeds don’t grow well in the shady conditions that the coffee plants favor).

All these chemicals that are required to farm the hybrid sun coffee plants create an enormous amount of runoff, which poisons downstream waterways due to runoff and threatens the health of workers on the coffee plantations.  The lack of trees has also created serious soil erosion problems.  It has become clear that this type of coffee farming is not sustainable.

Traditional shade growing, however, is a self-sufficient and sustainable farming method.  It promotes increased biodiversity and requires little to no fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.  The Smithsonian Institute’s Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) is working to raise awareness and promote shade grown coffee through a certification process.  Look for coffees that feature the SMBC’s “Bird Friendly” seal of approval, or if you cannot find such coffees, simply look for those that specify shade grown conditions.

The only way to address this problem is through consumer demand.  Every purchase of shade grown coffee helps restore natural shade grown coffee farming methods.  Coffee drinkers and bird lovers unite, and buy only shade grown coffee!



Jill

Lauren B. Wallace asked:


What if you knew which foods had an immense effect on how well you sleep during the night? Would you want to know which foods improved your sleep and which foods placed a strain on your rest? If you are like millions of other people, the knowledge of these foods would be extremely beneficial to you. If you knew which foods kept you awake at night than you would know which foods to stay away from. In this article I will provide you with some of the foods which are responsible for disrupting our sleeping pattern.

Certain foods can serve as natural sleep aids while other foods can serve as sleep deprivation agents.  That is why it is important to know which foods to eat at what hour. Certain foods should be avoided at all cost during the evening hours. One of these foods is protein. You should keep protein to a minimum at bedtime because this particular food group is hard to digest and it contains an amino acid that promotes brain activity. You should also avoid foods that are high in fat. Numerous studies show that consuming a lot of fat during the day will disrupt your sleep. Another important thing to be aware of is hidden caffeine. Caffeine can be found in hot chocolate, cola, tea, and decaf coffee.

And if you want to avoid taking all natural sleep aids, you should also stay away from heavy and spicy foods. Spicy foods are known to cause heartburn; whereas, heavy foods can make you feel uncomfortable throughout the night. And last but certainly not least is alcohol. A lot of people think that alcohol induces sleep because it makes you feel oozy; however, the truth is, you will awake numerous times during the night after consuming alcoholic beverages. These are just a few foods that should be avoided during the evening hours.



Jessie

boake moore asked:


With the Holidays fast approaching we tend to drink more coffee and eat a lot more desserts. Its gets really bad on the waistline when our coffee starts to have as many calories as a dessert, but unfortunately many specialty coffee drinks are like a dessert, not something you should consume on a daily basis unless you give them the caloric respect they deserve.

How much damage can your favorite coffee drink do in additional calories added to your diet? The fancier the drink, the fancier the calories - especially when you opt for the whipped topping.  An extra 200 calories a day can add up to 21 extra pounds added to your body per year!

If you can’t give up your daily gourmet guzzle, know what calories you are adding to your body before you make your decision on which coffee drink to purchase. You don’t need to give up your favorite coffee drink, but just adjust your coffee order to make it more calories conscious.

Try the following tips to make your next coffee drink more guilt-free:



Black Coffee - It is not the coffee that makes you gain weight, but all the extras that go in the drink. A medium-size regular cup of coffee has about 10 calories and 0 grams of sugar. You can control how much of those extras you put in your coffee. So order a black coffee and ask for the extras on the side and pour them in yourself.

 

Whipping Cream - By saying NO to whipped cream, you can reduce your calories of the drink about 80 to 130 calories. This will also reduce the fat content of your drink by about 8 to 12 grams.

 

Sweeteners - Request that whey use a calorie-free sweetener like Sweet’N Low, Splenda, or Equal instead of sugar.

 

Sugar-Free Syrup - Usually the coffee shop will have some sugar-free syrup. The sugar-free syrup adds no additional calories or fat to your drink.

Chocolate - A tablespoon of chocolate syrup is 50 calories. Some coffee drinks with chocolate contain as much as 1/4 cup (1/4 cup = 4 tablespoons = 200 calories). A light version of chocolate syrup gives you about 1/2 the calories.

 

Milk - User reduced fat or skim milk instead of cream when ordering your drink. You can save up to 140 calories by using this in your coffee drinks.

 



Coffee Drink

Serving Size

Calories

Carmel Frappuccino Coffee, no whip

16 fluid ounces

280

Carmel Frappuccino Coffee, whip

16 fluid ounces

430

Carmel Frappuccino Coffee only

16 fluid ounces

260

Caffe Latte, non-fat milk

16 fluid ounces

165

Caffe Latte, whole milk

16 fluid ounces

260

Caffe Latte, whole milk

16 fluid ounces

140

Caffe au Lait, non-fat milk

16 fluid ounces

90

Caffe Americano

16 fluid ounces

15

Caffe Mocha, whole milk, whip

16 fluid ounces

400

Caffe Mocha, non-fat milk, whip

16 fluid ounces

330

Caffe Mocha, non-fat milk, no whip

16 fluid ounces

220

Mocha Malt Frappuccino Coffee, whip

16 fluid ounces

570

Coffee, Mocha, white chocolate, non-fat milk, whip

344

Cappuccino, whole milk

16 fluid ounces

150

Cappuccino, non-fat milk

16 fluid ounces

100

So unless you are careful that great tasting calorie drink can be killing your diet. And if you combine it with a cheese cake you are really asking for. Have a great Holiday but watch those caloric coffee monsters.



Sandra

Stephanie Larkin asked:


For many years, coffee makers were just that. They would brew a pot of coffee, which was then poured into several different cups. However, in recent years, there have been advancements in coffee makers, and the most popular new type of coffee makers is one cup coffee makers. Not surprisingly, these coffee makers make one cup of coffee at a time. These machines are very popular because many people enjoy being able to make one cup of coffee at a time. There are several different types of one cup coffee makers out there on the market today.

One of the initial advances one-cup coffee makers offered were smaller coffee pots, which saved time and unused coffee grounds. These smaller coffee pots only hold enough water for one cup of coffee at a time. An individual would add a spoonful of coffee, and wait a few moments for the pot to percolate. This allows a person to make only one cup at a time.

However, there are many more advancements one-cup coffee makers have to offer than just smaller decanters. One of the biggest challenges was that it was often difficult to measure out the amount of coffee needed for one cup of coffee. Due to this difficulty, the pod type coffee makers were born. The pod coffee makers were a way for people to have one cup of coffee, and not have to worry about deciding how much coffee to put in their one cup coffee makers.

With a pod coffee maker, a person puts in enough water to have one cup of coffee. Then, instead of putting loose coffee into the coffee maker, a pod is put there instead. The pod is constructed out of coffee-filter material, with the pre-measured coffee inside of it. The pod is placed into the coffee pot; hot water is run through it, creating the perfect cup of coffee.

There are also one-cup coffee makers that make coffee directly into the mug. These coffee makers use portioned packets or pods to have just the right amount of coffee grounds. The mug is part of the coffee maker itself. Hot water is poured into the coffee maker, and the coffee is percolated directly into specially made mugs that attach to the coffee maker. These coffee pots are very easy to use and very convenient. However, if the coffee mug is lost or broken, the entire coffee pot cannot be used. Some of the brands have replacement coffee mugs that can be purchased.

There are many reasons that a person might want to use a one-cup coffee maker. With the pods and portioned packets, a person can choose one single type of coffee each day. A husband can have one type of coffee while a wife has another type of coffee. Also, a person can have only one cup of coffee at a time. Many people prefer this because they do not have to wait for an entire pot of coffee to brew. Usually, one cup coffee makers brew the coffee in a matter of minutes.

The revolution of one cup coffee makers has led to an influx in the coffee market in general. In the past, flavored coffees and specialty coffees were not sold as much because people did not want to make entire pots of different coffees.

However, with the advent of the one-cup coffee makers, specialty coffee brands are introducing new products all the time. Different flavors can be alternated with little effort, and this feature is one that many individuals greatly prefer. Some people enjoy one-cup coffee makers because it allows them to experiment with different kinds of coffee without purchasing a whole bag of coffee grounds. Also, if they do not like the flavor, a one-cup coffee maker does not create too much waste. The common perception is that people are more likely to try various kinds of coffee when they only have to try one cup at a time. In this environmentally conscious world, this thought process makes perfect sense. Also, a person is much more likely to try out different types of coffees if they can purchase variety packs of many different types to use in their one cup coffee makers.

As with many other popular products, there is an evolution in how a product is brought to the consumer. In this case, less is certainly more, and coffee-lovers everywhere are enjoying this advancement one cup at a time.



Glenn

WriterChic asked:


I had an iced latte today and it tasted just like iced coffee, only bitter even with the whipped cream. Plus, where do these drinks come from, why the fancy names. The latte is more like a coffee delight.

Hazel

Stacey Beattie asked:


LuckyDustBingo’s Simple Do Able Steps to Easing the Credit Crunch

 

There are lots of tips and guides around on how to beat the credit crunch.  Not many of them take into account that we are super busy people, juggling a million things in a limited time space. 

 

Other than not being realistic some tips are just simply ridiculous such as ‘freeze left over wine’.  Who has leftover wine? ‘Don’t throw away the ends of dry cheeses’ I know I am far more likely to throw the ends of dry cheeses in the bin and think next time I will keep them to put in a bake.  Except next time I will do exactly the same thing and throw it in the bin.

 

Yet as Christmas is just round the corner there is not a better time to start thinking about watching those pennies.  There is no point in giving you a complicated list that you will never have time to achieve so why not keep it simple?  LuckyDustBingo’s guide does just that www.luckydustbingo.co.uk.

 

Drastic actions will be like a drastic diet where you may drop a few pounds one week only to put them straight back on the next. The amount of effort that’s needed to carry out a drastic action plan will simple mean you keep putting it off and it will never happen.

 

The best way to make any change is to start small.  Start with taking small steps which are easy to achieve.  Slowly introduce them into your life and they will simply become habit requiring no effort at all.   

 

Once you have worked these simple steps into your routine you can then go on to expand your saving ways. 

 

1              When it comes to fruit and vegetables make sure you buy what is in season.  You will pay extra for fruit and vegetables that are not in season as they will have been flown in.  A little research will lead you to know what in season such as Leeks, beetroot, carrots, rhubarb.  You can also feel good about reducing airmiles and helping the environment.

 

2              Got a headache? Buy own brand painkillers. They work exactly the same and yet cheaper.

 

3              Take a packed lunch to work.  There are so many simple and quick recipes out there why don’t you knock yourself up something for lunch.  You will save a fortune and you will know exactly what you are putting into you body.

 

4              Shop around to make sure you get the best price. The differences can be quite surprising especially if you keep popping in to your local supermarket convenience store.  Start watching those prices!

 

5              Make your own Birthday and Christmas cakes.  Its fun, cheaper and much nicer.

 

6              Why not have a dinner party instead of spending a fortune at a restaurant.  It will be more cosy, your friends will appreciate your hard work and you can cook exactly what you want.

 

7              If you need to buy a new piece of electrical equipment then make sure it has the Energy Saving Recommended logo on it.  This logo is there to inform customers that they are cheaper to run. So look out for the green wedge.

 

8              Invest in energy efficient light bulbs as they will last around 10 times longer than a standard light bulb.  The money you will save will far outreach the extra cost.

 

9              Why not give up that latte? Or if you can’t drop the latte completely why not make it a Friday treat? 

 

10           Circulate your books with your friends.  Your friends are more likely to give you books that you will see as worth reading so why not swap!

 

Once you have mastered these simple steps you will not have to think about them.

 

If you do have time for drastic action then the best advice to take would be to make sure your home is properly insulated. This will require some effort but once it’s done it’s done! Whether it is your walls or the roof or both.  Ensure they are fully insulated and you will see the amount of money you are spending on heating definitely drop from the previous year.

 

So there you have it! 10 simple easy starting steps to get you on your way and ease the crunch. So why not give them a go.

 

If you are finding it hard and would like to seek further advice about your financial situation then get in touch with Citizens Advice Bureau www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index.htm who has an army of dedicated volunteers ready to provide help and support. You can also contact The Debt Counsellors on their free advice line 0800 9540 8150 or visit www.debtcounsellors.co.uk.



Geraldine