WHAT MAKES MY FLAVORED COFFEE FLAVORED?

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Gary Cohen

Every day, we provide a variety of flavored coffees to satisfy office coffee drinkers’ tastes.  Personal taste is the basis for our customers’ satisfaction.  There are so many choices in flavored coffee, creamers and preparation.  With the right “recipe,” we can satisfy every personal favorite.

Coffee flavors began with coffee drinking centuries ago in the Arab world. They added their favorite spices. Later, the Europeans added chocolate. Hazelnut stems from an Italian tradition using Frangelico liqueur in coffee. Irish Creme is probably the descendant of an Irish whiskey and coffee drink.

You might ask, “What makes my hazelnut coffee ‘hazelnut flavored’?”  Simple answer:  modern chemistry. Unfortunately, the process gets quickly complicated. There are flavoring chemists who specialize in developing the flavored oils that get added to the roasted coffee beans. This requires a stronger flavor to stay with the beans compared to a soda beverage.

The industry standard is to use these flavored oils. An appropriate amount of flavoring must be used, coffee bean roast is important, and the flavor application method is also key.

A simple outline:
1. A good quality of all Arabica coffee is selected for its MILD coffee flavor.
2. The beans are roasted to a medium roast. If they are too light,  they taste
plant-like and acidic.  Too dark, and the coffee overpowers the flavoring.
3. Immediately after roasting, while still warm, the coffee beans are transferred
to a sterile plastic container where the highest quality flavoring oils
are poured over the beans.
4. The beans are shaken vigorously until thoroughly coated. Because the
beans are still warm, they soak up the flavoring.
5. Storage and prompt grinding are important.

The coffee roasters need experience in selecting their flavorings.  They have choices among 100% natural flavors, artificial or ‘Nature Identical’ flavorings. The flavors may be similar, but the oils can vary widely in quality and results.  Coffee aficianados can personally create flavored beans in another process that mixes natural flavors with the beans for a brief storage period.

There is a bit of “coffee controversy” because some people feel that flavoring masks the coffee’s natural flavor. However, a lot of coffee drinkers enjoy the flavor choices. A recent cup of “Pumpkin Spice” coffee created a dessert-like experience for me, and WOW!

It tickles us that many “purists” don’t drink flavored coffees.  However, they add cream and sweetener. C&S change the natural coffee taste. So, flavored coffee is available as part of the wide selection satisfying every personal taste. Those choices are part of our passion for providing great Office Coffee.

 

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OFFICE COFFEE SERVICE COMPANIES – Small is better

Posted on November 21, 2011 by Gary Cohen

Some of our competitors are bigger companies who pride
themselves on the number of “routes” they have. Others are divisions
of really large national companies. Even Keurig/GMCR seems to be on track to
eliminate small distributors. The bigger guys do a good job in offering
multiple products and services. Sales are achieved by offering the cheapest
coffee prices. It all takes hard work and coordination across lots of
departments and employees.

BUT, we all want PERSONAL SERVICE! There is no better way to
be satisfied and have the least amount of headaches than with an Owner Operated
“OCS” (Office Coffee Service). The big OCS companies’ problems
include “drop and go” deliveries, price gouging on non-coffee items,
and an inability to focus on the customer’s long term business development.

WE DON’T DROP AND GO

At larger OCS firms, an account is signed by a salesperson.
Then the OCS relationship shifts to a route driver.  These hourly paid guys don’t care about
brewer spray heads, de-liming, fresh water line filters, stale stock, and
changes in consumption. The rush is on to “drop and go.” They’re on to
the other eleven stops scheduled and loaded on the van for a work day.

FAIR PRICING IS FAIR PRICING FOR EVERYTHING

How many of us take the time to compare pricing for all
items on an invoice, i.e., the whole “shopping cart?” Yet, EB Coffee
is often compared on the case price of coffee alone. The customer doesn’t
realize they are being gouged on creamers, sugar, sweeteners, paper products,
first-aid and cleaning supplies, and more.
(We offer the same one-stop shopping–just ask!) The whole order is what
the customer writes his or her check for.

CHANGING STAFF DOES NOT RESULT IN GOOD SERVICE

Despite a difficult economy, September 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics
numbers indicate the quit rate in Business Services was 2.5%, even 3.3% in Food
Services. For the big firms, that translates into higher employee
turnover.  It’s a fact. What does the
customer get? A decline in service, less attention from the staff while the
experienced again train new people, and higher costs that have to be made up
somewhere. How about in tea bag pricing? We’ve been at this since 2004 with no
changes in staff.

SMALL CAN BE BETTER

Personal service means a business values service over the
cheapest price. Cheap coffee is cheap service, and you get what you pay for. We
work every day to earn our customers’ trust with complete customer
satisfaction. That comes with great service, great coffee and reasonable prices
for every item we offer.

Small really can be better!

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Nobody eats raw chicken

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Gary Cohen

COFFEE ROAST – WHY WE CARE

Simply stated, we roast the green coffee bean to create the coffee flavor that was grown into it.

But, first, a quick lesson in coffee. What we call a “bean” is actually one of two pits contained in the coffee cherry. The types of coffee and growing the coffee are subjects for further study. The green bean (pit) is composed of water, oils, protein, cafeine, chlorogenic acid, trigonelline, tannin, caffetannin, caffeic acid, sucrose, starch acid and vitamins.1

These change during heating (roasting) and the roast creates the brown colors we recognize as coffee beans. Coffee is a cooked food. The amount of roasting is the magic that brings out the desired flavor, usually between seven to 18 minutes. Because the critical roast must be stopped at the right flavor, cooling is also very important to proper coffee roasting.

Light roast is the least amount of cooking time and usually has the least strength in flavor. Remember, it is the taste and aroma that drive us nuts for coffee, so light is not weak, it just has a different taste and aroma. Continuing roasts are medium, dark and the espresso, nearly black. Starbucks tends to medium and dark roast coffees, which is why some coffee drinkers call the taste burned. In reality, it’s just different. Different strokes for different folks!

EB Coffee procures delicious coffees from several specialized roasters. Both Barrie House and Baronet coffees exhibit the special care in roasting that is so important to delicious coffee. They both employ Roast Masters who know how to achieve consistent flavor profiles enjoyed by all.

If you really want some fun with coffee, try a different roast. You might just like it!

1 Rolnick, Harry. The Complete Book of Coffee, Melitta, 1982.

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Why we believe coffee pods are better the k-cups

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Gary Cohen

Coffee pods are so much better for single cup brewing when compared to k-cups.
1. Better coffee
2. Cost less
3. More environmentally friendly

BETTER COFFEE
Our standard pods include 10 grams of coffee. The standard k-cups are 8 grams. If both brew an 8-ounce cup of fluid coffee, the pods will always have MORE taste. We call this “heavier throw weight.” AND, the extraction in our Bunn brewers is better than the internal flow of the k-cups.

LESS COST
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is on track to own the world. Since their patents protect them (until they expire), they are making record profits by charging “what the traffic will bear.” In turn, their distribution requires an additional layer of markup compared to when we buy pods directly from our roasters. Profiteering and extra markups mean the consumer pays more per cup. Ask us for the REAL price!

MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY
Used coffee pods consist of nitrogen rich coffee grounds in a natural, paper wrap. These will all return to soil in six months if composted. Compare that to the k-cups plastic. Volumetrically, the pod wrappers are 1/70th the space of k-cups for landfill recycling. AND, the coffee grounds act as fertilizer!

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