Monday Morning Coffee News
Happy Monday! A few interesting coffee items in the news: Jim Beam released a line of bourbon flavored coffee, Starbucks is testing out coffee ice cubes, a coffee shop in Melbourne invented the “avolatte”, and TimeCup launched a Kickstarter campaign for an automatic Turkish coffee maker.
Jim Beam, the #1 selling bourbon in the world, is partnering up with White Coffee to release a line of coffee made with 100% Arabica coffee infused with the smooth, rich taste of Jim Beam bourbon and it’s characteristic hints of caramel and vanilla. The upcoming line of coffee features five distinctive flavors: Jim Beam Original, Bourbon Vanilla, Cinnamon Stick, Spiced Honey, and Signature Dark Roast. The full line of ground coffee is available in bags or single-serve cups at the White Coffee website and is expected to hit retail stores nationwide later this spring.
As part of an eight week test, Starbucks is now offering customers at select Starbucks locations in St. Louis, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland the chance to upgrade the normal, boring ice in their drinks to coffee ice – ice made from Starbucks coffee – for an additional fee of 80 cents. Freezing coffee into ice cubes to add to your cold brew or iced coffee isn’t a new concept to many coffee lovers; it’s a great way to avoid the watering down of coffee by melting ice. A Starbucks barista commented on Reddit that when using coffee ice instead of regular ice in a frappuccino “the coffee taste was stronger and it was a lot smoother”.
It started as a joke, maybe even a bit of a tongue in cheek poke at a recent statement from Australian real estate billionaire Tim Gurner in which he claimed millennials are finding it harder to achieve home ownership than previous generations due to their predilection for expensive avocado toast and fancy coffee. Truman Cafe in Albert Park posted a video on their Instagram showing them pouring a latte into a hollowed out avocado skin – and just like that, the avolatte was born. In a statement to news.com.au, Jaydin Nathan, a barista at the cafe, said “It was actually just a joke. We weren’t actually selling them but then someone came in today and wanted one. I think it’s ridiculous. It’s literally coffee in a piece of rubbish.” That hasn’t stopped a new avolatte trend from popping up all over Instagram and the internet, with some going so far as to dub it “the newest hipster trend.”
TimeCup recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for their multi-functional automatic Turkish coffee maker that works with a custom recipe app. Retailing at $210, not only does the coffee maker come with heat and foam sensors, so you don’t have to worry about taking your eye off your Turkish coffee and having it boil over, but it can also be used to heat milk and boil an egg at a constant, controlled temperature. Check out the campaign video below to learn more about it.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1278197133/timecup-automatic-turkish-coffee-maker-with-custom/