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By Barbara CollierMay 14, 2010, 11:48AMJIM OLEXA/SUN NEWSChef Sarah Schoenberger makes creative dishes at Osteria.

WholeFoods in University Heights is not one of those stores that you can dash in and out of to pick up a gallon of milk. It’s much more than just a food store; it’s an adventure in food.

After you’ve filled your cart and it’s time for lunch, head to Osteriathe in-store restaurant. You have the choice of either eating at the half-moon bar or at one of the tables nearby.

Sarah Schoenberger is the head chef for Osteria anddesigns the menu, including the new spring menu now being used. there are also daily featured plates that are worth considering.

JIM OLEXA/SUN NEWSVegan cheese steak with sauteed mushrooms and onions, and “veganaise” on a ciabatta roll.

We were intrigued by the risotto de giomo ($9), a hearty combination of risotto tossed with kalamata olives, artichokes, fresh tomatoes and basil, liberally topped with feta cheese.

Two other featured plates included pan-seared salmon ($12) with fresh pineapple salsa and mixed green salad, and sauteed chicken breast ($11) with spicy peach chutney and roasted red potatoes.

our other lunch choice from the panini-style sandwich selections was”sweet seduction” ($6.99), which was terrific. the grainy bread from the in-house bakery is spread with Dijon mustard and apple butter then filled with peppered turkey slices, smoked cheddar and field greens, andgrilled. Panini sandwiches come with irresistible house-made potato chips cooked in canola oil.

JIM OLEXA/SUN NEWSSalmon with a salad of spinach, goat cheese, pecans, dried-fruit chutney and balsamic vinaigrette

Several others at the counter were enjoying the signature minestronesoup ($4), which was piping hot and quite good. the soup didn’t come with crackers, but one of the chefs offered bread and delivered slices of “seduction” bread and crusty baguette slices along with a saucer of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping.

Shrimp Provencal ($11) is served at both lunch and dinner and an entree well worth considering. Red-pepper fettuccini is tossed with kalamata olives, tomatoes, artichokes and spinach and a good amount of tail-on shrimp.

As a service to diners, you can buy a bottle of wine from the large wine cellar, and the chef’s will cork it for you to enjoy with your meal. Several wines by the glass are also available.

JIM OLEXA/SUN NEWSShrimp Provencal with red pepper, fettuccine, olives, tomatoes, artichokes and spinach

One of the entrees that a friend suggested was black cherry-glazed short ribs ($13), which are served with horseradish mashed potatoes and fresh green beans. unfortunately the short ribs were not available.

each Friday, whole Foods hosts a “Five to Seven” event. You purchasea wine glass for $5 which allows you to sample a selection of wines andbeers that have been paired with different food samples.

if you enjoy deli foods, check out the deli counter next to Osteria.It’s loaded with interesting selections that are sold by the pound. Oneday I chose a small scoop of cranberry tuna, Sonoma chicken salad with grapes, and tofu egg salad, spent less than $10, and enjoyed it all at one of the tables.

You should try dessert, too, or at least take something home. the two featured desserts are tiramisu ($4) and toasted almond cream cake ($3.99) in the deli counter case.

Pair your dessert with a cup of freshly brewed Allegro coffee from the coffee shop across from Osteria, where a variety of beans are roasted and sold either by the cup or pound. outside you can smell the coffee beans roasting — a real boost if you love good coffee.

Whole Foods is at 13998 Cedar Road, University Heights. Call (216) 932-3918. Osteria hoursare 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. weekdays, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekends.

Contact Collier at BabsReviewsFood@aol.com.

Whole Foods offers a sweet treat with its Osteria restaurant

Its no secret that most people would dismiss coin operated coffee machines or coffee vending machines as low-quality and icky coffee. Snack vending machines and beverage vending machines are all well and good, but why not coffee vending machines?

There is still a recurring myth that the coin operated coffee machines of today still work in the same way as the coin operated machines of old.

Before, coffee vending machines are deemed as unsafe and prone to a multitude of health-related problems since these machines make use of an old system, which requires rigorous and frequent cleaning to prevent any bacterial growth within the machine.

The coffee vending machines of old make use of open canisters, which can lead to stale drinks, and failure to clean the machine on a frequent basis can lead to various health issues.

Love coffee? here is some more “free stuff”! Learn more with this ebook (is free!)

The coffee vending machines of today are a lot more sophisticated, safer, and cleaner.

The ingredients are dispensed from sealed and disposable cartridges, which allow the ingredients to remain fresh and safe from exposure.

When somebody uses the machine, a cup is moved to an ingredient cartridge, and then the ingredients are dispensed into the cup, while the empty cartridge is dumped to a container which holds all the other dumped cartridges. This eliminates any risk of bacterial growth.

If you think about it, coin operated coffee machines arent all that bad, and are better than coffee shops in many ways.

1. Coffee vending machines serve coffee 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. think about this. Youre working overtime in the office. while youre working, you suddenly get an intense craving for a hot cup of coffee.

However, the thought of riding the elevator all the way down and walking to the nearest coffee shop and going all the way back to your desk is not enticing at all. Isnt it great and convenient that there is a coffee vending machine down the hall?

2. Coffee vending machines never give more or less. its always the same type and the same quantity of coffee. And it only takes a very short amount of time to get your cup. Furthermore, coffee vending machines arent prone to human error.

3. it is cheaper to buy coffee from a coffee vending machine, compared to buying those served in coffee shops. Coffee served from coffee vending machines is cheaper not because it is low-quality coffee.

This is how vending machine businesses compete with one another by offering low and competitive prices for their products.

And since theyre mainly paying for the small space that the machine is occupying, the supplies of their products, and periodic maintenance, they can afford to offer low prices and still maintain a profit.

So when you think about it, coin operated coffee machines arent all that bad, dont you think?

Coin Operated Coffee Machines Aren't All That bad |On Coffee Makers

Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters inc. has wrapped up its buy of Irvine-based coffee seller Diedrich Coffee inc. after clearing regulatory hurdles.

Diedrich was bought Tuesday for $290 million in cash by Green Mountain, which in December prevailed over Emeryville-based Peet’s Coffee & Tea inc. in a bidding war.

The Federal Trade Commission on Monday said it closed an investigation into Green Mountain’s acquisition of Diedrich, a move that cleared the way for the deal to go through.

In January, regulators asked Green Mountain and Diedrich for more details about the deal under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976.

The inquiry likely had to do with sales of a new type of single brewing cups known as K-Cups, which Green Mountain will control with the purchase of Diedrich.

K-Cups allow you to brew a single cup of coffee in a special machine by putting one of the K-Cups into the slot where coffee grounds and a filter would go on other machines.

Green Mountain’s Keurig inc. unit owns the K-Cup brand and grants licenses for others to produce them. Diedrich was one of a handful of K-Cup licensees.

Green Mountain has sought to consolidate production and sales of K-Cups over the past two years.

Green Mountain bought Tully’s Coffee brand and wholesale coffee business from Washington-based Tully’s Coffee Corp. in last March and Toronto specialty coffee company Timothy’s Coffees of the World inc. last November.

Producing and selling K-Cups is about twice as profitable as collecting royalties from licensees.

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Green Mountain Clears Regulatory Hurdle, Diedrich Buy Set To Close

April 21, 2010, 3:41 PM EDT

April 21 (Bloomberg) — Cocoa rose, extending a rally to the highest price in eight weeks, on signs of increasing demand for the chocolate ingredient. Coffee was little changed.

North American cocoa-bean processing rose 16 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, the National Confectioners Association said last week. Cocoa futures for July delivery closed above the 60-day moving average yesterday.

“There’s pretty strong consumer demand,” said Tom Schweer, a senior market strategist at LaSalle Futures Group Inc. in Chicago. in addition, the technical picture is “looking pretty good,” he said.

Cocoa for July delivery gained $24, or 0.8 percent, to $3,068 a metric ton at 10:08 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching $3,080, the highest price for a most-active contract since Feb. 23.

also on ICE, arabica-coffee futures for July delivery fell 0.1 cent to $1.31 a pound. Before today, the commodity rose 15 percent in the past year.

Orange juice futures for July delivery were little changed on ICE, rising 0.5 cent to $1.381 a pound.

on London’s Liffe exchange, cocoa for May delivery rose 17 pounds, or 0.8 percent, to 2,229 pounds ($3,433) a ton.

Robusta coffee for May delivery fell $13, or 1 percent, to $1,285 a ton.

–Editors: Daniel Enoch, Patrick McKiernan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Campbell in New York at ecampbell14@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net.

Cocoa Extends Rally to Eight-Week High on Demand; Coffee Steady

I have tasted the nice Vietnamese coffee at Hanoi. Can anyone share with me where can i get the Vietnamese coffee bean (powder will be more convenient for me) and the fliter at Malaysia here? Penang and Sabah place will be my top priorities. Thanks!

Where can i get Vietnamese coffee bean at Malaysia?

LAWRENCEVILLE — Sears Holdings will celebrate the grand opening of its first Sears Fashion Outlet at Discover Mills Mall today.

The store spans more than 30,000 square feet and will carry end-of-season, discontinued and overstock apparel merchandise from both Sears and K-Mart stores in women’s, men’s, kids, shoes and accessories product categories as well as home fashions merchandise such as small kitchen appliances, bedding and bath items at 60 to 80 percent off the retail price.

“Sears’ first Fashion Outlet provides a great format for shoppers to buy many of our name brands like Lands’ End, Dockers, Apostrophe, Country Living and Cannon at bargain hunter prices,” said Jamie Brooks, vice president and president, Sears Outlet. “We wanted to bring great customer service and even bigger bargains to our apparel customers with an outlet dedicated entirely to fashion and home and thought the Discover Mills Mall was the perfect location.”

Grand opening sales are set to include $4 Classic Element Shirts and $7 men’s shorts. Saturday doorbusters include a $17.99 mr. Coffee Elume 12-Cup Coffee Maker and a $5.99 Continental Toaster.

The Sears outlet will receive new shipments of merchandise throughout the week and prices will be continually marked down, so shoppers are encouraged to check back often.

Store hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

For more information, call 678-847-6464.

First Sears fashion outlet to open today at Discover Mills

Before I headed off to Ethiopia in March, I went to mill Valley, California, where I often go. That’s where the laboratory of Boot Coffee Consulting is. I do lots of work with Boot Coffee. It’s a pretty unique operation. Basically, this is super high-end coffee education.

For the last few years I have helped teach the classes in the laboratory there, specifically cupping and roasting courses. I’m now often the lead instructor for the Intro level courses. If you have ever read this blog and thought about taking some coffee courses, you should think about coming to one of our Roast Profiling & Cupping courses. I’m teaching one in May and another in June, but Boot Coffee offers them year round.

Students always remark on what a great class it is. There’s a great blend of technical information, theoretical instruction, and hands-on work. I’ve had people who worked in the industry 10 years come to one of these and leave by remarking how much they learned in just three days. but we also get beginners all the time. After one course they are already way ahead of the game.

We always make great friends, and the setting in Marin County, California, is beautiful and peaceful.

For instance, this picture is from a class I taught this past winter. The middle two gentlemen, Rick and Daniel, were passionate coffee lovers but had not really worked in the industry much. Flash forward a couple of months… I just ran into each of them at the trade show in Los Angeles, where they were cupping fresh crop micro-lots by the dozen; coffees that many professionals never get the chance to experience. these guys are hard core!

So I was down in California doing this stuff before I went to Ethiopia, and I will be back there again soon. In our next installment: off to Africa.

Coffee Roasting and Cupping Courses in California – Daniel's World …

My roomate bought me some Jamaican Blue Mountain for my birthday and oh my god it was an experience in iteself….from my $12 mr. Coffee!

I’m going to begin sampling coffee from different regions, I just bought a bag from beans collected in Kenya and it’s great!

So, what do I replace my mr. Coffee coffee maker with? a french press perhaps?

Any store you recommend I buy my coffee from -that has a large selection. I went to ‘Whole Foods’ and was not impressed with the selection.

Thanks for your input!

Get a French Press – it stays truest to the flavor of the bean. in professional tastings, you taste the beans dry and crunchy and use a French Press. BTW in coffee tastings, like wine tastings – it is optional to swallow. it is nice to get maybe half a dozen coffees and try them out. make it a party.

Buy whole beans and a grinder. that is one big way to get full flavor. Throw the coffee out after an hour. it starts to lose its body and flavor.

Whole Foods will not have the best selection – I would go online. some big cities have independent coffee roasters (not as much now as in the 90s I might think) but the fresher the roast the better the flavor.

You want to be aware of the grade of beans and what country and plantation the beans come from. for a coffee tasting you want to stick with (if possible!) a single plantation per cup (or at least country), so you can compare and contrast. Central American beans tend to be more acidic and bright, Indonesian beans are earthier and fuller in flavor, etc. How dark coffee is roasted makes a difference in the char factor, but you want to stay with a medium roast for discerning regional flavors.

I'm beginning to take an interest in coffe, any tips for the …

Do you shop at Whole Foods? how about Trader Joe’s? do you insist on the superiority of dark chocolate over milk chocolate? do you buy organic foods? Fair Trade? Equal Exchange? $2.50 cups of coffee?

from icanhascheezburger

the recent explosion of the gourmet is an interesting phenomenon to me. I question whether the organicification and gentrification of food tastes is the result of a surge in disposable income, a surge in availability of such foods, or a genuine movement in the name of taste. while I’d like to think that the movement is bud-driven, I can’t suppress the idea that the proliferation of Whole Foods is a result of a middle-class need to distinguish itself through consumption. Once iconic brands like Kraft and Heinz are now seen as secondary products to the small company; a product is superior as long as it has an earthy label and description about its small-world ethics an natural roots. I highly suggest William Roseberry’s The Rise of Yuppie Coffees and the Reimagination of Class in the United States (pdf warning). It’s a nice analysis of the roots of this movement. Read it, because I spent too much time on this post for you not to.

“We live now in an emerging era of variety and choice, and the revolution in consumption seems to indicate, and in some ways initiate, a revolution in production. As with coffee, so with other food products: the moves toward product diversification often came not from the established and dominant corporations but from independents whose initiatives have undercut and undermined the established practices and market share of those corporations.”

This is different than the debate between fresh/local foods and pre-packaged/corporate foods. Recall that, during the 80s and 90s, folks considered name brand foods like Kraft and Folders to be fancy eatings, given the alternate was usually a generic rendition of the same. Now we have the consumption of gourmet because, quite frankly, the poor don’t consume the organic. why wade through the diseased masses at Shop Rite when there’s clean aisles and fresh fish to be had for a few bucks more at *Insert name Here*’s boutique shop? the taste, I suspect, is only part of the equation.

This, of course, brings me to coffee. oh, let me count the ways I love thee, coffee. I read the above-linked paper for an “anthropology of food” course and saw my yuppie, caffeine loving self mirrored in the text,

“As I visit the gourmet shop, it might be a bit disconcerting to know that I have been so clearly targeted as a member of a class and generation, that the burlap bags or minibarrels, the styles and flavors of coffee, the offer of a “gourmet coffee of the day,” have been designed to appeal to me and others in my market niche. But such are the circumstances surrounding my freedom of choice.”

The ambiance (to be read in a French accent) of the cafe is the reason suckers people like me are willing to pay out the nose for such a cheap commodity. There would be no two dollar coffee if Starbucks were as dingy and florescently lighted as a McDonald’s. I am paying to be surrounded by jazz, yuppie intellectuals, people playing chess, dark chocolate, and a secure blanky of middle-class comfort. the same phenomena has now spread to food producers writ large. Frozen vegetables? Maxwell House Coffee? Milk Chocolate? you might as well drink Mountain Dew if you are going to consume these new foods of the proletariat.

~ by wcuk on August 14, 2007.

Posted in Musing

The Rise of Yuppie Foods

It can make you more alert, improve mood and provide a burst of energy, but it can affect different people in different ways.

Caffeine is a drug many of us consume every day without thinking twice.

But what do we really know about it?

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new research out this week shows caffeine not only keeps people alert but helps shift workers perform better and make fewer errors.

However, not everyone can handle large doses of caffeine, and figuring out where you’re getting your biggest hit can be tricky.

Coffee is still the king of caffeine, but if that morning jolt of java isn’t enough, the sky’s the limit.

You can find everything from energy drinks to medication, gum and even cosmetics.

At Buzz Killer Espresso in Chicago’s Wicker Park, coffee aficionados swear that it’s mostly about the taste, not the kick.

“It’s a mixed order – we expect that caffeine hit and that flavor and they go hand in hand,” said Buzz Killer co-owner Stefan Hersh.

Most doctors say caffeine in moderation – about 200-300 milligrams daily – is fine. That comes to roughly two 12-ounce cups of coffee a day. Exceeding that among can result in jitteriness, insomnia, anxiety and a possible short spike in blood pressure.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins say that it takes as little as 100 milligrams a day to lead to dependence.

Monitoring caffeine intake can be tricky.

A 20-ounce cup of coffee at Starbucks has about 415 milligrams of caffeine, while the same cup at Dunkin’ Donuts has about 224 milligrams of caffeine.

A person starting their day with a Starbucks, drinking a Pepsi in the afternoon and then popping two extra strength Excedrin tablets and ending their night with a Hershey’s dark chocolate bar would rack up a whopping 519 milligrams of caffeine.

Throw an energy drink into the mix, and you could be adding up to an extra 300 milligrams.

Many times, people are not sure what they are consuming, and despite requests, the FDA does not require that caffeine be listed.

“It’s been 12 years now, and the FDA has done nothing,” said David Schardt, a nutritionist for the Center for Science in the Public interest.

Several soda manufacturers are voluntarily including caffeine amounts on their nutrition labels.

Caffeine is a stimulant, working by temporarily changing the chemistry of the brain, which provides a mental and physical boost.

It blocks a brain chemical called adenosine. when that happens, dopamine, a feel-good chemical, and the stress hormone adrenaline are released.

Different people can metabolize and respond to caffeine in vastly different ways.

“People definitely underestimate the potency of the drug that is caffeine,” said Dr. Harriet de Wit, a psychopharmacology professor at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “They think that they are drinking their coffee every day out of habit or just because they like the taste of it, but actually, there is a very strong psychoactive component that is improving their mood and improving their performance.”

De Wit and her University of Chicago Medical Center colleagues discovered that about 20 percent of the population may have gene variations which can make them more anxious when caffeine is ingested or slow down the time it takes for caffeine to leave the body.

Lisa Viverito may be one of them. She has eliminated caffeine from her diet and says her migraines and depression are gone.

“The first two weeks, you go through withdrawal,” said Viverito. “It’s an addiction.”

Dr. Martha Howard, a practitioner of integrative medicine, says people should consider their caffeine intake, no matter how small it is – especially if they are feeling agitated, anxious and having trouble sleeping.

“People can get a lot of caffeine and then they don’t associate the symptoms with it,” said Howard.

For those who seem to have no problems, there is probably no reason to avoid caffeine.

Many researchers say there is little evidence of serious health risks and growing evidence of health benefits, such as preventing diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, liver disease, and even some cancers.

Tom MacDonald says caffeine affects him differently as he has gotten older. He is not giving it up, but he is cutting back.

“If I drink two to three cups of strong coffee, I’m just completely wired the rest of the day, so now I’m starting to mix caffeinated and decaf, or drinking more tea,” said MacDonald.

Pregnant women are advised to avoid caffeine or at least limit consumption to about 200 milligrams a day.

There are no guidelines for teens yet, but concern is mounting that children are getting too much caffeine.

The shop mentioned in this article, Buzz Killer Espresso, is located at 1644 Damen in Chicago – their phone number is 773-366-8377.

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Healthbeat Report: Managing caffeine intake