The Hotel Conundrum

Hotels. Lots of great features, food, and comfort. I just visited one last week and the one thing that blows my mind is hotel coffee. Millions and millions are spent to create a lavish atmosphere, comfortable rooms, and decadent food but how ironically tragic is it that they still stick you with instant coffee. Wonderful breakfast buffets with treats from around the world but the coffee provided tastes like sour cherries made possible by Nescafe or some other instant coffee. Why is that?

It's like: Ketchup on a Filet Migon, Jeans at the Opera, or Chocolate-covered Roaches: its simply just not meant to be.

Good, real coffee is not expensive. A genuine Five-star hotel certainly wouldn't try to pass off fake steak for real steak or grape juice as wine so can't they finish the overall experience with some real whole bean 100% Arabica Coffee. Is that too much to ask?

Deviously the hotel I stayed at last week put a french press in our room to give the illusion of real coffee. But alas the instant coffee they provided has no need for a french press as it dissolves it's sludge-like smoothness right into the hot water without the aid of the french apparatus.

There's milk and then there's milk with kidney stones

The dairy giant Sanlu was exposed this week because of their tainted milk powder that contained melamine. Already more than 6,200 infants developed kidney stones after drinking Sanlu's tainted baby formula and there has been 4 confirmed deaths. The melamine can make the protein level in dairy products appear higher than it really is and is commonly found in pesticides. 13 babies died in 2004 also because of tainted milk powder and officials estimate that 20% of dairy companies tested in China have found products tainted with melamine. The New York Times also reported in 2007 that Chinese fish and livestock were being injected with a "melamine scrap" to give a false appearance of higher protein. So this newest milk contamination should really not come as any suprise. In fact, the China Daily reported that many companies, one of them being Sanlu, were able to apply for inspection exemptions because inspections take "too long" and are too burdensome to test everyone. Unfortunately, there are at least 6000 parents wishing this morning that the extra "time" and "burden" was taken.

Fall Arrives at Chicago Coffee with New Drinks

Pumpkin Spice Flavored Coffee, Pumpkin Spice Lattes

Caramel Apple Lattes, Caramel Apple Frappes

Cinnamon Apple Flavored Coffee, Cinnamon Apple Lattes

Nescafé no es café. ~ Mexican Saying

Biz Quirk #2- My idea, Your Idea

I try out new ideas all the time. A good amount of these don't pan out, but some of them end up sticking. Being stagnant in a business can be detrimental. New ideas keep a business relevant or organic. Organic businesses succeed.

In light of this, we often propose ideas or opportunities to near-by businesses and 11 times out of 10 we get turned down. Its never because the idea doesn't benefit that said business or make sense for them to try it. They turn it down not because of its merit but always because they have never tried anything like it before or never heard of such an idea. We often propose win-win proposals for them and give up a lot just to give the idea a try but to no avail.

Recently, a new trend has started. We will go through the hoops of proposing a new idea and it will of course be rejected, but now that business will comes back with my idea only now they call it their idea and they are gun ho to make it work. They explain the opportunity like its never been heard of before only its sounds vaguely familiar. They stress the same points and benefits that we begged them to consider. We of course are still interested in the idea and do want to give it a try. But we of course try to renegotiate some terms in our favor since its now them proposing our idea to us.

Coffee Tasting - 9.1.2008

Our first coffee tasting included coffees from Kenya, Costa Rica, & Indonesia. The event attracted over 40 at what had to have been Kunming's first public coffee tasting.

Students, near-by residents, friends, and some of our staff all joined the tasting. After some coffee knowledge was dispersed participants had to blind taste the 3 coffees and guess which coffee was which.

6 guessed all three correctly but everyone seemed to have fun and enjoy this new experience.

None more than our favorite coffee taster.

The White Dark Mocha

New at Chicago Coffee