Chocolate Hazelnut Coffee Recipe
     – consists of coffee, chocolate liqueur and hazelnut liqueur

Jamaican Coffee
     – consists of coffee, Tia Maria, White Rum, and thick cream

Night in Florida
     – consists of  coffee, Kahlua, Frangelico, Grand Marnier & Bailey’s Irish Cream

Irish Coffee
     – consists of coffee, Irish Whiskey and sugar.  Watch the video below to learn how to make this San Francisco favorite.

The four hour celebrations consists of  speakers, short seminars as well as African Music.  The schedule is as follows:

6 p.m.  – Musican Perfomance by Fort Collins Marimba

The Fort Collins Marimba consists of a wide range of musicians ranging from ages 7-70.

7:30 p.m. – Fair Trade in Africa, Jane Snyder of Ten Thousand Villages

8 p.m. – “Gorillas in the Mist” – A story and slide show of a trekking adventure by Dave Boon. 

9 p.m. - Silent Auction and musical perfomance by West African Dance and Drum Collective.

Vendors will also be selling African art, jewelry, bags, clothing and gifts among many other items.

For the 14 and under crowd, a craft area will be set up to keep the young ones entertained. Children will also be given an opportunity to sign up to be a pen pal with another child from an African orphanage.

Everyday Joes is located at 144 S. Mason St. in Fort Collins.  For more infomation, please call 970-224-4138.

Recently, a line of customers in a Starbucks drive-thru in Des Moines, Iowas decided to “Pay It Forward” one morning by buying each other coffee.  The line started by one lady deciding to buy coffee for the person waiting behind her.  The next person decided to return the favor by buying coffee for the next person in line and the pattern continued for 103 customers.  

Although a Starbucks worker reported that this has happened before, she added that the pattern has never lasted for so many customers before.   This incident has made national news and has spurred customers all over the country to spread a little generosity.  CNN recently covered an incident that occured at a few coffee shops in Loveland and a grocery store in Greeley.

If you have had a similar experience, please feel free to share!

Stephen Morrissey was the 2008 World Barista Champion.  The Prize?  A La Marzocco GS/3  expresso machine (you can buy your own for $7,000)  and a Compak  K-10 WBC expresso grinder(add this to your kitchen appliances for $1,400). 

The competitors are judged by seven judges who score the contestants on taste, cleanliness, creativity, technical skill and overall presentation.   The presentation includes the appearance of the drink, which can be a contest in itself.  The video below displays some of the potential of latte art.

Participants must first attend one workshop at the beginning of the year.  The next workshops are scheduled for Jan 13-14, 2009 in Stockholm, Sweden and Jan 14-15, 2009 in Melbourne, Australia.  The 2009 World Barista Championship is set to take place in Atlanta, GA on April 16-19. 

For those wanting to participate at a more local level, the Mountain Regional Barista Competition is Jan 16-18 at the Adams 12 Building in Thornton, Colo. Contestants are
judged based in the areas as the World Championship. 

More information can be found on the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s website.

A contestant attempts to impress the judge with his unique take on coffee at the 2008 Mountain Regional Barista Competition in Thornton, Colo.

 Coffee is grown all over the world but grows best where there is high altitude, high precipitation and rich soil. Brazil and Colombia are the leading coffee producers. 

Coffee is produced in the countries highlighted in yellow.

How do I grind coffee?

Coffee can be ground at home with a blade grinder or at  a store with a burr grinder.  You will know if you have ground your coffee correctly by the way it tastes.  If your coffee is bitter, it is ground too thin.  If it tastes flat, the coffee isn’t thin enough. 

Can I reuse the coffee grounds in my filter?

No, reusing coffe grounds will produce bitter coffee because all of the desired flavor has been used. 

How much water should I use?

You should use 6 ounces of water for every 1-2 tablespoons of ground coffee being used. 

How do I keep my coffee fresh?

Do not freeze or refrigerate coffee.  Exposing it to moisture can cause it to deteriorate.  Coffee should be stored in an air tight glass or ceramic container and in a dark and cool location.    Since coffee begins to lose its freshness right after it is roasted, it is best to buy in small quantities.  A smart tip is to only buy what will be used in the next 1-2 weeks after purchasing. 

For more information on coffee, please visit the National Coffee Association’s website.

The benefit will feature musicians that have helped establish the musical foundation of Everyday Joes. 

The purpose of the event is to celebrate the musicians that have helped Everyday Joes serve its purpose; to foster and nurture the community and the relationships that exist in it.

The artists listed below will be perfoming for the benefit:

Lifeboat Etiquette

The Riflemen

Dan Craig

Aaron Espe

Tickets can be found on the Everyday Joes website.

Tickets are $10 when purchased in advance and $12 at the door.

Everyday Joes is located 144 S. Mason.  For more information, please call 970-224-4138.

This year marks the 20th World AIDS day. Although significant work has been done to help AIDS victims, it still remains to be a major health burden.

If you cannot make it on Dec 1 or choose to go elsewhere for your morning cup of joe, Starbucks will contribute 5 cents to the Global Fund for every one of the following holiday drinks that are purchased between Nov 27 and Jan. 2:

Expresso Truffle                                                                     
Gingersnap Latte
Peppermint Twist Mocha

The above offers excludes bottled beverages. Click here to find your local Starbucks.

Scott Von is a Colorado musician who is influenced                              
by Americana and American folk music.  Von has
won recognition at many music festivals including
the Lyons Folk Festival and the Swallow Hill Music
Festival among others.

Here are reviews from a few of his many fans:

“What I heard and saw in Scott Von was a pure,
unfettered, joyful expression of life.  He made
me want to hug my kids, kiss my sweetheart,
and change the world.  He is that pure, that
authentic, and that infectious.  If there’s something
other than singing that he is supposed to be doing
here, it’s hard to imagine what that might be…”
- Rachel Snyder

 “One of my favorites! He can live in my CD player…”
- Maggie Simpson, Planet Bluegrass instructor

The event will be held in the basement of Mugs and begins at 7:00 p.m. and ends around 9:00 p.m.

Features Poets will be:

Francisco Leal
Fernando Valerio
Gretchen Gaede

For more information please contact:

Fernando Valerio
(970) 491- 5022
fvalerio@mail.colostate.edu

Mugs is located in Old Town on the corner of College and Olive Street.

Loyal customers of Starbucks have started online petitions to keep the stores open. Local businesses worry that their local Starbucks will result in less traffic intheir area that would lead to lostbusiness.  This is a dramatic shift fromthe protests that occured whenStarbucks began their rapid expansionof stores.  Local businesses ownerswere felt threatened that Starbuckswould take away their business butnow see that Starbucks has actuallyadded to the commercial value ofproperty.

With the future of the economy looking bleak, Starbucks will have to find ways to brand itself as a product work splurging for in a tight budget.  A recent partnerships with Costco has pushed that strategy ahead.  Five $20 Starbucks cards are available to buy at Costco for $79.95.  This offer is a holiday special and one millions cards were sold in the first month that they were sold.  Starbucks also offers $25 gold cards that give customers 10% off each purchase.  These cards were initially test in Denver and Vancouver and were made available to the rest of the world on Nov 4.

Starbucks sales started to see a dramatic drop in the first few months of 2008. A blogger at guruofgrowth.com set up this diagram to poke fun at the coffee giant's growth and decline.