Coffee Shop Talk

As much as I love sipping coffee in its entire natural flavor with cream and sugar, sometimes I can’t help but to try other flavors that are added to our coffee. There are literally hundreds of coffee flavors available out there in the market today, ranging from exotic Bourbon Truffle Flavored Coffee to the more common Chocolate Flavored Coffee. If you are wondering how they add flavor to the coffee, flavored coffees are created after the roasting process by applying flavored oils specifically created to use on coffee beans. The end result is all the richness of a great cup of coffee with the added zing of additional taste and aroma.

If there is something that is causing much controversy about how some coffee shops are being run, the dipper well system is it. A dipper well system is a common sink where the water is left open continuously all the time whether or not something is being washed or cleaned. This system prevents water stagnation and the development of bacterial growth. Although this seems great, I mean who wouldn’t want to eat at a place that’s clean and germ free right? But ecologist warns that this practice wastes a lot of water and not environmentally friendly at all. One of the high profile culprits who practice this system is Starbucks. Well those ecologist and environmentalist do have a point. Imagine all the Starbucks stores worldwide practice this, how many gallons of water are wasted every year? I wish they would develop a system where there is a compromise between saving water and running a clean workplace.

When we walk about Hawaii, images of palm trees, breathtaking beaches and my favorite, pretty girls in hula outfits comes into mind. But for coffee lovers out there, the main attraction from Hawaii is their annual Kona coffee festival. The Kona festival features a scholarship beauty pageant as well as my favorite coffee picking contest where each year, the winner of the coffee picking contest becomes a state celebrity. This festival inspired me to research if there are any local festivals here in the Philippines that are wholly or at least partially devoted to coffee. If there was, I am sure it could be marketed as a tourist destination for coffee lovers worldwide.