Gourmet Coffee Beans

It looks like the Coca Cola Company is jumping into the coffee restaurant industry. The beverage giant has been suffering from declining sales in its sugar water category and is naturally looking for brand extensions. Taking on Starbucks will be a difficult task especially with a lackluster name such as Far Coast.

TORONTO — It’s a small deal that could pack a big pop, or just a little fizz. Coca-Cola has quietly leased a 4,000-square-foot retail space in Toronto, according to a report in Forbes. While it’s just a storefront, it foreshadows what insiders say is the Atlanta-based beverage giant’s dreams of dunking Starbucks in its own brew.

The lease, for a space that is much larger than the average Starbucks space, went into effect April 1, the same day Coca-Cola drench the world in Coca-Cola Blak, which a spokesman describes as a carbonated “Coca-Cola Classic-based beverage that finishes with a rich essence of coffee.”

But the spokesman declined to discuss or even confirm the Toronto lease, which was confirmed by real estate and design industry sources in Manhattan and Toronto. Coke was represented in the deal by CB Richard Ellis, which also refused to discuss the transaction, according to the report.

Coke’s spokesman did confirm that the Atlanta company has trademarked a hot-beverage brand name, FarCoast, although he would not elaborate further. “Far Coast is a brand that we’ll be launching in the future. It’s a hot brewed product,” said the spokesman. “We don’t comment on any future activities.”

MIT conducted tests on the caffeine effects in coffee and found that only one cup of coffee in the morning and another in the afternoon is required to give a the brain a buzz and maintain a mild caffeine high. Caffeine is relatively high in coffee at 135 mg for an 8 oz. cup

In another study by a different organization they found that it may take 10 to 14 hours to eliminate all traces of caffeine from the body. The stimulating effects may continue as long as caffeine stays in the body. This the reason why it may not have a restful sleep if you have coffee in the evening or very late in the afternoon.

My personal cutoff time for coffee is 3 pm. After that time if I drink coffee, or anything with caffeine, I can expect to either have a tough time falling asleep or wake up during the middle of the night a stare at the ceiling.

The latest finding may be the reason why past studies have conflicting results that coffee may be bad for your heart. The underlying factor is a genetic link in some people that may cause over 2 cups per day to increase their risk of a heart attack. Here is one of several articles that hit the news wires today based on a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Here’s a real caffeine jolt—heart attacks might be a risk for coffee drinkers with a common genetic trait that makes caffeine linger in their bodies, a study suggests.

Research on more than 4,000 people in Costa Rica found that about half had the trait and were considered “slow caffeine metabolizers.” The other half had the opposite trait, which caused their bodies to rapidly break down or metabolize caffeine, and coffee-drinking in this group appeared to reduce heart attack risks.

Among slow-metabolizers, those who drank two or more cups of coffee daily were at least 36 percent more likely to have a nonfatal heart attack than those who drank little or no coffee. Even higher risks were found for younger slow metabolizers—those under 50. They were up to four times more likely to have a heart attack than slow metabolizers in their age group who drank little or no coffee.

The latest finding may be the reason why past studies have conflicting results that coffee may be bad for your heart. The underlying factor is a genetic link in some people that may cause over 2 cups per day to increase their risk of a heart attack. Here is one of several articles that hit the news wires today based on a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Here’s a real caffeine jolt—heart attacks might be a risk for coffee drinkers with a common genetic trait that makes caffeine linger in their bodies, a study suggests.

Research on more than 4,000 people in Costa Rica found that about half had the trait and were considered “slow caffeine metabolizers.” The other half had the opposite trait, which caused their bodies to rapidly break down or metabolize caffeine, and coffee-drinking in this group appeared to reduce heart attack risks.

Among slow-metabolizers, those who drank two or more cups of coffee daily were at least 36 percent more likely to have a nonfatal heart attack than those who drank little or no coffee. Even higher risks were found for younger slow metabolizers—those under 50. They were up to four times more likely to have a heart attack than slow metabolizers in their age group who drank little or no coffee.

The National Coffee Association reports that among coffee drinkers, taste is the No. 1 criteria in choosing their coffee. Now McDonalds is offering premium roast coffee to hold onto their market share. Currently one out of ten cups of coffee drunk out of home is at McDonalds.

The association also reports that last year, 108 million Americans spent more than $19 billion on coffee.