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Coming Soon: Self-Heating Coffee
prostoalex writes "In 2005 Wolfgang Puck will start selling containers of self-heating coffee, USA Today says. The combination of calcium oxide and water will heat the coffee to 145 degrees and keep it warm for the next 30 minutes. The coffee will be sold in regular grocery stores, and folks at Fool.com tell Starbucks to watch out as this product, coming from a well-known chef, might target those of us grabbing a cup of hot latte on the way to work."
we have these in the UK. They taste about as good as warmed up cold coffee. Which is basically what it is....
Thats just scary though. I try to avoid ingesting things that are able to create their own heat.
Don't Tread on Me
There's no point having a really quick cup of coffee if it tastes like shit.
When I spill it on myself I can't go suing a company anymore? Pssh, why would I want to buy that?
I've tried the version available in Europe, and even allowing for the fact it's Nescafe to start with, it can't be described as even vaguely resembling coffee. Might be worth having in the car for emergencies, but it wouldn't replace anyone's daily coffee if they have any taste buds.
Phil
and water will heat the coffee to 145 degrees and keep it warm for the next 30 minutes
wow, thats pretty hot.. or are you still using fahrenheits?
Hands down. This kicks more ass than anything that has ever kicked ass before.. including the wheel.
I just hope that it doesn't taste as ass nasty as the Wolfgang Puck soups do. Those soups are almost as bad as Dinty Moore products.
Now, I doubt that I'd grab one of these in the morning but taking a case or two of them on weekend camping trips would be nice, especially when camping in cold weather.
Nescafe has been making this kind of coffee in Europe for quite sometime now. They even have it in vending machines.
Gorkman
Problem is, the can looks big, but the actual amount of coffee is pretty crappy - stick to the mocalocachocaubercaffeine thingy from starbucks.
Isn't calling it that breaking various trades descriptions laws?
Slashdot: News for Nerds, Stuff that matters only to them
Does anyone remember that movie or TV show where they invented a self-lighting cigerette, but it didn't produce any smoke?
I don't quite understand how that can be a time saver. My kettle takes about a minute. I do realize that I then need to be less productive in other areas for about the five seconds it takes to pour the water in the mug and stir.
Um, we've had this for years here in Spain... YOu can get it black, with milk, or with whiskey.
Yeah if I'm short on time I just put some instant coffee in my eyes. That's about as enjoyable as drinking reheated bad coffee.
Here in Japan, most vending machines have both hot and cold beverages, including coffee and teas (soda is pretty unusual, on the other hand). Not by self-heating cans, though, but by the lower-tech method of having those cans and bottles in a heated compartment. It's ok as a quick pick-me-up in the morning.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
We've had this for a long time in the UK. Or at least I saw this for the first time three years ago; I haven't seen it recently. I tried it twice, and both times it didn't seem to get very hot, although I did follow the instructions.
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
This has been tried now on more than one occasion in the UK, most recently by Kenco, I think, but previously by PG Tips with tea (again, my memory my fail me on this) but I think this has now been on the market for more than four years on and off, as I remember trying it while at university! FWIW, the coffee is better than the tea, but with the ubiquity of Starbucks etc... how desperate can you really be for a cup?
Starbuck's is ok, but I always got the impression that they are the big name because of marketing and locations rather than having a really great product. Why are they always the benchmark that everyone tries to meet or beat? Their coffee is ok, but nothing special. If you can find a local coffee shop that roasts beans on site and grinds them fresh for your cup, you'll get a much better cup of coffee, potentially cheaper than starbucks.
As for this coffee in a can... Well, I can't imagine how good it would really be. It will probably be ok, given that it's going for a lattle, most likely flavored and sweetened. I don't think this could work for a plain old cup of coffee, but for a coffee drink with milk and flavoring it will probably mask enough of the stale coffee flavor to be drinkable.
Scoop up a cup of molten lava as we surf past on the way to work if we feel the need for a hot morning beverage.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
In bushian americana, the coffee heats you.
Now, cue mcDonalds coffee lawsuits references and we'll be set to go!
Comparing this to Starbuck's is foolish. People go to Starbuck's so they can say they go there. And to be seen there.
Your average coffee drinker does not even realize that most all Starbuck's coffee is over roasted and made of inferior quality beans. The really scary thing; the quality of Dunkin Donuts coffee beans are higher than Starbuck's! I did not know this, but a coffee guru (bean tester and whatnot for major coffee companies) tells me it is true.
So when is the self mixing cappuccino going to be ready?
Mercy was given to me by Christ...I must give the same to others.
When will they have these in The States? I miss the Japanese coffee vending machines. They sell coffee in cans just like those Starbucks double-shot cans except they're hot and there's like 30 different choices.
If you're in need of a really quick caffeine rush, is it okay if you eat a few spoonfuls right from the can? uummm .. okay, probably not, bye! Hot hot hot!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
With your purchase you'll receive an amazing way to keep your teeth clean and enjoy the luscious bounties from the farm...
Seedless Corn!
and coming soon, watch out Atkins!
Here comes Fat-Free Lard!
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
If it really works and tastes halfway decent, I can see myself buying these on a regular basis. Take 'em with me to outdoor sporting events, car trips, skiing, grabbing one on the way to work in the morning vs. going to the starbucks or waiting to get to the office for coffee (taking the time to make at home not an option; requires waking up 10 mins earlier!) - endless possibilities.
That's 336 K for physicists.
Any sufficiently advanced libertarian utopia is indistinguishable from government.
I used to go to a coffee house that has large, heavy ceramic mugs which seem to be generally cold due to the weather or air conditioning. They pour hot coffee into them, and the coffee ultimately turns out lukewarm. I can't digest lukewarm coffee, and I find it disgusting, so they lost a customer. Although this self-heating coffee doesn't too appetizing, they might get a customer back if they went for this solution. Sign of the times I guess.
Had these for quite some time here in the UK now. Though I don't recall seeing them in the shops for a long while. Can't think why they'll work over there unless they've managed to improve the tech - which from TFA I gather not... Nescafe was a respectable brand that could have worked but drinking the stuff it tasted foul. Not like coffee at all. Can't see how the 'Gourmet' stuff will work.
No wonder Starbucks and Costa aren't botherd.
in a can that self-refrigerates!
*mumble mumble* insensitive *mumble* clods *mumble*
I think 145 degrees might be too hot for
McDonalds. Good ole Stella prevented that.
Maybe they'll come out with a mini-sized
additive that will keep the coffee at a temperature
that won't scorch Stella and her kin.
Or, just maybe someone shouldn't have been drinking and driving! (Or maybe start an DWE citation. Driving While Elderly.)
And they said zombies weren't real!
My mistake. The coffee forms a jacket around the container of lime and water, as in the diagram. Logical, really - all the heat goes into the coffee instead of burning your hands.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
As a Costa Rican, the idea of instant coffee is insulting, let alone self-heating coffee.
Every time I go home, I bring a few months' supply of 100% pure Arabica beans. Here in the US good coffee is insanely expensive.
The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
TRUE. DD coffee is actually pretty damned good, and when I forget to order beans for home roasting I'll buy a bag of DD beans to hold me over.
This Wolfgang Puck thing sounds like an abomination, and will likely resemble coffee as Coors Light resembles beer.
Maybe wake up and quit your Eurobitchin! This is a US site, and you're welcome not to come here!
Such a perfect paraphrase of how US international policy is percieved in the rest of the world...
Why don't I just eat the CaO, and let it react with my body moisture to stay warm?
(CLUE: It's rhetorical sarcasm. I really DO know why.)
Research shows that 67% of those who use the term "research shows", are just making shit up.
Now why don't they take this tech an use it with soup? In fact why didn't they do soup first? After all if you are essentially just reheating coffee it will probablyt taste like crap, but re-heated soup doesn't often taste much worse than when it starts.
Just a boy doing unproffesional IT work that's way above his head.
Prêt à tout pour avoir le mot de la fin, depuis 1977.
Shouldn't that read:
Prêt à tout pour avoir le dernier mot, depuis 1977.
Try it again. Just Google translated it doesn't mean its correct.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Unfortunately resulted in burns and gunk on hands, but my curiousity was sated.
Do you ever eat "iron-fortified" cereal? Those metal shavings combine with oxygen in the air in an exothermic reaction. Guess you'll have to stay away from cornflakes from now on.
The US is officially metric. Not that anyone seems to care.
I am trolling
Why is an exothermic reaction that heats up your coffee so amazing? Not to be cynical or anything but this really isn't that amazing.
The Nescafe version was about as a significant to coffee as packet "cappucino" - what's in that stuff? Sodium bicarb? You can hear it fizz!
You know what I miss? Leeches.
Generally when I'm going camping, I like to take fire. To, you know, warm food and myself and occasionally beverages derived from beans.
Meals Ready to Eat, the US Army's replacement for it's old rations, usually come with a similar contraption: a wafer of material which is massively exothermic when combined with water.
It comes in a bag; you add water and then stuff your entree into the bag. The water comes to a boil (or at least apparently; it may just be hydrogen evolving from the reation, and they tell you not to use it in an enclosed place). The food goes from room temperature to way-too-hot-to-eat in a few minutes.
They recommend two of them if the food starts off frozen, but I've found that one will take it from rock-solid to tolerable (the things were designed to be eaten room-temperature as well.) It's not exactly luxury food, but it's incredible to have have hot food available almost instantly without having to carry cooking equipment or starting a fire.
Such a product was introduced to Switzerland some 4 years ago. Appart from the environmental unfriendliness it tasted like shit!. I don't think that it's still available, but I'm not sure.
So why the hell launches such a famous guy such a product? Sure he can probably add a 50 cents premium on a product that he most likely doesn't manufacture himself since he is a big chef and in the process ruin his name as a commercial whore, who turns just about any trick for a buck.
Not really a smart move, methinks.
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
College students will go nuts when this technology is applied to cups of Instant Ramen
This http://www.caldocaldo.it/eng/index.html italian company started to sell self heating drinks some years ago...
Bah. I could care less.
/usr/games/fortune
Wake up Eurotard!! MOD DOWN!!
I had one of these while I was in Frankfurt on business a few months back. It was fucking awful. The girl handing them out for a promo was quite hot, and we managed to talk her in to giving us 6 or 7 of the disgusting little things. After a sip of the first, it was all over - there's no way I'd actually pay for one. I couldn't be convinced to drink them when they were free.
Perhaps the answer to the problem of teenagers dropping bricks from motorway and railway bridges is to sue Tetris.
>> The US is officially metric. Not that anyone seems to care.
> Bah. I could care less.
Ah. So you do care, then.
and or Brit - no class. No flame intended..
But really - go to Italy with this and they will spit on you.
The optimum heat for coffee before you start to burn off the aroma/flavour is 88 degrees celcius.
So what you would be drinking is incinerated coffee with caffeine - why not just save yourself the bother - use self heating water only and caffeine - same thing. Or you could go for the intravenous injection!
...if he wastes his epicurean credentials on crap like this.
What's next? Wolfgang Puck potted meat product?
We must be alert to the danger that public policy could become captive to a scientific-technological elite. - Eisenhower
I want beer in self-cooling cans!
We've had these things over here in Europe for ages, I take them with me when I go up mountains, etc. They get *hot* - too hot to hold (which is the second advantage of taking them up mountains - it's a coffee _and_ a hand warmer, all in one). I think American "victims" and lawyers are going to have a field day with these things. "I had one in my pocket and it started heating up. Now I need some $10,000,000,000 bionic legs to be able to walk again...", etc. Then there's all jolly japes you can get up to with the anhydrous calcium chloride. Why not put some in your buddy's eyes when he passes out at a fratboy party...oh, yeah! Good news for lawyers, bad news for American geeks. This'll be off the market in a matter of weeks.
I've had these from Italy for years now. even though they are little more than a shots worth of coffee (or hot cocoa [whats your fancy]) they taste like crap, and burn your hand if you are not careful. but its coffee on the go. for my money I'll stick to the Shower Shock and RockStar
---
Jasmine tea... it will help you sleep, just add some lime and a little time. the caffeine cannot resist.
I mean, why would you want to reheat coffee? I've always thought it tastes like ass when it's reheated. Are we going to go through a sun coffee rage like the in the 80's? Or is this for people that take more than 30 minutes to drink a cup of coffee...
I just don't get it
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
Alan Hilowitz says, "Starbucks is about great coffee and a relaxing experience."
In other words, feed a double-shot to that monkey on your back and he'll leave you alone for a while.
RTFM; please, I beg you.
Far more useful, IMHO, would be a little heat exchanger pot linked to a car's coolant circulation and holding a removable mug that you could use to keep a small supply of hot water. People experimented with this sort of thing back in the 20s (one large auto even had a small sink in the trunk so the chauffeur could wash his hands after going repair work) but it never caught on. Works fine in boats, why not cars?
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
What kind of waste / pollution are we willing to accept with every new piece of consumer trash?
The embodied energy in such a product would be enourmous. Aluminum Can + Heating Elemet + long-distance-shipping from specialized cannery == really terrible product.
Brewing coffee is about the SIMPLIEST effort one can imagine. Do you own an insulated-bottle?
Driving consumer garbage like this in the marketplace is intolerable. Who wants filthy air and streams just to have a 100% convenient existence -- and a LOUSY cup of coffee !
It will be composed of coffee grinds and francium. Just add water.
God spoke to me
The noodle shops are also pretty cool, if you're in search fo a cheap, filling and mostly even good meal. Not understanding Japanese adds to the fascination, since the ticket machines are in Japanese of course and a gajin has the choice of a soup for 400, 550, or 850yen.
I'm not being cynical here, since I eat just about everything and it was always a thrill what I might get. A friend of mine, who hates fish was less lucky.
Sorry, I'm rambling but I wish I could go back. Especially this time of the year.
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
Um... no. I'm fairly certain that it's 145 F which is only 63 C. Just concider that the article is in USA Today and most of the target audience will be expecting it to be in Fahrenheit.
Klein bottle for rent - inquire within.
So now when ladies go to McDonalds and they spill coffee all over themselves... they go after the coffee cup in court?
Bad karma for correcting people I always say.
PS: If you think what Starbucks sells is "coffee" then you're delusional. I had one once and couldn't detect any taste of bean in there.
Also available in Tesco etc - tiny (40ml-ish) shots of espresso laced with guarana, in a self-heating package. Unfortunately, they're also fairly heavily sweetened.
They are useful for keeping in the car as a quick reviver on long journeys.
I can't wait to walk down the coffee aisle and surreptitiously push the "heat" button on dozens of cans of coffee. Muhahaha.
"Damn, I got another can of self-heating coffee that doesn't heat!" I can almost hear the recalls as we speak. Another global corporation out to kill my neighborhood coffee shop, foiled by little old me.
What's your damage, Heather?
As others have said, self heating coffee has been available in the UK for 3-4 years. But using the Calcium Oxide/water reaction to heat food goes back at least 20 years. When I was a kid, self-heating cans of food were available for a while in camping shops.
self-peeing beer. Please.
"Wow. Now THAT'S a lot of angry Indians." - Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer
and or Brit - no class. No flame intended..
But really - go to Italy with this and they will spit on you.
Yes, because spitting on people is so classy.
No flame intended, but really - if you think how classy you are depends on what you drink, you have mistaken snobbery for class. Looking down your nose at people for drinking what you don't like isn't classy, it's small-minded and arrogant.
I hope they have HUGE disclaimers on this coffee. There will be someone willing to sue for any physical discomfort the warm coffee may cause.
But I'm still holding out for "the Patch". Not the kind of patch that get's you to stop something, but the kind you slap on in the morning to FEED THE ADICTION. Keep it comming babey!
Here's how it goes:
**Beeeeeeep***
(slap around for snooze button, hit volume instead)
(Grab patch, with easy tear tab)
**Rip** **Slap**
"Sorry dear"
**Rip** **Slap**
(patch goes on, you predictably roll back over to go to sleep)
>> 45 seconds latter
"Jumping Jeasus on a Pogo Stick! It's time to get to work!"
I want this and disposable underwear. And I don't think I'm alone in this!
I would rather be ashes than dust!
http://www.snackspot.org.uk/thread.php?story=04043 02326daa
Amazingly, Nestlé executives say that the canned coffee tastes better than most cups made at home. Why? Because it is prepared under controlled conditions rather than the more haphazard circumstances found in domestic kitchens.
Yes, haphazard conditions, like freshly ground beans. You'll pardon me if I treat this claim with a due amount of skepticism.
J.
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
These ready-to-eat-at-any-moment solutions are just terrible. They always come with lots of plastic, tin-foil, etc. They shouldn't really be used in everyday life, but, because people are leading such frantic lives, working a lot and consuming way too much, they end up generating a lot of rubbish! If you go to McDonald's, your food could weigh less than all the plastic and paper that comes along with it! It's insane!
This technology reminds me of the greatest example of well-aimed technical documentation... EVAR!
Presenting...
The MRE "Rock or something" manual.
Take the warmer chemical, put it in an empty 2 liter soda bottle, add water, screw on the cap, throw it. Makes a satisfyingly loud boom.
Best Slashdot Co
Wouldn't it be pure vapor then?
Oh wait, fahrenheits...
Self-heating or not, US of A still wander in the ice age.
"Take away our PlayStations
And we're a third-world nation"
A.D.
These cans are cool, but for coffee I expect it'll flop.
Their first customer should have been campbells. You can imagine what kind of marketting opportunities you would be dealing with there.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
how about ice cold caffeinated beer? [not yet in self-cooling containers, c'mon thinkgeek!]
With glow in the dark goodness!
I could see myself buying one of these. It would be the perfect thing to have with me to help brave the cold. On my way to Starbucks. To get a real cup of coffee.
And this is how the "one-button-system" works.
http://www.chem.soton.ac.uk/explore/b29/ ajr1.htm
Yeah and it's been around in the UK for a couple of years now. It tastes ok. Great for road trips and camping and hiking!!!
Somemore artificially enhanced food and beverage to let the human race become even more lazy, and contribute to more chronic disease and health problems. I guess I can have my "instant" self-heating coffee along with my irradiated meat and nutra-sweet flavored candy.
Oh Joy!
do people start breaking them open to see what's inside and spilling the boiling contents on their laps? Do they have a warning telling people not to do that? Or is self-responsibility considered more widespread across the pond?
"Look here, Cletus. This is what them's calls calcium oxi--- aaiiiiieeeeeeeee!!!!! Muh giblets!!"
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master."
It sounds like a technology used by soldiers to heat Meals-Ready-To-Eat. But MREs mix magnesium iron oxide and water and need several steps. This is one-step and self-contained.
Where the the Montely Fool come off saying this will change the way we drink coffee and look out Starbucks? Warmed up coffee in a can? I think that is actually a level below vending machine coffee and vending machine coffee sure didn't change the way we drink coffee. It certainly is a novel idea, but 10 onces of coffee warmed in a can for a couple bucks. Sorry, only be drinking that when it is really ass cold outside and there isn't a vending machine nearby.
Um... no. I'm fairly certain that it's 145 F which is only 63 C. Just concider that the article is in USA Today and most of the target audience will be expecting it to be in Fahrenheit.
;). And using Farenheit is oconsidered dangerous, by the way, you might loose a satellite or spill your coffee for using it.
Uh, that of course, is too cold for coffee
(Yay, here just north of italy and west of austria, we certainly profit from two countries having very good coffee).
--
"The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse
I remember reading back in the 1980's about how a Japanese company devised a special can for sake that when you puncture a hole at the bottom of the can that separates a small amount of water from calcium oxide it will heat up the sake to quite high temperatures (the Japanese like to drink their sake quite warm).
I can't wait to walk down the coffee aisle and surreptitiously push the "heat" button on dozens of cans of coffee.
Ummm. When we had those on sale (several years ago, it flopped the hard way), the buttons were covered by seals.
Do you also go around stores twisting off soda bottle caps so that they will get flat?
*yawn*
Thanks to famous McD case (and I do not call it 'infamous' because they were absolutely correctly slapped with punitive damages) even they know that there is a difference:)
This will be a dud. It may have a niche market among hikers and campers, but that is about it.
People buy coffee at Starbucks because they like the ritual and the atmosphere. It is a kind of human contact that, although shallow, provides some satisfaction without there being any accompanying obligations. ( Am I supposed to wail at the alienation and isolation of the modern world here? Well, real relationships like we had in the good ol' days still exist, now we have something extra in addition to that. )
It's the same reason people would go to a cinema to see a movie, even if they could see it at home on a home theatre system that provided an equal quality presentation. It's the same reason that fast-food restaurants, and cafes like Starbucks, haven't been automated with machines replacing human help to the extent that they could be.
So it won't replace Starbucks cafes, and it won't be a quick-grab-a-cup convenience store seller either, because convenience stores sale brewed coffee already at a lower price.
I have a Senseo coffee maker at home and work and theres another product Home Cafe that was on featured on Survivor they use coffee pods and pressure brewing to make off the shelf generic coffee like Folgers and Maxwell House taste good essporesso .
.
.
Its the brewing method that makes the coffee taste crap just as much as poor quality beans cofee from a drip filter that sits on a heating plate is crap but the Majority of Americans make thier coffee in this manner
If they developed a product that heated the water then used the pressure from the heating process to force the water throgh the beans and some sort of filtering device they could give you espresso and you would never go back to drip filter coffee or mass produced reheated coffee in a can like Wolfy is trying to promote
http://www.senseo.com/en/Senseous
http://www.homecafe.com/
As anyone thought about the danger of having these chemicals so freely available to teens.
If I was a 14 year-old boy I surely would try to open a cup and see it burn... and after that I would try to use many cups at the same time.
Then you put the calcium oxide into a capsule that degrades with water and you send it down the toilet....booommm!
That's how you start arresting kids for terrorist when in carrying more than one cup of coffee...
Fear is the mind-killer.
So, this thing produces a cup of something that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee?
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
Canned coffee? Nobody wants that, even if it's self-heated.
Now, a self-cooling beer keg, that's useful...
"Oh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr I'm-my-own-Grandpa." - Dr Hubert Farnsworth
Nescafe Hot was a flop. "In 2002, Swiss beverage maker Nestle SA tested a self-heating can holding its Nescafe Hot When You Want coffee in England. But the company ended the trial run after several months, finding the can did not heat the liquid to a consistent temperature, said Nestle spokesman Francois-Xavier Perroud. "It didn't pan out," he said. Nestle is still interested in the idea, which it believes will be popular with consumers, but it is "not aware of a self-heating can that lives up to our expectations,"
Most Americans are non-smokers
Living in NC I would have never guessed that...
If only they could do this with Kraft Dinner. Mmmmmmm
This seems similar how MREs (Meals Read to Eat) are heated.
It was actually a solution in water filling the tires so you could get maximum weight, and they wouldn't freeze.
If the results are the same however, your tummy will soon be full of rust holes.
The only real use I can see for it is when hiking or as part of an emergency kit.
Kevin
"It's not the cough that carries you off, it's the coffin they carry you off in" O. Nash
Am I the only one who read that as "Self-hating coffee"?
I was seriously confused there for a few seconds...
SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
Well, that's coffee's not going to heat itself.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Do you also go around stores twisting off soda bottle caps so that they will get flat?
You...you've seen me? Damn. Now I must kill you.
What's your damage, Heather?
Those are two places you don't want to make fun of even jokingly. I swear they put crack in their coffee, people are SERIOUS about loyalty to either of those chains. Be safe, say you are sorry, and maybe no one will get hurt. Think of all those coffee-laced, pent up, hockey fans.
Never confuse volume with power.
...but this is the first time I've ever heard of Kroger. Checking their store locator the closest store is in Weirton, WV. Sounds like this means I won't be seeing it in Western Pennsylvania for a while. This doesn't seem like a good move, putting the marketing for an item as the responsibility of a single, limited retailer. Unless, of course, Kroger is everywhere else but here.
So someone else might have mentioned this by now, but I don't really want something that continues to heat to 145 Degrees F melting my stomach for 30 minutes!!!
:)
I like getting up and getting a new cup of joe... it enables me to walk by that hottie next to the kitchen!
People go to Starbuck's so they can say they go there. And to be seen there.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but where do people think going to Starbuck's is a status-enhancing gimmick? The only place where this might work is East Podunk, USA. In most metropolitan areas the Starbuck's outnumber the Kwik-E-Marts and carry about the same cachet. They are appealing because a) they are absolutely everywhere [in most cities], i.e. convenient and b) the product is generally consistent across stores in different regions. (This also explains the success of chain restaurants in the US.)
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
I don't really understand why people choose to go to Starbucks when in most cities there are excellent local coffeeshops with much better coffee and atmosphere. In St. Louis, one of my favourites is Kaldi's.
Celebrate the finer things in life
"self heated with water and calcium chloride"
says it only takes 40 seconds though.
I like microcars
Its this new technology called an 'insulating mug'. It costs about $5 at Walmart and is dishwasher safe. You pour the coffee in and it stays warm while you drink it.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
Nescafe marketed these sorts of drinks s few years back, but as the above poster says, they were basically just warmed up cold coffee, and tasted like it too. Plus, you didn't get much, god only knows what the enormous containers did to the environment, and they cost far too much.
They were withdrawn from sale shortly after introduced, due to lack of popularity.
Sometimes the problem is in identifying what's being sold. At the Starbucks in my hometown, they switched to 24-hours sometime ago. That's right, open all-day , every day.
Now, at $5 (CAD) for a cup of flavoured hot-chocolate, prices are a bit steep. Coffee ain't cheap either, but the HC tastes better. Their cookies are good as well and not too badly overpriced.
But there's the rub, my friends and I have decided that you're not really just paying for the product. During late hours you'll see students occupying all the tables well into the night during test-time. The don't kick out the regulars or the long-time table holders, so a few cups of coffee buys you space for several hours to visit with your friends. Really, when we go to Starbucks, we're renting space with our cup 'o' dark roast.
For those that buy and go. I suppose you're paying for a quick caffeine fix. But really you get the value from your dollar if you stay.
I remember trying one of these self heating coffees, bought from a kiosk while on the way to work in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1997. One broke a seal, pressed a tab, waited a minute, and then got really disgustingly sweet black HOT coffee that tasted like shit. Given that the kiosks in Switzerland sell fresh coffee and croissants in any case, the idea didn't last long. I think I saw these things the last time in 1998 in kiosks here.
It's amazing that they're still trying to flog these things though. The coffee tastes about as stale as it is.
..in europe (at least in the UK; but nescafe are a european brand, so I'm guessing the stuff spread), but it was *terrible*. The stuff tasted disgusting, and if your can of coffee was cold to start with (as opposed to room temperature), it warmed up lukewarm; as I discovered when woken up on a signals exercise at 3 in the morning; I just ended up binning half a dozen cans and falling back to redbull to get my caffeine hit for the morning.
If you really really want lukewarm reheated instant coffee for the price of a latte at starbucks, great. For the rest of us, thermos flasks suffice (Or if you require masochism in your life, simply carry around a flattened paper cup with a few single-serving packets of instant coffee; just add lukewarm tap water, and you're good to go - and for a fraction of the price!)
I am a viral sig. Please copy me and help me spread. Thank you
Hot coffee and no need to take that calcium suppliment!
Doesn't ANYONE see the potential health risks of ingesting Calcium Oxide? CaO is EXTREMELY corrosive to mucus membranes and is on OSHA's Hazardous Chemicals list. Think TWICE before drinking a couple of these to work and if you do, keep the chemical safety number on speeddial!
I read it as "self-healing" at first. IBM, move over, the technology leader in caffeinated beverages is here!
The reason is status.
Starbucks is the only place where a poor person with 10 dollars and funky hat can fall into the illusion of being mistaken for rich and powerful. The next time you pass by one check it out and ask your self are these people really the elite of society or are they just going about thier fantasy hoping someone will make that mistake. Maybe you go there for the same reason.
Concievably if someone was able to come up with a shop that was one better (i.e. 15 dollars to 'join') then you would probably be suprised how many people would be banging down your door step. It's not the coffee its NOT the service and the people who gothere are NOT rich and powerfull they just found a way of selling you a ticket to ride for 30 minuites at a time. Thats the formula...
A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
What will Puck call his coffee? Wolfgang Puck's Hearty Coffee? Seems all the soups feature the word Hearty on the label. Maybe that's what you get from putting chicken fat in it. At least I haven't seen MSG in there, which Progresso has now added to all of their soups. Bastards.
mmm.. that's a hearty cuppa, but what's this yellow lump floating in it?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
ORANGE MOCHA FRAPPUCCINO!!!
For McDonalds, I want a coffee that not only heats itself, but wins a lawsuit on my behalf. Preferably without the intermediate step of scalding my genitals.
Unless the beans were ground this morning, it's not high-end coffee. Starbucks (stores) has nothing to worry about here. This product is aimed at a different market: the home market or the remote-use market.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
- Great coffee
- More nice people per capita than pretty much anywhere
- Wonderful coffee
- Delightful climate
- You actually [i]arrest[/i] your crooked politicians
- The coffee is outstanding
- Picture book scenery
I could go on, but I've got a cup of your coffee sitting here just waiting for me...--MarkusQ
Just like when you make a mistake and pour your coffee on your groin, you can make a mistake and slip and hit the sharp corner with your head, which can have even more serious consequences (even death if you are unlucky)
Heh. You could be one of them TV magic queers.
Oh wow - that some darn hot coffee. Pressurised and probably explosive, in fact. Ouch.
Oh, Fahrenheit. That's very much less entertaining, and the lack of lawsuits will be disappointing, too. *sigh*.
My Canadian brain was thinking 145 C ! Now that's hot coffee.
...and btw that's Celsius not Centigrade.
145 F = 62.8 C
It does sound interesting, I'd like to grab a coffee or a latte and have it heat on it's own. Just watch out and don't spill HOT COFFEE on your lap. The "HOT" part means it's HOT.
Is this something like self hating jews?
Everyone asks "Why the B. Hell would anyone want this?" Well, here's why. You get up at 5:15, throw your clothes on, shave, dash out the door at 5:45 and barely catch the 6:00 train. There you sit for 90 minutes, thinking about a nice hot cup of coffee. It doesn't have to be great coffee, just nice, and hot. Sure, I've love a 'Bucks at the station, or a machine, but there isn't, and I'd be buggered if I'm going to get up any earlier to fool around making or buying brew. That, my friends, is the demographic they're selling to.
I don't get it. Is this about coffee, lattes, or both? These articles are writtem as if it makes sense to interchange sedan with dump-truck willy nilly.
Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
In Soviet Russia, coffee breaks you !
Just what you need, it will stay hot in you
stomach and cook your stomach. Tripe anybody?
featured these.
But the strength (and therefore quality) of the brewed coffee at DD has been declining for the last 30 years.
Oh yeah. It's all those illiterate people who want to pretend to read the news.
this is a toy-product for coffee-snobs.
I prefer fresh made latte and coffee.
Most places need to be like the local Fry's. They have ONE checkout queue and multiple checkers. In computer-speech, that is "single queue, multi-server". It works MUCHO better than multi-queue, multi-server where the "servers" are "equivalent".
Is that Wolfgang Puck's latte in your pocket or are you...SH*T! That's freakin' hot!
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
will the coffee be digitally signed?
I wonder where the line between was is convenient for humans and what is just wasteful (exploitation of environmental resources) lies. In this case it seems that we have crossed it by a rather large margin.
I'll just save the money and stick with my handy warming plate that I set my coffee cup on. It doens't keep my coffee piping hot like it says but its warm enought to be tasty...
Aren't you just falling into the trap of reverse elitism? You sneer at Starbucks goers because they're going to the popular spot. Note further that you didn't know that Dunkin Donuts had "better" quality until someone told you. Am I missing something important here?
Starbucks is a coffe shop, for God's sake. It's not the symbol of soul-sucking vapid consumerism you would like it to be. It's a place people go when they want to drink coffee. It's popular because whoever runs it has the good sense to open locations in good spots.
I note in passing they make a mean eggnog latte, if a bit dear.
I have a better invention:
It's called, COMMON SENSE.
If you BUY COFFEE NOW, DRINK COFFEE NOW!
YAY!
Morons!
I was so much looking forward to the taste of a fresh cupful of lukewarm, coffee-flavored slaked lime slurry in the mornings.
We have a local-owned "mom & pop" type of coffee shop in a strip mall right across the street from the Starbucks in my town. The local shop's coffee kicks Starbucks' butt real severely. The cups are twice the size and the price is half as much. They got all the fancy-schmancy stuff too like their own versions of Frappaccino and other spacialty coffee drinks. In the mornings on my way to work, I still often have to go to Starbucks, because the waiting line at the little mom & pop shop can be 30 minutes long to get served and nobody is in the drive-thru at Starbucks.
I've managed to burn myself with one of the Nescafe self heating coffees in the UK (although it wasn't the coffee itself - it was a chemical burn from the heating element being perforated).
I wonder how long it'll be before we see the first American sue the company for manking their coffee heat up too much?
I wonder what warnings they'll be putting on the US versions of the cans?
[All Your Fish Are Belong To Us]
I've had Russian coffee.. and for once, the Soviet Russia joke is TRUE!
Man that stuff could be used to pave roads!
The
145 degrees...
Means fuck all to me.
Why should you care if someone *tells* you the beans are of better quality, etc? It's a $2 cup of coffee, not a $30 wine. You have all the time and money necessary to taste the differences yourself and decide what you like.
I like Dunkin Donuts' coffee, as well as Starbucks'. Each has its own particular advantages. Proclaiming one coffee shop superior to another is as silly as declaring one game console to be superior to another, or one text editor to be...
ah crap, I'm on Slashdot. This is futile.
The commodity price of bulk coffee has fallen over the past ten years to its lowest price ever.
That makes Starbucks far too expensive for the product that they offer.
In Oregon we have a Starbucks on every second corner and a Fred Meyer grocery store every half mile. Each one has the weirdest collection of old people that you are likely to see anywhere.
But Fred Meyer is also selling one kilo (2.2 lbs) tins of ground primo Columbian and dark French roast expresso for $2.99US each. Put twice as much ground Freddie's coffee into the coffee maker as you would normally put $12-a-pound Tanzanian Pea organic mocha-heaven blend, add an extra packet of blue, red, yellow package sweetener or an extra spoon of sugar, and you have the 20-cent rocket-ship equivalent of Starbucks' $3 double-expresso with syrup.
Use your excess energy to learn the "Fred Meyer Blues":
"Well, I woke up this morning and I had the Fred Meyer Blues,
I woke up this morning and I had the Fred Meyer Blues,
I couldn't even find, my ten-dollar Fred Meyer shoes"
"Well, Mister Fred Meyer, he got a funny brain,
Whippin' on his mama with a bicycle chain;
I heard him moanin' and howlin',
beneath the Stadium store,
and if I get lucky,
I won't need Fred Meyer no more"
My wife bought some Wolfgang Puck soup in a can. It was awful. I hope that his coffee is better than that.
Avoid Missing Ball for High Score
Given the Russian propensity for alcohol, I wouldn't be surprised if "Russian Coffee" was like "Irish Coffee", but with vodka instead of Whiskey.
Actually, the thoughts of shitty coffee under a repressive regime are bringing back vague memories of "Nineteen Eighty-Four"; maybe I should read that again, or maybe I'm getting it confused with something else.
We had this stuff during in the 1980's in the Armed Forces. Not the best tasting stuff but if your in a foxhole, fire fight or some other God forsaken place this is great. This beats drinking cold coffee in the cold place.
OK, but before I get my hands on this, I will be contacting my lawyers and letting them know that I might have a "Lemony Snicket" with my coffee.
Way too dangerous. There is potential to drink the coffee while its cold before the temp has peaked at 145. In effect, you would severely burn your insides. Sounds like a great idea!
Folgers, sure, Folgers is liquid evil. "If the best part of waking up is Folgers in the cup... you shoulda stood in bed."
But Maxwell House? I'll take fresh Maxwell House over Starbucks any day. Like all coffee, it's got to be fresh, so it probably depends on where in the country you are and how far you are from a plant: but if you get some Maxwell House that hasn't stood around in a warehouse for three months it's much much better than Folgers. And so long as you stick to their regular blends (no 'dark' blends, which get Starbucked Up no matter what bulk roaster makes them) they're at least as drinkable as the best I've had at Starbucks.
None of this is great coffee. If you want great coffee, you get it at a place that does its own roasting that you know doesn't Starbuck Up their blends. You may take a few tries to find one... and of course it's harder and harder as Starbucks spreads and out-competes smaller businesses that have higher overheads and tighter margins... but that's the way to go.
They're using cement to heat coffee?
145 degrees?
:o)
But the water boils at 100 degrees!
Hey, but you can breathe a coffee vapor
Or the 145 degrees is only the temperature of the heating component and the coffee is actually somewhat cooler?
Even here in New York, where there's plenty of money and plenty of real coffee shops (not to mention Dunkin Donuts if you just want a quick cup), Starbucks is fairly popular among the white-collar crowd.
I was in Manhattan yesterday, and while I saw lots of nifty-looking restaurants and the ubiquitous Starbucks, I don't recall any [local,non-chain] coffee shops. To be fair, however, my driver kept up a brisk pace where practical and it's possible some just went by in a blur. (I'm not refuting what you said; I'm just mentioning my very limited experience in the area.)
Re: the white-collar crowd - I think there are just so *^#% many Starbucks locations that they are often the closest viable option for many white collar workers. I can walk out of my office building - in a rather non-major city - via one of two doors: directly across the street from each door is a Starbucks. In DC a Starbucks will be built across the street from a Starbucks: apparently this is even more convenient as it relieves people of the pesky need to cross the street. D'oh.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
the people who roast it live nearby
Which means you're likely to get it sooner after roasting, too.
Starbucks sells "Frappucino" for around a buck a bottle... for over-flavored iced coffee. They also have "Doubleshots"
Starbucks sells "Frappucino" for around a buck a bottle... for over-flavored iced coffee. They also have "Doubleshots" for $2.00 on up. And this stuff sells!
That's what this is competing with, not fresh-brewed Starbucks in the mall or your local coffee house.
[trying again... as god is my witness I did NOT hit submit]
Next time you are at your local grocer's, check out his frozen food for sodium content. If I recall, one of his ravioli packages had like 1200mg per serving. That is HALF your recommended allowance per day, all in one meal. And that package might even be more than one serving, I can't remember. The first thing that is done to food to make up for flavorlessness is to throw in the salt.
You really have to ask, how much money does this guy need? Wasn't his award-winning celebrity hangout enough? What's next, Wolfgang Puck toilet paper? ("After a Wolfgang Puck meal, there's only one paper worthy for you.") It's the same with the celebrity chef-endorsed cooksets sold on the shopping channels. Total BS.
The bottom line is that it is really easy to make great coffee without a lot of fuss. Furthermore, there are now thousands of coffee shops selling good brew, right around the corner for most people. This product is unnecessary and gimmicky.
Why is USA Today still in business?
It's all the pie charts.
Gotta be the pie charts.
The libertarian solution to the failures of capitalism is to apply more capitalism til the failures are fixed.
They used to sell the Nescafé self-heating coffee cans all over the place at first, and I loved them, but the main problem was trying to find one in the stack where someone hadn't already popped the heater at the bottom and ruined it :(
I'm guessing this was one of the major reasons the stores stopped stocking them - people vandalising the products.
I thought they tasted fantastic though. Really nice and creamy coffee.
I'm pretty sick of this dumb explanation, which nobody ever bothers to refute, because it's cool to hate the mainstream. I'll likely be modded down for defending Starbucks, since every time they come up here on slashdot I see ten "+5 Insightful" comments that are little more than "Starbuckses coffee is the sux0r."
First of all, Starbucks isn't only popular because it's popular. That fails to explain how it became so popular in the first place. They started as a really small company in Seattle, and they grew so large because they were doing so well.
The point that 90% of the geeks here miss about Starbucks is that regular drip coffee is not their core competency. The thing that made Starbucks who they are was the espresso bar. They saw the culture in Europe (particularly Italy) focused on espresso and espresso drinks (lattes, mochas, cappucinos, etc...) not drip. Starbucks brought that espresso bar to America, and they did (and still do) a great job with it. The phrase "grande latte" is part of the American vocabulary now because of Starbucks.
You didn't go to Starbucks because their cup 'o joe tasted 10% better than Dunkin' Donuts' cup 'o joe - it doesn't. You went there because they'd make you a half-caf mocha with whip cream, or a soy latte, or whatever you could come up with. It's a lot like going to a bar and ordering a cocktail instead of a beer. It's not that the bartender there serves better Budweiser than at the next-door bar, he doesn't. It's that he mixes you whatever drink you want, using high-quality ingredients, and you can enjoy it in a nice atmosphere. That was what Starbucks had, and still has.
I've been to Dunkin' Donuts, and I've been to five or six different smaller coffee stores, and I've never been anywhere that served me a better grande mocha than Starbucks. Sure, Starbucks drip coffee is roasted too much and not very good. But I don't care, 'cause that's not what I drink there.
Considering that, I think there are a few people who will buy this self-heating latte, (it's a latte, not drip coffee) but it's not gonna be that much of a threat to Starbucks.
This is the same guy whose soup regularly sells at heavy discount in Cala Foods markets because nobody buys it - because it sucks?
Guess he needs self-heating coffee...
I bought a couple cans of his soup and was seriously unimpressed. Warm clear water had more ingredients in it.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Am I the only one who read this as Self-Healing Coffee ?
In Chernobyl, around 1986..
(insert oblig "In Soviet Russia" joke here..)
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
I have already had one of these coffees from an italian rest stop.
I thought the title was "self-healing coffee"
now that would have been worthy of a slashdot discussion.
sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
..that this is an appallingly wasteful and environmentally irresponsible solution to a non-existent problem. Instead of offering hot coffee in a paper cup, let's create an elaborate double-walled plastic cup lined inside with caustic lime.
The Minister of Silly Ideas should slap Wolfgang Puck with a Cod for this one.
Hopefully the market will sort this one out. I can't imagine too many repeat customers.
1st line have beans online. But the problem with ordering online is that you've got to pay for shipping, and you've got to buy enough to make it worth the shipping (so then you've got to worry about freshness).
Your best bet would be to go to a decent coffee shop and get whatever beans they use to make their espresso, if they're for sale. The advantage of this is that they are fresh (because of the volume, they order every day or 2 days). Most of the stuff in supermarkets is crap. Or you could go to a coffee bean shop. It will probably be cheaper than the supermarkets and it sure as hell will be better.
Realize that calcium ozide (CaO) reacts with water to produce heat, which is what the producers of this device want. Calcium oxide is also known as quicklime. The reaction product when the process is over is calcium hydroxide, a kind of mild lye. When you get through heating your coffee, you can pour this off into your toilet to open it up after your anal retentive boss used it. If the product is defective in any way, you could end up drinking a coffee that is 'hot' in more ways than one. This product could possibly kill you.
the settlement is whittled down to enough for the medical bills and free coffee for a year.
Pfft, the settlement will be whittled down further to free coffee for a year, PLUS--
test only
1234567890
"The combination of calcium oxide and water will heat the coffee to 145 degrees and keep it warm for the next 30 minutes."
145 degrees Celcius?
That's amazing!
Or are you talking about that other system, where 0 degrees is completly arbitrary?
-- Make software not war
What is the biodegradability (or recyclability) of these cans and the chemicals in them? Is this just one more "convenience good" for people to use and toss away?
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