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."

Comments

6 Minutes to heat up

[Wheely]

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.

Re:But what does it taste like?

[adamjaskie]

*raises hand*

I'm addicted now, though. But I still love the taste, and moving from the halfway-decent coffee I usually drink to shitty cheapass Folgers coffee would be more torture than the money I would save would be worth.

Re:already done

[DrXym]

Exactly. I recall seeing Nescafe self heating cups. Think coffee which has been left in a themos overnight and then reheated.

Of course, if the container were to split the coffee from the water until you heated it, it might not be so bad. But even that seems hardly different to me than buying some instant crap from a vending machine. Except of course the vending machine gives you a coffee instantly, rather than fumbling around in the cold trying to activate the device and then then waiting several minutes for it to be even drinkable.

Yuck

[CharAznable]

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.

Mmmm, MREs

[jfengel]

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.

Re:Dunkin Donuts

[CharAznable]

I concurr. Dunkin Donuts has really good coffee.
The founder of Starbucks had a business insight:

1. Sell cheap coffee for 4 bucks. 2. ??? 3. Profit!
Step two being: Yuppies will buy it just to feel cool.

Re:why is starbuck's the benchmark?

[Hatta]

Same reason anything Linux or Apple does is compared to Microsoft. Starbucks and Microsoft both make crappy products with great marketing. Sure it's better if you grind your own(Linux), or visit the local non-chain coffeehouse (Apple), but when there's a Starbucks on every streetcorner (Microsoft's 90% market saturation), sometimes you just take the path of least resistance to get your fix(or work done).

Re:At What Point...

[Bearpaw]

At what point 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?

More likely scenario: Someone who hasn't trimmed their fingernails down to the quick accidentally breaks it open, causing crippling third degree burns. After finding out that the company knew that this was a problem (from countless other similar accidents) but decided that keeping a corporate legal team was cheaper than redesigning the container, the customer managed to find a lawyer who hadn't sold their soul to a corporation. After that lawyer somehow manages to get the case into court despite the well-practiced tactics of the corporate team, a jury examines the evidence and awards the customers enough to pay their medical bills, plus a punitary award that seems large for an individual but is corporate pocket change. After multiple appeals by the corporate team, the settlement is whittled down to enough for the medical bills and free coffee for a year.

Meanwhile, politicians whose re-election coffers are fattened with corporate checks make a big deal about how "lawsuit happy" the country is, and -- once enough gullible people have bought into grossly exaggerated "examples" -- push for "tort reform". For some reason, "responsibility" isn't seen as a concept that should apply to corporations.