The Coffee Wars, Done Right

Small local coffee shop owners in Columbia, Mo. are facing entry into the local market by Starbucks and another competitor.  But in stark contrast to San Francisco, where coffee shop owners ran to government to protect their market share, the three Columbia coffee shops featured in the article speak only of how they can continue to serve their customers in the face of intense competition.  That's how competition is supposed to work.  An excerpt about Lakota Coffee:

Weary of corporate life in Austin, Texas, DuCharme became interested in gourmet coffee and coffee roasting. He and his wife, Deborah, decided to change gears and open their own coffee shop. They selected Columbia after researching college towns with populations of less than 100,000. DuCharme said he is the only coffee roaster in town. He buys raw beans from brokers in New Orleans and Minneapolis and cooks them as needed for his private-label coffee, which is served in his shop and sold in bulk to local retail outlets and restaurants.

Processing his own raw material, DuCharme said, is one of the things that makes Lakota stand out as competition increases - not only among local shops, but among the new chain outlets, too.

"We will continue to emphasize that we have the freshest coffee in town and move forward from there," he said. "You just can’t beat it. It’s like the difference between a fresh grilled burger or one wrapped up that was cooked a while ago."

I am a loyal customer of Lakota Coffee and have been for several years.  I place mail orders every few weeks and I always get consistent, flavorful coffee in a timely manner.  They roast about 25 pounds of coffee at a time in the coffee shop and they have a wide selection.  It costs a bit more than Starbucks or Caribou coffees, but the extra cost is worth it to me.

Comments

[Marcia]

Coffee puts the system under the strain of metabolizing a deadly acid-forming drug, depositing its insoluble cellulose, which cements the wall of the liver, causing this vital organ to swell to twice its proper size. In addition, coffee is heavily sprayed. (Ninety-two pesticides are applied to its leaves.) Diuretic properties of caffeine cause potassium and other minerals to be flushed from the body.

All this fear went away when I quit, and it was a book that inspired me to do it called The Truth About Caffeine by Marina Kushner. There are five things I liked about this book:

1) It details--thoroughly--the ways in which caffeine may damage your health.

2) It reveals the damage that coffee does to the environment. Specifically, coffee was once grown in the shade, so that trees were left in place. Then sun coffee was introduced, allowing greater yields but contributing to the destruction of rain forests. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere else.

3) It explains how best to go off coffee. This is important. If you try cold turkey, as most people probably do, the withdrawal symptoms will likely drive you right back to coffee.

4) Helped me find a great resource for the latest studies at CaffeineAwareness.org

5) Also, if you drink decaf you won’t want to miss this special free report on the dangers of decaf available at www.soyfee.com