iPhone-4-Coffee-Table

Not actually functional but this iPhone 4.0 themed coffee table is very cool for the gadget orientated individuals out there.

Unfortunately the piece featured above is a one off custom designed cxffee table.

Espresso Essential

Espresso Essential - Coffee

The caffeine dealer’s warehouse in Collingwood is piled high with sacks of coffee beans. They haven’t even been roasted yet but already they are giving suppliers the jitters.

With unprecedented demand from Asia squeezing global coffee supplies and weather problems affecting crops, wholesale prices have been soaring for months.

If the all-important Brazilian harvest falls short, the average cost of a cappuccino in Melbourne could hit $4 within a year – an increase of 76 cents.

A soon-to-be-released survey of 600 east coast cafes, the ”Cappuccino Price Index”, shows that the average Melbourne cappuccino costs $3.24 – more than a Sydney caffeine fix, and about 20 cents more than it did last year.

This upward trend is set to continue with the price of arabica beans recently hitting a 12-year high on the New York Futures Exchange.

Steve Agi, editor of coffee magazine Bean Scene, said consumers had been largely protected from the market volatility because roasters had been absorbing most of the extra costs.

Many roasters have contracts to supply beans at set prices.

But Jaspers Caffeine Dealers owner Wells Trenfield, who roasts his own beans, says with the price of green beans jumping by up to 18 per cent in the past six months, roasters would have to start passing on costs.

”It’s always a very risky business trying to buy and sell this stuff,” Mr Trenfield said.

He said the supply shortfall and increased demand had meant that farmers in Ethiopia, who had struggled through very hot weather, were able to charge high prices for their inferior beans.

Everyone was now watching the Brazilian harvest, as it would affect global supply.

”If there is a shortfall, and it looks now like there could be … there will be massive problems globally by next year,” he said. ”We will be looking at major increases in price because there will simply not be the coffee available.”

A senior food and agriculture analyst at Rabobank, Wayne Gordon, said while wholesale prices had jumped, this year’s harvest was looking better than last year’s. However, recent price rises in sugar and milk would also push up the cost of a cup of coffee.

”No matter how you look at the cup of coffee, you are getting hit from all sides,” he said.

Even with the rises, we will still be drinking ”dirt-cheap coffee”, Mr Trenfield said. ”We are keeping people impoverished because we are not prepared to pay 21st-century prices for the stuff we enjoy. It’s still cheaper than a beer.”

Source: http://bit.ly/crUFcI

Espresso Essential – Coffee

Espresso Essential - Corney's Gentlemens lunch

Friday the 3rd of September saw Espresso Esssential as the main naming sponsor for the annual Corney’s gentlemens lunch held at Jupiters Casino on Australia’s Gold Coast.

The Espresso Essential Coffee Machines took up prime postion on the centre stage along with MC ex Wallaby Chris ‘Buddha’ Handy and guest speaker ex AFL Legend and Lambassador Sam Kekovich.

Chris 'Buddha' Handy & Sam Kekovich

 ’Buddha’ did a fantastic job as MC on the day even proudly displaying his “boiled egg in a rubber band’ suit to the crowd (a wrestlers outfit worn proudly under his shirt, pants and tie) and Sam Kekovich has the crowd in stitches with his fantastic larrikin, typically Australian and sometimes politically incorrect sense of humour.

Fantastic event and plenty of money raised for Junior Rugby on the Gold Coast to promote some of our future wallabies.

Espresso Essential – Coffee Machines

Espresso Essential - Coffee machines

Do you long for your latte as soon as your eyes open in the morning? Researchers say you may simply be suffering withdrawal from your last cup.

Regular coffee drinkers quickly develop a caffeine tolerance, so the reason you feel more alert after a cup of joe is because it reverses the affects of withdrawal, British scientists say.

“Our study shows that we don’t gain an advantage from consuming caffeine – although we feel alerted by it, this is caffeine just bringing us back to normal,” says lead study author Professor Peter Rogers of the University of Bristol.

“You are not gaining anything over and above a non-consumer of caffeine.”

Burgers may raise asthma levels and wheezing in kids.

Eating three or more burgers a week may make children more prone to asthma, a new study claims.

Researchers looked at 50,000 children from 20 countries, and found that tucking into burgers on a regular basis was linked to a higher risk of asthma and wheezing, particularly in richer countries.

A diet which is generally high in meat did not increase the risk of asthma, however, leading researchers to believe other lifestyle factors may be to blame – such as a lack of fresh fruit and vegies.

Children who ate a diet rich in fruit or who followed a Mediterranean-style diet were less likely to complain of wheezing.

Source: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=155347

Espresso Essential – Coffee