Tim Hortons coming to Iqaluit

Tim Hortons is finally setting up shop in Iqaluit, one of the last places in Canada where the iconic coffee-and-donut shop chain doesn't have a foothold in the local market.

Tim Hortons officials announced this week that it's teaming up with the North West Company to open three kiosks in Nunavut's capital city starting in early December, creating the chain's northernmost franchise.

As a result, many Iqaluit residents and visitors can soon discontinue the long-held tradition of toting boxes of donuts, Timbits and beverages with them on flights from Yellowknife, Ottawa or Montreal.

"We heard stories, repeated stories, [about people] on the daily flights to Ottawa to Iqaluit … bringing dozens of donuts," Nick Javor, Tim Hortons senior vice-president of corporate affairs, told CBC News.

"We said, 'Wow, wouldn't be great to bring the Tim Hortons concept to the last true remaining part of Canada where we are not with a presence?'"
Basic menu

There are more than 3,000 Tim Hortons stores across Canada, including locations in Yellowknife and Whitehorse.

A historic fur trading company turned retailer, the North West Company owns the NorthMart general store and two Quick Stop convenience stores in the city of about 7,000

The kiosks that will be set up in those three stores will feature a basic Tim Hortons menu, according to officials. The chain will run its local bakery from the NorthMart store.

"We've taken our time on this," said Michael McMullen, executive vice-president of the North West Company's northern Canada retail division.

"We've done due diligence, and we've got the right format and market coverage, considered the traffic, considered the recycling, considered the cost. I think both companies came to this and said, 'We want to do this right, we don't want to do it quick.'"

Splitting up the Iqaluit Tim Hortons franchise into three kiosks will prevent traffic from piling up in front of NorthMart, McMullen said, adding that the smaller kiosks would also be easier to staff.
Feeling the 'Tims effect'

Rumours of the Tim Hortons arrival have been swirling for years in Iqaluit, which has several independent coffee shops — including one owned by Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik called the Grind and Brew.

Brian Twerdin, Sheutiapik's partner and the Grind and Brew's manager, said their shop is feeling the "Tims effect" even before the chain has landed in the city.

"Knowing that they were probably coming, we tried to diversify," Twerdin told CBC News on Thursday.

"We still have the coffee shop, but now we do the pizza … kind of restaurant thing to kind of offset that," he said. "But I think it will still have some impact on, like I say, the coffee shops that are in town."

But news of the chain's opening had local coffee enthusiasts like Sarah Deneester — a customer at Fantasy Palace, another Iqaluit coffee shop — proclaiming continued loyalty to the existing establishments.

"I think that we're not going to give up on Fantasy Palace," Deneester said.

"We come here every day, sometimes even twice a day. Maybe we'll stop in for the odd Timbit or donut, since we miss that," she added. "But the coffee's good here, and we love the people."
Litter a concern

Some critics have already brought up environmental concerns, pointing to longstanding complaints about discarded Tim Hortons cups littering communities where the chain has an outlet.

"We already have a problem with Tim Hortons cups being the signature waste of Canada — or the signature litter, I guess you'd say — of Canada, from coast to coast," said Larry Lack of St. Andrews, N.B., an outspoken critic of Tim Hortons litter nationwide.

"This will make it coast to coast to coast if it starts to be accepted there without something being done about the problem of Tim Hortons litter, particularly the cups," he said.

Tim Hortons officials say the chain's disposable cups are now recyclable or can be composted — but only in cities where municipal recycling and composting programs are available, which rules out Iqaluit.

The North West Company's McMullen said the Iqaluit franchise is working on a litter-reduction plan in advance of its grand opening.

North West Company officials said they will also hold a charity event during the Tim Hortons grand opening, carrying on the coffee chain's tradition of community involvement.

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Blue Bottle Coffee backs out of Dolores Park deal

Blue Bottle Coffee's decision to back out of a city-blessed plan to open up shop -- albeit in a small 8-by-12 aluminum trailer -- in Dolores Park was a gimme-a-shot-of-espresso-no-make-that-a-double wake-up call for San Francisco officials eager to add commerce to the park visitors' experience: If there's one thing San Franciscans know how to do it's organize, especially if its over a neighborhood issue.

Opponents of the plan to let Blue Bottle open in Dolores Park mounted an aggressive campaign. ''It saddens me that Blue Bottle pulled out, but San Francisco neighborhood politics is what it is,'' said Recreation and Park Commission President Mark Buell.

He said he hopes the department can find another coffee vendor to go into Dolores Park. But first, he said, staff should embark on much more robust outreach with the surrounding community ''and find a magic formula of what would be acceptable.''

Recreation and Park Department staff learned of Blue Bottle owner James Freeman's decision late Tuesday, just days before his portable coffee stand was to open and amid continued controversy. Freeman told the City Insider that he bid for the Dolores Park concession because he thought ''it would be a fun delightful idea, but eventually it proved to be not so delightful.''

Nearby cafe owners, upset over the prospect of city-sanctioned competition, led the charge against Blue Bottle; other neighbors, upset over the idea of commercializing the park, joined in. Opponents signed petitions, packed public meetings and vented their fury on blogs.

In short, they made life miserable for park officials who had hoped to make it easy for people to buy a cup of coffee in the popular park and at the same time generate some money, in the $30,000 to $35,000-a-year range for the cash-strapped Rec and Park Department.

Rec and Park Department spokesman Elton Pon said opposition was led by just a handful of people and that the real proof of support or disapproval would have been ''whether people bought a cup of coffee there.''

The Blue Bottle controversy is just the latest to hit Rec and Park, with plans to find a new operator of the Stow Lake food and boat concession in Golden Gate Park and another to charge admission to out-of-town visitors to the city's Botanical Garden also drawing heat but eventually moving forward.

''Controversy is the reality of any change that takes place in a park,'' Buell said. But in the end, he added, rec and park officials are looking for new ways to make money to protect services. By the way, La Cocina, a Mission District-based business, is set to open a stand in Dolores Park, perhaps as early as next week.

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Coffee for a caring cause

FANCY hosting a coffee morning for a good cause? A Malaysian version of UK-based Macmillan Cancer Support’s fundraising event "The Biggest Coffee Morning" took place at the Lower Palm Square of Jaya One on Friday. Known as the Malaysian Biggest Breakfast, it was first held last year and managed to raise RM250,000 for the National Stroke Association of Malaysia – something the association is hoping to replicate.

"The event took place in shopping mall-based F&B outlets, homes and offices last year," association manager Shen Chan said. "The idea was that anyone can arrange a ‘Malaysia’s Biggest Breakfast’ event ... they just need to get in touch with us."The latest event, from 8am to noon, was sponsored by Nestle, and a week’s leafleting produced a steady trickle of employees from adjacent shops and offices at Jaya One.

"You can purchase a RM10 voucher which lets you choose from a selection of sponsored cereals, fruit, porridge and drinks, and all the money raised will go towards the operating costs of our eight recovery centres which are there to rehabilitate stroke survivors," Chan said.

"You can donate more if you choose – RM40 to get a Nestle goody bag," she added, while signing a tax exemption receipt for a smartly-dressed executive who had just arrived to collect his.

Two women sat down to a steaming container of Maggi Chicken Porridge sprinkled with an array of condiments, a cup of Nestum Fruits and a Milo each.

"We work at the offices across from here; I think it’s a good idea, I tried to get some clients to come along to contribute but it was too late a notice for them," Kim Yae, 56, said.

Chan hopes the idea will catch on. Macmillan’s Biggest Coffee Morning, which started in 1991, has been steadily getting bigger with 43,000 people registering to hold a coffee morning last year.

"We have had colleges like Inti College and UKM registering to host Malaysia’s Biggest Breakfast and they should be putting the events on in the next few weeks," she said.

Chan said the original aim was to raise RM1 million, which she conceded was ambitious, and expects something more like RM250,000 this year.

"We targeted the fundraising period for between now and Oct 24, but anyone interested in helping to host an event can contact us – we are flexible with the times."

She said anyone from offices to housewives and schools are welcome to host the event and that every effort would be a great help.

"The recovery centre operating costs can be up to RM1.8 million a year, and we derive all our funding from public funding and charity efforts," she said.

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Why Coffee Puts You in a Good Mood and Chocolate Makes You Feel High

A study from Ohio University tells you why certain foods such as coffee and chocolate affect your moods. Just like alcohol or drugs, food and spices can excite, calm or rattle the brain."The distinction of what is a drug and what is food is blurring completely. Natural things are also drugs," The New York Post quoted Gary Wenk, a professor at the Ohio State University and Medical Center and the author of the new book 'Your Brain on Food', as saying.

Different foods stimulate different regions of the brain, releasing chemicals like dopamine and serotonin that promote well-being. On the flip side, a lack of certain amino acids can cause depression and, in severe cases, madness.

The glow created by chocolate and coffee isn't just caused by caffeine, but also by a rush of dopamine that triggers the brain's pleasure receptors, Wenk said.

Chocolate also releases a form of opiate that causes that la-la feeling, along with a small amount of a substance akin to marijuana. With all that pleasure packed into a Hershey bar, it's a miracle the feds don't regulate the stuff, he joked.

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'Cancer curing coffee' among thousands of seized drugs

The seizures, co-ordinated by the Irish Medicines Board (IMB), were part of Interpol's Operation Pangea III. The week-long campaign involved 45 countries and targeted internet sales of counterfeit and illegal medicines. The seized items included a slimming coffee which, along with supposed weight loss benefits, also claimed to be a treatment for cancer.

Other items included fake erectile dysfunction medication as well as mood stabilisers such as diazepam. Some of the weight loss products contained sibutramine, which is banned in the EU due to associated health risks.

Dangerous deception.

IMB chief executive Pat O'Mahony warned that even websites which seem professional and genuine could be selling harmful substances disguised as medication. "The reality is they are an elaborate and potentially dangerous deception," he said.

"Purchasers have no way of knowing what these medicines really contain, where they were made or the effect they might have on your health."Five websites in the Republic of Ireland were taken down and one person has been arrested.

In total Operation Pangea III led to the seizure of 1,014,043 tablets and the closure of 290 websites worldwide.

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Iced Americano Recipe

Ingredients:
Shot of your favorite espresso
8-10 ounce glass full of ice cubes
Ice water
Sugar to taste
Milk or half and half to taste

Preparation:

Pull your shot, and pour it slowly over the ice while swirling. The full glass of ice should chill the espresso quickly. Fill the glass with cold water and stir in sugar (optional). Add a splash of milk or half and half as desired. Sit back and relax.....

You may want to play with the amount of espresso, sometimes I find a double shot into a 12 ounce glass of ice and then follow the general directions above is a bit more appealing, and a bit more of a punch too.

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Coffee consumption may drop significantly with younger generation

New market research suggests younger drinkers (18-24) are less likely to enjoy a cup of coffee than their older counterparts (45-55).

On September 27, the market research company NPD Group's Consumer Reports on Eating Share Trends (CREST) found Dunkin' Donuts is "the number one retailer in the hot regular/decaf plus flavored coffee and iced coffee categories" in the US and noted that more than 40 percent of young workers (aged 18-34) said "they can't concentrate as well without coffee" and "have lower energy if they don't drink coffee.

However new research from Mintel, a global media intelligence company, concluded on October 8 "that while 40% of 18-24-year-olds believe coffee improves their concentration, only 27% drink coffee on a daily basis."

To target younger drinkers Mintel's senior analyst Bill Paterson suggests new products are needed to "convert these younger drinkers to everyday users"; otherwise, "long-term growth may suffer."

The research shows 40 percent of 18-24-year-olds "prefer sweetened coffee drinks to plain coffee... compared to only 22 percent of 45-54-year-olds." And only 28 percent like the taste of plain coffee whereas "53% of 45-54-year-olds" drink their coffee black.

According to Patterson, two ways to attract daily young drinkers for the long-term are to develop new products that bring the "caffeine fix" home not just to cafes and capture the energy drink market as "young adults are somewhat more likely than over-55s to associate negative health consequences with coffee consumption."

Canada's health agency Health Canada "concluded that the general population of healthy adults is not at risk for potential adverse effects from caffeine if they limit their consumption to 400 mg per day," in a public statement on October 4.

The blogger EspressoGuy calculates "you can expect to find about 100 mg of caffeine in a shot of espresso, and about 130 mg of caffeine in a cup (around 8 oz) of coffee."

In 2008, 63 percent of the functional drink category belonged to energy drinks with Red Bull (available in 160 countries) the go-to brand (42 percent), and the importance of convenience was highlighted, according to the Institute of Food Technologists's 2010 Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety (CRFSFS).

The same review found "the U.S. energy drink industry is anticipated to more than double and reach an astounding $19.7 billion [€14 billion] in 2013, which is almost a 160% increase from 2008."

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