I don't have any objections to a pleasant milk-based coffee-flavoured drink – the drink in the picture is going to get drunk whilst I'm writing this.
But please don't call it coffee. If you top up a glass of wine with Irn-Bru, you wouldn't still call it wine would you? No, it becomes a wine cooler.
With news like this, my first reaction is: Where can I find a coffee shop that sells coffee that strong ?
It is rather extraordinary that you can find a coffee shop that sells a cup of coffee that is six times stronger than a “standard” cup of expresso. And even more extraordinary that nobody really knows how strong a cup of coffee they’re drinking is – even the proprietors of that shop selling the really strong coffee had no idea it was that strong!
It’s also clear from the interviews carried out by the BBC that people are under the impression that you can tell how strong the coffee is (in terms of caffeine content) by how strong it tastes. That turns out not to be the case – whilst at extremes, it is probably true that watery coffee (“American”) is likely to have less caffeine in, and thick, bitter, and flavourful coffee is likely to have more caffeine in, there are other variables at work too.
The news article concentrated on the potential danger to pregnant women which is your typical media sensationalism – whilst a few pregnant women might well be drinking more caffeine than is good for them (but just how many people have coffee shop coffee everyday?), it is also the case that others might want to know how strong the coffee is – on certain mornings, I’d be willing to go a whole lot further to get a coffee with 350mg of caffeine over a coffee with 50mg of caffeine.
So yes we want better labelling of coffee
This appears somewhat over a year since I bought a single-serve coffee system based around the Tassimo system. For those who are not aware this is basically an automated way of making “real” coffee (and in many cases other hot drinks) from a kind of capsule with a bar code on top to indicate what method to use when brewing. For those who are prepared to pay a little more for their morning coffee … and cannot justify the waste and hassle involved in brewing from ground coffee, a single-serve solution is brilliant.
The Tassimo system should be brilliant – in theory it is technically superior to the other systems as it allows greater freedom to the capsule makers in determining how the drinks should be brewed. Different drinks like different water temperatures, different pressures, different amounts of water, etc.
But the Tassimo’s biggest weakness is the lack of choice of prepared drinks compared with other systems.
So why in the name of the Great Cthulhu do the Tassimo people restrict the distribution of the T-Discs to certain markets? There are coffees available in the UK which are not available in the US, and likewise for Europe. A number of examples follow :-
There is an argument that those in the US would not like European coffees because they do not match their preferences and visa versa – in particular the size of the normal coffee cup. But why not give us the choice ?
In addition I suspect that it is very difficult for independent manufacturers to produce T-Discs – indicated as such by the absence of any products on the market. Sure I can understand a manufacturer wanting to promote their own products, but when you have a new system you need to attract the early adopters who are more likely to want a great range of products. Sure the ordinary shopper is just going to pick up what is available at their local supermarket – which is always going to be the products with the famous names rather than specialist products, but he or she won’t choose your products if nobody buys your system.
I can see the Tassimo system failing – not because it is poor, or because the other products compete better, but simply because the management behind the Tassimo product are incompetent