PODcast #40 : Espresso Pods News

Welcome to The PODcast, PodMerchant's newsletter of espresso pod tips, news, education, and deals. Back issues of The PODcast are available online. This newsletter is published in HTML with images and styled text. If you are reading the "text only" version, you are missing much of the content.

A little late this month, but here it is — PODcast Issue 40 — comin' at ya!

Espresso Elucidation

Caffeinated Quotables

Coffee has inspired aphorisms and observations by the famous and not-so-famous. For your edification, I have dug up a few.

"Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco, and he will endure any privation, suffer any hardship, but let him be without these two necessaries of the woods, and he becomes irresolute and murmuring."  — Lt. William Whiting, U.S. Army, 1849

"There are three intolerable things in life — cold coffee, lukewarm champagne, and overexcited women."  — Orson Welles

"Coffee is the common man's gold, and like gold, it brings to every person the feeling of luxury and nobility."  — Sheik Abd-al-Kadir, In Praise of Coffee, 1587

"I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless."  — Napoleon Bonaparte

"Strong coffee, much strong coffee, is what awakens me. Coffee gives me warmth, waking, an unusual force and a pain that is not without very great pleasure."  — Napoleon Bonaparte

"Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body what the Word of the Lord is to the soul."  — Isak Dinesen, 1934

"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons."  — T. S. Elliot

"The powers of a man's mind are directly proportional to the quantity of coffee he drank."  — Sir James MacKintosh - 18th century philosopher

"This coffee plunges into the stomach... the mind is aroused, and ideas pour forth like the battalions of the Grand Army on the field of battle... Memories charge at full gallop... the light cavalry of comparisons deploys itself magnificently; the artillery of logic hurry in with their train of ammunition; flashes of wit pop up like sharp-shooters."  — Honore de Balzac (1799 - 1850)

"If it wasn't for coffee, I'd have no discernible personality at all."  — David Letterman, Esquire Interview Fall '94

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee."  — Abraham Lincoln

PodMerchant News

News in the PodMerchant's world... At our online store we have implemented the ability for users to post reviews on products. We hope that you'll take advantage of this to tell us and your fellow customers what you think about various pods. We think these reviews will improve the usefulness of the site and assist customers in finding the best coffees for their taste. To write a review, go to the product detail page for the product.

Social Networking... It's all the buzz these days. And frankly, we're hoping that our loyal customers will help spread the word about PodMerchant by social bookmarking. Every page and product at our online store (and this newsletter) has a "Share" button to allow quick sharing via Digg, Del.icio.us, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, StumbleUpon, etc. If you feel inclined to let your fellow espresso lovers know about PodMerchant, we'd be indebted to you.

We just placed our largest order ever for pods from Italy. We will be expanding our selection from Lucaffe with Mamma Lucia pods and a limited stock of Jamaica Blue Mountain. JMB is a very (very!) expensive coffee and we have been hesitant to stock it. Also, fabulous new glassware from Lucaffe. You are going to want some of these cups. The ship is scheduled to dock March 26th. With luck we'll have these new products on the shelf by April 1st.

HandPresso's portable espresso maker has come down in price. We now offer it at $116. With your PODcast 10% off coupon, that's $104.40. I do believe that's cheaper than you'll find anywhere else at this time. Please see our HandPresso Wild Report to learn about this product.

PodMerchant Coupons

PODcast subscribers get a 10% discount coupon with each issue. Just enter the code below on the Shipping Selection screen during checkout.

• Only one coupon per subscriber per issue.
• Coupon expires when the next issue is published, or at the end of the next month following publication of the issue, whichever comes first.
• Coupons are only valid for PODcast subscribers — we check use of coupons against the subscriber list.
• For more information, please see our PODcast Coupon FAQ.

For 10% off your next order — Enter code: XXXXXXX (note, that is "P-C-Zero") and please press the "Redeem Coupon" button or the coupon will not be entered.

That's all for this issue of the PODcast.


Kevin Garrett, The PodMerchant.