PODcast #53 : Espresso Pods News

Welcome to The PODcast, PodMerchant's newsletter of espresso pod news, education, tips and deals. Back issues of The PODcast are available online.

Erratum

My personal apologies to Arianna Mingardi of Amigos Caffe'. In PODcast Issue 52 I had mistakenly labeled the photo of her mother, Maria Mingardi, as Arianna.

Funny Coffee News

I periodically scour the Internet for odd and funny coffee-related news. He's a few things that might tickle your interest. Admittedly, not all of this is new news.

Here's a rather brilliant adaptation of a street light into an ad for McDonald's coffee. I wonder if the coffee pot lights up after dark? Don't know where or when this was taken, but someone sure had their creative thinking cap on.		Perhaps the author of this signage used Google Translate to produce the English instructions. We often say, "That sounds like a plan." In this case perhaps they said, "That sounds like a functioning scheme."

How to Develop Film Using Coffee & Vitamin C
Here's a MacGyverish trick, but unless you're developing microfilm, you'll need some drip coffee — not espresso. Of course, most people haven't had any filmed developed in ages, but don't you want to add this skill to your survivalist toolkit? This subject has also been touched on by Myth Busters.
 



NEWS FLASH!
Scientist Develops Caffeinated Doughnuts!
Molecular scientist Dr. Robert Bohannon says he can easily put 100 milligrams of caffeine — the equivalent of a 5-ounce cup of drip-brewed coffee — into bagels and donuts.
 



Panama co. brews world's biggest cup of coffee
Panama's top coffee producer, Cafe Duran, said it believes it has set a new Guinness World Record for the world's biggest cup of coffee — 750 gallons! The previous Guinness record was held by the United States for brewing 660 gallons in New York in 1994.

At left: Workers stir 750 gallons of coffee in a 9 ft tall and 5 ft wide cup built to commemorate the 100th anniversary of a Panamanian coffee company in Panama City April 1, 2007.


 

PodMerchant News

New Offices

We've moved! PodMerchant is now in a smaller, cheaper, yet more appropriate space than before. We were in a relatively commercial space, and now in a full-on industrial space. Some things better... some things worse.

New Policies

The recession has been catching up with us and is finally nipping at our heels. Thus, some changes have had to be made. First off, sad to say, but no more free shipping on orders over $150. This was really hurting us. Even though the shipping costs that we charge seem high, we were still losing money on shipping. The reason is that espresso pods take up a lot of space for their weight. Carriers have what they call "dimensional weight", which is a sort of minimum weight for a given package size. We are hit by this dimensional weight on all 3-Day Select and 2nd Day Air packages, and on larger Ground packages — the very ones that typically qualified for free shipping.

Due to a high percentage of returns, we had made double-shot pods available only through phone orders. This was a hassle for both customer and seller. This has been fixed by making them again available through our online store, yet with a 20% restocking fee. This should not affect anyone who knows they can use double-shot pods, but hopefully gets customers to call us before ordering them without knowing if they work in their machine or not. If you've been buying double-shots from us and there is a problem with the pods, there will be no restocking fee.

More bad news: illy Caffe' charges a higher per-pod wholesale price than any other roaster. Yet, due to market forces, we cannot afford to raise prices above MSRP. As we make very little money on illy products, we can no longer offer the PODcast coupon discount on illy. My apologies to our loyal customers who purchase illy. I'm afraid that's just the way the proverbial espresso pod crumbles...

Subscription Espresso Club

From time to time, PodMerchant has had requests for an espresso subscription service. We're now working on implementing such a plan. The goal is to make it a flexible service which will enable the subscribers to easily make variations in their orders. We expect to have it ready by the next issue of the PODcast, if not sooner.

Sea Shipment

There were delays in getting our orders in Italy picked up and put on a ship, but the ship has now sailed and due to dock on April 2nd. With luck, we should have missing Lucaffe', Izzo, Amigos, and Compagnia dell'Arabica products back on the shelves within a week afterwards.

Facebook

Please visit our Facebook Page! We post updates on product availability, coffee-related stories, photos, and videos to our Facebook page. "Become a Fan" of PodMerchant and you'll get up-to-date news and coffee stories posted to your News Feed. We also have a discussion board.

PodMerchant Coupons

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

• The discount does not apply to illy Caffe' products.
• 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.
• 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.