Heat Shield

It’s an age-old to go problem, how to serve a hot beverage in a disposable cup without your customers turning their fingers into blisters. Millions of dollars and thousands of lives have been lost in the search for the answer. Well, maybe not thousands of lives but you get the idea. The coffee industry and paper manufacturers alike are constantly reviewing and revising the materials that separate our delicate appendages from the cauldron of perfectly brewed elixir within.

The first and most obvious, yet costly approach is to simply double cup the beverage. This presents a couple of problems, however. First, the owner of the café will have an aneurism when he sees the amount of money he’s spending on extra cups going out the door unfilled. Trying to drink from a lidless, double-cupped beverage is an experimentation in dribbleology. I know that’s not a real word but it conveys the message, it’s messy. Even if you have a lid on said cup(s) it’s still, well, downright wasteful. And for all you global warming worrywarts out there, that’s not good.

1993
Coffee-cup sleeve
Jay Sorensen, Inventor

Spill a scalding cup of coffee into your lap, and you have two ways to get rich: (a) sue McDonald's, or (b) invent a product that could save millions from the same fate. Reluctant realtor Jay Sorensen chose (b) after suffering a dousing in 1991. Two years later, he unveiled the Java Jacket, an insulating sleeve made from waffle-textured cardboard that wraps around a standard paper cup. Starbucks later launched a similar product, provoking a legal wrangle, but Sorensen's family-run company has prospered by focusing on independent coffeehouses and chains, which have snapped up more than 600 million Java Jackets.

To elaborate, Sorensen says he used to go through a Portland, Oregon drive-thru where the operator would hand him a cup of coffee with a napkin wrapped around it. In my mind I’m envisioning a slow motion sequence. The cup is handed out the window as the orchestral theme from “Platoon” (Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings) plays in the background. He pulls away holding his cup and shifting until, in a horrifying instant, the napkin-clad cup slips away from the from his grasp, plummeting to his lap below. OK, overly dramatic. Still, it led him to invent the pop-top of the coffee world. He says that the standard Java Jacket can drop the exterior temperature of a cup of 185˚F beverage down to 152˚-156˚F.

During my tenure at a silly doughnut chain, I performed some research on the cups we were using because we were getting complaints from customers that the exterior temperature was too hot. Using an infrared thermometer, we measured the exterior temps at around 165˚-168˚F. This represents a full ten degrees above the window of acceptability from Sorensen’s work. The folks complaining were mostly older people whose hands couldn’t take higher exterior temperatures. You see, the center of your palm is one of the more sensitive parts of your body. The maximum amount of temperature it can withstand is approximately 160˚F which is why pro baristas are taught to gauge the temperature of the milk they steam with their palms instead of with a thermometer (another article). The end result is that your fingers being more often used than the center of your palm should be able to take slightly higher temperatures. The silly doughnut chain never solved the problem.

Coffee people not being ones to wait around for manufacturers to tell them what to do began to brand the sleeves for marketing their cafes.

Dave’s money saving tip:

1. Buy plain white hot cups and blank coffee sleeves.
2. Also buy a durable rubber stamp with your logo on it and some stamp ink.
3. Have your staff stamp the sleeves with the logo.

Keeps the kids busy and doesn’t cost that much. On the other hand if you want to have a more professional look for your cup sleeves there are answers.

BrightVision, a San Francisco based company specializes in custom prints for coffee sleeves that help brand and market your business. You can choose from plain brown cardboard or white, pre-printed art or customize your own. Don Scherer, Vice President of Custom Printing says that the sleeves they print go way beyond simple function. Branding of the business, promotion of specials and sales which generate repeat business, Scherer says, are two of the creative ways that custom sleeve printing benefits the independent shop.

Ted Alpert of Double Wrap Cup and Container Company stressed being green in the manufacturing of his coffee sleeves. The 14 year old company makes their sleeves with a high percentage of recycled material. They fit all popular sizes and even fit vending machine cups. The sleeves are translucent enough to allow logos and promotional advertising on the cup to be visible. I’ve tried these and they are very simple and really work well.

It serves your best interest to both effectively promote your business and keep your customers’ hand out of the hospital. The choices of sleeves go way beyond the list here. Check out the industry you’re in and take advantage of the wealth of imagination at work.

The Golden Cup

In coffee there are many different degrees of excellence. They present themselves when you pull your first perfect espresso shot, cup an Ethiopian Moka Harrar that just blasts blueberry or when you simply enjoy a cup of coffee so much you just have to have another. These experiences are what drive coffee lovers to have them over and over again. It’s not really an addiction, just a striving for perfection.

No matter how many times I analyze coffee, I hold to the adage that coffee preparation is a personal thing. Everyone has his or her "method" of brewing a perceived perfect cup. When I was eight, I was taught to brew four scoops of Maxwell House for five minutes in a Corning-Ware stovetop percolator. Of course, the farming community of Trenton, North Carolina isn’t known as a coffee mecca so I attribute that experience as part of my coffee survival training. My early instruction not withstanding, it is usually the case that there is no accounting for taste especially in the coffee world without a provable method to justify organileptic response. Really. This is why coffee professionals, enthusiasts and generally people in the know rely on the time-honored standard known as The Golden Cup.

More than an award given once per year for excellence in brewed coffee to foodservice operators, it is the standard that all coffee preparation within the SCAA is based. Indeed, the proper coffee to water ratio, proper grind, brew water temperature and quality and contact time established by the Golden Cup standard are now the rules of thumb throughout the Specialty Coffee Industry rather than the practices of purists and scientists. One can see the reflection of this standard from the types of machinery that brewer manufacturers are producing to espresso extraction and coffee cupping. It is the Award Program, however, that has propelled the standard into the public arena and helped to raise the quality bar on brewed coffee.

What’s it all about?

In short, excellence in brewed coffee. The Golden Cup Award Program recognizes an attention to detail that foodservice operations are paying to their coffee program. It is a fair statement to say that if you are serving coffee and are not seeking the Golden Cup standard, then the coffee you’re serving is not nearly as good as it could be. Golden Cup coffee blooms in the cup, so to speak. The aroma greets the customer before they take their first sip. Coffee that is prepared in this way tastes like it was intended. Bright acidities stand out, sweet caramels and chocolates dance around your tongue and French roasts hang on your palate like the smoke from an evening campfire. (We are talking about Specialty Coffee here). Restaurants that follow this standard strive to have their coffee quality match their food quality, and it pays off. If the last thing a customer tastes in the dining experience is the coffee, then ensuring the coffee is fantastic compliments the whole meal.

What does it take?

A desire to have a great coffee program and a commitment to excellence. The rules for the operator are simple, really. First, select a reputable coffee roaster so the coffee being served is as fresh as possible. This roaster should have an SCAA Certified Brewing Technician on staff that can help the operator become certified. If not, an application can be obtained by contacting the SCAA through its website or by phone. After receiving the completed application, a Certified Brewing Technician will be dispatched to perform an onsite survey of the operator’s coffee program. Third, an operator needs to ensure that the following criteria are met:

1. Clean Coffee Brewing and Handling Equipment

This includes coffee grinders, brew baskets, sprayheads, seatcups in faucets and of course, containers and dispensers. Coffee oils form a residue over time on the surfaces of these components that will influence every batch of coffee it encounters.

2. Proper Grind

Grind particle size is one of the determining factors of extraction. The roaster or coffee provider should be able to discern which grind is correct.

3. Correct Water Temperature

Brew water temperature should be within 195-205F.

No exceptions.

4. Good Water Quality

Basically, if it tastes good and doesn’t form calcium deposits it’s good to go.

Water analysis by a reputable filtration company is strongly recommended.

Reverse Osmosis (unless its re-mineralized) and distilled water are unacceptable.

5. Contact Time

The amount of time water is in contact with the coffee varies with the type of brewer. Newer and more efficient brewing technologies are pushing the envelope but around five minutes of contact time is the norm.

The roaster or coffee provider should be able to help in this regard.

6. Coffee to Water Ratio

3.25 - 4.25 ounces by weight to make 64 fluid ounces of coffee

The reason there is a range is because different coffees extract differently. The coffee will taste wonderful somewhere in this range of 3.25-4.25 ounces.

Logically, the amounts of coffee to use increases as the batch size or amount of water increases. Again, the range of coffee comes into play according to taste.

How is a Golden Cup Award determined?

The certified brewing technician, when performing the onsite survey, will use testing devices and techniques learned in SCAA taught Brewing Fundamentals and Golden Cup certification classes. He or she will test and evaluate the brewed coffee and observe adherence to the above criteria by the applicant. The technician will then take both a coffee and a water sample for submission to the SCAA headquarters in Long Beach, California for further analysis and certification.

The brewing technician will test to see if the coffee’s soluble concentration or

“Strength” and soluble yield or “Extraction”, when correlated with the weight of dry coffee used and plotted on this chart converge in the “Optimum Balance Box”

When the samples reach Long Beach the SCAA’s Research and Training Associate, Lorenzo Brown, places a portion of the sample into a specialized microwave oven. The Labwave 9000 is a combination microwave, scale and computer that can determine actual dissolved solids to within 0.01% resolution. When the sample passes this final test, certification of the Golden Cup Award is approved.

The applicant will then be notified of the award and will receive in the mail a Golden Cup Certificate, a press release from the SCAA to distribute to local media, an order form to buy a beautiful Golden Cup Award plaque and will be listed in the quarterly SCAA Chronicle’s roster of GC Award recipients. Upon its completion in late February 2005, the Consumer Map on the SCAA website will feature members that have won the Golden Cup Award and their information by city and state in a 2D software map. It’ll be a good way to find actual coffee while traveling.

Then What?

Times have changed somewhat since Dr. Lockhart started the Coffee Brewing Institute in 1952. The over 6000 Golden Cup Awards that hung on the walls of establishments around the country and the world signified something great about the coffee of that time. These days with so much communication and so many coffee chains competing for the same market, anything that calls attention to better quality and sets an operation apart from the herd is crucial marketing.

So, as I always say, “Have a Party!”

As you can see, achieving the Golden Cup Award is no small matter for a foodservice operation or coffee shop. Why not celebrate that fact and have what is becoming known around the Charlotte and Atlanta areas at least as a Golden Cup Party. There are any number of food, wine and cigar awards that are given throughout the year. An organization’s coffee program is no less important. A national award for excellence in coffee says a lot about that company or shop’s desire to be the best. I encourage the operators that have won to set a date for a plaque presentation party and because they are either restauranteurs or shop owners, they usually know local media people, celebrities and others to invite for this particular celebration.

The Golden Cup Award is the perfect marketing tool to promote an operator’s coffee program. The GC parties I’ve been involved with have music, art, a presentation and coffee; what more could you want? An aftereffect of such a public display is that all too critical word of mouth advertising. Coffee sales in the Charlotte area shops that have won the Golden Cup and promoted it in the above fashion have risen on average, 20%. Not bad for a little ole brewing standard, huh?

The goal is to have that perfect coffee experience and then sell thousands of cups of that experience. Excellence in brewed coffee is achievable and is something to trumpet because when coffee is good, business is good.