ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601310016
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WILLIAM RICE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
All the elements that go into a cup of coffee - from beans to water to the proper container for the freshly made brew - are up for discussion, debate and diatribe as Americans conduct a passionate and uncharacteristic quest for taste perfection.
With demand and competition astonishingly strong, the focus is on making coffee the best that it can be.
Why?
Because the action is all at the top.
All over America, people have been drinking less coffee (1.7 cups a day per capita in 1994 versus 1.9 cups in 1993). But Jim Clark, vice president for marketing at Seattle's Best Coffee, says the bright spot is the specialty coffee category, with a 25 percent increase.
Not only does this mean that the percentage of the population drinking cappuccino and espresso has increased, but such beverages also are drunk more widely and more frequently than ever before.
No wonder those who supply and sell specialty coffees and coffee-related equipment are smiling broadly.
But for the consumer, it's a maze filled with choices, especially for those who want to maximize flavor and pleasure with ``gourmet'' beans and espresso machines. To survey the various forms of making brewed coffee is only to inch open a Pandora's box.
As part of the java boom, an almost overwhelming selection of books was published this year to guide us through the task of buying and making coffee at home.
It should be noted that many people are as indifferent to all this as they are to advice on detecting the subtle flavors of a vintage wine. While coffee ranks as the nation's No. 2 beverage (behind soft drinks), most of those cups come from preground, canned coffee that is neither ``gourmet'' nor ``specialty'' and is prepared at home in an electric drip machine.
Supermarkets, where most people still buy their coffee, have upgraded and broadened their selection. Supermarkets also have been going into the cafe business themselves, or are leasing concessions.
There's also a rapidly growing mail-order business for freshly roasted coffee beans. In addition to Starbucks, Peet's Coffee and Tea in Berkeley, Calif., (800-999-2132) and Gillies Coffee Co. in Brooklyn, N.Y., (800-344-5526) are veteran suppliers on each coast.
Another sign of gourmet coffee's success: In 1987 the Specialty Coffee Association of the U.S.A. held its first trade show. There were 12 exhibitors. This April, in Minneapolis, the association expects more than 600 exhibitors at the show.
Several factors have led to the magnitude of this phenomenon.
Taste is of growing importance in consumers' choices of all types of beverages. Long a factor in Europe, taste nuances (not just ``like'' or ``dislike'') can help rationalize paying higher prices for certain brands or types of beer or wine - or coffee.
The coffeehouse itself is an attraction, an escape from busy lives where one takes time to sit down for conversation. It's also obvious that a drink and conversation in a coffeehouse instead of a bar is more feasible for people under 21 and those who eschew alcohol.
To strengthen ties to the customer on the home front, the coffeehouse has gone into competition with department stores and specialty shops to sell coffeemakers and other equipment as well as beans.
"The market for coffeemakers and espresso machines is very exciting,'' says Sharon Bernard of Home Furnishings Network. ``Wholesale sales in 1994 were $105 million; '93 was $82.7 million. That's a 21.5 percent increase.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB