In the last year, a political movement emerged which has become known as the Tea Party movement. A mostly conservative group, Tea Partiers hold events (known as, you guessed it, Tea Parties) around the nation to protest liberal leadership and agendas such as the stimulus bill and healthcare reform. TEA initially stood for Taxed Enough Already, but the idea of the “Tea Party” as a legitimate political movement has taken hold in American politics.

Politics aside, though, some of us just aren’t tea people. Now there’s a movement for the progressives in America (or just the politically apathetic coffee lovers) known as the “Coffee Party” which focuses on bipartisan partnership, socially conscious voting and accountability for our elected leaders. The Coffee Party was founded by a documentary film maker who was frustrated by the protests, shouting and “movements” that didn’t do anything but aggravate political differences and prejudices. The Coffee Party is designed to be about talking, ideally over a steaming cup of Joe.

The names of these two political factions testify to the sway of savory beverages in American life. What could be more patriotic than a Tea Party (think Boston! Revolutionaries with a mission and passion to back it up) or a cup of coffee at the local cafe to smooth over the political and ideological differences of rivals.

Kudos, to both conservatives and liberals, for adopting such delicious sounding movement names!

Bored with the delicious flavor and mouth watering aroma of your morning cup of coffee? Me either, but for those who are tired of carrying around those heavy cups or mugs, now you can get your flavor and caffeine boost by “whiffing” your coffee. A new product called Le Whif will launch March 10th and 11th in New York City at Dylan’s Coffee Bar and in Cambridge, Massachusetts at Cardullo’s.

Le Whif was invented by Harvard Professor David Edwards of the ArtScience Labs in Paris. Chocolate was the first product to be whiffed, with the release of the product in April of 2009, the benefit is being able to enjoy the flavor of chocolate with less than one calorie.

Le Whif looks similar to a lipstick tube and is inhaled or “whiffed” in through the mouth. The particles pass through small holes and land in the sides of the mouth and tongue. The size of the particle, larger than ten microns and design of the device causes the particles to drop out of the air and keeps the product from entering your lungs.

According to the company’s website people have “whiffed” over 40,000 times since the product’s introduction into the market. It seems that due to press coverage and store launches there has been heavy demand for Le Whif causing some production issues.

For more information visit the company’s website at: http://www.lewhif.com/

As one of the year’s Coffee Fests is held in New York this weekend, so is the Millrock Free Pour Latte Art Championships. This competition is held at each Coffee Fest (an event started in Seattle in 1992, and continuing yearly in several locations) and offers cash prizes to the first, second and third place baristas.

Judges are partitioned off from the audience and earmuffed–the only thing being judged is the appearance of the fresh espresso which has been so artistically crafted. The participants make the froth and foam on the inside of the coffee cup beautiful and distinctive, and hope for one of the awards, which range from $500 to $2,500.

Other events at this weekend’s Coffee Fest include exhibitors and a summit on coffee related issues. For coffee lovers, the Coffee Fest is a warmly welcomed event–samples, exhibits and freebies that are treasures to a coffee-loving soul. For coffee shop owners and baristas, it is a trade fair that updates businesses on the latest in the coffee market and coffee-making industry.

Wolfgang Puck Coffee is jumping on the k-cup bandwagon. In an agreement with Canadian coffee roaster Van Houtte Inc., who is already a manufacturer of their own line of k-cup coffee, Van Houtte will be the exclusive manufacturer of Wolfgang Puck K-Cups. The plan is to produce 12 coffee blends in k-cups for the Keurig Single Cup Coffee brewer.

The Keurig Single Cup Coffee brewer uses a precisely packed K-cup to brew coffee. The K-cup is a small sealed cup that contains a coffee filter and fresh ground coffee. Coffee is brewed by puncturing the k-cup and forcing hot pressurized water through the vessel to extract the coffee.

The Keurig k-cup technology is owned by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, who grants licenses to other roasters to manufacture k-cups. Among the brands are Timothy’s World Coffee, Caribou Coffee, Diedrich, Gloria Jean’s, Tully’s, Coffee People, Green Mountain Coffee

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has donated $10,000 to support the Wellness and Resiliency program at local South Burlington, Vermont Schools.

The program reaches 100 teachers who learn about stress management techniques and general wellness. The wellness techniques taught to the teachers are then incorporated into the general classroom curriculum, to be passed on to the students.

Talk About Wellness Coordinator Marilyn Neagley explains, “Training our youth in exercising calming practices and stress management increases their ability to learn and process information as well as deal with the day-to-day stress of social situations that are part of being a student.”

Green Mountain Coffee was particularly interested in supporting teacher and teen retreats that are offered by the Talk About Wellness Initiative.