A study conducted by Yangmei Li at the University of Cambridge in England indicates that people who consumed coffee showed a 27% lower risk of stoke over those who did not drink coffee. The study followed 20,000 men and women for approximately 12 years and found that people who reported to drink coffee were only 71% as likely to have a stoke as those who did not consume coffee. The study took into account other factors such as smoking, weight, blood pressure and activity.

The new study finds an association between coffee consumption and fewer strokes but researchers are not certain of the mechanisms of action. There did not appear to be any relation as to how much coffee was consumed or whether it was regular or decaffeinated.

The study was presented at the International Stroke Conference in San Antonio.

Green Mountain Coffee announced today that they have reached an agreement with Smucker the owner of the Folgers and Millstone Coffee brands to manufacture these coffee brands in the k-cup for use in the popular Keurig Single Cup Coffee Brewer. Under the agreement Smucker will provide the roasted coffee and Green Mountain will manufacture and package the product into k-cups. Smucker will market these products through grocery store, wholesale club, and drug store chains and Keurig will sell them on their own retail website.

Green Mountain Coffee owns the Keurig K-Cup brand and grants licenses for others to produce them. Among the licensees are Timothy’s World Coffee, Diedrich, Gloria Jean’s, Caribou Coffee, Tully’s, and Van Houtte.

The Keurig Single Cup Coffee System has grown rapidly in popularity in both the home consumer and office coffee markets due to the simplicity of use and the choice of hundreds of varieties of coffee, tea and cocoa.

Look for the new k-cups to be available sometime this Fall.

Following last year’s introduction of the McCafe line into neighborhood McDonald’s locations, Burger King has reportedly made plans to upgrade its own coffee offerings.

For the past five years, Burger King has offered its BK Joe brand of coffee beverages. By September, Burger King will now feature Seattle’s Best (a Starbucks brand) with various features, such as vanilla shots and mocha flavors.

The new coffee will range from $1 to $2.79 and will feature 100% Arabic beans.

So far, the deal has proved profitable for both Seattle’s Best and Burger King on the trading floor, and Burger King hopes to improve its breakfast options through the deal, offering more profit long term.

I just ran across an interesting product via Twitter. The product, Caffeindicator shows you if the coffee that you have been served is regular or decaf. Of course if you are brewing the coffee at home you can be pretty sure of what you are getting but if you are dining out, you cannot always be certain. Were they out of decaf and substituted? Did someone brew regular coffee into the decaf pot by accident? Now for me, it’s really no big deal other than I enjoy getting my morning jump start, but for others it can be issue. Caffeine intake in moderation is normally fine for most people but for some too much caffeine can make them restless, anxious and cause headaches. Some people are more sensitive to the effects of caffeine than others and need to limit their use of caffeine. That is where Caffeindicator comes in.

This product created by Tabletop Vericator™ a subsidiary of Verification Technology Systems, LLC is very simple. The Caffeindicator is printed on the little individual sugar or sweetener packets. All you do when your coffee arrives is spoon out a drop of the coffee and place it on the packet, if it turns pink you know that the coffee contains caffeine.

You can find out more information at: http://www.caffeindicator.com/ and follow them on Twitter at: @Caffeindicator

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) has suspended a driver for regularly holding up his bus route every evening in order to stop for a cup of coffee and a donut. He is under investigation by the TTC following the frustration of a regular rider of the Bathurst Blue Night line. The rider, who complains that the driver completed this coffee break ritual every day for two weeks, eventually took a video of the driver leaving the bus unattended and spending nearly 7 minutes buying a cup of coffee and a donut. The video was then posted to YouTube and the TCC has promised to investigate the incidents and has suspended the driver until further notice.

For the riders of the Bathurst Blue Night line, this was an inconvenience, but for the driver, coffee was an absolute necessity. We can’t say that we don’t understand his need for a steaming cup of coffee, but professional priorities ought to have some weight. How far “off route” have you gone for a cup of coffee?