Kwak is an incredible Belgium beer that’s brewed by Monks, and was favored by the coach-driven in the 19th Century. At Den Anker in Cape Town, it’s even served in the traditional bowl shaped glass, which was designed to minimize spillage, while riding in a coach. The glasses are difficult and expensive to replace, so the bar tender insists that you remove your left shoe as a deposit for the glass. The shoe is placed in a basket and hoisted to the rafters of the ceiling until you’re done!

I believe this is just the tip of the iceberg for creative, healthy flavoring, a major cola product flavored with apple extract, coffee leaf, tantaric acid from grapes, gum arabic from acacia trees, and cane sugar… instead of phosphoric acid, fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, and citric acid.

Thanks, Andrew.

A prototype software app is able to check an automobile’s vital stats, open and close windows, retain user configurations for seating options and even start the ignition. Video demo link here.

Also, Apple has filed a patent for ordering and paying for products on the iPhone. Imagine not having to wait in line at Starbucks! [source article here.]

Food analysis (ie the labels on food products at the grocery store) is currently an expensive and labor intensive process.  However, Philips has submitted a patent application for a portable food and beverage analyzer (lab on a chip technology), so you could potentially know the makeup  of food in bars and restaurants.  [patent application here.]

I really think uWink would be a hit in Asia. It’s like an Internet cafe on steroids.

Click here for video promo.

I made pancakes a couple weekends ago, which reminded me that using a spoon to scoop batter and drip it into a frying pan is a messy, and imperfect process!

Welcome The Batter Blaster, a pressurized can filled with organic pancake mix, where you can point the can to the grill and shoot batter, to create perfect pancakes every time!

San Jose-based Provina has raised $4 million, led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, to market its software and home wine making machine - the WinePod, which retails for $3,499. The machine and software control the fermentation and appropriate aging temperature, which determine the customized taste of the wine. Premium quality grapes can be ordered from the best regions in California.

News release available here.

I once read that roasted coffee beans oxidize and become stale only seven days after roasting. Ground coffee oxidizes after only three days. So, bottom line is that most of us drink stale coffee, even if you use an airtight container. Meanwhile, green unroasted coffee beans stay fresh for up to a year. Home roasting is one solution for fresh coffee, but the conditions for optimal coffee roasting are extremely precise, and it’s easy to burn the coffee beans etc., and many are willing to sacrifice some taste for the convenience of store bought coffee.

Starbucks has done a good job of educating coffee consumers of the benefit of quality coffee, but the experience could certainly be improved. In the era of “you,” I believe there’s an opportunity to create a chain of Fire Roasted Coffee houses (the domain firecoffee.com was available at the time of this writing), where consumers can select among a variety of green coffee beans in canisters (so they could select Kona beans, or Columbian beans, or Kenyan beans, for example), and then select the type of fire roasting they want (ie french roasted, vanilla roasted, orange roasted etc.). During the roasting, consumers can watch the expert fire roasters, or meet with people, or read, or browse music or book selections. There could also be online ordering, so you can custom order your coffee from home and pick it up or have it delivered in time for optimal freshness and taste.

I love brick oven pizza, and believe a brick oven creates not only superior pizza, but also can dramatically improve the ambiance of a restaurant. A coffee house with a brick fire oven for coffee roasting would achieve a similar kind of experience, and also better tasting, fresher coffee to either consume at the shop or to take home.

[UPDATE: A variation of this, a more earth friendly approach: Solar roasted coffee]

Krispy Kreme Donuts has clearly lost its luster.

Meanwhile, Sprinkles Cupcakes, a cupcake shop in Beverly Hills, is the newest rage. Why doesn’t Krispy Kreme introduce exotic flavored, and made from scratch with all natural ingredients cupcakes before Sprinkles goes nationwide?

But there’s nothing truly special in my opinion with fresh cupcakes, just as there is nothing truly special with a Krispy Kreme donut.

BUT, FRIED COKE is a different story! An award-winning food inventor introduced deep-fried coke syrup at the Texas State Fair, and it was a hit! It actually sounds delicious, and I’m sure tastes even better than it sounds.

Why isn’t there coke flavored ice-cream or frozen yogurt, by the way, or Sprite or 7 up Sorbet?

Remember when cookie dough ice-cream was introduced? What a great concept. I also liked the idea from The Apprentice of ice-cream with chunks of donut.

Any weird dessert ideas out there?