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Diplomat Coffee
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Hilo Hattie of Hawaii
Hilo Hatties Mele Kalikimocha

Chocolate
Echte Salzburger Mozartkugel We found these in Salzburg, Austria, where they are made. Hmmmmm!! The History of Mozartkugeln Chocolates
Ghiradelli Chocolate, 415.474.1414
Scharfen Bergen Chocolate, 510.981.4066

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Livermore Valley Winegrowers
Big White House Winery
Cedar Mountain Winery
Chouinard Vineyards
Concannon Vineyard
Elliston Vineyards
Fenestra Winery
Garre Winery
Ivan Tamas Winery
Murrietas Well Winery
Retzlaff
Rios-Lovell
Stony Ridge
Thomas Coyne
Westover Vineyards
  • Outside the Valley

    • Tedeschi Vineyards Hawaii
    Husch Vineyards
    Columbia Crest     		Domus 652 Main St. Pleasanton, CA 94566, 925.485-3077

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    		Restaurants top
  • Pleasanton

    • Bamboo Island
    Garlic Di Pasta
    Pleasanton Restaurants
    Valley Restaurants
    Erik's Delicafe
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    Casa Madrid
    Casa Orozco
    Pleasanton Hotel, 855 Main St, Pleasanton, CA, 94566, 510-846-8106
    Stacy's Cafe
  • Other cities

    • Alouette French Restaurant San Ramon
    Armadillo Willy's, Dublin
    4480 Tassajara Road, 925.833.0400
    Isobune Sushi 650.344.8433
    1451 Burlingame Ave.
    301 Hartz Avenue Danville
  • San Francisco

    • Menupages.com Over 2300 Restaurants listed
    Open Table Make Reservations Online
    One Market
    Roy's Restaurant
    Anjou, 44 Campton Place 94108, 415.392.5373
    Bacar, 448 Brannan 94107, 904.4100
    Kuleto's 221 Powell 415.397.7720
    Palace Hotel Garden Court Restaurant, (415) 546-5089
    Recipes Online
    Cleaning_Soft_Shell_Crab
    Fried_Soft_Shell_Crab
    OceanSprayCranberry recipes & beverages
    Campbell's Soup
    From the Wall Street Journal: October 2002, In Your Cup
    Coffee purity is based on the number of "defects" in unprocessed beans: A "small" stick, for example, is one defect; a "medium" stone is two.
    -- The U.S. law allows a maximum 495 defects per roughly three-quarters of a pound, according to the International Coffee Organization, a major trade group. That's a lot of sticks.
    -- What ends up in your cup is a lot cleaner after processing. Still, the ICO recently unveiled new standards -- which cut allowable debris levels by more than half.
    ---
    Finding a Better Bean
    Want better coffee? Here's how to filter through the information:
    THE BEANS
    Don't be baffled by all the choices -- Sumatra, Kona, Jamaican Blue Mountain -- there are only two main bean types:
    -- Arabica: Generally, a better tasting bean. A lot of it comes from Latin America, and it's what most specialty coffee is made of. (FYI: It also has nearly 40% less caffeine than robusta.)
    -- Robusta: Cheaper to grow; hardier; less tasty. Vietnam is flooding the market. It's used in lots of blends but on its own (or when there's too much of it in the blend) it tastes bland or worse.
    THE ROAST
    Coffee tastes a lot better if it was roasted in the past two days. This can be tough to achieve -- not even all of the fanciest coffee emporiums post "roasted on" dates. But ask.
    THE COLOR
    Very dark roasts can kill the flavor of beans. Thanks to the coffee-bar fad, dark roasts are trendy. But in fact much of what passes as "dark" roasted is in fact, burned, killing the subtle flavor of an otherwise delicious bean. "Look for beans roasted to a rich color between caramel and chocolate," says Mark Prince of coffeegeek.com.
    THE GRIND
    Want decent coffee? Grind it yourself. Sure it's a hassle, but consider: coffee can legally have up to 30% dead beans and other debris, such as gravel, industry experts say. If you buy it pre-ground, who knows what's in there? But if you buy whole beans you can see what you get. Plus, fresh ground coffee is more aromatic.
    THE BRAND
    Most packaged, pre-ground brands won't tell you the coffee's origins unless they feel there's something to be proud of: Yuban boasts "100% Colombian." For one coffee connoisseur's taste tests of hundreds of brands see coffeereview.com.
    THE FINE PRINT
    Watch for makes that specify "fair trade," "shade grown" or "single origin." These aren't strictly a guarantee of better coffee, but they provide useful information -- if you know the code:
    -- Fair trade: Means growers received a higher price for presumably more attentive production.
    -- Shade grown: Means what it sounds like: Beans are grown in the shade, which leads to tastier beans.
    -- Single origin: When it's from a more reputable country, like say Kenya, tells you you're not drinking a blend with questionable beans added in.