Hain Celestial Sues St. Louis’s BluePrint Coffee
Food and beverage conglomerate Hain Celestial has filed suit in federal court against St. Louis-based BluePrint Coffee, alleging trademark infringement. Hain owns BluePrint, which is a brand of cold-pressed juices, drinking vinegars and tea-based energy drinks. Hain alleges the the name of the coffee company creates “a likelihood of confusion” with its BluePrint brand.
According to The Riverfront Times in St. Louis, BluePrint Coffee has risen to become one of the most respected coffee shops in the city since it began business three years ago. The company sells its coffee beans across the U.S.
Mike Marquard, a partner in BluePrint Coffee, said his company has filed for a U.S. trademark and is currently in a period before finalization for potential rivals to object, Riverfront Times reported. Marquard said the two companies have been negotiating to find a “peaceful resolution.”
Portland Juice Co. unveils cold-pressed cannabis leaf juice
Portland Juice Co. has introduced “The Ananda,” a cold-pressed hemp leaf juice produced using locally-grown hemp. According to the Willamette Week’s The Potlander, the beverage tastes like cannabis, but it won’t get you high; the leaves have been specially bred to be nearly free of THC, the main psychoactive component in cannabis. The hemp used for “The Ananda” contains less than .03 milligrams of THC and is also low in Cannabidiol (CBD).
The juice is also made with grapes, ginger, pear, lime and sea salt and retails for $8 per 16 oz. bottle. On its website, Portland Juice Co. praised the health benefits of hemp, noting that it contains a high vitamin B count, proteins and essential fatty acids and could reduce inflammation, cholesterol and help with nausea.
Can public health officials cut into soda consumption?
Last year the University of California, San Francisco banned sugar-sweetened drinks across its campus, including every store, food truck and vending machine. The decision made it one of the largest employers in the country to eliminate sugary drinks as a beverage option.
Now, researchers at the university have enrolled 214 school employees in a study to see how the ban has affected their soda intake and overall health. The results of the study are forthcoming, but early indicators show the employees reported a major drop in consumption, according to the The New York Times.
When energy drinks were radioactive
Georgetown radiation medicine professor Timothy Jorgensen took to CNN Thursday to tell the story of RadiThor, a 1920s “energy drink” consisting of radium dissolved in water.
Marketed as a medicine and sold for $1 each (about $15 today) in 1 oz. bottles, RadiThor has at least one known casualty. Eben Byers, a Pittsburgh industrialist, became obsessed with the drink after using it to heal a broken arm. While nothing in the concoction would actually help this, Byers was convinced of its effects and ultimately died in 1932 after the radium deposited itself into his bone tissue. He was interred in a lead-lined coffin to contain the radiation in his bones.
Despite the massive hazard of a radioactive drink, RadiThor never sparked a public outcry. Eventually, the government shut down the company that manufactured the drink and RadiThor was off the market by 1932.
DRY Soda Co. CEO offers advice for entrepreneurial women
Sharelle Klaus, founder and CEO of DRY Soda Co., has some advice to other women in the business world: “be fearless and creative.”
Klaus sat down with The Huffington Post on Friday to discuss how she began DRY Soda, which sells sparkling soft drinks. Since 2005, DRY has become one of the fastest growing soft drink brands in the U.S.
In the interview, Klaus discussed being inspired to start the company to offer “beautiful-tasting, non-alcoholic” dinner drinks that aren’t “cloyingly sweet or made with artificial ingredients.” She said the company is poised to double its revenue in 2017.
Which dairy-alternative milk is most nutritious?
The New York Times health writer Roni Caryn Rabin has at least one answer to a reader asking for advice on the most nutritious non-dairy milk: It depends.
In a Friday column, Rabin broke down the various benefits and shortcomings of almond, cashew, coconut and soy milk, noting that all fall short on protein and calcium when compared to cow’s milk. However, fortifying the beverages with pea and rice protein and calcium phosphate or calcium carbonate are popular solutions to add extra nutrition to the vegan-friendly drinks.