Puck Packs Canned Heat
Tuesday, May 10, 2005 18:26
There are so many reasons to be a proud Left Coast fast food snob (think Skooby’s, In-N-Out Burger and Pinks!) but today local gourmets on-the-run have yet another reason to crow. Los Angeles’ very own hometown chef boyardee Wolfgang Puck is leveling his “fresh cooking” franchise at business travellers by introducing a line of coffee beverages in self-heating cans. The fancy food technology is not exactly new but it is really frickin’ hot. If the hype is to be believed we’re talking 145 degrees of canned hotness in 6-8 minutes. The press-button container, home to an “actuating puck” (wot?!) and some iffy sounding chemicals, was first introduced by San Diego-based OnTech during a hotel/motel tradeshow this fall in New York. At the time OnTech announced a deal with Hillside Coffee to distribute its hot canned java. Puck represents the first widely recognized gourmet franchise to sign on. OnTech’s device, for which the company has claimed numerous patents, can also be used with tea, cocoa, soups, and alcoholic beverages. A similar disposable self-heating device is already used in ramen containers sold in vending machines in Japan. Me personally, I’m having a hard time imagining myself kicking it at a Super 8 on the I-5 clutching a Puck Mocha Latte, but a girl can dream can’t she? For more details check the New York Times story Taking the Heat Out of the Kitchen by Kim Severson. (05/11/05) If you don’t subscribe to NYT, or if you’d like to see a pokey ‘how it works’ slide show, the OnTech site has more.
Photo credit: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
marshmellow says:
May 10th, 2005 at 10:29 pm
That sounds good. I hope it’s better coffee than the star-ucks swill. What is the price point for this stuff? can you get foamed milk with that?
SoCalorie says:
May 10th, 2005 at 10:35 pm
Good question. $2.25 for 10 ounces of coffee, according to NYT.
I know what you mean about cutting the barista out of the picture. Besides being able to have a pro prepare your coffee just the way you like it there’s always the chance you’ll get a little latte art too.
Why We Type says:
May 10th, 2005 at 11:25 pm
One minute, he’s inventing the gourmet pizza, and before you know it, he’s the Kenny Rogers of the coffee Klatch. What will he slap his name on next?
The technology makes me think of the ThermaCare patch, the oversized bandage that heats up when you tear open the $8 package. But isn’t the whole idea of grabbing a can of coffee getting something oversweet and metallic? If I want gourmet coffee in a hurry, I can now go to McDonalds.
In the name of a greener, more sustainable tomorrow, does the insta heat can come with free refills?
SoCalorie says:
May 11th, 2005 at 12:10 am
You’d think Puck would be satisfied with Spago, the Oscars, take-out food in gourmet grocers, but he wants to go after the convenience store and hospitality industries too.
Judging from the OnTech slide show, it looks like a one-time thermal dynamic reaction. Once the pop-top is opened and the foil seal is broken, the quicklime reacts to the water, heats up from room temperature to 145 degrees, then drops back off after 20 minutes, but stays warm up to an hour. After that I fear the heat-cone becomes useless.
I see nothing green nor sustainable about the packaging. How recycleable do these components sound?
“Sonoco supplies the retortable containers, which include a blow-molded, polypropylene cup and inner cone, injection-molded components, a full pull-off metal cover, a stay-on tab and a printed foam label. A thermal ink spot indicates when contents are ready to drink.”
(source: “Convenience Stores Support a Speed-to-Mouth Lifestyle,” March 2005, Brandpackaging.com)
Do you go to McDonald’s for coffee, or just salads? C’mon, fess up about your ’speed-to-mouth’ ways.
Open Coffee Library says:
May 11th, 2005 at 12:58 pm
Puck Packs Canned Heat
[Source: la.foodblogging] quoted: There are so many reasons to be a proud Left Coast fast food snob (think Skooby’s, In-N-Out Burger and Pinks!) but today local gourmets on-the-run have yet another reason to crow. Los Angeles’ very own hom…