From left to right, sophomores Beth Heslowitz, Cora Iberkleid and Lisa Lerner sample the Kahlua Loco ice cream they created for their Food Science 101 class, Dec. 2 in Stocking Hall. Charles Harrington/University Photography
Is it the influence of popular television shows like NBC's "Friends," where much of the action takes place in a trendy urban coffee shop called Central Perk?
Perhaps. But coffee, or at least its flavor, has gotten the attention of students at this Ivy League campus.
"Two years ago, students would have shunned a coffee-flavored ice cream," said Joe Hotchkiss, Cornell professor of food science and instructor for Food Science 101. "They just didn't like it."
That was then, this is now. For the Food Science 101 course's final project, four teams of students had to create a type of commercial ice cream from scratch in the department's state-of-the-art pilot plant. And although none of the four teams knew what the others were creating, three of them chose to create a coffee-based ice cream.
"With all the excitement in the coffee product category, this is the first year I've seen students choose coffee ice cream, let alone three groups choose coffee ice cream at the same time," said Hotchkiss. "Soda companies don't want youth getting their caffeine from coffee, but apparently coffee has found its way into the students' lifestyle."
The class' Team One made a product called "Oregon Chaiscream," (pronounced CHICE-cream) which featured a prime alternative to coffee -- tea -- in a honey-and-ginger-based concoction. A fudge swirl found its way through the ice cream and the students added crystallized ginger.
But teams two, three and four focused on java. Team Two developed "Kahlua Loco," which is a Kahlua/vanilla blend, with brownie fudge and chocolate crisps. Team Three made "Mudslide," which used a vanilla/Kahlua base, with a caramel ribbon and brownie chunks. Team Four came up with "Kaotic Kahlua," an all-Kahlua-based ice cream with a fudge ribbon and cone crispy chunks.
Perhaps Hotchkiss should have expected the coffee focus. After all, Cornell's Food Product Development Team, which he helped coach, won the Institute of Food Technologists' national competition last summer with Stir-Ins -- a product devised for coffee dipping. And last fall, the food science department created Inaugural Swirl for Cornell President Hunter Rawlings' inauguration. That also was a coffee-based ice cream with a chocolate theme.
Need more proof of coffee's influence? Standard outerwear for trendy undergraduates is a backpack with the ever-present refillable and ecologically correct coffee mug hanging from the straps. And the Hotel School's student-run The Statler Grind, a coffee shop serving espresso, cappuccino and a variety of flavored coffees, in operation for only 18 months, has become a popular spot on campus.
"It's fashionable to drink coffee now," said Barbara Lang, a Hotel School lecturer in food and beverage management. "It's also sort of an upscale beverage, and that's attractive to students."
Lang agrees that popular television programs featuring coffee shops have helped create the boon for the bean on campuses nationwide. The beverage provides something good-tasting, which can be sweet, all without the calories of a dessert. "And coffee has become a good alternative for those who don't want to drink alcohol," Lang noted.
At a recent Hotel School contest of flavored coffees, a concoction called the "Brown Bear" -- flavored with cinnamon and chocolate -- was quite popular.
"I also think the less coffee tastes like coffee, the more appealing it is to students," Lang said. "That might be a reason for the popularity of flavored coffees."