U.S. urged to wake up to "coffee with a conscience"

Friday, October 11, 2002
By Ros Davidson, Reuters

BERKELEY, Calif. — Americans are being urged to wake up to "coffee with a conscience" as labor rights activists push java that addresses the bitter realities of the world coffee trade.

The Fair Trade movement — which seeks to pay Third World coffee growers enough to adequately feed and educate their families — is gaining steam, promoted by nonprofit groups and a new national campaign featuring an actor of presidential caliber, Martin Sheen of the White House television drama West Wing.

For supporters of fair trade coffee, the idea is simple. With plunging coffee prices bringing some coffee farmers to the brink of starvation, they are asking U.S. consumers to pay more for cappuccinos to help protect rural agricultural workers from wild swings in commodity markets.

But critics of the movement say it does little to help coffee workers on large plantations that are not eligible for fair trade guidelines.

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Do you take cheese with your coffee, sir?

MADISON — A Wisconsin dairy expert has found a cheese perfect for dunking in coffee, and he’s passing the centuries-old Finnish recipe along to other cheesemakers.

James Path, a University of Wisconsin-Madison cheese outreach specialist, is teaching small state cheesemakers how to produce Juustoleipa, or bread cheese.

For 200 years, Finns have dunked it in their coffee, covered it in jam and served it as a dessert. The mild-tasting cheese develops a slight brown crust when it’s baked to 200 degrees.

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RABBI PLISKIN'S DAILY LIFT

Daily Lift #122 Wake Up With Enthusiasm

Every morning when you wake up, you are given another day of life. This gift of life is precious. To say that it's precious is really a colossal understatement. Being alive is more valuable than anything else that one can own and possess. The greater your appreciation for being alive, the more enthusiastic you will be when wake up each morning.

Your Creator gives you life this moment for a reason. Your life is purposeful. Just imagine the enthusiasm you are going to experience when you realize that the Creator and Sustainer of the universe is saying to you, "I am giving you life this very moment. Appreciate it."
(From "Enthusiasm: formulas, stories, and insights" (2002) pp.34-5; available from http://www.artscroll.com)

New research says habitual coffee-drinking may protect against some diseases

By SORA SONG

Brewing Debate: Science has flip-flopped on the dangers of caffeine.

Wake up and smell the coffee? Most of us wouldn't have it any other way. The U.S. is, after all, the largest coffee importer in the world, bringing in 3.1 billion pounds of beans a year, according to the National Coffee Association. That's just about enough to satisfy the 109 million Americans who drink 8 billion gallons of the brew — enough to fill the Central Park reservoir eight times — every year.
Anything we like so much must be bad for us, right? Conventional wisdom has always advised against drinking too much coffee. As early as 1679, French doctors cautioned that it led to exhaustion, paralysis, even impotence. To date, some 20,000 scientific studies have been conducted on the most familiar ingredient in coffee — caffeine, which researchers have linked to everything from hypertension and bone loss to high cholesterol and stress.

Here's a fresh look at the good and the bad of what's in your mug.

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Too early to predict this year's (Hawaii) coffee market

By KAREN IWAMOTO/ West Hawaii Today

It's too early in the season to predict this year's market for Kona coffee but some processors are expecting stable prices.

Christine Sheppard, president of the Kona Coffee Council said she's seen prices for coffee cherry at 90 to 95 cents per pound, which was an increase over the prices she saw last year - 75 to 85 cents per pound. It's too early in the season to predict parchment prices, she said.

"Kona beans are very high quality but there's a premium on bigger beans because they just look better," Sheppard said. So far, there seems to be a lot of better grade beans in this season's crop, she added.

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Caffeinated soap a new wake-up call

By Jim Shea
Lifestyle Correspondent

The early-morning ritual.

If you are like most people, it involves a quick cup of coffee and a quicker shower, or if you are really running late, a quick cup of coffee in the shower.

But suppose you could safely, and efficiently -- not to mention hygienically -- combine the two waker-uppers.

Suppose you could get clean and get caffeinated at the same time.

Well, there may be a way:

Shower Shock.

Shower Shock is a soap that its manufacturers claim delivers 250 milligrams of caffeine per -- I guess you would call it -- serving.

And, no, you don't eat it. You absorb it. You simply lather up and let the suds kick you into gear.

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SCAA Responds to OXFAM Report on Coffee Crisis

LONG BEACH, CA - The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) supports the efforts of Oxfam International to raise awareness of the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the current crisis on coffee farmers world-wide. The long-term viability of the specialty coffee industry is dependent upon the sustainability of those who produce high-quality coffee. For this reason, it is in the best interest of specialty coffee roasters and retailers to build long-term relationships that provide fair prices to coffee producers.

The specialty coffee industry pays premium prices for high quality coffee. Members of the SCAA are currently engaged in a range of efforts to improve the well-being of producers, including Fair Trade and other sustainable certifications, relationship coffees, alternative market programs such as the Cup of Excellence® competition/auction, and a variety of company-implemented coffee sourcing innovations. In addition, SCAA supports the following to promote coffee quality and increase compensation to farmers:

§ Technical support for producers to improve quality

§ The creation and promotion of specialty coffee standards

§ The diversification of economic opportunities for producers, especially producers growing coffee at lower elevations

§ The elimination of or finding alternative uses for triage coffee

§ The improvement of FDA standards for the purity of coffee imports into the United States

About the SCAA
Founded in 1982, SCAA is the world's largest coffee trade association with over 2,500 member companies. SCAA members are located in over 40 countries and represent every segment of the specialty coffee industry, from coffee growers to coffee roasters and retailers. The SCAA's mission is to be the recognized authority on specialty coffee, providing a common forum for the development and promotion of coffee excellence and sustainability. The SCAA's dedication to excellence in coffee is realized through the setting of quality standards for the industry; conducting research on coffee, equipment and perfection of craft; and providing education, training, resources and services for members. The SCAA's annual conference is held in a different U.S. city each year and is the coffee industry's largest gathering and exhibition. Over 7,000 participants attend dozens of workshops and round tables on a variety of timely topics, from cupping coffee to merchandising. The exhibition hosts over 800 trade booths. SCAA's next Conference & Exhibition will be held in Boston April 25-28, 2003.

SCAA.org

William Rosenberg, 86, Founder of Dunkin' Donuts Dies

William Rosenberg, 86, founder of Dunkin' Donuts died Sept. 20 after a long illness. He was a resident of Boca Ratton, Fla.

After World War II, Rosenberg borrowed $1000 which he added to his $1500 in war bonds and began an industrial catering business conducted from trucks he designed. Within a short period of time he had 140 trucks, plus 25 in-plant cafeterias and a vending division. Upon realizing that 40% of his business was coffee and donuts, he established a shop specializing in those products - and Dunkin' Donuts was born. After opening his 6th shop, he decided on franchising as a method of expansion, and the rest is history. Dunkin' Donuts is now a company with more than 6000 shops worldwide.

Coffee prices lift Vietnam spirits

By Tran Dinh Thanh Lam

HO CHI MINH CITY - The improvement in the prices of coffee beans is giving hope to Vietnamese farmers who have suffered steady losses over the last five years. Coffee growers faced lean times last year as oversupply on world markets saw prices plunge.

But Vietnam's coffee growers say their fate is changing thanks, in part, to a campaign by Oxfam America. Oxfam is calling for the adoption of a new plan put forward by the International Coffee Organization to take some lower-grade beans off the market, and for the top four coffee-roasting multinationals, which dominate the world market, to pay a fair price for the beans.

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