Coffee Lovers: Roast Your Own At Home

Dust Off That Old Popcorn Popper For A New Use
Lisa Morrison, Staff Writer

Latte. Mocha. Americano. Caramel Macchiato.

Bean there, done that?

If you're a member of the coffee generation and are searching for your next java adventure, look no further than your old popcorn popper.

Air-pop popcorn poppers are just one tool that members of the coffee-cup elite use to roast coffee beans at home.

A growing number of java junkies are purchasing green beans (not the kind Mom made you you eat, the unroasted coffee kind) and doing their own roasting in small batches in their kitchens.

Here are a few reasons why:

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'Drink (Environmentally) Responsibly' Urges the Rainforest Alliance and Millstone Coffee

Earth Day Reminds Consumers of Their Environmental Purchasing Power

NEW YORK, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- With Americans drinking more than 400
million cups of coffee per day, few other products have as much impact on the
Earth. Coffee is the second most traded commodity, behind oil, and employs
more than 25 million farmers. And, while many of us make food choices based
on our own health, Earth Day serves as an opportunity for consumers to
consider the health of the Earth when making food purchases. Since April 22,
1970, Earth Day has been an annual event for people around the world to
celebrate the Earth and their responsibility toward it.

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Caffeine High Tech

By Daniel Dubno and Bob Bicknell ©MMIV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

(CBS) I know that I have hit a nerve when each time I put pen to paper, yet another colleague comes in and asks for just one more cup. “Have milk left for cappuccinos?” “How much is the coffee grinder?”

Since we decided to take a brief look at “java technology” (I’m talking about the bean here), my office has been filled with the latest espresso machines and novel methods of getting the daily dose of caffeine. Caffeine surely is the most widely consumed drug in existence. The addiction seems to be the hardest one to break.

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Coffee & Dessert – What an incredible Double Header

Coffee Fest, "the specialty coffee and gourmet tea trade show where coffee and tea business happens," has announced that it will co-locate with the Great American Dessert Expo. Two of the food industry's most notable segments have joined forces to introduce an unprecedented showcase at the Sands Convention Center at the Venetian Hotel June 12-14, 2004. Over 300 exhibitor booths and thousands of industry visitors will converge in magnificent Las Vegas for two great trade events: Coffee Fest Las Vegas and The Great American Dessert Expo.

The combined events will draw a cross section of the food industry and showcase everything related to the unique and growing dessert industry, from basic ingredients and equipment to the most exquisite chocolate desserts as well as the latest in coffees and related products.

Some of the exhibitors who are participating in the Dessert Expo include Atkins Elegant Desserts, Bakers Exchange, Bakery.com, Big Train, Cannoli Factory, Chocovison, Hafner USA, Guittard Chocolate, Innovative Candy Concepts, Las Vegas Food Service Magazine, Nasco, Sephra Chocolate Fountains, Tortuga Rum Cake Co. and Wells' Dairy/Blue Bunny Ice Cream.

"The synergy of coffee and desserts with its many similar interests will best be demonstrated by this co-location," said David Heilbrunn, President of LifeStyle Events. "We are particularly delighted to be working with an organization that has such an extraordinary reputation for producing quality food events."

"It is only natural that pastries, ice cream, chocolate and dessert wines should be in the same venue with the best in coffee and teas," said Mr. Lubinsky owner if I.M.C. New York, New York, parent company of The Great American Dessert Expo. "Co-locating with Coffee Fest presents the trade with an unprecedented opportunity to focus attention on one of the fastest growing segments of the food industry."

Attendee and exhibitor information is available at www.coffeefest.com
for Coffee Fest and www.dessertexpo.com for the Dessert Expo.

ONE ADMISSION BADGE: TWO FIRST RATE TRADE SHOWS!
All under one roof, on one combined show floor, featuring the latest in coffee, desserts, related products, services, great entertainment and education.

Early Bird Registration before May 23, 2004 (save $15. per person.) Combined show attendee fee is an amazing value at only $20.00 per person.

Following May 23rd attendee registration will be $35.00 per person.

Note: children under 13 are not permitted to enter the exhibition floor. Rolling cases of any type are not permitted on the show floor.

Espresso-Making Competition to Decide the 2004 U.S. Barista Champion From Among Regional Winners Nationwide

LONG BEACH, Calif. U.S.A. (April 12, 2004) --- Baristas, those talented people who master espresso machines and make coffee and espresso-drink making a profession, have their own national competition. This spring, after a nationwide search, only one barista will be crowned best-of-the-best at the 2004 United States Barista Championship. The match heats up April 23 – 26 at the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s (SCAA) 16th Annual Conference & Exhibition in Atlanta, Ga. at the Georgia World Congress Center.

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Starbucks Tops Coffee-Caffeine Study

Gourmet Coffees Had Higher Caffeine Counts

Starbucks coffee averages 56 percent more caffeine than coffee purchased at gas stations or doughnut shops, according to a study commissioned by The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal hired a laboratory to compare the most widely available ready-made coffees with samples from 7-11 and Dunkin' Donuts nationwide.

The study found that house blends at Starbucks, Gloria Jean's and other gourmet-coffee chains have an average of 56 percent more caffeine than samples from 7-11, and 29 percent more than Dunkin' Donuts.

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A bitter pill to swallow

Guardian Unlimited (UK)

Is fair trade a well-meaning dead end that is worsening the crisis for coffee growers? Oliver Balch weighs up the evidence

For students in the mid-1990s, fair trade coffee was about as close as many of us got to the taste of revolution. Not university politics at its most radical perhaps, but the stuff was sufficiently disgusting and expensive to make it feel as if we were making common cause with the world's impoverished coffee farmers.
A new paper from the Adam Smith Institute dismisses our caffeine-led activism as a "well-meaning dead end." And that is the best case scenario. At worst, the "economic illiteracy" of fair trade advocates could end up making the situation worse, the free market thinktank argues.

It is difficult to imagine how a system that guarantees small producers a fair wage for their crop could make the situation in the crisis-ridden coffee industry any worse.

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Coffee could fight disease, colon cancer

Coffee contains similar levels of antioxidants to black tea and can be just as beneficial to health, according to Scottish scientists that have found coffee’s antioxidants are highly absorbable by the human body.

Tea, particularly green tea, has received widespread media coverage for studies revealing its health benefits but Professor Alan Crozier from the University of Glasgow says that the new findings show that coffee can also be considered a valuable source of antioxidants, supplementing those obtained from fruit and vegetables.
Research has already established the antioxidant activity of coffee and confirmed its antioxidant components – chlorogenic acid, also found in fruits, such as apples.

But Professor Crozier’s research demonstrated for the first time the high bioavailability of such antioxidants when consumed in coffee.

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China to Pull Coffee Industry Out of the Red

Emmy Olaki
Kampala

Uganda's coffee exports to China may increase ten-fold by June this year spurred by the opening of coffee shops in Beijing in 2002, Uganda Coffee Development Authority's (UCDA) managing director, Henry Ngabirano, told Business Vision.

The china venture first received 20 tonnes in 2002, but has since grown to 110 tonnes which have been shipped and consumed in China.

"In two years, we have grown from zero to 110 tonnes, and I know 60 more are on their way to China through private entrepreneurs. By June, it may be almost 200 tonnes since we lost four months during the SARS outbreak," Ngabirano said.

Uganda started a joint venture company Beijing Chinao Coffee Company, with the Beijing local government to open roast coffee and coffee shops in the city in 2002.

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Cyber Cafes, the New Coffee Houses for Asian Youth

NCM: Ethnic Media Nationwide

Pacific News Service
Nguoi Viet, News Report, Anh Do

GARDEN GROVE, Calif.--For the boys, the cyber cafe is like a Starbucks, “but more fun,” they promise.

In their shop, low-voltage lamps create mood lighting, walls are splashed sunshine yellow, ebony and cream, and a huge menu offers drinks like mocha sand and choconut joy.

Customers are glued to the screen, battling each other in the latest games and sending instant messages across the world. Servers behind the counter mix boba, the tapioca pearls that started a craze in Taiwan and became a sensation across the Pacific, all the while chatting about broadband Internet and DSL.

This is the scene at ICE, Internet Cafe Entertainment, started by college buddies who, rather than going to law school or medical school as their parents wished, chose to learn how to paint and lay tile, max out their credit cards to buy 40-plus computers and write a business plan, all to launch a dream.

The risk was huge.

They took it in 2000 and now, they’re retrenching, rethinking, relaunching.

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Implanting a Taiwanese coffee culture

Tungshan in Tainan County has a well-deserved reputation for producing a nice cup of coffee
By Yu Sen-lun
STAFF REPORTER

Ten years ago in Tungshan township, a small town in Tainan County, drinking a cup of coffee was a luxurious treat for foreigners. Four generations of farmers in the town drank tea daily, like most Taiwanese, but now making, sipping and talking about coffee has become a daily routine for most residents.

They visit each other, exchange ideas about growing coffee trees and roasting methods and compare harvests with each other. As a result, this small town has gained a reputation for coffee that has attracted TV crews, writers and broadcasters alike.

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