'Cafe Jerusalem' Gourmet Kosher Coffee

Rogers Family Co. Launches 'Cafe Jerusalem' Gourmet Kosher Coffee Brand for Online and Retail Sale

Purchases of Cafe Jerusalem coffee also helps workers/protects the environment at coffee farm communities throughout Latin America

SAN LEANDRO, Calif., Oct. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- The San Leandro, Calif.-based Rogers Family Co. (www.rogersfamilyco.com) -- one of the nation's largest roasters of premium gourmet coffee -- has launched "Cafe Jerusalem": a kosher coffee line that meets the rigorous quality and processing standards needed for Star-K Kosher certification. Cafe Jerusalem kosher coffee is available online at www.jerusalemcoffee.com where customers can order four different blends including Lion's Gate, King David's Espresso, Breakfast Blend, and Galilee Decaf as well as order a beautiful kosher coffee gift basket. Cafe Jerusalem is also available at select stores in the San Francisco Bay Area such as Berkeley Bowl, Cal Mart in San Francisco and Monterey Markets.

Coffee lovers who purchase Cafe Jerusalem -- available in whole bean or ground 12-ounce, roaster fresh bags -- help the Rogers family protect the environment as well as build schools and medical clinics for farmers and workers in Latin America through its Community Aid program. Like all products of the family-owned Rogers Family Co. whose premium gourmet coffee and teas are sold nationwide -- Cafe Jerusalem carries the company's "Seal of Social/Environmental Responsibility."

"We are honored that Cafe Jerusalem has received the Star-K Kosher certification which has become a symbol of quality throughout the nation in addition to being one of the most recognized kosher symbols," said Rogers Family Company President Jon B. Rogers. "Customers who purchase Cafe Jerusalem also help us to continue to improve the quality of life for coffee farm workers and their families and protect natural resources, including endangered species in the world's premier coffee growing regions."

For more than two decades, the Bay Area Rabbinical Council has certified as kosher all Rogers Family coffee beans including their organic, fair trade, decaf and flavored coffees. But recently the company decided to obtain the most-recognized and respected kosher certification -- Star-K -- and offer an entirely kosher brand. Cafe Jerusalem -- in a package that evokes thoughts of Jerusalem -- is perfect for an everyday kosher coffee escape or for a kosher gift.

The Jewish religion incorporates a regimen of dietary laws based on the Torah (Bible). The word Kosher is derived from the Hebrew word meaning "fit" or "proper" and refers to food products that meet dietary guidelines under Jewish law. Two variables are used to determine Kosher and non-Kosher: the source of the ingredients and the status of the equipment used to process the food.

Purchases of Cafe Jerusalem also help fund the Rogers family's "Community Aid" program which raises the quality of life for thousands of coffee farm workers and protects natural resources at or around 19 coffee farms in Latin America -- where the Rogers pay each farm MORE than the price mandated by Fair Trade. Community Aid projects -- which are continually performed and monitored -- include building houses, medical facilities, schools, day care centers, funding permanent educational programs such as scholarships, providing doctors, nurses, teachers, food and clothing, clean drinking water and energy systems as well as protecting rainforest and wildlife from poachers.

ABOUT THE ROGERS FAMILY COMPANY (www.rogersfamilyco.com):

The Rogers Family Company was founded in 1979 by Princeton University graduate and ex-Revlon executive Jon B. Rogers. Rogers gambled and took a second mortgage on his home to purchase and eventually transform a small, bankrupt firm into what today collectively comprises one of the nation's leading wholesalers/roasters of branded gourmet coffee. The company is also the largest gourmet coffee roaster in the San Francisco Bay Area and one of the nation's few remaining family-owned gourmet coffee roasters. The Rogers Family Company today supplies millions of pounds of coffee (including Fair Trade Certified coffee, organic coffee, and bird-friendly coffee) and tea each year to discriminating customers worldwide under various brands that include:

-- Cafe Jerusalem (www.jerusalemcoffee.com)
-- San Francisco Bay Coffee Company (www.sfbaycoffee.com)
-- The Organic Coffee Company (www.organiccoffeecompany.com)
-- Fairwinds Coffee Company (www.fairwindscoffee.com)
-- Audubon(TM) Coffee (www.auduboncoffeeclub.com)

For more information on Community Aid, any coffee or tea industry issue, to purchase products or to help the Rogers family continue to "Brew the Right Thing" through its socially responsible coffee, please visit www.rogersfamilyco.com. Or call 800/829-1300 or 510/638-1300. Original/electronic photographs and broadcast-quality video of Community Aid projects, the coffee roasting process, coffee farms as well as the people, flora and fauna of Latin America are available. Please contact Jim Zelinski at 415/882-7787, 415/420-6050 or zelinskipr@sbcglobal.net.

Pete Schmitt/Jim Rogers/John W. Rogers
The Rogers Family Co.
800/829-1300 or 510/638-1300

Jim Zelinski/Zelinski Public Relations
415/882-7787 or 415/420-6050
(For The Rogers Family Co.)

Source: Rogers Family Co.

CONTACT: Pete Schmitt, Jim Rogers, or John W. Rogers of The Rogers
Family Co., +1-800-829-1300 or +1-510-638-1300; or Jim Zelinski of Zelinski
Public Relations, +1-415-882-7787 or +1-415-420-6050, for The Rogers Family
Co.

Web site: http://www.rogersfamilyco.com/