SCAA's 17th Annual Conference & Exhibition

10,000 Specialty Coffee Professionals to Pour into Seattle, April 15-18, 2005

LONG BEACH, Calif., April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of coffee professionals are gearing up to converge on Seattle this week. The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) will hold its 17th Annual Conference & Exhibition at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle, Wash., April 15-18, 2005. The premiere coffee event of the year is expected to attract 10,000 specialty coffee professionals from over 40 countries. Attendees will include coffee producers, exporters & importers, roasters, retailers, manufacturers and baristas. The conference is also open to coffee connoisseurs who hold consumer membership status in the association. Starbucks is the official host sponsor.

Juan Valdez Cafe in Seattle

Colombian Coffee Growers Open Juan Valdez Cafe in Seattle This Saturday

SEATTLE, April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Six Colombian Coffee growers will inspect their newest retail investment on Saturday, touring the new Juan Valdez Cafe at 1427 5th Avenue. Opened last week and named for the advertising legend, the Seattle location is the third U.S. Juan Valdez Cafe (after Washington D.C. and New York City) offering premium Colombian coffees previously unavailable in the U.S. The growers are members of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, one of the largest rural non-governmental organizations, with a unique democratic structure in the world. All retail profits are returned to the growers, who are devoted to improving living conditions in the coffee growing regions of Colombia.

Australian coffee wins international popularity

Reporter: Simon Palan

MARK COLVIN: The Australian coffee industry is still a relatively small player on the world stage, but it's experiencing rapid new growth as it gets discovered by international buyers.

Australian coffee is apparently already so popular overseas that entire crops are being bought out in advance.

But coffee drinkers here seem less keen on home grown blends for their espresso and latte hits.

Simon Palan reports from the far north coast of New South Wales.

SIMON PALAN: Tractors are working overtime at Australian coffee plantations. In northern New South Wales especially, coffee production is well and truly on the boil.

A growing number of plantations are cropping up, utilising the region's unique climate and soil quality to produce premium arabica coffee beans.

And faced with a global shortage of quality product, Frank Cassells of the Hogarth Estate plantation says buyers from Europe and the US can't get enough.

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Michigan McDonald's Test New Coffee

Dawn Smith

Grand Rapids - People in Michigan will decide if McDonald's new coffee is good enough to stay on the menu.

Its new premium roast coffee is being tested at McDonald's restaurants just in Michigan.

It's supposed to have a more robust, smooth taste.

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Chevalier iTech pays $205m for coffee chain

Wong Ka-chun
The Standard Hong Kong

Pacific Coffee Company - the locally-bred upstart that has given Starbucks a run for its money for the three years since the global coffee giant's arrival here - is being sold to Chevalier iTech Holdings (CiT), a listed computer trading company, for HK$205 million.

CiT said it is acquiring Pacific Coffee to diversify its business and broaden its income stream as turnover from existing businesses has deteriorated in recent years.

It was Pacific Coffee that was in Hong Kong first, opening its first outlet in 1993. Like Starbucks, Pacific Coffee features roomy sofas and a wide variety of Seattle-inspired coffee products although Pacific Coffee's chief executive and founder, Tom Neir, has chosen to focus on what in an interview with The Standard in 2004 he called ``highly educated, typically higher income people.'' That ``executive set'' targeted by Pacific Coffee keeps many of its outlets hidden away in office towers.

Nonetheless, both companies have pushed a traditionally tea-drinking city well along towards a coffee culture.

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Starbucks coffee and a cause

by Christopher Davis
Arizona State University Web Devil

Starbucks wants you to talk. The coffee company's "The Way I See It" program is a collection of short commentaries with the stated intent of "sparking conversation" in the coffee shops. And with contributors like Mitch Albom, Chuck D and Yo-Yo Ma, there's a lot to talk about.

Unfortunately, the most spirited responses have come from conservatives complaining on the Starbucks Web site about how offended they are by the liberal messages printed on the sides of their cups.

After reading some cup commentary by environmentalist and Earth Day creator Denis Hayes addressing the issue of the rising national debt, Brad Nelson of Kennewick, Wash., wrote: "You can put opinions on the side of your cups if you want to. But know that some of your customers do not appreciate unexpected political ploys such as that from Mr. Hayes."

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Robusta Coffee Futures Fall

Robusta Coffee Futures Fall in Tokyo: World's Biggest Mover

April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Robusta coffee futures in Tokyo fell 5.2 percent, the biggest fluctuation of any commodity market today, as speculators trimmed bets that prices would rise as coffee markets fell in London and New York.

Robusta for delivery in March 2006, the most actively traded contract, fell 630 yen per 100 kilograms to end trading at 11,420 yen ($1,051 per metric ton). It reached 12,720 yen on March 16, the highest since July 2000, on concern that dry weather may damage the crop in Vietnam, the world's largest supplier of the bitter-tasting variety used for canned and instant coffee.

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