Cupper sees good season for Kona coffee

Cupper sees good season for Kona coffee
By KARIN STANTON - For The Associated Press - 12/10/05

Hawaii coffee industry dates to the early 1800s; volcanic soil, sun and rain are makings of good coffee beans

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii — As a professional cupper, Lisslotte Eckhoff takes her vocation seriously.

She eschews anything that might unbalance her senses as she samples up to 300 cups of coffee each day, forgoing lipstick and perfume, and pushing away spicy foods and alcohol.

For nearly 20 years, Eckhoff has traveled the world to sniff out the finest beans for Sweden’s gourmet coffee company Gevalia Kaffe, coming to the Kona Coast for the past four years. And this year, after tasting hundreds of cups of coffee, she predicts a very good year for Hawaii’s Kona coffee.

Eckhoff joined three other master cuppers at the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival this year, a 10-day event held in early November to showcase Kona’s top beans.

‘‘This is the top title for Kona farmers,’’ she said. ‘‘This is a very good way for them to see where they are.’’

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Coke said to plan Godiva coffee drink

Trade publication says ready-to-drink product will be launched in second half of 2006.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co. will launch a new line of ready-to-drink coffee under the Godiva brand name in the second half of 2006, according to a report in an industry newsletter.

Spokesmen at both Coke (Research) and Campbell Soup Co. (Research), which makes Godiva chocolates, refused to confirm or deny the report.

At an investor conference in New York on Wednesday, Coke marketing chief Mary Minnick said the company intends to launch "indulgence coffees" in North America next year. Trade magazine Beverage Digest said those coffees will be sold under the Godiva brand name, citing unidentified sources.

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"Starbucks News Watch"

Starbucks - Big Cash Flow On Campus

Dec 09, 2005 (The Philadelphia Inquirer - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) --

At the University of Pennsylvania, Ivy Leaguers need only walk across the street from campus to shop for $130 jeans at Urban Outfitters or $80 cashmere-blend sweaters at Ann Taylor Loft. At the nearby Starbucks, some students line up for lattes several times a week.

"It's near the library," Carly Brush, 19, says sheepishly as she leaves the coffee emporium, one hand in her coat pocket and the other holding a $4.20 venti white mocha. "I try not to think about how much it costs. My mom thinks it's pretty stupid to pay this much for coffee."

A couple of miles away at Temple University, William "V.J." White, 19, walks the campus with two cell phones -- a PalmOne Treo 600 PDA and a Nextel i930 -- necessary tools, he says, for a cool college student and budding businessman. White runs a small venture helping other students buy new or used cell phones at good prices and says he needs to be seen with the latest gadgets -- even if it means having double $70 phone bills every month.

Conventional perceptions of budget-bound college students scraping by on ramen noodles and peanut butter are as out of date as a rotary phone, say experts who track the market. Today's 16.4 million collegians are conspicuous consumers, spending more than $200 billion a year (not including tuition and housing), up from $93 billion a decade ago, according to Student Monitor, L.L.C., of Ridgewood, N.J.

Students are splurging on everything from iPods and DVD players to bottled water, dining out, and outfitting dorm rooms and apartments. In the process, they are redefining the essentials of college life. "It's a major market, without question," says David Morrison, founder and president of TwentySomething Inc., a King of Prussia-based young-adult marketing research firm that advises clients such as Nokia, Time Warner and Citibank. "College students have the freedom and desire to try new things ... they don't like to admit it, but they are incredibly receptive to marketing." They also have easy access to credit: 47 percent of full-time four-year undergrads have a credit card in their own name, according to Student Monitor's national fall survey, released on Tuesday. But that isn't the only explanation for the spending surge, experts say. Morrison, who is also the author of Marketing to the Campus Crowd (Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004), says much of the increased cash flow comes from more students holding part-time jobs, as well as the largesse of their indulgent baby boomer parents, "who have an expectation of what college life should be and are giving their children whatever they need to make life more enjoyable."

Erin Ryan, 21, a Penn fine arts major from Maryland, gets an allowance from her "very generous" parents that allows her to live roommate-free in a $1,300-a-month apartment near campus."My parents give me a certain amount of money each month, and I try not to call them for more unless I really, really have to," says Ryan. "I try to manage my money, but at the sam time I'm not earning it. When it's my own paycheck, I'll probably learn to manage it better. ... Everything now gets blamed on how expensive college is." If it's near the end of the month and she's running low on cash, Ryan cuts back on cigarettes and eating out, and starts looking for free entertainment and happy-hour deals. Of course, she says, her very generous parents oblige if she is forced to call home for more money.

White also dials for dollars. "I'll say, 'Mom, I need $300, and she'll ask me for what," says White. "I'll tell her I need food and to pay my phone bill." But a lot of his money goes to shoes and entertainment, he admits. Just last week he snagged a pair of Air Jordan 14s online for $152. And though he lives only a few blocks away from campus, White is considering getting a car next year. White's mother, Valerie Powers, a former stockbroker who now runs her own e-commerce business in Washington, says she is willing to oblige his requests for cash infusions, to a degree. "I don't just automatically give in. I do ask what it is for," Powers says. "I don't want him to be burdened or stressed with finances. His focus should be on getting an education, not worrying about rent or how he is going to eat." Powers admits, however, that because she can, she has allowed her son some of the college perks he wants, especially since he has shown his own entrepreneurial skills. "He is spoiled but not spoiled rotten," she says. "There is a difference."

Many parents are willing to spring for cell phones (and often the monthly bills) because the devices provide a nearly constant connection to their children, fewer of whom, experts say, are opting for land lines in their dorms; 94 percent of all full-time four-year undergrads have a cell phone, according to the Student Monitor survey. After food and entertainment, phones make up the third largest expense for college students, who use the devices not only to talk but to send text messages and take pictures, all of which ratchets up the monthly bill. Students, even those with pre-paid meal plans, are also spending money at restaurants on and off campus. In the Student Monitor survey, 52 percent dined at a full-service restaurant in the previous week. It's such numbers, experts say, that are driving better restaurants and gourmet coffee shops to open up on or near university campuses.

"I've seen students go to a nice restaurant and spend $50 or $60 each," says Brush, the Penn student. Such extravagances wouldn't pass muster with her mother, she says, who, after reviewing Brush's recent credit-card statement, even questioned her "many trips to CVS." Eric Bell, a senior at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., has also been tracking the swell in college spending. He believes it spells future disaster for many students. Bell, 22, the founder and chairman of the board of the Hendrix chapter of Future Investors, an organization that promotes good personal finance management, says he has seen a friend drop out of college in order to work to pay off mounting debt accumulated from reckless spending. "A lot of the problems come from families encouraging these spending habits," says Bell, who is also advocating for colleges to increase personal finance education for students. That could come in handy for undergrads like V.J. White. "Sometimes I look at my financial statement and say, "I could have done without this, this and that," he says. "I budget a lot after the fact."

By Dwayne Campbell, Copyright (c) 2005, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Starbucks News Watch"

Dec 08, 2005 (Daily Mail - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) --

Marks & Spencer Lures Starbucks Customers

Amid increasing signs of a revival at Marks & Spencer, chief executive Stuart Rose has decided to branch into takeaway food and beverages to lure customers from coffee giant Starbucks. A new food hall opened in its Kensington store in west London on Tuesday, with a sit-down food bar where ladies who lunch can sip champagne and eat salads. There is also a deli counter and takeaway area serving pasta, wraps and drinks. Trials of hot food are also under way in Newcastle, Milton Keynes and Birmingham. The expensive revamp in Kensington signals renewed confidence in the company. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the stores are far busier than last year.

BCE Presents "Starbucks News Watch"

SEATTLE, Dec 08, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Starbucks (Nasdaq:SBUX):

Starbuck's Expands Music Offerings
-- Album Features Hancock with Christina Aguilera, Sting, John Mayer, Joss Stone, Annie Lennox, Damien Rice, Paul Simon, Carlos Santana, Others

-- Possibilities is the Second Starbucks Hear Music Co-Release to Be
Grammy(R)Nominated, Following Ray Charles Genius Loves Company in 2004.

Herbie Hancock's Possibilities has received two GRAMMY(R) nominations:

Best Pop

Collaboration with Vocals (for "A Song For You," featuring Christina Aguilera)and Best Pop Instrumental Performance (for "Gelo Na Montanha," featuring Trey Anastasio). The nominations culminate months of acclaim for the album, which Hancock Music, Vector Recordings and Starbucks (Nasdaq:SBUX) Hear Music released August 30 to Starbucks Company-operated locations and traditional retail outlets.

Possibilities finds Hancock collaborating with a diverse group of world-renowned artists from well beyond the world of jazz, including: John Mayer, Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan, Sting, Annie Lennox, Joss Stone and Jonny Lang, Paul Simon, Raul Midon, Carlos Santana and Angelique Kidjo, Christina Aguilera and Trey Anastasio. "Artists are usually capable of so much more than they're expected to deliver," said Hancock. "Every track on Possibilities has a surprise in the sense that each artist shows dimensions of their creative abilities that the public is hearing for the first time."

Herbie Hancock has remained seminal and innovative through four decades of music making, having won ten GRAMMY(R) Awards, an Academy Award and countless other accolades. Possibilities has been the most successful debut of his career.

Over 500,000 copies of the album have shipped worldwide since Possibilities was released globally the week of August 29, 2005. It sold more than 42,000 copies in the U.S. alone in its first week on sale and debuted at No. 22 on The Billboard 200 Albums chart. As of December 4, Starbucks Company-operated locations in the U.S. have sold more than 130,000 copies of the album, accounting for 59 percent of all sales in the U.S. Possibilities spent its first 10 weeks of release at No. 1 on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.

On December 7, Hancock and Sting performed the Possibilities track "Sister Moon"
on Good Morning America. In October, Christina Aguilera joined Hancock for performances of "A Song for You" on The Tonight Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Possibilities has achieved resounding critical praise from The New York Times, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Billboard and O, The Oprah Magazine, National Public Radio, VH1 News and CNN Headline News' Showbiz Tonight. The album received rave reviews in two consecutive issues of People and both the September and October issues of Esquire.

Esquire described the album as "one that truly shows genius loves company."
Adding, "The surprise isn't that it's bound to earn an armload of GRAMMY(R)s but that the record's cohesive and compelling enough that they'll be well-deserved."
The Philadelphia Inquirer said Hancock "lift(s) each participant to a higher, soulful challenge."

As with the multi-platinum Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company -- which won eight
GRAMMY(R) Awards in February 2004--Starbucks is participating in many facets of the project's lifecycle, from facilitating production to distribution and marketing of the album. The GRAMMY(R) nominations for Possibilities represent the second year in a row in which an album Starbucks Hear Music co-released has received multiple GRAMMY(R) nominations since Starbucks launched its music strategy with the release of Genius Loves Company in 2004. Through a distribution agreement with Warner Music International, Hancock's Possibilities was released globally the week of August 29, at traditional music retail and select Starbucks locations. The release of Possibilities was the first time Starbucks has made a CD available simultaneously at Company-operated locations in the U.S. and select international markets, including Australia, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom.

About Vector

Led by executives Ken Levitan and Jack Rovner, Vector Recordings has quickly become one of the most formidable organizations in music today, releasing acclaimed albums by artists such as Damien Rice, Queen Latifah and Joseph Arthur. Levitan founded Vector Management in 1986. Vector Recordings was formed in 2002 when he and Rovner -- who had served as President of RCA and previously served stints at Columbia and Arista -- combined their collective experiences, solidifying a label and management partnership. With offices in New York, Nashville and Los Angeles, Vector is comprised of individuals with a diversity of music business backgrounds, making for a team that can contribute to all aspects of its artists' careers.

About Starbucks Hear Music

Founded in 1990, and acquired by Starbucks Coffee Company in 1999, Starbucks Hear Music is the voice of music at Starbucks. Starbucks Hear Music is dedicated to creating a new and convenient way for consumers to discover, experience and acquire all genres of great music through its CD compilations and music programming for Starbucks coffeehouses worldwide, as well as its innovative partnerships with other music labels to produce, market and distribute both exclusive and non-exclusive music. In 2004, Starbucks Hear Music launched a 24-hour digital music channel with XM Satellite Radio (XM Channel 75), the Starbucks Hear Music(TM) Coffeehouse in Santa Monica where customers can select from over 15,000 CDs or burn their own custom mixes, and the Starbucks Hear Music(TM) media bars, a service that offers custom CD burning at select Starbucks retail locations in Seattle and Austin. Starbucks Hear Music(TM) CDs are featured at Hear Music and Starbucks retail locations, as well as online at www.starbucks.com/hearmusic.

About Starbucks Coffee Company

Starbucks Corporation is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world, with more than 10,000 retail locations in North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim. The Company is committed to offering the highest quality coffee and the Starbucks Experience while conducting its business in ways that produce social, environmental and economic benefits for communities in which it does business. In addition to its retail operations, the Company produces and sells bottled Frappuccino(R) coffee drinks, Starbucks DoubleShot(R) espresso drink, and a line of superpremium ice creams through its joint venture partnerships. The Company's brand portfolio provides a wide variety of consumer products - innovative superpremium Tazo(R)teas and exceptional compact discs from Starbucks Hear Music(TM) enhance the Starbucks Experience through best-of-class products. The Seattle's Best Coffee(R) and Torrefazione Italia(R) coffee brands enable Starbucks to appeal to a broader consumer base by offering an alternative variety of coffee flavor profiles.

SOURCE: Starbucks Coffee Company