Cup O' Calcium

- That Morning Joe May Be Better Than You Think -

BERKELEY, Calif., Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The good news keeps pouring in for latte lovers. After years of being told to limit coffee intake, it turns out our beloved morning brew may have a silver lining after all, especially when served with milk. New research finds, that coffee is rich in antioxidants, and, if drunk with milk, can also provide an important dietary source of bone building calcium(1). And, with coffee bars a fixture on every street corner, many java lovers have unknowingly made lattes their primary source of daily calcium -- a secret source in an otherwise deficient diet.

"Lattes are a good way to add extra calcium to your diet," says Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, Assistant Director, UCLA Center for Human Nutrition. "They're better than drinking coffee alone. The calcium and other nutrients in milk, protect bones to guard against osteoporosis, and with non-fat milk, you get the nutrition with few calories."

And that's good news for health-conscious Californians. Just do the math. According to the National Coffee Association (NCA), coffee drinkers consume, on average, three cups of coffee per day. Seventy five percent of those cups are served with milk, which weighs in at about a quarter cup per coffee drink(2). That adds up to an average of 3/4 cup of milk per day, per coffee-drinking Californian, or 225 mg of calcium -- which is nearly 25% of the calcium RDA for adults.

Yet, when asked how they get their calcium, that morning cup of joe doesn't even register as a calcium source for most people. In fact, in a recent survey of around 150 coffee-drinking Californians in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, only 6% of coffee drinkers even considered coffee with milk as containing calcium. On the other hand, eighty nine percent (89%) of those surveyed, said they got their daily calcium from dairy products (46%), calcium pills (26%) or vegetable sources (17%) -- not their lattes(3).

"An extra latte a day can be a good thing, especially if you don't like the taste of plain milk," says Bowerman. "You're getting some of the calcium you need without even thinking about it."

So, go ahead, have another latte -- and make that a double shot . . . of milk!

About the CMPB

The California Milk Processor Board was established in 1993 to make milk more competitive and increase milk consumption in California. Awareness of GOT MILK? is over 90% nationally and it is considered one of the most important and successful campaigns in history. GOT MILK? is a federally registered trademark that has been licensed by the national dairy boards since 1995. GOT MILK? gifts and recipes can be viewed at http://www.gotmilk.com/. The CMPB is funded by all California milk processors and administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.


Source: California Milk Processor Board

CONTACT: Veronica Flores, +1-310-226-8600,
veronica.flores@rlpublicrelations.com, for California Milk Processor Board

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

Coffee futures at over six-month high

By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch

March coffee climbed as high as $1.182 a pound on the New York Board of Trade to stand at its highest level since late June. The contract finished the session at $1.1745, up 6.8 cents, or 6.2%.

More...

Coffee bean types

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

There are two main species of the coffee plant. Coffea arabica is the older of them. It is thought to be indigenous to Ethiopia, but as the name implies it was first cultivated on the Arabian Peninsula. It is more susceptible to disease, and considered by professional cuppers to be greatly superior in flavor to Coffea canephora (robusta), which contains about twice as much caffeine—a natural insecticide (paralyzes and kills some of the insects that attempt to feed on the plant) and stimulant— and can be cultivated in environments where arabica will not thrive. This has led to its use as an inexpensive substitute for arabica in many commercial coffee blends such as Folgers, Maxwell House and almost all instant coffee products. Compared to arabica, robusta tends to be more bitter, with a telltale "burnt rubber" aroma and flavor. Good quality robustas are used as ingredients in some espresso blends to provide a better "crema" (foamy head), and to lower the ingredient cost. In Italy many espresso blends are based on dark-roasted robusta.

More...

Puerto Rico coffee growers not picky

BY RAY QUINTANILLA
Chicago Tribune

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - In an effort to stem severe crop losses and jump-start its coffee industry, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has turned to welfare recipients and prison inmates to harvest this year's coffee beans.

The program is part of an initiative to restore Puerto Rico's struggling coffee industry to its grandeur before neglect, bad weather and labor shortages of the early 19th Century caused the island's brews to fall out of favor across Europe, including at the Vatican.

"There's a serious shortage of coffee pickers and we have to act quickly," said Jose Fabre, secretary of Puerto Rico's Agriculture Department, which launched the initiative as part of coffee industry measures supported by Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila.

"We are trying to get this industry on a sound footing," Fabre said. "We need laborers willing to work in some difficult terrain to earn money."

More...

Sales of coffee blend named after Alito are steaming

AP New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. -- When it comes to the brew of choice for Samuel A. Alito Jr., the jury is in. And it likes caffeine.

When Alito was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in November, reporters and customers flocked to a Broad Street coffee store that sells a potent blend named after the judge.

Two months later, sales of "Judge Alito's Bold Justice" are still going strong.

"We've been selling a lot more ever since he got nominated," said Vera Barbosa, a clerk at T.M. Ward Coffee Co. who has been serving as the blend's unofficial spokeswoman ever since Alito's nomination put their small storefront on the map.

More...

Etymology and history of coffee

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The word entered English in 1598 via Italian caffè, via Turkish kahveh, from Arabic qahwa. Its ultimate origin is uncertain, there being several legendary accounts of the origin of the drink. One possible origin is the Kaffa region in Ethiopia, where the plant originated (its native name there being bunna). Coffee beans were first exported from Ethiopia to Yemen. One legendary account (though certainly a myth) is that of the Yemenite Sufi mystic named Shaikh ash-Shadhili. When traveling in Ethiopia he observed goats of unusual vitality and, upon trying the berries that the goats had been eating, experienced the same effect. A similar myth ascribes the discovery to an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi. Qahwa originally referred to a type of wine, and need not be the name of the Kaffa region.

More...

Doctor trades scrubs for coffee shrubs

By Associated Press

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (AP) _ Kona Joe Coffee on the Big Island has spawned a U-S patent, earned a national honor and grown to a 20-acre spread of coffee plants.

Joe Alban has come far since he first planted a couple of acres of Kona coffee tress in his backyard in 1997.

The California doctor had only planned to make the coffee venture a retirement hobby.

Instead his company won the Specialty Coffee Association of America's blue ribbon award in 2001.

More...

Don't ask for your favorite coffee, wear it

By Kelly Haramis
Chicago Tribune
Posted January 2 2006

Instead of ordering that complicated coffee concoction, just point to your shirt. That's right, the next time you visit your favorite java hut, you may want to try wearing your order. No, we don't mean spilling your "one pump hazelnut triple shot espresso" on your shirt.

Instead, Lattees has simplified your life by putting coffee phrases on shirts such as the ones above and our favorite: "iced half-caf nonfat white chocolate mocha."

The concept started after a group of Highland Park, Ill., mothers -- Liz Nelis, Gail Rubin, Laura Tucker and Lisa Xilas -- joked about their fussy coffee orders and, before their coffee buzz wore off, Lattees was born.

More...

1,000 coffee machines perk up school days

By Marc Freeman
Education Writer
Posted January 2 2006

Praise for Mr. Coffee is pouring in from all over the Palm Beach County School District. That's what happens when 1,000 free coffee makers show up unexpectedly, through a donation by manufacturer Jarden Consumer Solutions of Boca Raton.

"Nice perk!" raved Principal Ira Margulies of Eagles Landing Middle School west of Boca Raton.

"This made my day," wrote Principal Kathy Harris of Congress Middle in Boynton Beach.

"This is awesome!" cheered Principal Susan Saint John of Starlight Cove Elementary in Lantana. "Nothing is better than a good cup of coffee."

More...

Israelis conquer Brazil's coffee industry

Navit Zommer

Israeli food retailer Strauss Elite signs merger deal with Brazilian coffee manufacturer, which will place company as second largest player in Brazilian coffee market

Strauss Elite, one of Israel's leading food retailers, is set to become Brazil's second largest coffee manufacture, after signing a merger deal with local coffee company Santa Clara this week, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.

In the framework of the agreement, Strauss Elite's subsidiary, Tres Coracoes, will merge with Santa Clara, one of the largest coffee companies in Brazil, owned by the Lima brothers. The new merger will be equally owned by the Israeli company and the limas.

Strauss Elite will funnel USD 60 million to the new firm, and will jointly manage it with its partners.

More...

Concocting a new brew of coffee

BV MAHALAKSHMI

Indian Express Newspapers

HYDERABAD, JAN 1: The coffee genomics project, initiated by the department of biotechnology, Coffee Board, and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), might soon come up with a new brew. CCMB, which had undertaken DNA fingerprinting of coffee germplasm for conservation and development of molecular map under the ‘National Programme on Coffee Biotechnology’, has completed the molecular characterisation of select, elite varieties and has generated molecular markers.

More...

Starbucks wins name spat

Shanghai Daily
Xu Fang

THE Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court yesterday ordered Shanghai Xingbake Cafe Co Ltd and its Nanjing Road branch to drop the word "Xingbake" from its name.

The court ruled Xingbake has conducted illegal competition. It was also ordered to pay 500,000 yuan (US$61,728) to Starbucks Corporation, which uses Xingbake as its Chinese name, and run a public apology in the Xinmin Evening News.

In Chinese, "Xing" means star and "bake" sounds a little like bucks.

Judges said this is the first verdict that local courts have made on infringement of a famous international trademark since the revised Trademark Law was enacted on December 1, 2001.

Starbucks, which started selling coffee in America in 1971, said it registered a series of trademarks related to Starbucks, including its Chinese translation, from 1996 to 2003 on the mainland. The logo it uses is a mermaid in a circle with a green background.


More...