Artist Embarks On Crusade To Save Independent Coffee Shops

Web Site Helps Local Cafes Compete With Starbucks

For Long Beach artist and Web designer Xtine Hanson, it's a crusade to save independent coffee shops from extinction.

And it all started on a trip to New York.

"I think I was just so surprised that I couldn't find anything but Starbucks in SoHo," Hanson told NBC4.

Hanson feels the big coffee chains do nothing to nurture the soul of the community.

"That will be more likely to happen at an independent cafe where you'll see art from the neighborhood on the walls or you might hear a local band play," Hanson said.

With no interest in the coffee business other than as a coffee drinker, Hanson designed a Web site to help locally-owned cafes compete with Starbucks.

"I just had this moment of clarity that there really could be a tool for this," Hanson said.

She created www.delocator.net, a forum for people to contribute information about their favorite cafes and find new ones.

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New group forms to protect Kona coffee

KAILUA KONA, HAWAII, – A group of Kona coffee farmers
have formed a new organization to help protect the famous Kona coffee
name. The group, the Kona Coffee Farmers Association, filed Articles of
Incorporation, and adopted By Laws at a meeting held on February 15,
which was attended by 24 farmers. The KCFA then elected its first Board
of Directors. On February 17, the Board met to elect Officers.

The president, Rick Funk of Honu Kona Coffee, said “Forming the KCFA was
a necessary step after the current Kona Coffee Council Board failed to
support Bills we had urged our legislators to put forward”. The Bills,
HB1974 and HB2163, introduced by Representative Bob Herkes and Speaker
Calvin Say, would have changed the labeling laws to prevent the current
practice of attaching the Kona name to coffee that is 90% of foreign
origin. In a letter from Representative Herkes sent out to the many
farmers who had testified in support of the Bills, Herkes blamed the
lack of consensus for the failure of the bills to be heard.

KCFA secretary, Fred Housel of Kiele O Kona Coffee, stated, “The gourmet
Kona name is being jeopardized by ambiguously labeled Kona blends. Kona
coffee farmers must take steps now to protect the reputation of Kona
coffee from unscrupulous marketeers who degrade the Kona name for their
own profit.”

Prominent among the issues the KCFA will support is the COOL legislation
(Country of Origin). If coffee is added to this Federal legislation,
Kona coffee farmers would be able to put “Origin of USA” on their
packages, something no blend of foreign coffee can do. KCFA
vice-president Sandra Scarr of Daily Fix Coffee added, “We will also ask
our legislators to bring new labeling bills next year, and the KCFA will
back them even if other organizations with different agendas do not”.

Other KCFA Board members are Joan Rowe, Treasurer, of Rowes View Coffee,
Nancy Griffith of Aama Organic Farm, Suzanne Shriner of Lions Gate
Farms, and Mary Lou Moss of Cuppa Kona Coffee.

The Kona Coffee Farmers Association is a volunteer, non-profit,
community-based organization of coffee farmers with the mission to
promote and protect the economic interests of Kona coffee farmers who
grow and sell 100% Kona coffee and to seek greater legal protection of
the Kona coffee name.

Kona Coffee Farmers Association
PO Box 5436, Kailua Kona, HI 96745 • info@konacoffeefarmers.org

Contact: Rick Funk 808-328-9552

Coffee price threatened by surging output

Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd.

Coffee’s 42% gain during the past year may be difficult to sustain as production threatens to exceed demand, said Nestor Osorio, executive director of the International Coffee Organization.

“This is not the moment to increase production,” Mr Osorio said in an interview today at the Eastern African Fine Coffee Association conference in Arusha, Tanzania. “If production is controlled, we could keep the same level of prices.” African growers such as Angola, once the world’s fourth-biggest producer, and Tanzania want to increase harvests. Angola lost market share during the past two decades as wars and rising energy costs hurt harvests. Africa’s share of global production fell to 12% last year from 29% in 1986.

Robusta coffee for delivery in May rose $28 a metric tonne, or 2.4%, to $1,213 on London’s Liffe exchange at 11:14 AM local time. Arabica for May delivery dropped 1.9% to $1.086 a pound on the New York Board of Trade yesterday. “We are now getting at a difficult level in the sustainability of price,” Mr Osorio said yesterday.

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Ape guru develops coffee certification scheme

Source: Reuters

By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura

ARUSHA, Tanzania, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Ape conservationist Jane Goodall said on Saturday she is developing a new certification scheme for coffee growers farming in areas where endangered chimpanzees live, mainly in Tanzania and Burundi.

Farmers will be encouraged to protect and enlarge forests where the animals have their habitat in return for marketing of their product to roasters interested in paying a premium for environmentally friendly coffee.

"People associate my name with chimpanzees," the environmentalist told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference of African coffee growers.

"By certifying this coffee, we ensure that it is super quality, it complies with environmental standards that benefit the apes and (in return) we give a great deal of money to the farmers by marketing their coffee."

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Viet Nam should expand Arabica coffee area, says official

Ha Noi (VNA) - It is necessary for Viet Nam to rapidly expand its Arabica coffee area, said an official from the Viet Nam Coffee and Cacao Association (VCCA).

Viet Nam has so far developed 25,000 ha of Arabica coffee, which produces 150,000-200,000 tonnes annually.

Doan Trieu Nhan, VCCA Vice President said that Arabica coffee, which is more lucrative than Robusta coffee, would help generate a large number of jobs and help reduce poverty.

The official said, however, that not everyone can grow Arabica coffee, as this kind of plant requires huge capital, skilled workers and good understanding of growing technique.

At present, Viet Nam is the world's biggest Robusta coffee grower, with Robusta area reaching nearly 500,000 ha and turning out 750,000-800,000 tonnes every year, he said.

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