Chemical Profiling for Origin

"Think about Kona coffee," said Anderson. "It sells at premium price because of where it was grown and the practices that have gone into it. About 20 million pounds of Kona coffee are sold annually, but only 2 million pounds are actually produced. Somewhere, 18 million pounds of coffee are being labeled as something it's not. When you can buy Columbian coffee for $1 a pound then turn around and sell it under a different label for $35 a pound, someone is going to take advantage of that."

Work being done by the University of Oregon may provide us with a definitive test for Kona coffee. If successful, this could enable Kona coffee producers to challenge suspect Kona coffee rip-offs and could make the current expensive and time-consuming certification system redundant.

Headed by Dr. Kim Anderson and Dr Brian Smith, the team has already put out a study titled “Chemical Profiling to Differentiate Geographic Growing Origins of Coffee” and is continuing work on other agricultural products.

Click here for June Issue of Kona Coffee Farmers Association

Coffee supplies forecast to recover this year

By staff reporter
Decision News Media SAS

16/06/2006 - World coffee production over the next year will rise by nearly ten per cent, or nearly 11 million bags, over the previous year, fuelling a rising demand for the brew, according to a forecast report.

With the increased supplies, coffee exports are forecast to recover. World coffee exports over the next 12 months are forecast at 92.8 million bags, up 7.2 million bags from the previous season.

Most of the increase is attributed to the increase in coffee crops in Brazil, Vietnam and Peru, according to a report produced by the US Department of Agriculture. Brazil's production of coffee during the July 2006 to June 2007 marketing season is forecast at 44.8 million bags, up nearly 25 per cent over the previous year.

Since Brazil is the largest coffee producer, swings in Brazil's supplies of coffee account for a large portion of the change in the world total supplies of coffee.

More...

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. Completes Acquisition of Keurig, Incorporated

WATERBURY, Vt.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 2006--Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Keurig, Incorporated, originally announced on May 2, 2006, for total consideration of $104.3 million (the "Purchase Price"). Keurig markets premium single-cup coffee brewing systems for the office and the home. Keurig will remain headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Green Mountain Coffee.


Green Mountain Coffee financed the cash portion of the Purchase Price through a new five-year $125 million syndicated revolving credit facility led by Bank of America. This facility was also used to finance Green Mountain Coffee's transaction expenses, as well as the Company's existing outstanding indebtedness.

Nasdaq Notice

As previously announced, in connection with the acquisition of Keurig, Green Mountain Coffee entered into an employment agreement with Nick Lazaris, Chief Executive Officer of Keurig. Pursuant to the terms of the employment agreement, on June 15, 2006, Green Mountain Coffee made an inducement grant to Mr. Lazaris of a non-qualified stock option to purchase 50,000 shares of Green Mountain Coffee common stock. This option award was granted without stockholder approval pursuant to NASD Marketplace Rule 4350(i)(1)(A)(iv). The stock options vest at a rate of 25% on each of the first four anniversaries of the date of grant and have an exercise price of $37.00, the closing price of Green Mountain Coffee common stock on June 15, 2006. The other terms of these options are consistent with options granted under Green Mountain Coffee's 2006 Incentive Plan.

About Green Mountain Coffee

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. was recently ranked No.1 on Business Ethics Magazine's list of "100 Best Corporate Citizens." It is a leader in the specialty coffee industry offering over 100 coffee selections including estate, certified organic, Fair Trade Certified(TM) signature blends, and flavored coffees that sell under the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters(R) and Newman's Own(R) Organics brands. While the majority of the Company's revenue is derived from its multi-channel wholesale operations, it also manages a growing direct mail and e-commerce business (www.GreenMountainCoffee.com). Based on its performance and practices, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has been recognized for the past six years as one of Forbes Magazine's "200 Best Small Companies," and for the past two years as one of the Society of Human Resource Management's "Best Medium Companies to Work for in America."

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein are not based on historical fact and are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the applicable securities laws and regulations. Owing to the uncertainties inherent in forward-looking statements, actual results could differ materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in availability and cost of high-quality green coffee, the unknown impact of any price increases on net sales, competition, business conditions in the coffee industry and food industry in general, Keurig Incorporated's ability to continue to grow and build profits in the office and at home markets, the impact of the loss of one or more major customers for Green Mountain Coffee or reduction in the volume of purchases by one or more major customers, delays in the timing of adding new locations with existing customers, Green Mountain Coffee's level of success in continuing to attract new customers, the Company's success in efficiently expanding operations and capacity to meet growth, variances from sales mix and growth rate, weather and special or unusual events, as well as other risks as described more fully in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements reflect management's analysis as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake to revise these statements to reflect subsequent developments, other than in its regular, quarterly earnings releases.

Contacts
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc.
Frances G. Rathke, 802-244-5621, ext. 1300
CFO

Drinking Coffee Could Help Protect Liver

OAKLAND, Calif., June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Drinking coffee could help protect against alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. That's the finding of a new study in the June 12 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., followed more than 125,000 health plan members who underwent a medical exam between 1978 and 1985. At the time, none of the members had diagnosed liver disease. Participants filled out a questionnaire detailing how much alcohol, coffee and tea they drank per day. By the end of 2001, 330 participants had been diagnosed with liver disease, including 199 with alcoholic cirrhosis. The researchers found that the more coffee a person drank, the less likely they were to develop alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.

"Consuming coffee seems to have some protective benefits against alcoholic cirrhosis, and the more coffee a person consumes the less risk they seem to have of being hospitalized or dying of alcoholic cirrhosis," said Arthur Klatsky, MD, an investigator with Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research and the lead author of the study. "We did not see a similar protective association between coffee and non-alcoholic cirrhosis."

"This is not a recommendation to drink coffee," said Klatsky. "Nor is it a recommendation that the way to deal with heavy alcohol consumption is to drink more coffee. The value of this study is that it may offer us some clues as to the biochemical processes taking place inside liver cells that could help in finding new ways to protect the liver against injury."

The researchers found that people drinking one cup of coffee a day were, on average, 20 percent less likely to have alcoholic cirrhosis. For people drinking two or three cups the reduction was 40 percent, and for those drinking four or more cups of coffee a day the reduction in risk was 80 percent.

"Even allowing for statistical variation, this shows there is a clear association between coffee consumption, and protection against alcoholic cirrhosis," said Klatsky.

Cirrhosis is a disease that causes progressive damage, and impaired function of the liver. There are numerous causes, including alcohol, viruses, obesity or genetic problems. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, there are more than 5 million cases of chronic liver disease and cirrhosis in the United States, and nearly 28,000 people die of chronic liver disease every year.

The inverse relationship between coffee and cirrhosis was first reported by researchers at Kaiser Permanente in 1993. Subsequently, several other studies confirmed that coffee drinkers are less likely to have high levels of enzymes in the liver. Those liver enzymes can be markers for inflammation or indications of other problems, including disease. The biggest apparent protective benefits were among those who consumed the most alcohol.

The researchers say, because they did not see a similar protective effect among tea drinkers, there may be something in coffee other than just caffeine that helps protect against alcoholic cirrhosis.

This study was supported by a grant from the Kaiser Foundation Research Institute. Data collection from 1978 to 1985 was supported by a grant from the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, Baltimore.

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is America's leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a not-for-profit, group practice program headquartered in Oakland, Calif. Kaiser Permanente serves more than 8.5 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Today it encompasses the not-for-profit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-profit Permanente Medical Groups. Nationwide, Kaiser Permanente includes approximately 145,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers, and more than 12,000 physicians representing all specialties.

The Kaiser Permanente Division of Research conducts, publishes, and disseminates epidemiologic and health services research to improve the health and medical care of Kaiser Permanente members and the society at large. It seeks to understand the determinants of illness and well being and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. Currently, DOR's 400-plus staff is working on more than 250 epidemiological and health services research projects.

http://www.kaiserpermanente.org/

Source: Kaiser Permanente

CONTACT: Michelle Ponte of Kaiser Permanente, +1-510-267-5354 or
Michelle.Ponte@kp.org

Web site: http://www.kaiserpermanente.org/