Costa Rica Cup of Excellence®

2007 Costa Rica Cup of Excellence® Winning Farms - Auction June 21, 2007

The winning lots are coffees scoring 84 points and above in each cupping by both the Costa Rica National jury and the Cup of Excellence® International Jury. These coffees have each been cupped a minimum of five different times during the cupping process.

For more information on each of the farms simply click the name of the farm or contact susies@cupofexcellence.org.

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What is Cup of Excellence®?

Introduction

The Cup of Excellence® is the most esteemed award given out for top coffees. These awards come from a strict competition that selects the very best coffee produced in that country for that particular year. These winning coffees are chosen by a select group of national and international cuppers and are cupped at least five different times during the competition process. Only coffees that continuously score high enough are allowed to move forward in the competition. The final winners are awarded the prestigious Cup of Excellence® and sold to the highest bidder during an internet auction.

Why is Cup of Excellence® important?

The Cup of Excellence® fundamentally changes what we know is possible in an exemplary coffee. For years great coffees have been blended away creating a commodity that while good tends to taste fairly uniform with very little recognition of the individual farmer or of the unique flavor profiles that can be present with different varieties and from different micro climates.

For the roasters and importers who support Cup of Excellence® this program has often introduced to their businesses a new demographic of customers who are appreciative of top quality and willing to pay a premium for it. For the consumers the Cup of Excellence award label is a guarantee that this is top coffee that has been judged by professional cuppers to be the best. Often these award-winning coffees are so good that consumers expectations of what a coffee can taste like are definitely exceeded. The payment to the coffee farmers for their coffee is more than Fair. There is no other program that is as exciting for the coffee lover, the roasters and especially the farmers whose monetary reward often changes the lives of their entire family and the rural communities where they live.

The Cup of Excellence® program builds the bridge between the high quality farmer, the high quality trade and eventually the consumer who finds coffees he truly loves and at the same time knows that the farmer has been well compensated.

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Starbucks Falls on Warning

Associated Press 06.21.07, 1:31 PM ET

Shares of Starbucks Corp. declined Thursday, after the coffee retailer warned it might not reach the top of its profit outlook, in part, because of rising dairy costs.

Shares fell 85 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $26.47 in afternoon trading, after earlier hitting a 52-week low of $26.17.

The company warned it will be difficult to reach the high end of its fiscal 2007 earnings forecast range of 87 cents per share to 89 cents per share, citing high dairy costs and soft domestic transaction growth.

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Vietnamese Iced Coffee

This Asian elixir is a classic yin-and-yang marriage of sweet, thick milk and intense coffee. Serves 1.

1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

3 tablespoons medium-grind French roast coffee

¾ cup boiling water

4 ounces crushed ice

Ground cinnamon, for garnish

Place the condensed milk in an 8-ounce tempered glass or mug.

Place over the mug a cone-shaped coffee filter containing the ground coffee.

Pour the boiling water onto the ground coffee and allow the brewed coffee to drip slowly into the milk.

Stir up the milk from the bottom of the glass and continue stirring rapidly until well-blended.

Place the crushed ice in a chilled tall, slender 12-ounce highball glass. Pour the coffee mixture over the ice.

Sprinkle with a touch of cinnamon and serve.

Source: MyrtleBeachOnline.com

Kona coffee crop gets just enough rain

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 9:16 AM HAST Tuesday, June 19, 2007
by Howard Dicus

Kona coffee farmers say light rains in recent weeks, while below average, have saved their crop, and they now hope to produce as least as many beans as last season.

"We have been sweating it out until the last month. The last month has brought us some much needed water," said Roger Kaiwi, whose Captain Cook Coffee Co. is both a grower and a roaster. "I believe it will help us to have a better and more normal season. It might also be much longer as a result of later rains."

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Steamed by Starbucks in Forbidden City

'It's a shame,' our guide lamented as we insisted on visiting a sacrilegious shrine to Seattle-ness
Jun 16, 2007 04:30 AM
Bill Schiller
ASIA BUREAU

Beijing–The young tour guide's jaw dropped when I said I wanted to go to Starbucks. She was flabbergasted.

But I had my reasons.

It was a hot and dusty afternoon and we were standing in the middle of the Forbidden City, the country's cosmic centre – arguably the most cherished site in all of China.

I'd hooked up with some American friends who had never visited the Forbidden City, a Ming masterpiece from the 15th century that was home to 24 emperors and their attendants. I'd been before, but was happy to come along.

But at the mere mention of Starbucks, the Chinese guide reacted as though I'd just tossed a Molotov cocktail into the middle of a perfectly fine conversation – not unlike the Molotov hurled last month at the famous portrait of Mao Zedong that hangs above the Forbidden City's gates.

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