Good news for Costa Rican coffee producers

Coffee emerges in study as the major source of antioxidants

Special to A.M. Costa Rica

There's good news for Costa Rican coffee producers.

That steaming cup of coffee is also the number one source of antioxidants in the U.S. diet, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania. The study was described at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

"Americans get more of their antioxidants from coffee than any other dietary source. Nothing else comes close," says study leader Joe Vinson, a chemistry professor at the university. Although fruits and vegetables are generally promoted as good sources of antioxidants, the new finding is surprising because it represents the first time that coffee has been shown to be the primary source from which most Americans get their antioxidants, Vinson said. Both caffeinated and decaf versions appear to provide similar antioxidant levels, he added.

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Made in Guatemala: Starbucks Coffee

Guatemala is the top coffee provider to Starbucks and the world's fifth-largest coffee exporter.

BY CHRONICLE STAFF

When you buy a tall coffee at Starbucks these days chances are you are drinking coffee from Guatemala. The Central American country is the top provider of coffee to the U.S. coffee chain, Starbucks spokesman Andy Fouche says.

Starbucks last year bought 73 percent of its coffee in Latin America. Apart from Guatemala, Starbucks buys coffee from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru.

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Starbucks to source coffee from China

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest coffee-shop chain, said it planned to source coffee from China for the first time as it expands in a country with more than 5,000 years of tea-drinking culture.

Starbucks has been working with coffee farmers in China's southwestern Yunnan province to help them meet sourcing standards and has sent coffee shipments to the United States for testing, Starbucks China President Wang Jinlong said at the Reuters China Century Summit on Tuesday.

"China does produce some quality coffee," Wang said at the summit, held at the Reuters office in Shanghai.

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Gourmet coffee guru Alfred Peet dead at 87

By Dana Ford

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Coffee legend Alfred Peet, creator of Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc., a forerunner to Starbucks Corp., has died at his home in Ashland, Oregon, his company said. He was 87.

Peet, known as the grandfather of the specialty coffee movement in the United States, taught the tricks of the trade to the founders of Starbucks and sold them their first year's supply. He passed away on Wednesday.

"He had this great love of coffee," said Jim Reynolds, roast master emeritus of Peet's Coffee & Tea, who worked with Peet in his early years.

"He was so helpful to many people in the business. When Starbucks was getting going, the founders of the company really needed help. He let them work in his store and taught them about coffee," said Reynolds on Saturday.

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