Fresh roast coffee all about the beans

By Jim Romanoff
For The Associated Press

Given the American love affair with coffee, it's surprising more people don't roast their own beans at home.

Not only does home roasting ensure the freshest, most splendid cup of coffee, it's also a money saver and takes just minutes to prepare enough beans for several pots.

"Almost everyone knows how exquisite fresh bread is," says Kenneth Davids, author of "Home Coffee Roasting." "But the flavor and fragrance of coffee one day out of the roaster is a virtually forgotten pleasure."

Here's what you need to know to roast at home: Click here

Dr. Jane Goodall Finds Common Ground for Chimps and Coffee

Green Mountain Coffee and the Jane Goodall Institute Create Coffee to Save Chimp Habitat

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Green Mountain Coffee

What: Members of the media are invited to join world-renowned primatologist and humanitarian Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, on Thursday, May 8 to sample a coffee created to help preserve chimp habitat.

Who: Jane Goodall, Founder--the Jane Goodall Institute, UN Messenger of Peace
Lindsey Bolger, Director of Coffee Sourcing and Relationships, Green Mountain Coffee

Where: Campus Center, Third Floor, Bay View Room
University of Massachusetts Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston
(Use the North Lot for parking)

When: Thursday, May 8, 9:15 a.m.

Dr. Goodall will lead a tasting of Tanzanian Gombe Reserve, a coffee developed by Green Mountain Coffee in cooperation with the Jane Goodall Institute.

The ecosystem around Gombe National Park in Tanzania where Dr. Goodall began her legendary work with primates is in peril due to social and economic pressures. The forests around the park are rapidly being cleared for agricultural use.

To protect the habitat of Gombe’s wild chimpanzees, the Jane Goodall Institute and Green Mountain Coffee are working with members of the Kanyovu Cooperative, a group of small-scale farmers who live near the border of the park. Gombe Reserve coffee beans grow in harmony with one of the chimps’ last remaining habitats, giving farmers an additional incentive to preserve and restore the forest.

Tanzanian Gombe Reserve coffee is the first product in the world to carry Dr. Goodall’s “Good for All” seal of approval.

Contacts

Green Mountain Coffee
Sandy Yusen, 866-968-2739
Cell: 802-760-0144
Sandy.yusen@gmcr.com

The great barista battle is brewing

The National Barista Championship beginning Friday will showcase some highly sophisticated coffee preparation -- and for three local competitors, the experience is as rich and savory as a perfect demitasse of espresso.

By KRISTIN TILLOTSON, Star Tribune

Grind. Brew. Extract. Steam. Serve. Repeat. And repeat again, several hundred times, quickly and gracefully.

Since early February, Adam Palmer has spent 30 hours a week in a Zen state, practicing for the Olympics of coffeemaking, the U.S. Barista Championship to be held this weekend at the Minneapolis Convention Center. As one of three young Twin Cities men competing in this creme de la creme contest for coffee fanatics, he knows that no ordinary cup of Joe will tickle the picky palates of judges who consider coffee a high art, not a mere beverage.

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Struggling Starbucks rolls out new brew

Starbucks is hoping its new fresh-brewed Pike Place Roast will boost sales.

Pike Place is a nostalgic brand for Starbucks and part of CEO Howard Schultz's plan to reconnect with the company's customers and return Starbucks to its roots. The new brew is named after Starbucks' original store-location in Seattle's famed fish market.

Starbucks aims to offer fresher coffee, and Pike Place will be freshly ground and brewed in smaller batches that hold for no more than 30 minutes, the company has said.

Starbucks is marketing the coffee in specially designed cups that use the company's original 1971 logo and brown trim around the white cup, instead of the usual green stripe.

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Colombia Cash Coffee: Diffs Stronger On Early Mitaca Supply

BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--Physical trade was slow this week in the Colombian cash arabica coffee market as cash differentials remained firm on the current tight supply, local and foreign traders and exporters said Friday.

But traders said that after a slow start to the mitaca, or mid-crop, the first lots of fresh beans were now starting to reach the market and although differentials remained firm, differentials for the more commercial grades started to show signs of weakening.

"It's been quiet. People are talking about delays in the mid-crop harvest and a reduction in the quantity," said a Bogota-based trader with a major exporter.

Physicals traders in New York, however, said the local market was exaggerating the slow pace of the harvest, saying that exports and production figures had been "remarkably stable" during the past five years and the harvest was just about to start.

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SCAA Awards Innovative Sustainability Projects

SCAA Awards Innovative Sustainability Projects in the Specialty Coffee Industry

The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), the world s largest coffee trade association, today announced the international recipients of its annual Sustainability Award.

This award honors individuals, businesses and organizations in the specialty coffee industry that have created innovative projects to expand and promote sustainability.
This year s winners represent organizations from Brazil, Honduras, The Netherlands and Nicaragua.

The 2008 Sustainability Award winners will be recognized before thousands of coffee professionals at SCAA s 20th Annual Conference & Exhibition on May 3 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minn.

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