Fair-Trade Certified vs. Sustainable Coffee

March 30, 2007

JENNIFER McMULLEN

SILHOUETTE STAFF

McMaster’s University Student Newspaper

Hamilton, ON Canada

Squeeze and roll. Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? For Paul Kind, this isn’t exactly true. He is the inventor of the rim roller, a device specifically used for rolling up the rim on coffee cups.

“Paul is a problem solver,” said his wife Iona. “We would go to [Tim Horton’s] every Tuesday and struggle to roll up our rims. The first thing in his mind was that there has to be a better way. He was trying to make a living and in his spare time he would put his mind to that, physically making 12 different prototypes. It went on and on for 3 years; it’s been a long process to make it the right size and shape. I’m really hoping this works well for him because he’s worked hard for so many years.”

To some, the idea of having a device to roll up the rim for you seemed a little bit ridiculous. When asked if he would be buying a rim roller, third-year theatre and film studies student Tyler Shearer replied, “Absolutely not. Why do I have to pay for a product when I can just use my thumbs?”

Other students, such as fourth-year sociology student Jenn Mosselman and third-year English student Heather Cairnie, said that they might purchase one as a stocking stuffer or a gag gift. Mosselman added that it was “hilariously intelligent that they’re making money off of a contest that people love. But it just goes to show you that our society isn’t about need, it’s about want.”

Alexa Di Cresce, a third-year theatre and film studies major, remarked, “Inventions are about novelty rather than making things better. Why not make something that matters?”

In defence of the product, Iona Kind said, “To each their own. We can’t twist anyone’s arm to buy it. Elderly people love it because it’s tough for some people if they have arthritis or other things that limit their abilities. [I’ve] received an inspiring e-mail from a lady that had taken the gadget to work and given it to a man that had one arm. Remarkably he’s able to do it himself now. Then you’ve got the people that bite the tabs and rip them off. This is way more sanitary. It’s all a matter of perspective.”

Essentially, the choice to buy into it all is up to the consumer. Some students don’t even bother purchasing Tim Horton’s coffee because they don’t practice fair trade—they use what the company refers to as a “coffee sustainability program.” According to the Tim Horton’s website “under the coffee sustainability program, small coffee producers are being provided with technical support and training to help them increase the amount and quality of coffee they produce. Our own coffee experts also travel to the growing farms to ensure that proper conditions exist for both the coffee and the workers. While we certainly agree in principle with the aims and goals of Fair Trade coffee, our dilemma is that the growers who belong to the Fair Trade ‘Certified Co-ops’ cannot supply either the volume or the quality of beans that our chain requires for our special blend. The fair trade program requires certification on behalf of the farmers, which is an expense they cannot usually afford. Plus it provides a price that has no relation to the quality of the coffee. ”

When asked to comment further on the program’s accountability and monitoring system, a Tim Horton’s representative said, “The information available on the website was all that we can share at this time.”

In defense of Fair Trade Coffee, Chantal Havard from TransFair Canada, a non-profit organization dedicated to fair trade practices, said, “Specific to fair trade is a guaranteed minimum price, social premiums and long-term relations, direct contact and environmental and worker standards. There is a mechanism of monitoring involved.”

“No one knows how these other programs work. It is true that producers pay certification fees, but to make sure producers aren’t disadvantaged, Fair Trade Labelling Organizations has created a fund so that farmers can get first year certification fees waived. And it isn’t a loan, it’s a grant,” added Havard.

To further clear up the issue of Fair Trade versus Coffee Sustainability programs, Sandy McAlpine, president of the Coffee Association of Canada explained the difference between the two. With the coffee sustainability program, he said, there are “direct linkages made rather than through a certification system. They go to source countries and set up direct support relationships in order to get control over working with their suppliers. So the trade-off is more controlled; there is no third party involved.”

When asked where he thinks students should be buying their coffee from in order to be socially conscious, McAlpine replied, “With where the market is [right now], you accomplish the same thing when buying from either. One is doing about as much good as the other.”

To some, the idea of having a device to roll up the rim for you seemed a little bit ridiculous. When asked if he would be buying a rim roller, third-year theatre and film studies student Tyler Shearer replied, “Absolutely not. Why do I have to pay for a product when I can just use my thumbs?”

Size Matters In Lower East Side Coffee; (Or: The Starbucks Effect--Beware)

By Mark Wellborn

Friday March 30, 2007

Starbucks seems to have left another local coffee house in its wake. Earlier this week, The Bean Coffee and Tea, located at 118 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side, closed its doors after being in operation just four months.

While it seems the demise of the caffeine outpost, which also has a location in the East Village, could easily be attributed to the Starbucks that sits just feet away, Bean manager Guy Pujlia blamed the size of the store.

"The space was just too small," Mr. Pujlia told The Real Estate. "People would get tired of waiting in line and just go down the street to Starbucks."

Rumors have been floating around the neighborhood recently that Ini Ani, another local coffee shop, might also be falling the way of The Bean Coffee and Tea. However, an employee at the Stanton Street store, notable for the corrugated cardboard that covers its walls, confirmed that this was indeed a rumor. Long live the independent coffee house! For now.

- Mark Wellborn

Organic coffee a unique success story

by Uma Sudhir, AP/NDTV.com

Friday, March 30, 2007 (Araku Valley)

Tribal women from remote hills of Andhra Pradesh have wowed the world not with their dance or striking nose-rings but with their coffee.

For instance, Gemmile Tikku, a widow from Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district, has won national and international recognition for growing one of the best flavours of organic coffee.

However, for them to take the international market by storm, these women will need adequate support.

Coffee grower Appa Rao informs that with NGO help for better farm practices and marketing, he grows coffee that fetches him a better price and his income has more than doubled in the last couple of years.

"I used to get Rs 35-40, now I get above Rs 80-100," said Appa Rao, Coffee grower.

Brown revolution

Some 60,000 tribal families are part of this brown revolution.

They grow up to 4000 tonnes of organic coffee that has a premium niche market in the developed world.

In fact, this invigorating story has had such an impact that it drew the Union Commerce Minister to Gemmile Tikku's doorstep.

"One acre of coffee can fetch up to Rs 13,000 an year. From 75000 acres to 1.5 lakh acres, we plan to double area under coffee here in the next five years," said Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of State, Commerce.

Spicing this steamy success is black pepper that is grown as a creeper along with coffee and is adding to the income.

The next step is organic certification and standardization of the coffee so that the Araku Valley organic coffee can emerge as a strong international brand.

Fair trade is improving coffee farmers' lives

By Matthew Burrows

March 1, 2007

French president Jacques Chirac has already pronounced him a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.

Dutch-born Catholic priest Francisco VanderHoff has worked for 27 years promoting fair trade as a tool of “empowerment” for the indigenous coffee farmers of his adopted Oaxaca state in southern Mexico. And in 2005, while receiving his award from Chirac in Paris, the ebullient Vander?Hoff came close to convincing British prime minister Tony Blair to make his home “totally fair trade”.

“Chirac I would call a courageous politician,” VanderHoff told the Georgia Straight over espresso in a Kitsilano coffee shop. “He has ways of adopting his more left-wing beliefs into his right-wing framework. He said fair trade was ‘urgent and necessary' in front of [then–UN secretary general] Kofi Annan. Tony Blair is more tricky, very tricky. I asked when he will make 10 Downing Street fair trade and he smiled and said, ‘It's very complicated.'?”

VanderHoff, 67, was only in Vancouver for 24 hours following a stint as keynote speaker at the Ethical Purchasing Forum at the University of Victoria on February 23 and 24. According to B.C. Co-operative Association spokesperson Michael Zelmer, who accompanied him on the trip, he can pass on a lot of wisdom with little fanfare.

“He's not formal at all, but he's very sharp,” Zelmer told the Straight by phone. “I just found out he's writing a book with Nobel Prize winners and economists Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz. I'm quite impressed with how plainspoken and grounded he is, all things considered.”

In Oaxaca, VanderHoff participated in the 1983 official launch of UCIRI (Unión de Comunidades Indígenas de la Región del Istmo), a coffee producer cooperative created to pool resources and to bypass traders—often called “coyotes” or “intermediaries” by VanderHoff. (He is also responsible for launching the first fair-trade label, Max Havelaar, in collaboration with Dutch advocate Nico Roozen.)

“I don't feel miserable but feel instead very free and very happy,” VanderHoff explained. “Fair trade gives you a different perception of what an economy is all about. When I started this, our farmers were living off US$1 a day, and that is truly miserable. But now they are at US$2 a day, while the state minimum is US$4, so that is still poverty. But it is a 100-percent increase.”

VanderHoff also claims the cooperative model he has developed has enabled his community to sustain itself while developing health care, a guaranteed food and water supply, and education. He said he still lives on US$2 a day.

In 2003, North Shore resident Lloyd Bernhardt cofounded the Vancouver-based Ethical Bean Coffee Company with his wife, Kim Schachte. He told the Straight he spent some time talking to VanderHoff and felt it was important for local coffee connoisseurs to start making the connection to the farmers.

“What fair trade essentially does is get rid of a lot of people who don't supply value,” Bernhardt said. “It's tough work [for the farmers], who are typically in a co-op, each member with his own family farm of one to two hectares, while a group will get together and share a mill where they do the harvesting [from November to March]. It's lots of work and it encourages cooperation because individual farmers cannot afford their own mills.”

Bernhardt said he was in the software business but spent four months in Guatemala when he and his wife adopted their seven-year-old daughter from that country. He began to make “instant connections” in his head while observing the Guatemalan coffee farmers.

“There are approximately 25 $4 double espressos in a pound of coffee,” he said. “That's $100 of product. As a wholesaler paying $40 a pound, that looks pretty good. It also looks good to a roaster.”

Until a few years ago, the farmer's share of that pound of coffee was US60 cents, Bernhardt said. Since that time, a minimum of US$1.46 has been installed to help the farmers avoid the vagaries of price fluctuations and to get them a fair price. It also proves that, as Zelmer and VanderHoff believe, there is flexibility along the chain to help farmers at no extra cost to the consumer.

“Of the local coffee sold in Vancouver and Canada as a whole, we're probably talking about one to two percent being fair trade,” Bernhardt said. “Look at Starbucks and the institutional side; most of that is not fair trade. Starbucks has one product line, and another that is organic. Otherwise, they sell all that [non-fair-trade] coffee, so that's not a whole lot. But we are growing and we have to make sure that we do it in a way that is sustainable.”

Originally published in The Georgia Straight Vancouver Ontario, Canada. March 1, 2007.

Scientist develops caffeinated doughnuts

DURHAM. N.C. - That cup of coffee just not getting it done anymore? How about a Buzz Donut or a Buzzed Bagel? That's what Doctor Robert Bohannon, a Durham, North Carolina, molecular scientist, has come up with. Bohannon says he's developed a way to add caffeine to baked goods, without the bitter taste of caffeine. Each piece of pastry is the equivalent of about two cups of coffee.

While the products is no on the market yet, Bohannon has approached some heavyweight companies, including Krispy Creme, Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks about carrying it.

Illegal plantations linked to major coffee firms

By Chris Mercer

1/19/2007- Some of the world’s largest coffee firms have been unwittingly sourcing beans from illegal plantations inside one of the world’s most important wildlife sanctuaries, a new report says.

Coffee industry giants Nestle and Kraft Foods were both implicated in the report, published by the World Wildlife Fund, which says growers in Indonesia had illegally used 45,000 hectares of the country’s Bukit Barisan Selatan (BBS) National Park.

The news threatens to be another public relations nightmare for top coffee firms amid ongoing criticism of their supply chain practices. The BBS park is an important refuge for endangered tigers, rhinos and elephants.

WWF said most of the coffee firms involved were unaware of the problem due to a lack of planting regulations in the region.

But it criticised both importers and exporters for not having mechanisms in place to prevent the trade of illegal beans. The group estimated from satellite images, interviews and tracking that 19,600 tonnes of beans were produced illegally every year.

“If this trend of illegally clearing park land for coffee isn’t halted, the rhinos and tigers will be locally extinct in less than a decade,” said Heather Sohl, of WWF UK.

Colleague Nazir Foead, of WWF Indonesia, said: “WWF doesn’t want to shut down the coffee industry in Lampung Province.

“But we're asking multinational coffee companies to implement rigorous chain-of-custody controls to ensure that they are no longer buying illegally grown coffee, and we're asking the Indonesian Government to better protect the park."

Nestle sought to distance itself from the illegal beans on Friday. “We share the concerns of the WWF and we are in talks with them. It is an industry-wide issue,” a spokesperson told BeverageDaily.com.

“It’s true that sometimes determining its source can be problematic, but we would never [knowingly] buy illegally grown coffee.” The group sources less than five per cent of its coffee from Indonesia and 60 per cent of that comes direct from farmers.

Kraft Foods was unavailable for comment.

Indonesia is the world’s second largest exporter of Robusta coffee beans, many of which are grown next door to the BBS park, in Sumatra.

Two cups of coffee may ward of post-workout soreness

Originally Posted on : 2007-01-11 | Author : Paula Cussons

Earthtimes.org

The downside of exercising is often sore muscles, which discourages people from having a really good workout. But now researchers from the University of Georgia may have found a way to bypass this as a new study suggests that drinking moderate amounts of coffee after exercising could help overcome this soreness.

These findings hold relevance to people who are new to workouts as they are the ones who experience the most soreness. “If you can use caffeine to reduce the pain, it may make it easier to transition from that first week into a much longer exercise program,” said lead researcher Victor Maridakis.

The study involved nine female college students who were not regular coffee drinkers. These students were not regular to exercise either. The researchers allowed them to have moderate workouts for the first two days before beginning the experiment.

The students were randomly given either caffeine or a placebo after a regular workout session. Thereafter they were asked to do a couple of thigh muscle exercises, which required a maximum stretching effect on the thigh.

Those who drank caffeine one hour before the second exercise had a 48 percent reduction in soreness as compared to those who took a placebo, the researchers reported. Co-author Patrick O'Connor said that it was likely that caffeine blocked the adenosine receptor, which is a byproduct of inflammation.

However the study is very small and since it involved only young females, the results are not deemed conclusive. "It can reduce pain," Maridakis agreed, "but you have to apply some common sense and not go overboard."

The details of the study will appear in the February issue of The Journal of Pain.

Print Source :

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/19134.html

Is Starbucks the Victim of a Coffee Mugging by Oxfam?

I am re-posting this very controversial article originally published on "Seeking Alpha" on December 27, 2006. I think this is one of the better articles on this subject. I particularly like the balanced perspective acheived through the posted comments adjoining the article.

David Phillips (10Q Detective) submits: Oxfam, a development charity that dates back to World War II, alleges that global coffee retailer Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) is depriving Ethiopian coffee farmers of between $88.0 to $132.0 million a year, by opposing the Ethiopian government's efforts to trademark three popular varieties of its specialty coffee—Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe beans.

Oxfam and its broad coalition of supporters say:

More than a year ago, Ethiopia approached Starbucks and asked the company to lead the coffee industry by example and sign an agreement recognizing Ethiopia's legal ownership of its fine coffee names. If companies like Starbucks signed such agreements, Ethiopia would occupy a stronger negotiating position with foreign buyers, capture a larger share of the market associated with its coffee names, and better protect its brands.

Oxfam and its activists allege that there is a huge disparity in the profit distribution to the players in the coffee industry, with Ethiopian coffee farmers often collecting no more than 10 percent of the profits from the sale of their coffees. The rest goes to the coffee industry players that can control the retail price—the international importers, distributors, and roasters like Starbucks.

Starbucks CEO Jim Donald met with Ethiopiaian government officials to discuss trademark issues on November 29, 2006. Given little progress in their talks, Oxfam and its supporters organized “The Starbucks Day of Action” in more than a dozen countries, demonstrating outside many Starbucks stores on December 16, with activists leafleting and carrying the image of an Ethiopian coffee farmer on sandwich board fronts, with the backside reading, "For every cup of Ethiopian coffee Starbucks sells, Ethiopian farmer earn 3 cents. Tell Starbucks: Honor your commitments to coffee farmers." [Ed. note. Watch the video on YouTube now.]

Talks purportedly broke down because Starbucks favored a geographic certification model—much like Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, Florida Orange Juice, and French and Napa Valley Wines—which guarantees a point of origin and standard of quality; whereas, Ethiopia refused, opting for brand ownership.

We laud Oxfam’s good intentions, but question their grasp of Ethiopia’s calculus for peculations.

The rhetoric behind economic development today—especially in African countries—is such that where poverty exists, you can be sure that “corruption” won’t be far behind. Aside from widespread allegations of fraud following the May 2005 parliamentary elections, in which results showed the incumbent Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front retaining a majority, the business environment—while not thought to be as corrupt as political life—in Ethiopia, still ranked only a 3.70 score (with 1.0 being the best & 5.0 being the worst) on an ”Index of Economic Freedom 2006” census taken by The Heritage Foundation/ Wall Street Journal:

Ethiopia's cumbersome bureaucracy deters investment…. Corruption in Ethiopia poses various problems for [the] business environment, as patronage networks are firmly entrenched and political clout is often used to gain economic prowess.

In our view, irrespective of going the certification process or the intellectual property route, in order for the coffee farmers to share in any incremental value—such as an increase in annual income—necessitates a transparent system that shows how the money is going back to the farmers.

In addition to failing to explain what type of transparent ‘checks and balances’ system need be established, nowhere in its press releases does Oxfam explain how the agency derived the incremental annual benefit to farmers of between $88.0 to $132.0 million.

To the contrary, since 2001, Starbucks has been inserting transparency into standard contracts. Today, the Company has economic transparency requirements for 59 percent of all coffee purchased to provide information on the payments made to farmers. This represents 177 million lbs. (80 million kg.) of coffee.

In December 22, 2006, Starbucks' Letter to the Editor of the Seattle Post Intelligencer (regarding the Ethiopian Trademark), Dub Hay, VP-Global Coffee Procurement said, too:

While our purchases of Ethiopian coffee represent a very small percentage of the country’s total coffee exports, we pay premium prices – in 2005 our price exceeded the New York commodity market price by 23 percent -- for all of the coffee we buy in 27 countries. And, between 2002 and 2006 we increased purchases of Ethiopian coffee by more than 400 percent and are committed to growing those purchases in the years to come.

In our view Oxfam and its supporters have not presented a cogent argument to suggest that Starbucks is acting in an unethical or socially irresponsible manner; nor has Oxfam presented any convincing evidence that Starbucks is willfully trying to maximize its own profit margins—by denying Ethiopian farmers their legitimate coffee profits.

Voir dire [Old French: “To speak the truth”] is a tool used to achieve the constitutional right to an impartial jury. Preliminary examination of Oxfam as an impartial juror would show that the aid agency is in an awkward position to comment on the social responsibility of Starbucks:

1. Language found in a Coffee (Rescue Plan) Policy paper [2002] speaks volumes:

Despite the stagnant consumer market, the coffee companies are laughing all the way to the bank…. Until now, rich consumer countries and the huge companies based in them responded to the crises [slump in coffee prices and economic impact on coffee farmers] with inexcusable complacency. In the face of human misery, there have been many words yet little action.

2. In 2004, Oxfam accepted a £100,000 investment by Starbucks into a rural coffee-growing project in Ethiopia and a range of expertise-sharing programs focusing on improving trading agreements for millions of coffee farmers in developing countries.

Given the weaknesses of Oxfam’s arguments and its lapses in credibility, Starbucks comes across less as a coffee-thirsty exploiter of less-developed countries, and more the victim of a coffee mugging.

Editor David J Phillips does not hold financial interests in any of the companies mentioned in this posting. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure policy.

Seeking alpha December 27, 2006

Eugene Clough wrote on Wed Dec 27th @ 3:17 am

Hi,

Let's hear it for Starbucks.

abera mola wrote on Wed Dec 27th @ 8:31 am

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee holds a trademark, you can check at uspto.org. Second, it is infact Starbucks' argument that makes no sense. It is completely devoid of economic reasoning and the company has chosen to argue its case by citing aid programs it participated in and sometimes even bordering on patronizing comments stating that the Ethiopians wouldn't know how to handle a trademark. 23% over the the New York commodity market for speciality coffees is a joke ... the New York commodity market prices are for bulk auctioned coffee (eg. the folgers blended brands that you find in grocery stores). The selling prices for the speciality coffees is in some cases between 100% - 500% [in some cases more] of what the folgers brands sell for. All Ethiopia is asking is that the prices its farmers get for the speciality coffees [not all its coffees] reflect these differences. The way it hopes to do that is through trademarking.

A most important element you are overlooking is that these coffee brands are the IPs of Ethiopian farmers not that of Sbux and they have a right to do what they will with it [regardless of Sbux sensitivities] ... plus impartiality would have required that you mention Sbux's attemot to trademark the name Sidamo as part of its application in 2004.

Greg Sherwin wrote on Wed Dec 27th @ 3:04 pm

Ahhhh, the answer is "no"?!?

Fair Trade was devised by people who wanted to counter the price squeeze of coffee farmers at the bottom of the chain while retailers profited handsomely with huge margins. Essentially, Starbucks was one of the reasons why Fair Trade coffee came about. Wisely, they saw the opportunity and co-opted it, and now boast their Fair Tradeness as a badge of honor -- in a little smoke and mirrors to deny their prior practices that lead to its creation. So Starbucks is hardly the victim here.

Same goes for the Oxfam case. While I certainly would question the transparency of Ethiopia and the hands over which revenues would flow in that country, it's a bit disingenous to suggest that Ethiopian growers don't deserve protections we afford other food & drink producers around the world because they happen to be unlucky enough to live under problematic government leadership.

I think the most culpable act that Starbucks did surround this was, first of all, denying that they were behind the National Coffee Associations' veto on the measure. And now they've come back front and center publicly stating they were against Ethiopian certification. Talk about speaking out of both corners of your mouth.

I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Starbucks is some bloodthirsty exploitation machine, the way that Nike has been portrayed. However, like Disney, they profit handsomely from a Potemkin village of ethical propriety when behind the scenes they are no better -- or worse -- than any other profit-making corporation. So calling Starbucks the victim of a mugging is a bit falling for the bait. You should know better.

Feel and look fantastic in a coffee body wrap

Ladies, whether before or after Christmas, awaken your senses and treat your skin to a fabulous Bodycoffee anti-cellulite detoxifying body wrap at Mingala. It will tackle that dreaded cellulite and rid the body of the poisonous toxins many of us will be guzzling this party season!

The therapeutic Bodycoffee body wrap gets to work on cellulite and toxins as the clay, green coffee powder, and other healing ingredients provide maximum firming benefits while encouraging skin to eliminate damaging toxins.

How it works

Firstly sea algae activating serum is gently massaged into the person’s cellulitic areas. This serum contains fat-fighting caffeine and sea algae extract, which is an effective natural moisturiser that promotes the silky texture and smooth finish of younger-looking skin.

Next, spa-goers are wrapped in a detoxifying, coffee-infused cocoon. It is full of Bodycoffee green coffee and utane powder, which was first developed using Kaolin clay to stimulate circulation to the skin, gently exfoliate, and cleanse without drying.

Coffee powder from green coffee beans provides more concentrated antioxidant benefits than the roasted variet; it helps eliminate toxins and make skin look more toned. After this luxurious treatment, clients feel invigorated, with firmer skin, sleeker contours, and a healthy-looking glow.

Spa-goers are drawn to this innovative new way to energise their bodies and pamper their skin. After a Bodycoffee treatment, clients emerge radiant, refreshed, and positively glowing.

The coffee plant is acknowledged the world over for its healing properties. It is renowned for its abilities to mend broken skin, soothe irritations, and revitalise cells. The coffee plant is also a free radical scavenge; it neutralises destructive oxidation reactions, which are the culprit of everything from acne to eczema.

Coffee is also a gentle exfoliant, removing dirt and dead skin cells, opening pores so wastes and toxins can be easily released. This plant is also a great cleanser; it neutralises and absorbs strong odours.

Caffeine improves micro-cellular circulation and breaks up the fatty deposits that can cause cellulite. It is an effective astringent; with the same 4.5 pH as the skin, it helps to fend off acne and other blemishes. There is a UVA/UVB protector in the coffee plant, it helps to screen out the sun rays responsible for burning, premature ageing, and skin cancer.

Origins of Bodycoffee

The idea behind Bodycoffee products came from founder Stephanie Profitt and her partner Serge Kogan. Stephanie was inspired while on a traditional Russian bathhouse (known as the "Banya"). People there were using coffee in a way she had never seen before - rubbing it on their bodies as a stimulating exfoliant. It has been a tradition in Russian bathhouses for generations, and coffee also is a natural astringent, antioxidant, and deodorant. It cleanses, moisturises, and protects the skin from the dulling and damaging effects of environmental toxins, revealing a youthful, more radiant appearance.

In 2001, they set up their company Stephka, appointed a team of the best skin care experts, and together set out to combine the therapeutic benefits of coffee with other healing ingredients such as olive and hemp seed oils, shea butter, sea salt, and herbal extracts to create products that can be used every day to diminish the effects of oxidation, sunlight, and pollution. The result was Bodycoffee, a collection of body care products that revitalise tired, dull skin to reveal the soft, new self within.

Bodycoffee treatments are available at Mingala, Pearse Court, Pearse Street, Athlone. You can contact them on (090) 6477770.

Arabica coffee project a fantastic hope

VietNamNet Bridge – The project on developing Arabica coffee in Vietnam, which was kicked off eight years ago, is facing failure.

This is an ambitious project that aims to develop the Arabica coffee plantation area in 15 northern mountainous provinces, allowing Vietnam to export Arabica coffee to the world. The investment capital for the first phase of the project was VND800bil ($50mil), a part of which came from French AFD loans.

Wrong investment?

The 2005-2006 crop provided 18,000 tonnes of Arabica, and 11,000 tones were exported, down by 1,000 tonnes in comparison with the previous crop.

Nguyen Nam Hai, Director of Cafecontrol, said that the quality of Vietnam-grown Arabica was alarmingly bad, with the size of coffee beans becoming smaller and smaller.

“There are problems in picking and processing processes,” said Mr Hai.

As a result, a large proportion of product cannot be exported.

“Vietnam-made Arabica is just average quality in comparison with the world’s products. Though Vietnam has exported Arabica for the last eight years, Vietnam is still not a big name in the world,” said Mr Hai.

He thinks that the problem lies in the coffee seed. Catimor is the kind of seed, which is being planted widely in Vietnam; however, Catimor cannot bring good-quality products.

The height of the land for growing Arabica, according to experts, can decide the quality and taste of Arabica. Arabica coffee has been grown on land not high enough above sea level. It is more difficult to grow Arabica than Robusta, which is popular in the Central Highlands and southeastern areas.

The habit of Vietnamese farmers of picking ripe and unripe coffee beans at the same time has also been cited as one of the reasons behind the bad quality of Vietnam-made Arabica.

Hope still cherished

According to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association (Vicofa), the total area for growing Arabica in the 2005-2006 crop was 2,000 ha higher than the previous crop, about 20,500 ha, mostly in Lam Dong, Quang Tri, Son La and other northern provinces. Of these provinces, Lam Dong can provide 10,000 tones of Arabica every year, 50% of total Arabica output.

Under the development strategy drawn up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the plantation area will be five times greater in the next five years than the current level, which will allow the industry to harvest 150-200,000 tones every year.

The area for growing Robusta will gradually decrease from 500,000 ha to 400,000 ha in the next five years. Doan Trieu Nhan, Vicofa Chairman, stressed that it was an effective solution to get sustainable development, while helping reduce the overproduction of Robusta.

In addition, according to Mr Nhan, Vietnamese producers and exporters will be able to earn more money with Arabica coffee. Arabica prices are always 1.5-2 times higher than Robusta in the international market, and Arabica has never seen overproduction as Robusta has.

However, it is not so easy to develop Arabica plantation area and exports. Nguyen Van An, Director of Thai Hoa Trading Company, the biggest Arabica exporter, said that farmers and processors have to change their habits of farming and processing. They also have to make investment in equipment and technologies suitable to processing Arabica, while they need advice from scientists on the areas for growing and other technical issues.

“Vietnam is a big Robusta exporter, and Vietnamese farmers have been growing Robusta for many years. However, this does not mean that they will be naturally successful in growing Arabica,” Mr. An said.

orginally posted 13 December 06 on vietnam.net

More support for coffee’s anti-diabetes benefits

By staff reporter

08/12/2006- Drinking four or more cups of coffee a day could cut the risk of developing type-2 diabetes by over 23 per cent, say American and Finnish researchers.

Led by Nina Paynter from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the scientists looked at coffee and sweetened beverage consumption and the risk of type-2 diabetes among 12,204 nondiabetic, middle-aged men and women taking enrolled in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study.

While no significant link between sweetened beverage consumption and type-2 diabetes was observed, the researchers do report a significant protective association amongst coffee drinkers.

The research adds to previous large prospective studies that reported a beneficial link between coffee intake and the risk of type-2 diabetes, but whether these apparent benefits are related to the caffeine content is controversial.

However, the doses reported to offer a protective effect are higher than the average worldwide daily coffee consumption of one and a half cups, while the US average is more than three and a half cups.

The ARICS study, conducted between 1987 and 1999, assessed dietary intakes using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and classified coffee and sweetened beverage consumption according to the number of cups per day. Diabetes diagnosis was obtained by self-reporting of physician-diagnosed diabetes, diabetes treatment, and/or a fasting or non-fasting blood sugar test

Paynter and her co-workers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology that consumption of at least four cups of coffee was associated with a 23 per cent reduction in the risk of men developing type 2 diabetes mellitus, compared to men who “almost never” drank coffee. Similar intakes in women were associated with an 11 per cent reduction of type-2 diabetes in women, although this was not statistically significant, said Paynter.

Sweetened beverage consumption is reported to have no significant link to the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

“The lack of association between sweetened beverage consumption and type-2 diabetes risk is surprising,” said the researchers. “Sweetened beverage consumption may be more important risk factor for younger or leaner people and should be studied further in that population.”

“In conclusion, a higher consumption level of coffee was associated with a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes in middle-aged adults,” concluded the researchers.

Being an epidemiological study, no investigation of a potentially protective underlying mechanism was performed. Previous studies have stated that association between diabetes and coffee appears to be complex., with some scientists advocating coffee’s magnesium content for improve insulin sensitivity. Additionally, the range of polyphenols, particularly chlorogenic acid, may explain some of the inverse association between coffee intake and risk of type-2 diabetes mellitus.

Some reports have stated that caffeine could also increase insulin sensitivity, but this relationship is controversial. A study published in June in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine(Vol. 166, pp. 1311-1316) reported that drinking six or more cups of coffee every day could reduce the risk of developing type-2 diabetes by more than 20 per cent, but if the coffee is decaffeinated, the reduction in risk rises to over 30 per cent – a result that suggested the benefits of coffee for this population group are not due to caffeine.

There are several limitations with this study, most notably that the data was obtained by observational self-reporting, which is dependent on the recall and accuracy of the individual participants.

“Although several observational prospective studies have yielded consistent findings and although biological explanations for decreased diabetes risk with increased coffee consumption have been postulated, further research, particularly experimental studies that can examine the long-term effect of coffee consumption on glucose metabolism, insulin sensitivity, and diabetes risk, is needed before recommendations can be made about coffee drinking with respect to the prevention of type-2 diabetes,” said Paynter.

Source: American Journal of Epidemiology

Volume 164, Issue 11, Pages 1075-1084; doi:10.1093/aje/kwj323

“Coffee and Sweetened Beverage Consumption and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study”

Authors: N.P. Paynter, H-C. Yeh, S. Voutilainen, M.I. Schmidt, G. Heiss, A.R. Folsom, F.L. Brancati and W.H.L. Kao

More cafes, varieties boost U.S. coffee roastings

Dec 5, 2006

By Susan Buchanan

Of Dow Jones NewsWire

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. coffee companies are roasting beans at the strongest pace in over 30 years, reversing an earlier downtrend, as consumers lap up gourmet java and try new products and origins, according to industry members.

American adults now drink almost as much coffee as soft drinks, for the first time since 1990, the National Coffee Association says.

Roastings nationally reached 19.535 million, 60-kilogram bags in 2005, according to Coffee Publications Inc. in New York, and should exceed that level in 2006 - possibly by 5%. Those widely watched numbers cover most, but not all American roastings.

Hernando de la Roche, managing director of Hencorp Coffee in Miami, says a buoyant U.S. cafe culture - with shops owned by Starbucks and other chains popping up on nearly every city corner - has spurred young adults to drink java, while new offerings on supermarket shelves have also lifted demand.

"The coffee-shop phenomenon has exposed a broader base of consumers" to the brew, said Lars Atorf, spokesman for Procter & Gamble (PG), maker of Folgers. "Coffee's become more popular among younger adults - a group that in the last 10 to 20 years was trending towards sodas and other beverages."

Research supporting java's health benefits has altered consumers' views from "I love coffee, but it might be bad for my health (to a) belief it's good for my health," he said.

P&G, Kraft (KFT), Starbucks Coffee (SBUX) and other U.S. roasters and retailers raised their prices in September and early October as the cost of robusta coffee, a hardy bean grown mostly in Asia and used in U.S. blends, swelled. Since then, prices of arabicas - the milder variety cultivated in Brazil and Central America - sped to a 10-month high of $1.2835 a pound on the New York Board of Trade this week, as inventories dwindled and Brazil's harvest next September could be 25% to 30% smaller.

Most American consumers don't mind paying up for the brew they love, however, coffee analysts said.

Meanwhile, roasters have developed new products as consumer tastes become more sophisticated, Atorf said. New items at P&G include various flavors of Folgers and Millstone coffees, stomach-friendly Folgers Simply Smooth, Folgers Gourmet Selections and a single-cup brewing system called Home Cafe. Folgers recently introduced AromaSeal plastic canisters, he noted.

Ted Lingle, senior adviser to the Specialty Coffee Association of America, said growing enthusiasm for specialty or gourmet beans, which account for 15% of U.S. java demand, explains part of the recent growth in roastings. But, he said, the Coffee Publications numbers that the industry uses may only cover 80% of all roastings, missing some of the specialty companies. Coverage is nonetheless improving, especially as bigger firms buy smaller roasters.

"Coffee is on the minds and lips of American consumers like never before -56% drink it every day, and market penetration is back on par with soft drinks after 16 years," said Robert F. Nelson, president of the National Coffee Association. "With more varieties than ever, consumers are not only drinking more coffee, but mixing and matching options to satisfy expanding tastes." Mixing and matching, he explained, means drinking traditional and gourmet beverages and trying new products.

According to the National Coffee Association's drinking survey, released in March, recent growth in demand was driven by the 25-39 year-age group, with daily use in that crowd reaching 47% in 2006 from 38% in 2004. Demand among those 18-24 years of age rose to 31% in 2006 from 22% in 2004.

Some 73% of U.S. seniors, traditionally big coffee drinkers, imbibed in 2006 versus 67% in 2004.

The U.S. is the top consumer, drinking nearly 21 million bags of coffee annually. The European Union swills almost 39 million bags a year, with per-capita consumption particularly high in northern Europe.

Coffee drinkers show lower diabetes risk

November 30, 2006

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - It might be better to start your morning with a cup of coffee than a sugar-sweetened juice, at least where risk for type 2 diabetes is concerned, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that among more than 12,000 middle-aged adults, those who drank four or more cups of coffee each day had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who rarely had a cup.

The findings, reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology, agree with those of several past studies.

The reason is not fully clear, but one possibility is that certain coffee components -- such as magnesium or chlorogenic acid -- improve the body's regulation of blood sugar. Some research also suggests that caffeinated coffee spurs a prolonged spike in metabolism that may help control body weight.

Type 2 diabetes arises when the body loses sensitivity to the hormone insulin, which shuttles sugar from the blood into cells to be used for energy. The disorder is closely associated with obesity.

In contrast to the case with coffee, sugar-filled soft drinks and juices have been linked to obesity and higher diabetes risk in certain studies.

In the current one, however, a taste for sweet drinks was not a risk factor for diabetes.

Still, the findings are not a green light to fill up on coffee and sugary drinks, according to the researchers, led by Nina P. Paynter, a doctoral candidate at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Moderation, as always, is in order, the study's senior author, Dr. W. H. Linda Kao, told Reuters Health.

"We feel it is definitely premature to recommend coffee consumption," she advised.

While there's no evidence coffee is "bad" as far as diabetes risk, research has linked it to other conditions, such as elevated blood pressure, Kao pointed out.

As for the lack of a connection between sugary drinks and type 2 diabetes, the researchers say it's something of a surprise. In general, though, the middle-aged adults in their study drank few sugar-laden beverages, so it's possible this obscured any relationship to diabetes, according to Kao and Paynter.

"Moderation with coffee is still important and sweetened beverages should still be approached with caution," Kao said.

The Hopkins researchers based their findings on data from 12,204 middle-aged U.S. adults who were followed from 1987 to 1999 -- all of who were free of diabetes at the outset.

Participants completed detailed questionnaires on their diets, including how often they drank coffee and sugar-sweetened soft drinks and juices. They also reported on their exercise levels, smoking habits, alcohol intake and other lifestyle factors.

Even with these other factors considered, coffee drinkers showed a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Those who downed four or more cups each day were about one-third less likely to report a diabetes diagnosis over the study period.

But while the coffee-diabetes connection is "intriguing," Kao said, more research is needed to determine whether the beverage itself has a true effect on diabetes risk.

SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, December 1, 2006

Starbucks CEO Meets With Ethiopia Over Ownership Of Coffee Names

Corporate Social Responsibility Press Release

Provided by CSRwire

11/29/2006: Press Release from Oxfam America

(CSRwire) Parnassus Investments November 29,2006- International aid agency Oxfam welcomed Tuesday’s meeting between Starbucks CEO Jim Donald and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, but urged the international coffee giant to stop dragging its feet before the holidays, and instead recognize Ethiopia’s ownership of its coffee names and the enormous benefits that ownership could bring to the 15 million poor Ethiopians who depend on coffee for their livelihood.

“It’s significant that after a year of trying to engage Starbucks on trademarks, the company finally sat down to discuss the issue directly with Ethiopia,” said Seth Petchers, Oxfam International’s Make Trade Fair campaign coffee lead. “Starbucks must now follow up with immediate action to recognize Ethiopia’s rights to own the names of its coffees to ensure that coffee farmers get a fairer share of the value of their crop."

Ethiopia’s farmers produce some of the finest and most sought after coffees in the world—including coffees that have been sold under Starbucks’ Black Apron Exclusives line for up to $26 a pound—but receive only 5 to 10 percent of the retail price, in a country where millions live on just a dollar a day. Ethiopia is working to gain greater benefits for its coffee growers by seeking control of its coffee names, a move that would give Ethiopian coffee farmers a fairer share of the profits in the global coffee trade.

“Small-scale coffee farmers are economically vulnerable, in part because large foreign buyers, such as Starbucks, are dictating trading conditions with their extraordinary market power,” continued Petchers. “If poor countries are able to obtain trademarks for unique, locally grown products like coffee, they can capture more of the value of their products for the benefit of the people who produce them. This initiative is a significant and innovative approach to alleviating poverty.”

For over a year, Ethiopia has sought a dialogue with Starbucks about supporting the country’s efforts to return more of the price of its coffees in world markets to the farmers who produce them by seeking trademark rights for Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe coffees. Despite its much-publicized commitment to farming communities, however, Starbucks has continually rejected Ethiopia’s requests to resolve the trademark issue. Absent that step, no agreement was reached at Tuesday’s meeting.

“This is a rights issue and we deserve to have our rights recognized. We strongly believe that trademarking is the way to go,” said Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. “The right to own our coffee names is the only way that we can preserve our rich coffee heritage; Ethiopia has an obligation to coffee consumers worldwide to protect and preserve our unique coffees.”

Legal and intellectual property experts have supported Ethiopia in its approach, expressing the opinion that the trademark and licensing project is a viable solution to the poverty that plagues Ethiopian farmers. Trademark rights for Ethiopia’s coffees have also been recognized in several European countries, as well as Canada and Japan.

“Our coffees are some of the best in the world and although they often sell for two and three times the cost of other coffees, we are getting a tiny fraction of this price,” said Tadesse Meskela, manager of Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union who is featured in the new documentary Black Gold. “Our objective here is to return more money to the coffee growers’ pocket.”

Last month, Oxfam launched an international public campaign to encourage Starbucks to engage with Ethiopia directly on the issue.

“Over 85,000 people around the world have joined Oxfam in calling on Starbucks to do right by Ethiopia’s coffee farmers and sign the licensing agreement," continued Petchers. “Oxfam and its supporters will continue to work with the Ethiopian government, coffee growers, and exporters to encourage Starbucks to come to a mutually beneficial solution that could make a world of difference for millions of poor people.”

'Smart' Coffee Maker Delivers Weather Forecast

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Associated Press

A new coffee maker hitting stores for the holidays can display real-time weather data, using a "smart objects" technology that Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has been touting for years.

The $200 Melitta Smart Mill & Brew, made by Salton Inc., (SFP) takes advantage of a wireless-data system built by Microsoft to automatically display current weather conditions and forecasts.

This concept — imbuing everyday objects with the ability to deliver at-a-glance information — has been in the works at Microsoft since at least 2000.

Chairman Bill Gates highlighted the "Smart Personal Objects Technology" (SPOT) in his keynote at the Comdex trade show in 2002, calling it part of a seminal shift in computing that would soon make a mark.

In practice, though, making SPOT run has been laborious. To shoot real-time data to household gadgets, Microsoft and partner companies had to design a mini-operating system and power-friendly microchips for them. It also set up a nationwide wireless data system using the FM radio spectrum.

The first SPOT-infused products, watches from three companies that offered real-time news and other information, hit the market in 2004, followed by a home weather gadget from Oregon Scientific Inc.

That makes the coffee maker just the third kind of item to deploy the technology.

But Eric Lang, who manages the SPOT initiative, said the project "is on a roll now."

Microsoft has simplified the process by which gadget makers can add SPOT to products, and several are due to be announced in coming months "It's clear this is where technology is going, there's no doubt about it," Lang said. "It might be a little before its time for mainstream America, but it's absolutely where things are going."