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.

More >>

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.

More >>

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.

More >>

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.

More >>

Sisters of Sole

Dear Readers

I do not usually write asking for donations but my wife asked me to do this, as it is an important event to our family. To show her that I am taking this seriously I am adding this to my blogs and asking you all for some assistance.

My wife is participating in an event called the Breast Cancer 3-Day. It is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days. This event raises money for breast cancer research and community outreach through Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. My wife and her team, SOS (Sisters of Sole), hope to raise at least $15,000.00 for the fight against breast cancer. Personally she must raise $2,200.00 to participate in this event.

Some of you may remember that my wife underwent treatment for breast cancer two years ago. The diagnosis and treatment took us on a path that we were unsure of and one that changed our lives. With the care and compassion of the doctors, friends and family we made it through. Randi is now cancer free and working hard on keeping it that way. My wife is taking this journey for the sake of all our mothers, sisters and daughters to help make breast cancer become a thing of the past.

We hope you will help my wife and her team SOS reach their goal by making a donation today. You can make a donation by going to www.the3day.org and select "Donate Now" and search for Randi Badgett and her team SOS. If you do not want to make an online donation you can write a check payable to the “Breast Cancer 3-day” and mail it to me and I will do the paperwork for you. Mail to PO Box 15, Northfield, NJ 08225.

Every dollar will help, so please don’t hesitate. It’s a good cause. Good for you and good for the future.

Robert

Coffee May Protect Against Breast Cancer, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2008) — Depending on which variant of a certain gene a woman has, a coffee consumption rate of at least two-three cups a day can either reduce the total risk of developing breast cancer or delay the onset of cancer. This is shown in new research from Lund University and Malmö University in Sweden.

The effect of coffee is related to estrogens, female sex hormones. Certain metabolic products of these hormones are known to be carcinogenic, and various components of coffee can alter the metabolism so that a woman acquires a better configuration of various estrogens. What’s more, coffee contains caffeine, which also hampers the growth of cancer cells.

More >>

Brazil May Offer Subsidy to Arabica Coffee Growers

By Carlos Caminada and Shruti Singh

April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil, the world's biggest coffee producer, may give arabica growers a subsidy at government-run auctions this year to ensure a minimum price after the harvest starts in June.

The government may decide as early as April 29 on the values and amounts for the subsidized sales, Lucas Tadeu Ferreira, director of the Agriculture Ministry's coffee department, said today in a phone interview from Brasilia.

The auctions, where Brazil gives farmers the difference between a minimum price and the amount buyers offer to pay, may help bolster coffee after farmers start harvesting a bigger crop than last year. The plan encourages farmers to hold on to their coffee until the auction, preventing excess supply from pushing prices down.

More >>

Great coffee is in the Clover

BY POLLY CAMPBELL | PCAMPBELL@ENQUIRER.COM

In the world of fine coffee, the hottest thing to come along since insulated coffeepots is the Clover coffee maker.

A gleaming stainless steel piece of fancy engineering from a small Seattle company, a Clover makes brewed coffee one cup at a time. A Clover machine costs $11,000. The Clover company could cost Starbucks several undisclosed millions.

Because of its expense, very few coffee shops have one. Because of the company's new owner, very few independent coffee shops ever will.

Starbucks will probably be installing the machines nationwide within a few years, and it is now testing them in Boston and other big cities. For now, there are only two Clover machines in Ohio, and one is at Rohs Street Cafe, the fair-trade-only, nonprofit coffee shop in Clifton Heights. (Staufs Coffee Roasters in Columbus is the other.)

More >>

Caffeine protects mice from UV-induced skin cancer

Reuters | Thursday, 17 April 2008

Caffeine acts as a sort of "sun screen" when given to mice before their skin is exposed to and damaged by ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation, and this ultimately prevents the development of skin cancer, according to researchers.

In the current issue of Cancer Research, the investigators also describe the mechanism that may be responsible for this protection. Specifically, caffeine triggers a process by which skin cells containing irradiation-damaged DNA are removed. Thus, these defective skin cells can not reproduce and become cancerous.

"The results of the present study," senior investigator, Dr Allan H Conney said Health, "provide a possible mechanism for earlier observations indicating that oral administration of caffeine inhibits ultraviolet light-induced skin cancer in mice."

Conney of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, in Piscataway and colleagues supplied animals with caffeine in their drinking water for 1 to 2 weeks before UVB exposure.

The caffeine concentration led to blood levels comparable to that achieved in humans after 3 to 5 cups of coffee per day.

The team also determined that caffeine applied in a cream or gel directly to the skin immediately after UVB radiation exposure caused the death of DNA-damaged skin cells as well.

"We believe that these results will extrapolate to humans," continued Conney, "but clinical studies need to be done." He pointed out that previous "studies indicate that coffee or tea drinkers have a lower risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer."

Coffee fans frothing over Starbucks' 'idea' site

By Elizabeth M. Gillespie, Associated Press

SEATTLE — Hundreds of coffee-obsessed consumers chimed in moments after Starbucks launched a website asking customers to pitch changes the company should make to revive its struggling U.S. business.

More >>