| Rare civet coffee found in Matanog | | Posted Wednesday, February 07, 2007 2:49:45 PM by Blog57 Team | | The former camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is now producing one of the most expensive coffee in the world. Southern Philippines Development Authority Administrator Zamzamin Ampatuan said the 2,000-hectare land in Matanog, Shariff Kabunsuan, has initially produced five kilograms of civet coffee which is about P52,800 if sold in the market. Matanog is part of the three municipalities that encompassed the old Camp Abubakar , the main camp of the Moro rebel movement which the government seized during an all-out-war declaration by deposed President Joseph Estrada. Ampatuan said the two hills in the municipality are the home to civet, a nocturnal animal that looks like a cat. The coffee comes from the droppings of the animal. At present, he said, the production is only enough for his consumption as he has not looked into commercializing the production.... | |
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| | | Illegal coffee trade 'destroying Indonesian rainforests' | | Posted Wednesday, January 17, 2007 12:51:20 PM by Blog57 Team | | Looking for UK banking online? Browse our directory of recommended UK banking sites for a wide range of products and services that will benefit you. www.moneyquest.co.uk Bank Account UK Looking to open a UK bank account online? Complete our online application form for a bank account to suit your personal needs and financial circumstances. www.bank-accounts-direct.co.uk UK Banking Services Online Looking for UK Banking Online? Browse our online directory of Banking sites for a wide range of products and services that will benefit you. www.moneyquest.co.uk .... | |
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| | | Five steps to a perfect cup of coffee | | Posted Thursday, January 11, 2007 2:52:45 PM by Blog57 Team | | For those who buy just any brand of pre-ground coffee on the grocer's shelf and throw it in a percolator, mornings must be a bitter time. There is a better way, but it takes some doing. Finding freshly roasted beans requires shopping around. Folks who have cheaper blade grinders, which irregularly chop the beans and damage their flavor by heating them, will need to make an investment. But Nicholas Cho, president and head barista of Murky Coffee, says that real coffee lovers who follow his advice will notice a tremendous difference from the first cup. And they will never look back. 1. Freshness matters. Buy whole coffee beans that, ideally, have been roasted within the previous two weeks. (Coffee starts to lose freshness and flavor immediately after grinding.) At the least, check for a "best before" date.... | |
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| | | Arabica Coffee Output in Brazil South May Fall 40% (Update1) | | Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2006 2:50:29 AM by Blog57 Team | | Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian Arabica coffee output in main southern producing areas will likely plunge in the next crop after the driest weather in at least 20 years hindered flowering, the chief agronomist of a leading cooperative said. Arabica coffee output may decline more than 40 percent in Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo, the biggest producing states of the beans in Brazil, said agronomist Joaquim Gullar of the Guaxupe Region Coffee Cooperative, known as Cooxupe. ``In many fields where we expected good flowering, there was very little of it,'' Gullar, whose cooperative represents 13 percent of Brazil's Arabica production, said in a telephone interview from Guaxupe, Brazil. ``It doesn't look good at all.'' Reduced flowering due to dry weather adds to an expected decrease in output as Brazilian coffee trees enter the lower- yielding half of a two-year cycle.... | |
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| | | Starbucks opening store in Florence | | Posted Monday, November 13, 2006 2:54:52 PM by Blog57 Team | | Starbucks Coffee Co. will open a new store Nov. 17 at 7905 Mall Road in Florence. The 1,850 square-foot retail store will include a drive-through, caf tables and chairs, and an outdoor patio. It will offer beverages and a full line of specialty coffee beans, pastries and merchandise, including coffee and espresso machines. The Starbucks will employ from 20 to 30 people. Starbucks also said it will provide neighborhood support through volunteer efforts and in-kind contributions and work with local community and non-profit organizations, such as Holly Hill Children's Services. .... | |
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| | | 'Starbucks row' threatens Ethiopian coffee cash | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 2:52:37 AM by Blog57 Team | | High on a hill overlooking a wide valley in Ethiopia's cool eastern highlands, 900 schoolchildren crushed into six mud-wall classrooms scribble diligently in well thumbed exercise books. Less than one in ten had ever attended school until money from Western coffee drinkers choosing Fair Trade brands paid to build their school two years ago. Now the Ethiopian government plans a new scheme which could bring in even more cash to the parents of these children, almost all subsistence coffee farmers, by applying to trademark their premium beans in the United States. But the National Coffee Association of America, allegedly prompted by Starbucks, has moved swiftly to block their path. Applications from Addis Ababa to the US Trademark and Patents Office to trademark Ethiopian's three most famous bean varieties, Sidamo, Virgacheffe and Harar, has been blocked by the powerful coffee buyers lobby in the US.... | |
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| | | UW-Stevens Point may offer only fair-trade coffee | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 2:52:08 PM by Blog57 Team | | With countless varieties of coffee available from around the world, those who enjoy a hot cup while reading the morning paper or studying for exams in the late evening hours have a host of choices. But increasingly, coffee drinkers are breaking the choice down simply into whether the coffee is fair-trade or not fair-trade. Coffee growers and pickers who provide fair-trade certified beans often form cooperatives and are paid a living wage, regardless of the market price. A year after fair-trade coffee was made available as a choice to students, faculty and staff at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the Student Government Association has proposed having only fair-trade coffee available in campus cafes and dining facilities. The change could take effect by the beginning of the spring 2007 semester.... | |
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| | | Transcendence in a cup of coffee | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 12:53:09 PM by Blog57 Team | | It was bound to happen sooner or later. After dinner a couple of weeks ago, a friend asked me for a cup of coffee. And that's when I realized I had no earthly idea how to make one. I've written two cookbooks. I can make fresh pasta fine as a silk scarf and a consomm that sparkles like a mountain stream. Yet I didn't know how to make a really good cup of coffee. It's not that I don't like the stuff. In fact, I'm something of a minor-league coffee geek, complete with a really good home espresso machine (Rancilio Silvia), top-quality grinder (Gaggia MDF) and a standing order at a local roaster (the Caffe d'Abruzzo blend from Supreme Bean in North Hollywood). So, I figured, how hard can it be to make a great pot of coffee? Rooting around in my pantry, I found an old French press machine, and I thought I could improvise.... | |
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| | | Coffee Falls in London as Roasters Delay Purchases After Rally | | Posted Wednesday, November 08, 2006 10:50:49 PM by Blog57 Team | | Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Robusta coffee fell in London after roasters backed away from purchases following a two-week rally in prices. Coffee climbed 6.9 percent since Oct. 20 on signs that Brazil, the world's biggest producer, was reducing shipments at a time when inventories held by exporting countries are the lowest in 30 years. Stockpiles of robusta beans in Euronext.liffe- approved warehouses dropped 46 percent this year because of reduced supply from Vietnam, the second-biggest grower. Roasters ``are of the opinion the market has rallied too much,'' said Howard Jenkins, a coffee trader at Fortis Commodity Derivatives in London. Coffee for January delivery fell $12, or 0.8 percent, to $1,583 a metric ton at 10:43 a.m. in London on Euronext.liffe.... | |
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| | | Ethiopia: Ethiopia Fights U.S. Over Coffee Names | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 10:50:34 AM by Blog57 Team | | Ethiopia is embroiled in a spat with the United States over intellectual property rights. Trouble is Ethiopia produces the best coffee in the world and whoever controls the names of the coffee beans controls millions of dollars. But before I can tell you the story of the fight let me tell you the story of coffee. A very long time ago in Ethiopia - maybe it was Abyssinia then - there lived a young goatherd named Kaldi. By all accounts - and there are many versions as the story has been retold many times - Kaldi one day took his goats to graze in the hills surrounding his village. Then, to his amazement, he found the goats leaping and dancing after feeding on dark-leafed shrubs with bright red berries. Forgetting everything his mother had told him about not eating strange berries, Kaldi sampled the berries himself and in no time he too was dancing gleefully with his goats around the green-leafed bushes.... | |
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