By Delia LLoyd.
Source:www.huffingtonpost.com/delia-lloyd/health-benefits-of-coffee_b_986806.html

Ever have one of those mornings where you wake up, jump in the shower, turn on the radio and hear the best news you’ve gotten in ages?

No, not world peace, but close.

Apparently, coffee is now good for you. It holds a host of physical — not to mention psychological — benefits which scientists are only now beginning to appreciate.

In a household where our espresso machine holds a hallowed place, this is definitely grounds for rejoicing. I haven’t been this excited since I learned that sugar made a comeback.

So hear ye, hear ye: Five reasons to drink (more!) coffee:

1. It reduces depression in women. This just in. A new study out of Harvard University shows that women who regularly drink coffee — the fully caffeinated kind — have a 20 percent lower risk of depression than nondrinkers. This comes on the heels of previous research showing that the risk of suicide decreases with increased coffee consumption.

2. It lowers the risk of lethal prostate cancer in men. But it’s not just the ladies who will benefit from more java. In another study out of Harvard (what are they drinking there? ahem!), men who drank six or more cups per day had a 60 percent lower risk of developing the most lethal type of prostate cancer, and a 20 percent lower risk of forming any type of prostate cancer compared to men who did not drink coffee. Given that prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, that’s nothing to sneeze at.

3. It may protect against head and neck cancers. A study from the University of Utah showed that people who drank more than four cups of coffee a day had a 39 percent decreased risk of cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx combined, compared with those who didn’t drink coffee. Regular consumption of coffee has also been linked to a lower risk for brain tumors, reduced rates of colorectal and endometrial cancer, as well as liver cancer and cirrhosis.

4. It may ward off Alzheimer’s disease. Several studies looking at how caffeine affects brain development in mice have confirmed that caffeine significantly decreases abnormal levels of the protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease. When aged mice bred to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease were given caffeine — the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day — their memory impairment was reversed, according to a report issued by the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre. Should these results be replicated on humans, it might suggest coffee as an effective treatment for this disease, rather than just a protective strategy.

5. It appears to stave off diabetes. Numerous studies have shown that coffee may be protective against Type 2 Diabetes, although the precise mechanism is not well understood. An analysis in the Archives of Internal Medicine, for example, found that people who drink three to four cups of coffee a day are 25 percent less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who drink fewer than two cups. In the U.S. alone, nearly 24 million children and adults — nearly 8 percent of the population — have diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of the disease and accounts for about 90 to 95 percent of these cases.

Whether these studies will prove robust in coming years — or be cancelled out by some of caffeine’s adverse effects on things like sleep and high blood pressure — remains to be seen.

But I’m going to blithely hedge my bets and carry on enjoying my cuppa (or two).

Latte or Cappucino?

The Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research have been on a mission: they have been carrying out detailed investigations to try to work out what makes coffee as green as possible. We all want to save the planet and be environmentally conscious these days and so the results of the report are relevant to all coffee-drinkers.

What did these researchers investigate? They were rigorous – from reviewing capsule systems and coffee machines, together with investigations into filters and soluble coffee practices, they reached a conclusion in how to make the morning cup of coffee as environmentally friendly as possible.

And the results?
Sourse: http://www.worldcoffeenews.com/1855/how-to-have-the-most-environmentally-friendly-coffee/
by Mike

The most significant factor was the coffee bean itself – the choice of blend had most influence on how green the beverage was. Capsule systems have become popular recently and the research team discovered that the aluminium packaging was the most environmentally friendly form of packaging, provided of course it is recycled.

How else can we be especially environmentally savvy? Choose coffee with an ecological label was one recommendation and coffee machines such as the espresso maker and the cafetiere are also reasonable ways to produce coffee, provided that they do not make too much surplus coffee that is not drunk.

The researchers also looked into practices in the production and preparation of coffee that can be improved on to make sure that the coffee culture pleases Mother Earth as well as you and me.

Enjoy!

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/starbucks-ceo-coffee-prices_n_837831.html

(Reuters) – Starbucks Coffee Co (SBUX.O) Chief Executive Howard Schultz on Friday once again laid the blame for surging coffee prices at the feet of speculators, saying his chain had no problem getting beans.

Arabica coffee futures have rallied over the past nine months to a 34-year high this month at $2.9665 per lb, basis second position. The market initially climbed on fund buying but was sustained by tight supplies of washed beans. Many analysts expect it will soon climb to $3 per lb.

“Every supplier that I talk to, every producer, first thing I ask is, ‘Is there any problem with supply and demand?’” Schultz said. They tell him no, he said.

Global stocks are at the lowest level since the International Coffee Organization began keeping records in 1965. The ICO has said stocks could fall lower.

“I think it’s artificial. I think financial speculation has really stepped into the market,” Schultz said at the National Coffee Association meeting on Friday.

Coffee consumers will not “respond positively” to higher coffee prices, Schultz added.

“I think it’s a very hard dialogue with the consumer, face to face, as we have to as a retailer, when in fact there probably isn’t a substantive answer,” Schultz said.

Starbucks is the biggest coffee shop chain in the world.

Many roasters have been forced to pass along their increasing costs to consumers. Most recently, Kraft Foods (KFT.N) raised its list prices for most of its Maxwell House and Yuban roast coffees by 22 percent, its fourth and biggest increase in the past year.

Rival J.M. Smucker Co (SJM.N) hiked its price for Folgers by 10 percent last month.

BY LELIT AND SAVE!!!

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/15/starbucks-green-mountain-partnership-keurig_n_823348.html?ir=Business

By Lisa Baertlein and Mihir Dalal

LOS ANGELES, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR.O) are in partnership negotiations, a source close to the talks told Reuters on Monday, sending Green Mountain shares surging.

Starbucks, the world’s biggest coffee chain, wants to be a big player in the new and fast-growing single-serve coffee segment that Green Mountain currently dominates with its Keurig one-cup brewers.
Story continues below

Starbucks on Sunday said it planned to announce a new product for the single-cup coffee market in the near future, reviving speculation of a tie-up between the two companies.

The person close to the partnership talks would not say if the pending announcement would involve Green Mountain.

A Starbucks spokesman declined comment on the negotiations. Before news of the talks broke, Green Mountain spokeswoman Suzanne DuLong said the company had no comment on speculations around potential partnerships.

Green Mountain shares surged as much as 13.5 percent to a new lifetime high of $47.81 before backtracking. Shares, which were briefly halted after Reuters reported the talks, closed up 6.7 percent to $46.35.

Shares of Starbucks rose 0.7 percent to $33.58.

IRRESISTIBLE OPPORTUNITY

Canaccord Genuity analyst Scott Van Winkle said: “Keurig is the dominant brand in single-serve coffee with rapidly rising consumer adoption of its brewers seeding a market opportunity that Starbucks can’t resist.”

On Sunday, Starbucks said it wants to keep all its options open, including partnerships with other firms, extensions to its Via instant coffee line or even selling single-cup brewing machines. [ID:nN13250152]

The news came as Starbucks prepares for the March 1 termination of an agreement by which it provides coffee discs for Kraft Foods Inc’s (KFT.N) Tassimo one-cup home brewer. Starbucks is also ending its grocery distribution agreement with Kraft on March 1.

Green Mountain enjoys a near monopoly in the single-cup coffee sector — with more than 80 percent market share — and has hammered competition from bigger companies such as Kraft and Sara Lee (SLE.N), which sells the Senseo brewer.

JPMorgan analyst John Ivankoe said in a December note to clients that a single-cup product could easily be a $1 billion revenue opportunity for Starbucks in the U.S. alone.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/brazils-thirst-for-good-coffee-pressures-prices-2011-02-08?pagenumber=2

By Claudia Assis, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Brazilian computer programmer Marcio Carneiro has spent about $4,000 in the last two years selecting just the right equipment to feed his passion: coffee.

To at least some of his countrymen, the object of his affection is so culturally ingrained it doesn’t merit more than a passing thought and a quick trip a corner store.

But Carneiro and other coffee enthusiasts are a big part of what is putting smiles on the faces of Brazilian coffee growers, who are already enjoying coffee prices at multi-year highs. A surge in domestic demand, which is keeping more of Brazil’s export-grade beans at home, may drive coffee prices even higher.

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March coffee contract
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“We will likely see new highs until the third quarter of this year,” said Rodrigo Costa, an analyst at brokerage Newedge in New York.

Coffee futures /quotes/comstock/21c!f2:kc\h11 (CC11H 260.35, +1.70, +0.66%) have gained 82% since January 2010. The rally in prices adds to worldwide concerns about inflation, rising food prices, and even a repeat of riots seen in 2008 amid a global food crisis.

In the U.S., several food conglomerates and coffee roasters have announced price increases, and on Tuesday J. M. Smucker Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!sjm/quotes/nls/sjm (SJM 62.86, +0.01, +0.02%) , the maker of Folgers coffee and the owner of the Dunkin Donuts brand, announced a price hike for the third time in less than year.

The benchmark Arabica coffee for March delivery on Tuesday fell 2.15 cents to $2.476 a pound on the ICE Futures exchange in New York. However, it posted a string of 13-year highs earlier this year, most recently on Thursday, when it settled at $2.51 a pound. At the start of 2010, the benchmark future trading around $1.42 a pound.

Even as prices have climbed, middle-class Brazilians are increasingly willing to pay top dollar for the best Arabica coffee beans grown by their country’s farmers. And mirroring a trend in other emerging markets, they’re now competing with consumers in the U.S. and Europe who have the same thirst for quality beans. Read more on what a rising middle class means for investing in emerging markets.

“We always consumed the worst coffee, but this has improved a little,” said Carneiro. In his city of Sao Paulo, a cosmopolitan, sprawling metropolis, high-end coffee places dishing out espressos and other specialty drinks are starting to replace traditional “cafeterias,” once-ubiquitous stores that served drip coffee in demitasses.
Running dry

Rising domestic demand in Brazil, if it accelerates further, threatens to cut into a global supply of coffee that’s already running lean due to tough weather conditions.

Crops in coffee-producing rival Colombia, for instance, have battled bad weather and disease. Productivity there has also suffered from a program to replace and rejuvenate coffee plants. Production in Colombia has fallen 26%, to 9 million 60-kilogram bags in December 2010 from 12.2 million in 2006-2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

And concerns about Brazil’s crop, as plantations faced excessive rains, help drive coffee futures to their recent 13-1/2-year highs. Read earlier story about coffee futures.

Stocks of Arabica, the most common variety grown in the Americas, and robusta coffee stocks have been the lowest since the 2001-2002 crop. Robusta beans, usually used to make instant coffee, mostly come from Asia.
Brazil’s coffee production has actually been growing, setting the country apart from its rival coffee growers. Output has increased 17% to an estimated 54.5 million bags from 46.7 million in the 2006-2007 period, the USDA said.

That’s about on pace with rising domestic demand. Brazil’s consumption of coffee has risen 17% to 19.5 million from 16.7 million in 2006-2007, easily outpacing global demand growth and on track to match U.S. coffee drinkers’ thirst.

Coffee demand worldwide is rising at a rate of about 2% a year, says Newedge’s Costa.

Americans consumed about 24 million bags of coffee in 2010, a number that has remained steady in the last five years.

Even with newfound support from Brazilian drinkers, the rally in coffee prices may start to flag. Coffee prices have been in an uptrend for nearly a year, and Costa said they could stagnate after the third quarter.
Rich brew

Such a plateau would bring relief to coffee drinkers. Roasters and retailers have responded to the higher prices by passing the cost to consumers, and Smucker is just the latest.

Kraft Foods Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!kft/quotes/nls/kft (KFT 30.62, +0.13, +0.42%) , which owns Maxwell House coffee brand and reports quarterly results later this week, raised prices 12% last month. Before Tuesday’s hike, Smucker raised prices by 13% in January.

Starbucks Corp. /quotes/comstock/15*!sbux/quotes/nls/sbux (SBUX 33.37, -0.21, -0.62%) last month warned higher prices for coffee, as well as for milk and sugar, will hit its bottom line. Starbucks raised prices last year. Read more on Starbucks.

For now, Brazilian farmers and consumers are enjoying the boom in quality coffee’s appreciation and availability.

“As the economy stabilized and the middle class grew, things that were once superfluous started to become more important,” Carneiro said, who has spent his money on grinders, roasters, and espresso machines, including two antique Italian contraptions he’s slowly bringing back to working order.

Carneiro also has bought award-winning green coffee direct from farming cooperatives and associations, and has taken barista and cupping courses.

Marcio Luiz Favaro, a farmer in southwest Sao Paulo state, says that nowadays even the poorest Brazilians dislike the cheap brews. “Pretty soon there will be no room for farmers who don’t invest in quality,” said Favaro, a son and grandson of coffee farmers.

Favaro bought a mechanical harvester two yeas ago, one of his most pressing needs since farm workers are increasingly hard to come by.

People want to live in the city, where new manufacturing plants have opened up, Favaro said. Nearby orange groves also compete for farm hands in his town, Piraju, 210 miles west of the city of Sao Paulo.

He plans to spend any windfall in the next few years on replanting some of his coffee plants to make more of his properties accessible to the harvester.

“I am happy, this is the line of work I chose, and my hopes are prices are going to continue to go up,” he said.

Source: http://www.springhousemeats.com/espresso-coffee-machine-ten-tips-espresso-drinking-enjoyment-for-you/

On earth do you appreciate espresso? You don’t adore espresso? Don’t you take pleasure in spending money on those big fees along at the neighborhood coffee shop for your espresso? I mean do you really adore to shell out those high cost in the area coffee shop to your espresso? Were definitely assume which means! damaged dreamed about precisely gaining your own personal espresso coffee machine in addition to safeguarding up to .double zero each week?, .00 a month?, 0.00 annually? The fact that is much income to pay money now! Definitely, if you were planning on choosing your own espresso maker for ones home or office allow me to share looking for ideas you must look at before you go outside and also handing finished your hard earned money and don’t receiving genital herpes virus treatments paid for and / or notion most people taken care of finally.

Espresso Coffee Machine – Ten Tips Espresso Drinking Enjoyment For You

Point just one. Think you are thinking of shopping for any espresso maker which utilizes espresso coffee pods? That’s Significant considering they are particularly simple point and click, even so for everybody who is the latest “hard core”, “died inside wool” espresso guru afterward expensive as you think espresso machine that uses espresso surface coffee is actually the ideal solution to generate a great glass associated with espresso!

Guidance regarding. Charges an important water made possibly a belch motivated espresso coffee machine? The particular vapor enticed machines are classified as the inexpensive of the two as well as so you might attempt to acquire to heal a few dollars, however reality is always that water units don’t helpful right mineral water temperature plus have a tendency not to set up acceptable tension concentrations to earn truly good espresso. All the water models seem to be measured found in “bars” and therefore the even more “bars” the more burden as well as the further stress experiencing an individual’s ground coffee then this up-to-date flavor plus flavorful oils shall be approved into the espresso which you are going to have.

Guiding light 3. Do you want your own espresso coffee machine that should be well intelligent? Are you interested to acquire some quantity of relationships with your espresso maker? Are you interested in your espresso maker that should be thoroughly digital camera? Can it be within your expense plan to get yourself a thoroughly online, entirely auto espresso machine? Nevertheless this is an issue really important to contemplate, since the even more “bells in addition to whistles” the perfect revenue you should spend. This can be a chafe while: Although your espresso machine hasn’t got the many “bells as well as whistles” does not always mean going without shoes can’t build espresso for instance the one which totally does.

Idea some. The number of cups of or simply pens for espresso want ones own espresso machine to help you be capable of generating on one occasion? Are you wanting individuals should be on the menu by just picking a machine at home and business?

Guidance different. Do you want to buy a coffee vegetable grinder? Have you got a coffee vegetable mill at this time? Want 1 and even do you need single right now be sure that that it is a top of the line mill. It simply won’t help make sense at all of having a strong nine years old number of us $ espresso machine and then a through 5 amount of money coffee vegetable mill. I believe, you must evade coffee bean mills of which take advantage of blades as being the saw blades cannot mill this coffee wonderful an adequate amount of and / or permanently sufficient. This goes pertaining to espresso machine that are fitted with mills in that person at the same time. Apply for an espresso machine which has a burr conical mill as some of these grinders surely carry out grind your coffee beans altogether as well as the right way pertaining to writing awesome espresso.

Point a few. Make certain that a person’s coffee beans can be soil for that espresso machine while using exact placing of our grinder or perhaps the mill that may be integrated into your own espresso machine.

Word of advice 5. When ever it is time to heavy steam an individual’s whole milk get absolutely sure that you’ll be employing a at least sixty % innovative frigid 100% dairy. Whatever you decide and carry out, it’s not necassary to reheat balmy use! Yuck! Your very best success will usually sourced from by using innovative cool total take advantage of. Invariably as soon as steaming your whole milk place the water wand on the next paragraphs all the milks surface and after that steam all the dairy at total.

Focal point 7. Sustain machine found in superior doing the job buy. Therefore clean-up your main machine immediately after each and every apply additionally descaling this continually to maintain lime with building up with your machine during the aspects of a pipe joints and even combi boiler and lowers surplus stress accumulate make the push.

Focal point in search of. Frequently always make sure that these mill you will be making use of words of flattery the particular machine you’re choosing. Your workout guides on most espresso coffee machines will come with a coffee routine guidebook and additionally ideas and you may talk with these or even have a go with varied matters for experimentation requirements.