Poor Farmer

By Katia Cortes and Iuri Dantas Bloomberg January 6, 2010 Coffee output in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer, may rise to a record this year as trees enter the higher-yielding half of their two-year cycle, Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes said. Output will rise to between 48 million and 50 million bags in the coming April-to-September harvest, up from 39.5 million a year earlier, Stephanes said today in an interview in Brasilia. Output may top a record set in 2002, when Brazil produced 48.5 million 60-kilogram (132-pound) bags. Above-average rainfall in Brazil’s southern region, where almost 80 percent of the country’s coffee is grown, will help increase production during the better half of the crop cycle, Stephanes said. “Coffee output will benefit from rains,” Stephanes said. “Trees are loaded with beans, and we have the chance of reaching a new record.” Brazil’s Conab crop-forecasting agency will release its first 2010 coffee output forecast tomorrow morning...

Photo: Courtesy of CNN By Patrick Oppmann CNN January 6, 2010 Seattle, Washington (CNN) -- There are over 15,000 Starbucks in the world but none like the one at 328 15th Avenue East in Seattle. Officially the coffee shop is called "15th Ave Coffee and Tea" but the store and a similar sister location have earned another name: "the Stealth Starbucks." At first glance the coffee shops in the mega-chain's hometown of Seattle do not even look like Starbucks. The ubiquitous smiling Mermaid logo has apparently swum away, there are no baristas in trademark green smocks either and not a tall, grande or venti sized beverage in sight. The only hint that the store is owned by the coffee giant and not a local java seller is the "Inspired by Starbucks" lettering across the front door. Inside, pages from Plato's dialogues decorate an entire wall, sweeteners sit on a bathtub converted into a table, beer and wine are for sale and employees dol...