Poor Farmer

Government will buy up supply as bumper crop is expected   By Jeffrey T. Lewis and Alexandra The Wall Street Journal August 7, 2013 Brazil will buy arabica coffee beans to help prop up coffee growers' incomes as prices languish, President Dilma Rousseff said Wednesday. The purchases will be made through two programs. In one, the government will offer growers options contracts to sell as many as three million 60-kilogram (132-pound) bags of coffee at 343 reais ($149) per bag, the president said. The contracts will have a delivery date in March 2014, she said. In the other program, the government will buy coffee at a reference price of 307 reais per bag, starting immediately, Ms. Rousseff said, although she didn't give more details on that program. The agriculture ministry couldn't immediately provide more details, either. The prices are above the current 285 reais per bag that growers receive in Brazil. Global prices have also been much lower thi...

Whoever said men were from Mars and women were from Venus was wrong. They're from Brazil and Ethiopia, according to a Riverina coffee roaster. By Kristin Shorten The Telegraph August 08, 2013 The Blessed Bean owners Simone and Jason Dowding surveyed about 700 customers through blind cupping tests to distinguish the coffee characteristics favoured by each sex. "We did a lot of surveys and used our customers as guinea pigs a lot," Mr Dowding said. "There's a lot of debate as to whether men and women have different taste preferences but the results showed that men generally preferred deeper chocolates with the Brazilian pulp naturals and the women preferred lighter, fruitier tastes along the lines of the Ethiopian-wash coffees." So they created Hombre, an "adventurous and courageous" blend, for male customers. "The Hombre embodies the essence at the core of every man. Flavours abound with deep chocolate, hazelnut...