Poor Farmer

By   Associated Press via Washington Post   J anuary 9, 2013   SEATTLE — A company that teamed up with Starbucks Corp. to bid for the Tully’s Coffee chain filed an objection Wednesday challenging the winning offer made by “Grey’s Anatomy” star Patrick Dempsey.   AgriNurture Inc. said it’s still willing to proceed with its combined bid with Starbucks of about $10.6 million. The bid from Dempsey’s company, Global Baristas LLC, was for $9.2 million.   The proposed sale goes before a bankruptcy judge in Seattle on Friday.   Starbucks has said it wants to convert some of Tully’s cafes to its own brand. AgriNurture, based in the Philippines, would run the rest under the Tully’s name.   Cliff Burrows, who heads Starbucks’ Americas business, said he’s confident the company put forth the best bid with its companion bidder to give shareholders the most value.   Dempsey said he’s confident the court will decide that Global Ba...

By Leslie Patton & Tara Lachapelle Bloomberg January 6, 2013 Following the biggest surge in takeovers of restaurant and coffee companies since the last recession, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (KKD) and Jamba Inc. could be next on the menu. Acquisitions of U.S. restaurant, tea and coffee companies from Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. to Teavana Holdings Inc. reached $6.1 billion last year, the highest level since 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Deals are on the rise as sales growth at coffee and snack shops are forecast to outpace fast- food chains through 2017, data from IBISWorld Inc. show. Since Joh. A. Benckiser Group announced plans Dec. 17 to buy Caribou Coffee Co., Krispy Kreme shares have climbed 21 percent to the highest in more than five years as Jamba rose 19 percent. Krispy Kreme, which introduced a new coffee lineup in 2011, and Jamba (JMBA), the smoothie maker projected to post its first profit since...

By Susana Kim ABC News Jan. 4, 2013 Actor Patrick Dempsey's $9.15 million bid for Seattle-based Tully's Coffee beat that of industry leader Starbucks, Tully's confirmed Thursday morning. Dempsey is a member of Global Baristas, the investment group that includes the "Grey's Anatomy" star. On Thursday night, Dempsey, whose fans call him "McDreamy," tweeted: "We met the green monster, looked her in the eye, and...SHE BLINKED! We got it! Thank you Seattle!" A private auction process on Thursday included competitors Starbucks, also based in Seattle, and Baristas Coffee, which operates a chain of drive-thru espresso stands with female employees in revealing clothing. Dempsey had previously said he hoped to save Tully's 500 workers from unemployment. He said the success of "Grey's Anatomy," which is set in Seattle but filmed in Los Angeles, has created a "fondness" for the Seattle community. ...

"So far, caffeine-free natural coffees have been Madagascan species which are outside the mainstream, and not easy to breed from....Mazzafera and his colleagues discovered three naturally decaffeinated varieties after screening 3000 Ethiopian coffee trees, representing 300 strains. Experiments on the plants demonstrated that they lacked caffeine synthase, the enzyme in leaves that converts a compound called theobromine into caffeine. "This should be a step forward in terms of getting high quality decaffeinated coffee, not least because extraction of caffeine with solvents would no longer be necessary. There's always a risk of losing flavour compounds, although there are examples of very good flavour in today's decaffeinated products." --- Naturally decaffeinated coffee plant discovered By   Andy Coghlan New Scientist June 23, 2004 A naturally decaffeinated coffee plant has been discovered. Coffee from the new strain could be tastier than e...

AP via The Miami Herald January 03, 2013 NEW YORK -- The competition to buy a small coffee chain is getting steamy, with Starbucks and actor Patrick Dempsey among those vying to become its new owners. Starbucks Corp. confirmed that it is participating in a bankruptcy auction Thursday to buy Tully's Coffee, which has 47 company-owned locations in Washington and California. Tully's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. Dempsey, who gained the nickname "McDreamy" on the TV show "Grey's Anatomy" set in a fictional Seattle hospital, also said last week that he wants to rescue the chain. Also in the running is Baristas Coffee, which operates a chain of drive-thru espresso stands featuring female employees in skimpy outfits. A representative for Starbucks declined to provide details of the company's bid, citing the court's confidentiality orders. But last week, the Seattle Times reported that Starbucks only wants t...

Source: Knowledge@Wharton (Written by members of the Lauder Class of 2014*) January 02, 2013 Every day, more than 500,000 coffee growers throughout Colombia fulfill a family tradition, one that has been passed down from generation to generation. Growing premium-quality coffee beans across nearly 2.2 million acres of Colombian highlands is an important part of their heritage. For Colombians, coffee is not merely a bean, but a part of their national identity. In fact, coffee growing is the largest source of rural employment in the country. The centrality of coffee to Colombian society and to its international image is exemplified by the nation's president, Juan Manuel Santos, who spent much of his career representing the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) at the International Coffee Organization. Colombians pride themselves on their reputation for high-quality coffee beans, which result from rich volcanic soil and predominantly shade-grown cultivation. In addit...

More lucrative than growing tea, coffee enjoys a new popularity among China's younger generation with a thirst for Starbucks and Nestle. By David Pierson Los Angeles Times December 29, 2012 Fu Xiafeng harvests red coffee berries at a plantation. Farmers are finding that growing coffee is more lucrative than tea.   (David Pierson, Los Angeles Times / December 29, 2012 PU'ER, China — This remote southwestern city near the borders of Laos and Myanmar is named after one of China's most famous teas, grown on mountain terraces painstakingly carved out of the region's rich red soil. But in recent years, pu'er tea has surrendered prime real estate for a more lucrative brew: coffee. Chinese farmers have taken to the new crop, which thrives in high-altitude areas of Yunnan province and commands up to three times as much money as tea. "My sole income depends on coffee now," said Ma Jiaying, a farmer from a dab-sized hamlet in Pu'...