BREW NEWS
LOW PRICES LEAD TO BRAZIL HOARDING But prices down as Arabica piles up Low Arabica prices are leading many
Brazilian coff ee farmers to sit on their crops waiting for better prices, but it probably won't do them any good. Arabica futures prices hit a two-year
low last June of $1.492 a pound. Th ey have since rebounded to about $1.69 a pound, but they're still signifi cantly below the 30-year high they reached last year, when Colombian mild Arabicas cracked $3 for buyers. According to the Wall Street Journal,
Brazilian farmers are hoarding some of their crops waiting for higher prices, leading to a 17 percent drop in exports through September. Buyers, however, can aff ord to be equally patient, because Arabica stockpiles are at their highest level globally in two years.
MCDONALD'S APPLIES FOR COFFEE TRADEMARK May be fi rst step to branded retail McDonald's
in September at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Application Offi ce to brand whole bean and ground coff ee under the McDonald's name. It's the latest step in McDonald's aggressive entry into the specialty coff ee market, which started when it introduced the McCafé concept about fi ve years ago. Coff ee now represents about 6
lattes, in addition to brewed coff ee. For lattes, the Verismo will be able to use a Starbucks pod that contains fi ne milk powder to create the proper milky froth. Starbucks is selling the Verismo
percent of McDonald's business, up from about 2 percent eight years ago, according to the Wall Street Journal. If McDonald's does sell retail coff ee, it will follow in the footsteps of Starbucks, Caribou, Dunkin' Donuts and others.
STARBUCKS VERISMO GOES ON SALE Sophisticated entry into single-serve market Starbucks formally
online, at some of its own retail shops, and in other select retail outlets. It has a landing page on its website dedicated to the system, at www.verismo.com.
FOOD WORKERS MOST IN NEED OF JAVA Poll categories jobs by caff eine craving Foodservice workers are the
employees most likely to need coff ee on a regular basis, according to a poll commissioned by Dunkin' Donuts. Th e online survey, conducted jointly
unveiled its Verismo single-serve coff ee brewer in late September, betting that sophisticated options will distinguish it from competing single-serve systems. Like Nestlé's Nespresso and other
has fi led a name brand trademark application for its coff ee, giving rise to speculation that the nation's biggest restaurant chain may soon bring branded coff ee to the retail marketplace. Th e company is keeping mum about its plans, but it fi led the application
with CareerBuilder.com, reached more than 4,000 full-time employees. Of those who said they drink coff ee daily, 43 percent said they are not as productive without it, and 63 percent said they drink more than one cup a day. Th e most caff einated occupations,
systems, the Verismo brews coff ee from single-serve containers. Th e Verismo is off ered in two versions, retailing for $199 and $399. Th e $399 model features an LED display and more options for temperature control. But both versions will be able to make espressos and
NOVEMBER 7-11 Sintercafe 26th Edition, San José, Costa Rica, www.sintercafe.com 11-16 24th ASIC Int'l Conference on Coffee Science, San José, Costa Rica, www.asic2012costarica.org
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
13-15 NAMA Coffee, Tea and Water show, New Orleans, 616-299-6483, www.namacoffeeservice.com
22-25 11th Seoul Café Show, Seoul, South Korea, www.cafeshow.co.kr 28-DEC. 2 20th Encafé, São João da Mata, Brazil, http://tinyurl.com/abicbrazil
21-22 European Coffee Symposium, Amsterdam, Holland, www.europeancoffeesymposium.com
DECEMBER 5-7 Asia International Coffee Conference, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, www.asiainternationalcoffee.com
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according to the survey: 1. Food Preparation/Service Workers 2. Scientists 3. Sales Representatives 4. Marketing/Public Relations Professionals
5. Nurses 6. Editors/Writers/Media Workers 7. Business Executives 8. Teachers/ Instructors (K-12) 9. Engineering Technicians/Support 10. IT Managers/Network Administrators
NEW HEALTH STUDIES BOTH GOOD AND BAD Coff ee helps lifespan but not eyesight A pair of new health studies suggest
that coff ee drinkers may live longer, but they won't see as well during that long lifespan. A paper published in the journal
Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science concludes that heavy consumption of caff einated coff ee carries an increased risk of exfoliation glaucoma, the leading cause of secondary glaucoma. Th e study looked at a total of more than 100,000