BREW NEWS
STARBUCKS UNVEILS $7
COFFEE
Only available in 48
stores
Starbucks has rolled
out its most expensive
coffee yet, a rare Costa Rican varietal
that sells for $7 for a tall cup.
Costa Rica Finca Palmilera was
introduced in late November in 48
Starbucks locations, all but two of them
in either Seattle or Portland, Ore. It
costs $7 as a drink and more than $40
for a half-pound.
Costa Rica Finca Palmilera comes
from a 3-hectare section of a 90-hectare
estate, with a total yield of only 3,800
pounds. It can be machine-brewed only
in the $11,000 Clover brewer (made by
a company owned by Starbucks) or by
pour-over.
The new product is part of the
Starbucks Reserve line of coffees, rare
varietals made available only at select
stores, usually for a short time period.
'BEST COFFEE'
TRADEMARK REBUFFED
Dunkin' can't
have phrase
all to itself
Dunkin' Donuts may claim to have
"The Best Coffee in America," but it
can't prevent anyone else from making
the same claim, the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office has ruled.
The trademark office has tentatively
rejected Dunkin's application for a
patent on the superlative phrase, calling
it "merely laudatory and descriptive."
A patent attorney pointed out to the
Boston Globe that anyone who sells
coffee could make such a claim.
In the late 1990s, the trademark
office rejected a similar claim by Boston
Beer Co. that its Sam Adams beer
is "The Best Beer in America." The
company continued to use the slogan,
but without legal exclusivity.
A Dunkin' spokesperson told the
Globe that the company is reviewing the
ruling and has not yet decided whether
to appeal.
COFFEE CIVET ABUSE
ALLEGED
Mistreatment claimed in production
of exotic brew
Suppliers of the most expensive
coffee in the world are facing allegations
that its unusual production method
amounts to animal abuse.
Civet coffee, also known as kopi luwak,
is made from coffee beans fermented in
the digestive tracts of mammals common
to Southeast Asia: usually Asian palm
civets, but sometimes binturongs. The
animals excrete the beans after eating
coffee fruit.
Some civet coffee is produced by
wild animals, but most of it currently
is made with captive ones. An article
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
FEBRUARY
7-9 IWCA III International Convention, Guatemala City, Guatemala,
www.iwcaguatemala2013.com
14-16 10th African Fine Coffee Conference and Exhibition, Uganda,
www.eafca.org
15-17 World Tea & Coffee Expo 2013, Mumbai, India,
www.worldteacoffeeexpo.com
28 – MARCH 2 Tea & Coffee World Cup Asia, Singapore,
www.tcworldcup.com/Singapore
MARCH
8-10 Coffee Fest New York, Jacob Javits Convention Center,
New York City, www.coffeefest.com
14-16
6
in the British newspaper The Guardian
contends that many of the captive civets
and binturongs are held in cramped
cages and fed almost nothing but coffee
fruit. Local animal-rights groups say the
conditions amount to abuse.
"The civets are taken from the
wild and have to endure horrific
conditions," Chris Shepherd, deputy
regional director of the conservation
group Traffic south-east Asia, told The
Guardian.
Civet coffee has an export price of up
to $230 a pound.
Café Asia International Coffee and Tea Industry Expo 2013,
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, www.cafeasia.com.sg/
CROPS KEEP PRICES DOWN
Big harvests add to global stocks
Good harvests in Brazil and Central
America are expected to add to an
already abundant supply of coffee,
keeping prices down.
The prospect of the Brazil harvest
has depressed prices about 34 percent
in 2012, and the trend continued in
December, with coffee for March
delivery dropping 5.8 cents per pound.
Meanwhile, year-to-date coffee
exports from India are running about
8 percent behind the previous year,
mostly due to high global supplies. The
country expects to ship about 333,000
tons of coffee this season, compared
with about 362,000 tons last season.
