according to industry newsletter World Tea News. This is partially due to several factors that have suppressed supply, including persistent rain in southern India and in Sri Lanka in August and September, and drought in Kenya (the world's leading tea exporting nation).
Starbucks re-signs conservation deal Efforts will extend to Brazil Starbucks Corp. has renewed its agreement with Conservation International to assist coffee farmers to grow their crops sustainably. The $3 million, two year renewed commitment allows CI and Starbucks to continue efforts to promote best practices in coffee growing as part of the solution to address climate change. Conservation International developed with Starbucks a program called Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, which encourages responsible growing practices on coffee farms. In 2010, Starbucks bought 226 million pounds of C.A.F.E. Practices-
verified coffee – or 84 percent of its total coffee purchases. C.A.F.E. operations in Chiapas, Mexico and Sumatra, Indonesia will be continued, and the new agreement will extend C.A.F.E. outreach efforts to Brazil.
'Coffee car' breaks speed record Spent grounds provide fuel for English researchers A car fueled with coffee grounds has set a world speed record for a vehicle powered by bio-waste. Researchers at England's Teesdale
Conservation Group reached a top speed of 77.5 miles per hour and an average speed of 66.5 mph in trials sponsored by the BBC. The performance broke the previous Guinness record of 47 mph average, for a car that burned wood pellets. The Teesdale car, a modified Rover
SD1, burns spent coffee grounds that have been dried and compressed into pellets. A "gasifier" in the car burns the coffee together with wood at super-high temperatures, creating a gas of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane.
Coffee prices coming back down Output increases in Brazil, Vietnam and elsewhere
Coffee prices are retreating from their 30-year record highs over the summer, as increased exports seem to be depressing prices.
Prices for Arabica,
the variety most often used for specialty coffee, have fallen 16 percent since September, to $2.4085 a pound as traded on the Coffee & Cocoa Exchange. Prices for the more mainstream Robusta have fallen even further, 26 percent since the spring as traded in London. The drop in prices is attributed to
increased production in Vietnam, Brazil and other major supplier nations. This year's Brazil coffee crop is estimated to be 14 percent above last season's, while Vietnam's will go up 9.8 percent, according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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