There have been 140 reports of
burning incidents with thee Bosch Tassimo brewers, including a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota who was hospitalized with second-degree burns to her face and neck after being sprayed with hot coffee. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada announced the recall, which affects more than 1.7 million home brewers in both countries. The problem is an improperly designed
plastic disk, called the T Disc, that holds the coffee grounds or tea leaves in place. Tassimo will supply a free replacement disk on request. The affected brewers have the words
"BOSCH" and "TASSIMO" on the front. Some of them, sold directly to hotels and foodservice establishments, have the words "BOSCH PROFESSIONAL." The affected model numbers, which can be read on the bottom of the appliances, are: Bosch TAS100 FD 8806 through 9109, TAS200, TAS451, TAS46 and TAS651, and Tassimo Professional TAS6512CUL FD 8905
through 9109. For more information, call 866-918-8763 or visit www.tassimodirect. com/safetyrecall.
Global Arabica crop fluctuates Up in Ethiopia, down in Latin America The Arabica bean crop is expected to rise in Ethiopia, the biggest coffee producer in Africa, but is continuing to fall in Latin America.
Ethiopian exports of Arabica coffee
should be at least 150,000 metric tons in the six months up to early July, which would be 7 percent over the same period last year, according to the Ethiopian Coffee Exporters' Association. If this happens, it would be a comeback from the previous six months, when the 60,000 exported tons represented a 37 percent drop from the same period last year. The association blamed heavy rains and fluctuations in New York coffee prices for the decline. In Latin America, however, Arabica crops
are declining. Total production of mild washed Arabica beans in Latin America, excluding
BRIEFS
• Tunki, a two acre farm located in the Puno region of Peru, received the highest score in a recent Cupping for Quality Event held for Rainforest Alliance- certified coffee farms by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
• A bacterial gene transplant enables the coffee berry borer beetle to feed excludively on coffee beans, according to a recent paper from Cornell researchers. SCR
Brazil, stood at 453,000 metric tons between October and January, a 5 percent decline over the same period last year, according to the Guatemalan Coffee Association. Colombia, the global leader in Arabica
exports, saw a 19 percent decrease in Arabica exports, attributed to coffee rust caused by heavier than normal rain. The decline in El Salvador was 34 percent, and in Nicaragua, 45 percent.
March 2012 • www.specialty-coffee.com | 9
