In my most recent newsletter (January 2012) I mention we are expecting some Hawaii Maui Yellow Caturra instead of Kona, in part due to an infestation of the coffee borer pest. Thought this next article might be interesting to those of us interested in minimizing the use of various insecti/fungi/pesticide use… -su

It was with great consternation that I recently heard about the Coffee Borer Beetle, being identified, in the Kona growing areas, of Hawaii. And thought that a “special” edition of my ramblings, regarding this, one of the major pests, of coffee; was in order. Hawaii, until a few days ago, was thought to be one of the last major coffee growing areas, that was free of the beetles.
The beetle itself is tiny, you can get some idea if its size, when you consider that a single coffee bean, can “house and feed” several dozen of them.
The female beetles attack a coffee berry, and bore a small hole in the base of the berry, and lays up to 200 (information varies on this point: whether the female lays a single large batch of eggs, or several smaller batches, in several different coffee berries) eggs in between the two developing beans. The hole can easily be see a short time later, as the sides turn almost black, presumably as the sides of the hole, dry out. It is very difficult to determine if this hole also allows other infections to enter the coffee berry, and cause secondary damage.
The eggs hatch, and the larvae start feeding on the developing coffee berry, eating out the inside of the bean; in about half the infected berries, only one of the two beans, is eaten, and in the other half, both beans are eaten.
When the grubs reach maturity, the females are fertilized by their sibling, males, the females fly off, and the males remain in the coffee bean, and die. I have been unable to find any information on the possibility of any method whereby the beetles can “exchange genes”, by cross fertilization, between different individuals. Which would indicate that the populations, in small areas, are genetically, very similar, if not identical, and very closely related. This “life style” precludes one very effective method of biological control (as used in California, with fruit flies) of releasing vast numbers of sterile flies, into the population, and severely limiting the production of viable eggs.
In ideal conditions (which appear to be very much temperature dependant) a single beetle can breed up to 4 or 5 new generations, in a single year: and with (a very conservative) 50 eggs per female, per laying; it will not take long for them to become a serious, and major pest, to coffee.
(from coffee4dummies.com)

February 7, 2012, 12:03 PM By S. AMANDA CAUDILL
S. Amanda Caudill, a doctoral student at the University of Rhode Island, writes from Costa Rica, where she is assessing mammal diversity on coffee farms.

It has been raining almost nonstop since we started the third round of sampling at our site in Aquiares to assess the mammal biodiversity in and around coffee farms in Costa Rica. Normally, I like rain — the sound of drops hitting the roof, drinking hot tea cuddled up on the couch, the fresh wet smell it brings – but being outside, soaking wet for hours on end is not fun. The rain makes it much tougher to measure the mice we capture and record data.

This little juvenile dusky rice rat (Melanomys caliginosus) was completely soaked in the rain.
We try to keep the mice dry under a leaf or a tree if we can, but when it is pouring out, sometimes there is no refuge. Our clothes are soaked through — socks, shoes, underwear all drenched. By the time we get back to the house, our lips are blue and fingers all pruned — thank goodness we have warm showers to come home to! In the last few days of this round, we finally caught a glimpse of the sun, and it is wonderful.

Again, as in the first two rounds of sampling here, the Aquiares site is proving to be more successful than other sites in terms of mammal biodiversity. Today alone we had 23 captures. This site is Rainforest Alliance-certified which means that it is required to have diverse vegetation in both structure and composition. Portions of the site are also certified by Starbucks, a certification that focuses mainly on the quality of the coffee.

The Aquiares coffee farm is Rainforest Alliance certified. The three most prevalent coffee certifications in this area are Rainforest Alliance, Starbucks Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE), and Smithsonian Bird Friendly. The Smithsonian certification has the strictest qualifications and the fewest farms certified by this label. It is also the only label that requires the coffee farm to abide by the regulations of the organic label (no use of synthetic pesticides). The certification was developed by biologists with a focus on protecting habitat for Neotropical bird species and was one of the initial coffee certifications to promote the protection of biodiversity and wildlife habitat.

The Rainforest Alliance label is certified through the Sustainable Agricultural Network which certifies coffee in addition to other crops. Rainforest Alliance focuses on the management of the farms and the vegetation complexity in the farms. It includes the three elements of sustainability: environment, economic and social responsibility. Its Web site states that it has farms certified in 25 countries across the world.

The Starbucks certification seems to be the most coveted in this area because it is a direct link to the Starbucks coffee market. Farmers receive a higher premium for coffee that is certified, and I’ve heard that Starbucks offers the highest price differential. A farm can only sell to Starbucks if it is Starbucks-certified, but receiving the certification does not necessarily mean that Starbucks will buy the coffee. Coffee at higher elevations is thought to be of better quality, so Starbucks only buys coffee grown at elevations higher than about 2,600 feet. The Starbucks certification also incorporates elements of social responsibility and environmental leadership, but quality of the coffee is the first criteria.

All of the biodiversity certifications use vegetation structure and complexity (like amount of tree canopy cover and native tree species) as an indicator of habitat quality, which in turn is an indicator of biodiversity. As I have mentioned before, these standards are primarily based on bird habitat quality. With our research, we hope to add in the layer of habitat quality requirements for mammals. Measuring biodiversity — especially for mammals — is much more time consuming and expensive than measuring vegetation.

I find the idea of these coffee certifications fascinating. They provide a means to protect wildlife and the environment, while providing more financial stability for the coffee farmers and better working conditions for the farm workers. After doing coffee research in India, I realized how important it is to incorporate the social element into these certifications.

These are coffee pickers in Kodagu, India, in 2010. Most coffee workers in India are a part of the lowest caste and have little say in their society. Some of the farmers who employed these coffee workers were annoyed with the certifications, which included social requirements like providing running water in workers’ housing, child labor regulations and educational requirements for the children. (“Why would they need to be educated? The children should work alongside their parents and learn how to pick coffee.”) It was eye-opening for me, especially when one of the harshest critics of social responsibility was an environmentalist with an organic coffee farm. Although there may still be room for improvement in the requirements and standards, coffee certifications have the potential to positively impact coffee farmers, workers, ecosystem health and wildlife biodiversity.

[Even when you don't know much about something, how you shop can really impact at the lowest end of the spectrum - I found her observations quite astounding - we take so much for granted. susan]

Fri Feb 10 2012
tassimo suprema by bosch – morning sun
STUDIO MESSLINGER GMBH Lesley Ciarula Taylor Staff Reporter

Eighteen people in Canada, including a 2-year-old girl, have suffered second-degree burns from malfunctioning Tassimo coffee makers or exploding discs, prompting a recall across North America, Health Canada says.

Authorities in Canada declined to reveal the condition of the burned 2-year-old Canadian girl.

“We can only imagine how upsetting this must be for the family,” Kraft Foods Canada spokeswoman Kathy Murphy said.

“We apologize to our consumers who have been affected by this.”

Two separate Kraft Foods Canada recalls involve 900,000 Bosch-brand Tassimo coffee makers and 2 million Gevalia and Nabob espresso T-Discs in Canada.

Another 835,000 Bosch-brand Tassimo coffee makers and two million T-Discs are being recalled in the U.S.

The malfunctioning coffee makers can spray people with hot liquid, coffee grounds or tea leaves because of the way an insert is holding the single-serving discs.

In a separate problem, certain types of the discs themselves can clog and burst, also spraying people with hot liquid or grounds.

The T-Discs caused second-degree burns in three people in Canada, Murphy said. The brewers scalded 15 people with second degree burns, she said.

Another 23 people in the U.S. suffered second-degree burns, Health Canada said.

A 10-year-old girl in Minnesota required hospital treatment for second-degree burns, the U.S. Product Safety Commission said.

There have been another 140 reports in Canada and the U.S. of malfunctioning Tassimo machines spraying hot liquid, grounds or tea leaves causing less serious consequences.

“Consumers should stop using their brewers and call for a replacement insert” for the T-Discs, Kraft Canada spokeswoman Kathy Murphy told the Star.

Most of the espresso discs involved in the recall are off the shelves and Kraft hopes to have replacements to retailers soon, she said. Consumers with the affected discs at home can apply for reimbursement by completing an online registration, Kraft said.

Discs with codes ending between 11213 and 12020 are involved, Kraft said. (See below for a full list of product names)

Information on the Tassimo website also specifies which brewers and which discs are involved. Additionally, consumers can call 1-866-918-8763.

The T-discs were manufactured by Kraft Foods Global Inc., in Illinois.

The recalled brewers were sold across Canada and the United States from June 2008 through this month.

Products recalled

Tassimo Espresso T DISCs that have code information ending between 11213 and 12020 are affected. The code information is printed on the foil lid of every Espresso T DISC and on a side panel of the foil package.

RODRIQUE NGOWI | Associated Press

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (AP) — Move over, coffee and Red Bull. A Harvard professor thinks the next big thing will be people inhaling their caffeine from a lipstick-sized tube. Critics say the novel product is not without its risks.

The product, called AeroShot, went on the market late last month in Massachusetts and New York, and is also available in France. A single unit costs $2.99 at convenience, mom-and-pop, liquor and online stores.

Biomedical engineering professor David Edwards said AeroShot is safe and does not contain common additives, like taurine, used to amplify the caffeine effect in common energy drinks. Each grey-and-yellow plastic canister contains 100 milligrams of caffeine powder, about the amount in a large cup of coffee, plus B vitamins.

But Democratic U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York wants the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to review AeroShot, saying he fears it will be used as a club drug so that young people can drink until they drop. Schumer’s national press secretary did not immediately respond to calls for comment. FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey declined to comment, saying the agency will respond directly to Schumer on the matter.

Edwards said Schumer’s comments are understandable in the context of developments over the last few years, when students looking for a quick and cheap buzz began consuming caffeine-packed alcoholic drinks they dubbed “blackout in a can” because of their potency. But he said AeroShot is not targeting anyone under 18 and it safely delivers caffeine into the mouth, just like coffee.

“Even with coffee — if you look at the reaction in Europe to coffee when it first appeared — there was quite a bit of hysteria,” he said. “So anything new, there’s always some knee-jerk reaction that makes us believe ‘Well, maybe it’s not safe.’”

Once a user shoots a puff of calorie-free AeroShot into his or her mouth, the lemon-lime powder begins dissolving almost instantly. Each single-use container has up to six puffs.

“The act of putting it in your mouth is the act of breathing — so it’s sort of surprising and often people the first time they take the AeroShot, they laugh … that it’s kind of a funny way of putting food in your mouth,” said Edwards, who also came up with a breathable chocolate product a few years back.

Dr. Lisa Ganjhu, a gastroenterologist and internal medicine doctor at New York-based St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, said people need to be aware of how much caffeine they are ingesting.

“You want those 10 cups of coffee, it will probably take you a couple hours to get through all that coffee with all that volume that you are drinking,” Ganjhu said. “With these inhale caffeine canisters you can get that in 10 of those little canisters — so you just puff away and you could be getting all of that within the hour.”

Even the product packaging warns people not to consume more than three AeroShots per day.
Northeastern University students who sampled the product recently gave it mixed reviews.

“This tastes really good and I think it rocks,” student Zack Huang said after puffing onto a free sample before rushing to join a group of friends who were walking away from campus.

Still, one student was not happy with the taste, echoing sentiment expressed online by some consumers.
People elsewhere vowed they would never give up their morning coffee.

“I want to brew it, I want to stir it and I want to drink it slowly as I absorb the caffeine,” said longtime coffee fan Mark Alexander.

The makers of AeroShot appear to be aware of that sentiment, declaring that the product isn’t about switching away from coffee, but rather making it easier for people with active lifestyles to get their caffeine fix.

“AeroShot can be used in a variety of settings inconvenient for liquids, such as when you study in the library, board an airplane or get into the car for a long drive,” they say in the section dedicated to frequently asked questions on their website. “It’s easy to take AeroShot with you when you go biking, skiing, curling, or any other activity that consumes energy.”

AeroShot, manufactured in France and the flagship product of Cambridge-based Breathable Foods Inc., is the product of a conversation that Edwards had with celebrity French chef Thierry Marks over lunch in the summer of 2007.

“We were discussing what interesting culinary art experiments we might do together and I had the idea that we might breathe foods since I’ve done a lot of work over the last 10 or 15 years on medical aerosols,” Edwards said.

The first venture Edwards worked on with Harvard students was the breathable chocolate, called Le Whif. Now he’s preparing to promote a product called Le Whaf, which involves putting food and drinks in futuristic-looking glass bowls and turning them into low-calorie clouds of flavor.

(lol – what next?! – su)

Paste this into your browser…

http://screen.yahoo.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-caffeine-28079619.html

Tim Hortons new sizes. The beloved Canadian coffee joint will shift the names of its sizes starting Monday to make room for a 24 oz. cup — the new extra large. Small will become extra small, medium will become small and so forth, making the sizes more comparable to American standards
Size matters

Tim Hortons new sizes:
Extra small – 8 oz.
Small – 10 oz.
Medium – 14 oz.
Large – 20 oz.
Extra large – 24 oz.

Starbucks:
Short – 8 oz.
Tall – 12 oz.
Grande – 16 oz.
Venti – 20 oz.
Trenta – 31 oz.

You know that large Tim Hortons double double you order every morning — well it’s now a medium.
Timmies is now giving you more coffee but not increasing the cost.The beloved Canadian coffee joint will shift the names of its sizes starting Monday to make room for a 24 oz. cup – the new extra large.

Small will become extra small, medium will become small and so forth, making the sizes more comparable to American standards.

“We tested the names of the new hot cup sizes with our guests and the response has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Dave McKay, a marketing director at Tim Hortons, in a statement.

At 8 oz., the current small is not available in the U.S., but will remain at the approximately 3,225 Tim Hortons locations in Canada.

Customers will pay the same price for the same amount of coffee, according to the statement.

Ordering a large coffee will put an extra 6 ounces of coffee in your system, making the new large the same size as a 20 oz. Starbucks venti. Starbucks tall (small) and grande (medium) sizes will be 2 oz. larger than the same sizes at Tim Hortons.

To cater to its consumers’ expanding desires – and waistlines – the American premium coffee giant introduced a 31 oz. cup called the Trenta in January 2011.

Health Canada recommends that adults have no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day – about the amount in a 24 oz. of coffee, it says. (There is 200 mg of caffeine in Tim Hortons’ current 20 oz cup, according to its website.)

Over the past 25 years, supersized portions have contributed to rising obesity levels in North America
– Emily Jackson is a reporter for the Toronto

[Su's comments - Coffee Tree is holding steady at 4 cup sizes: 10oz small, 12oz regular, 16oz large and 20oz jumbo]

SIMON AVERY — INVESTMENT REPORTER
From Friday’s Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Mar. 10, 2011 7:26PM EST

Last updated Wednesday, Apr. 13, 2011 7:36PM EDA deal between rivals Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR-Q50.90-1.27-2.43%) and Starbucks Corp. (SBUX-Q48.150.130.27%) to sell single-serve coffee sent shares of both companies soaring Thursday, raising the question whether there is a bubble brewing in the caffeine business.

Green Mountain, which dominates the single-cup home-brewing market, agreed to sell Starbucks coffee and Tazo tea for its Keurig system. For Green Mountain, the arrangement is expected to boost revenue for both its brewing systems and its coffee and hold off further competition in the $2-billion (U.S.)-a-year market. Starbucks, in turn, is spared having to develop its own single-cup brewing device, potentially saving the company hundreds of millions of dollars.