Coffee Bean ordered shut amid legal morass

Israel's 14 branches of the Coffee Bean chain were ordered closed by the international franchise as of yesterday, after local franchise holder City Food violated their agreement and fell behind in payments. The local franchise holder owes several hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But there's a catch: Coffee Bean restaurants in Israel are themselves franchises of City Food. After signing 10-year agreements in January, shutting them down would violate these agreements. The U.S.-based coffee house franchise informed City Food in July that it had until yesterday to shutter the branches.

City Food's franchise holders draw their right to run Coffee Beans from City Food's agreement with Coffee Bean international; therefore if the parent franchise holder loses its rights, they've probably lost theirs too, attorney David Gideoni of the firm Tadmor and Co. told TheMarker.

But the City franchise holders are unmoved. "We have no intention of closing. We have an agreement with City that's valid for 10 years, starting last January, and we have supplies for the next six months at least," said one of the company's franchise holders in Herzliya Pituah. "Plus, we haven't been informed officially. Everything we know is through the newspapers."

While the Herzliya franchise holder said their attorney advised them there would be no problem with continuing to operate, given their agreement with City Food, Gideoni said they were opening themselves up to lawsuits from Coffee Bean International.

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More variety may raise volume in coffee futures

Coffee futures contracts trading on the Indian commodity exchanges need to induct available varieties in the market with reduction of lot size to make it more liquid in exchanges in the near future.Spreading more awareness among planters and traders regarding coffee futures market for an appropriate price discovery is also needed.

“There should be more coffee varieties being traded in the exchanges to make future contracts liquid with sound growth in volume,” Babu Reddy, agricultural economist of Coffee Board of India said. He also said that awareness should be created among traders and planters to make coffee as an active contract.

Presently, coffee futures are being traded on the National Commodity and Derivative Exchange (NCDEX) and National Multi-Commodity Exchange (NMCE). While robusta cherry AB variety is being traded in the NCDEX, varieties traded in NMCE are robusta REP bulk coffee with various specifications. In the trading front, NCDEX coffee futures are illiquid and NMCE futures have witnessed less than expected volume in recent time.

“The lot size of 2 tonnes at NCDEX or 1.5 tonne at NMCE is higher for any small planter to enter into futures contract. This lot size should be reduced for higher participation from small and medium planters,” Chowda Reddy, an analyst with JRG Wealth management said.

Coffee is an actively traded commodity in international commodity bourses like Liffe and ICE futures.

As coffee prices are extremely volatile depending on factors such as the size of stocks globally, weather forecast and speculations by fund houses, it has been introduced by Indian exchanges for hedging price risk.

However, lack of introduction of available variety acts as a major dampener to active trading.

“Varieties like robusta cherry AB with a lot size of 2 tonnes can only be provided by curers and not by planters. So, Indian varieties like robusta parchment, arabica parchment and cherry should be introduced in the exchanges, which have more availability in Indian market,” Reddy said.

However, officials from commodity exchanges have a different view about this matter.

“As big Indian exporters normally enter into contract in international commodity exchanges, volume in Indian exchanges are low,” Anil Mishra, chief executive officer of National Multi Commodity Exchange said.

He also said that hedging position in international market helped exporters in giving physical delivery.

Commodity exchanges are also expecting a turn around in volume growth with amendment in Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act (FCRA).

“With amendment of FCRA, financial institutions will be allowed to participate and we expect sound volume growth in coffee contract with entry of counter parties into the trade,” Mishra said.

About participation of small planters, he said that the lot size could be reduced in future for facilitating more of small planters’ participation.

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Coffee can change your life

He fills the jug with cold milk, checks the temperature on the thermometer (it should be 32 F) and keeps the jug aside. He switches on the espresso machine and brews the ground coffee into the white primo cup, then turns on the steam muzzle and fills the milk jug with foam.

After banging (breaking the air bubbles) and swirling (mixing the froth), he pours the milk into the primo cup and sprinkles chocolate powder on the top. The cappuccino is ready to be served. Ajeet Singh Chauhan, 28, has made the morning’s first coffee. We meet him at a Costa Coffee outlet in Green Park, South Delhi.

A lanky man with a shy smile, Chauhan is flying to Dubai next week for the regional finals of the ‘Barista of the Year’ competition, a championship that the international coffee chain outlet is conducting to select its best barista.coffeeBarista is the Italian word for ‘bartender’ and is used for a person who makes and serves coffee.

Chauhan was chosen after winning the India round. If he cracks it in Dubai, he will go to London in October for the final Champion of Champions round. If he reaches the top, who knows... he may buy a car and stop commuting in EMU trains and DTC buses.Till five years ago, our coffee man had never even tasted a cappuccino.

“I had my first cappuccino on August 4, 2009,” he says. “This was the first day of my first job in a coffee chain.” Then, Chauhan was in Bahrain, a tiny Middle-East monarchy. This was his first sojourn abroad and it came after much resistance from his parents, who live in a village called Atohan in Palwal, a district 50 kms from Delhi. “My family feels odd about my profession. We are jaats. It is very tough for me to explain what I’m doing to Papa and Maa.”

There weren’t many opportunities in Chauhan’s village, where his father farms over three acres of land. The future barista grew up in Faridabad at the home of his chacha (uncle). Faridabad, technically a city in Haryana, is across the border from Delhi. Today, it has malls and multiplexes, but when Chauhan was attending a school there, it was a dusty town.

There were no cafes and Chauhan never tasted anything more sophisticated than what could be brewed from instant coffee sachets, which his aunt would make for him on special occasions. Unlike now, he was also not fluent in English. After finishing school, he enrolled in a Gurgaon management institute.

“My dream was to become an MNC executive in Gurgaon, but then I got a part-time job in a pizza chain in Faridabad and I drifted towards the hospitality industry.” Once, Chauhan’s parents came to visit him at the pizza outlet. “They saw me from outside the glass wall. I was wiping forks and knives. I gestured, asking them to come in, but they refused. Later, papa said, ‘Beta, what do you think you are doing?’”

So, what was his reply? “I said, ‘Papa, it’s my choice.’” Chauhan was not the best student during his training as a coffee maker. “I was the last to learn the tricks. Once, I burnt my hand. See this mark here,” he says, showing the back of his right hand. “In my first outlet, I learnt how to make coffee, what it actually is and what exactly is a coffee bean.”

Chauhan was chosen the best barista among his coffee chain’s India outlets after he created the ‘Dates & Figs Frescato’. “I hadn’t even heard the word ‘frescato’ till I joined my company.” His parents are probably still unaware. They prefer chai. “No, my folks don’t call it chai,” says the barista. “It’s chaa — milky and sugary.”

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Coffee farmers get market boost

The ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives has allowed coffee growers to sell their crop at international auctions. The deputy minister for Agriculture, Food Security and Co-operatives, Dr Mathayo David, told the National Assembly in Dodoma yesterday that the government had put in place plans aimed at securing handsome prices for local coffee at international markets and with individual buyers.

The minister was answering a question asked by Savelina Mwijage (Special Seats—CCM) who had wanted to know what the government was doing to prevent coffee growers from selling their cash crop at throw-away prices.

Dr Mathayo told the August House that the government also planned to promote the country’s coffee at international fairs through the Tanzania Coffee Marketing Board. He said a kilogram of Robusta coffee sold at $1.49 (Sh2,235) during the 2008/09 period, while raw coffee fetched Sh800 per kilogram during the time under review.

He added that during the 2009/10 period coffee sold at $1.25 a kilogram, citing the absence of strong co-operatives, that could protect farmers from selling their crops at cheap prices, as one of the reasons for the poor state of affairs.

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How to pour the perfect cup of coffee

There is a best way – mathematically– to pour your second cup of coffee, says a study called Recursive Binary Sequences of Differences that will appeal to anyone who is truly pernickety about their beverages.But no one realised it until the year 2001, when Robert M Richman published his simple recipe in the journal Complex Systems. During the subsequent passage of nine years and billions of cups of coffee, the secret has been available to all.

"The problem is that the coffee that initially comes through the filter is much stronger than that which comes out last, so the coffee at the bottom of the pot is stronger than that at the top," says Richman. "Swirling the pot does not homogenise the coffee, but using the proper pouring pattern does."

Here's all you have to do. Prepare coffee – two cups' worth – in a carafe. Now get two mugs, call them A and B. Then: "If one has the patience to make four pours of equal volume, the possible pouring sequences are AABB, ABBA, and ABAB."

Choose ABBA.

That's it. You now have two nearly-identical-tasting cups of coffee.

Richmond tells what to do if you're pernickety: "If one wishes to further reduce the difference and has more patience, one can make eight pours of equal volume, four in each cup. The number of possible sequences is now 35." The optimal sequence, he calculates, is ABBABAAB.

And if you are more finicky than that, Richmond neglects you not. "With even more patience, one may make 16 pours, eight into each cup. There are now 6,435 possible pouring sequences." ABBABAABBAABABBA is the way to go.

This same blending problem crops up elsewhere in modern life: in distributing pigments evenly when mixing paint, and even in choosing sides for a basketball game. "Consider the fairest way for "captain A" and "captain B" to choose sides," Richman instructs. The traditional method – alternating the choices – leads to unequally strong teams. Instead, use the coffee recipe, which is "likely to result in the most equitable distribution of talent". Insist that captain A has the first, fourth, sixth, and seventh choices, while captain B has the second, third, fifth, and eighth choices."

The mathematics in this study looks at coffee production as a collection of "Walsh functions". These are trains of on/off pulses that add together in enlightening ways.

The monograph ends modestly, or perhaps realistically, with a wistful thought: "As is typically the case with fundamental contributions, scientifically significant applications of this work may not appear for some time."

Richman recently retired as a chemistry professor at Mount St Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. He now has more time to devote to this mixing business, with pleasure.

"It took me over 10 years to develop the mathematics to solve this problem, which is well outside of my primary area of expertise. I'm trying to find a classical number theorist who is willing to collaborate on the sequel: I think I can definitively establish the best way to pour three cups of coffee".

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Studies show coffee has health benefits

Health-conscious coffee drinkers just got a little pick-me-up. Last week, livescience.com highlighted a number of recent studies demonstrating the various health benefits regular coffee drinkers enjoy. Among the advantages were:

A 39 percent decreased risk of head and neck cancer (according to Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention), diminished risk of coronary heart disease (Harvard Medical School), and the prevention of memory loss (University of Lisbon). Then again, contradictory reports concluding negative consequences to drinking coffee come out about as frequently as a new Starbucks opens.

Espresso enthusiasts from around the Inland area discussed how the findings affected their love of latte. "I pretty much drink coffee every day with a little bit of guilt. ... this puts me at ease," said Riverside resident Brittany Pierce, lounging on a couch at Riverside's Back to the Grind. "I have a couple of friends down on coffee, so now I can tell them this."

Of course, multiple studies praising the value of eating salads could emerge tomorrow, but those benefits wouldn't quite apply to those who smother their lettuce in ranch, croutons and bacon bits. Earlene Smith, a barista at Riverside's Coffee Depot, recognizes this scenario could apply to coffee as well.

"A nonfat latte might be good for you, one that doesn't have any fat or sugar," said Smith, adding that she'd consider replacing the cookies and cake slices sold at the shop with vegetables, but that "those might not sell as well.

"Most people pour a ton of sugar into it."

Back to the Grind owner Darren Conkerite is as close to a coffee connoisseur as they come. Fourteen years ago he opened his café knowing how the average Joe could profit from a cup of joe. His thoughts concerning reports of coffee's beneficial nature? Duh.

"The news is funny. The news finds things out at different times, but it's something that I definitely knew back in the day when I opened," Conkerite said. "This generation of kids are more health conscious. Anyone about 16 to 23 will have a different outlook on the healthy benefits."

Or they might just like it. Ontario resident Jenny Galvan, visiting Riverside with her sister, said she was sipping her frappuccino for one basic reason. "Because it's good," she said. As for her views toward the validity of the studies? "I'll believe anything if it's incredible."

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Coffee kick just an illusion

Many swear by their daily cup of java to kick-start their brains in the morning or increase alertness in the afternoons. But they may actually be kidding themselves if they think that coffee helps. Caffeine addiction is such a downer that regular coffee drinkers may get no real pick-me-up from their morning cup, according to a study by British scientists, which appeared recently in the Neuropsychopharmacology journal.

Bristol University researchers found that drinkers develop a tolerance to both the anxiety-producing and the stimulating effects of caffeine, meaning that it only brings them back to baseline levels of alertness, not above them.

"Although frequent consumers feel alerted by caffeine, especially by their morning tea, coffee, or other caffeine- containing drink, evidence suggests that this is actually merely the reversal of the fatiguing effects of acute caffeine withdrawal," wrote the scientists, led by Peter Rogers of Bristol's department of experimental psychology.

The team asked 379 adults - half of them non- or low-caffeine consumers and the other half medium- or high- caffeine consumers - to give up caffeine for 16 hours, and then gave them either caffeine or a dummy pill known as a placebo.

Participants rated their levels of anxiety, alertness and headache. The medium-to-high caffeine consumers who got the placebo reported a decrease in alertness and increased headache, neither of which were reported by those who received caffeine. But measurements showed that their post-caffeine levels of alertness were actually no higher than the non- or low-caffeine consumers who received a placebo - suggesting caffeine only brings coffee drinkers back up to "normal."

The researchers also found that people who have a genetic predisposition to anxiety do not tend to avoid coffee. In fact, people in the study with a gene variant associated with anxiety tended to consume slightly larger amounts of coffee than those without it. This suggests that a mild increase in anxiety "may be a part of the pleasant buzz caused by caffeine," said Rogers.

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