You are currently browsing the daily archive for May 19, 2007.
Starbucks has been tapped to provide the Canadian Parliament with coffee in a new pilot project, reports Canada.com. Until the end of June, Starbucks will be served in select locations in cafeterias throughout the buildings. While some Members of Parliament are excited about the idea, other are complaining that they ought to have given preference to Tim Horton’s – a Canadian icon and coffee behemoth.
The real loser, however, might be Kingston Ontario based coffee retailer Multatuli. They’ve been the official supplier on Parliament Hill for a few years and they haven’t been replaced (yet) – but at a time when consumers are increasingly green conscious, Starbucks incursion may not sit well. According to an editorial with Osprey News, Multatuli “composts its coffee waste, uses renewable energy to fuel its roasters, and deals fair-trade coffee grounds it purchases from producers in underdeveloped countries such as Nicaragua and Guatemala“. I suppose there’s no room at the House of Commons cafeteria for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s environmental plans?
Australians are taking increasingly buying fair trade coffees, reports Australian newspaper The Age. The article reports that they’re now spending over $6 million a year on them, which is a huge increasing from the $143,000 spent in 2003 when Fair Trade labelling was first introduced to the country. It has grown from a niche market to expand to national department stores and retailers. For the full article click here!
Meanwhile, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s show Lateline Business recently had a report on fair trade, with a spotlight on economists arguing for free, as opposed to fair trade. Professor Sinclair Davidson’s objection to fair trade is that it “creates a situation where those farmers who are able to access the label are rewarded” and also that the fair trade labeling system is not monitoring as closely and as well as it should be. You can watch the news report and read a transcript by clicking here!
The intellectual, commercial and scientific revolutions of the Enlightenment were fueled by the buzz of coffee and cafes around Western Europe. The machines of the industrial revolution in Britain were oiled with tea. Beer helped build the Egyptian pyramids. Or so says Tom Standage in his book A History of the World in Six Glasses.
This short, and easy to read book places importance on beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola in the major Western historical developments. As someone used to reading all too often drab social, military, economic and political histories, I was pleased to have read such an engaging book.
