Cutting Costs on Gloria Jean's and Diedrich K-cups

Despite the rapidly rising cost of coffee CoffeeGIANT.com has lowered prices on Diedrich and Gloria Jeans K-cups. CoffeeGIANT.com states, “The competition for web business really pays off for the web consumer in ways the traditional coffee customer cannot enjoy.” They continue, “We’re not sure of how trends will continue but, for now the online customers are the winners.”

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters places second on list of 100 best corporate citizens

Americas News: Ranking of best corporate citizens announced by Business Ethics

Business Ethics magazine has released its annual survey of the 100 best corporate citizens. This year’s list is led by Cummins, an Indiana-based engine maker considered a leader in emissions reduction. The company has been included on the list each of the six years it has been compiled.

According to the magazine, the ranking recognises Russell 1000 firms that serve a variety of stakeholders with excellence and integrity.

Cummins spends more than half of its in-house research and development dollars on emission-reduction technologies. Tim Solso, Cummins’ chief executive, says the company has reduced diesel engine emissions by 90% and believes within 10 years its products will be close to or at zero emissions.

According to Business Ethics, Cummins’ posted a 34% increase in sales and tripled earnings to $545 million in 2004.

One of Cummins’ greatest strengths, according to reviewers, is its employees, who enjoy perks such as employee ownership and profit-sharing.

The magazine also notes that Cummins publishes a sustainability report, underwrites school development in China and India, has purchased biodiverse forest land in Mexico and funds architecture in its local community.

Rounding out the top ten
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, praised as a “pioneer” in helping coffee growers by paying them fair trade prices, took second place on the list.

Green Mountain also supports micro-loans to growers to underwrite business ventures that diversify agricultural economies.

Third place on this year’s list went to St. Paul Travelers Companies, which was cited for community service.

St Paul focuses on education funding as a way to aid community development. The company funds financial literacy programmes in low-income areas to help consumers realise the dream of home ownership and its executives serve on boards of local non-profits.

Fannie Mae, which took the top slot on the list in 2004, was removed due to ongoing investigations of accounting irregularities. According to Business Ethics, a total of 10 companies were pulled for financial and social misdeeds.

Cummins and St. Paul Travelers, as well as three others from the top ten – Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Procter & Gamble – have all made the “100 Best” list each of its six years of publication.

HP and Procter & Gamble have been among the top ten all six years.

The rest of the top ten for 2005 includes Nuveen Instruments, Wells Fargo, Novell and Xerox.

Notable comebacks

Xerox returned to the list after this year after accounting scandals resulted in a fine for misconduct by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2002.

Xerox is well known for its social leave programme, which allow employee to take a paid year’s leave to work for a community non-profit.

The company also garners praise from organisations such as the National Association for Female Executives for its treatment of female executives. According to the group, one-third of Xerox’ work force is female, as is one-third of its managers.

Nike, once plagued by sweatshop controversies, made its debut to the list this year at number 31. Thirty-three companies are new to the list this year.

Governance added to categories

The survey is based on a database maintained by KLD Research & Analytics. All companies listed on the Russell 1000 Index are considered.

KLD’s data is statistically analysed by Sandra Waddock and Samuel Graves of Boston College and companies are ranked in eight categories: total return to stockholders, community, governance, diversity, employees, environment, human rights and product.

Governance is a new category for this year’s listing. It marks companies negatively for issues such as accounting restatements and excessive chief executive pay and positively, for example, for paying chiefs less than $500,000 per year.

Write to Lisa Roner / Dallas at Lisa Roner@ethicalcorp.com, or write to the Editor at editor@ethicalcorp.com.
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Coffeegiant.com is proud to support and offer Green Mountain k-cups at wholesale pricing to it's customers.

Coffee and the caffeine factor

An average cup of coffee contains about 80 to 150 milligrams of caffeine. For comparison, cola drinks contain about 30 to 50 mg per can. Although an ounce of tea leaves contains more caffeine than an ounce of ground coffee, an average cup of coffee has more caffeine because it takes more ground coffee to make a cup of java than it to make a cup of tea. While Espresso has a higher concentration of caffeine than regular coffee, the average serving is typically only 1.5 to 2 ounces – so the caffeine dose is about equal to that of a regular cup of coffee.
The type of coffee, the kind of roast, the level of grind, and the method of brewing all affect how much caffeine you drink with each cup. Robustas can have up to twice the amount of caffeine of finer specialty arabicas. Although they taste stronger, darker roasted beans actually have less caffeine than lighter roasts, as the longer roasting time breaks down more of it. Because of the larger surface area per unit volume, finer grinds increase the dose of caffeine extracted from the beans. (Dicum & Luttinger, 1999)

At CoffeeGIANT.com we offer both regular and decaf coffees in the single cup options as well as fresh ground from our own onsite roaster, Sonora Roasters. What ever you coffee needs or questions we can help you at CoffeeGIANT.com, 1-800-480-8071.

Coffee Trivia

Questions:

1. How much coffee will a typical coffee tree produce in a year?

2. What did early European drinkers call their coffee?

3. What type of grind is best for use in a french press brewer?

4. How many red-ripe coffee cherries must be picked to make up a pound of roasted coffee?

5. Is coffee really a bean?

6. Which contains less caffeine, Arabica coffee or Robusta coffee?


ANSWERS

1. About a pound.

2. Arabian wine.

3. A course grind.

4. Approximately 2,000.

5. Coffee is not a true bean. Coffee "beans" are seeds of the coffee shrub.

6. Arabica coffee contains about half the caffeine of Robusta.


Visit CoffeeGIANT.com for the answers to all your coffee needs.