Crema Press' 2009

BRACKNELL, ENGLAND (Dec. 15, 2009) - UK customers can now treat friends and family to Christmas gift bags of “Fairly Traded” ground coffee and enjoy free delivery on all orders over £4.95. All purchases help workers and farmers while protecting nature in coffee communities from Mexico to Rwanda.

They may not realize it but hotel guests, office workers and café customers across the UK can - in a few seconds - join the fight against global warming, build a school or modern home for people or even save species like the Polymorphic Robber Frog or Painted Bunting Bird in communities thousands of miles away.

Rogers’ “Fairly Traded” label and “Community Aid” program permanently raise quality of life for farmers, workers and protect nature in 10 countries from Mexico to Rwanda

BRACKNELL, ENGLAND (October 29, 2009) - Rogers Estate Coffees today launched a special 10 percent discount program until Nov. 9 on its “Fairly Traded” gourmet coffees whose purchase helps to permanently raise the quality of life for thousands of workers and save farms as well as nature in coffee growing communities from Mexico to Rwanda.

Customers can receive the discount when they buy online by entering the code SAVETEN at the checkout.

Every purchase of Fairly Traded coffee from Rogers Estate Coffees - the UK subsidiary of the Rogers Family Company – supports the groundbreaking “Coffee Community Aid” program.

Fact 1: Coffee “shrinks”, - loses weight - during roasting, while swelling to twice the bean size.

Fact 2: The longer you roast coffee beans, the darker the colour and the higher the “shrinkage”, e.g…, the more coffee it takes to make a pound.

Fact 3: Our normal shrink is 20%; our dark roast shrinkage goes as high as 25%. Lightly roasted coffees can have shrinkage factors as low as 11%.

Fact 4: Most coffee is under-roasted as a cost cutting measure since true gourmet coffee sales have proven the consumer’s preference for “fully roasted” coffee.

Fact 5: There is an “Optimum degree of roast”, that brings out the maximum flavour characteristics for each coffee. This gives the consumer maximum aroma and a rich, full bodied taste.

Fact 6: Under-roasted coffee has a flat, green, grassy astringent flavour. Over-roasted tastes burned or “caramelized”, and the varietal flavours of the coffee are lost in the dominant taste of the roast.

We roast a little darker than most do, because we feel that our standard level of roasting (called “Full City”), achieves the optimum level of flavour.  At this level of roast, the bean has puffed to its fullest, and the seam along the side of the bean has “cracked” open.

When you roast darker, it costs more in green bean shrinkage. It is for that reason, that roasters do not roast this dark. We lose between 3% and 8% more green shrinkage than most others. We do not, however, over-roast the coffee. When you roast darker than our optimal, you start to taste the roast, instead of the coffee. This is a tactic that allows you to “mask” deficiencies of cheaper coffee beans.

This is where Espresso coffee beans and French Roasts come in - it is more the taste of the roast that consumers who like these coffees are looking for. We are on the forefront of new roast concepts. Indeed, we have developed all proprietary roasting profile and techniques!

We roast in relatively small (1,000) batches, for greater control of roast consistency. Our process combines traditional artistry with state-of-the-art technology to achieve the optimum roast level on a very consistent basis. To achieve this, we:

• Determine the optimum roast profile for a coffee
• Duplicate this optimum with computer-assisted temperature, airflow, and movement controls, and
• Provide feedback to the roaster by tasting and testing every roast immediately.

The car seemed to be gliding, slowly drifting in between the world of control and chaos. I looked at the driver and his hands were spinning the wheel to the right like a kid on a play truck. When the wheel stopped turning he started bending it more in prayer than in control. He leaned his whole body to the right, pressing his skinny frame against the door leaning in hope the car would respond…. but it did not.

Coffee Beans

Start with fresh, whole bean Kirkland Signature (or San Francisco Bay) Gourmet Whole Bean coffees, available in 1000g bags.

Water

Brewed coffee is over 98% water. Thus your cup of coffee depends heavily on your water quality. It is important to use fresh, cold water. If tap water in your area is not very good, use bottled water. Never use distilled or soft water. Never use hot water which has gone through your hot water heater.

• Coffee stales when exposed to oxygen. It is a gradual process that will deteriorate the flavour over time.
• It is noticeable after only a few days.
• Ideally, you want to remove coffee from an oxygen environment as soon as possible.
• But here’s the problem: fresh-roasted coffee lets off a delicious smelling gas for several days after roasting.

• This “gassing off” is powerful enough to burst any package you put it in.
• Historically, roasters would let the coffee “gas off” for several days, or would poke holes in the packages, so they would not burst.
• Both of these practices allow the coffee beans to stale.

Our Absolute Freshness:

• Our fresh roasted coffee beans go immediately from the roaster into our state-of-the-art packaging machine.

• (Flavoured and ground coffees need an intermediate step, of course).

• This machine pulls a partial vacuum, until the package looks almost like a brick pack.
• These bags contain a special one-way valve on the front.
• As the coffee “gasses off”, the gasses escape through the valve - without letting any air back into the package.
• Our process leaves less than 2% oxygen in the bag to slow staling drastically.
• This keeps the coffee absolutely fresh until you open the bag.
• This process is by far the best way to keep coffee fresh.

The world-famous Buena Vista, on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, pioneered Irish Coffee in 1952. It took them many months to perfect this recipe, which is still being used today. Be sure to visit the Buena Vista (www.buenavista.com) whenever you are in San Francisco!

Ingredients (per serving):

• 3-5 oz. Kirkland Signature or San Francisco Bay Gourmet Coffee Beans, made to your taste.
• 1 oz. Irish Whisky
• 1-2 tsp. Sugar
• 1 oz. Heavy cream
• 6-8 ounce Coffee mug or glass mug with handle
• Hot water to warm mug.

We have today launched a special “Buy One, Get One Free” promotion program for our award-winning, Fairly Traded Organic Coffee Company range which also enables you to protect rainforest and wildlife or even build a school, medical clinic or house in Central American coffee communities.

Whilst stocks last, each purchase of a 227g bag (£3.25) of Rainforest Blend, Java Love or Hurricane Expresso ground coffee – produced by the Rogers’ Organic Coffee Co. division – will receive another bag for free.  Purchases support our groundbreaking “Coffee Community Aid” program.