Tired of sipping on sweet, milky ‘chai’ at the local tea-stall? Are you interested in trying out some Indo-Western exotic bites along with a latte? Well, come down to Mumbai and you will be able to. Indian taste buds have gone international with the dominating presence of cafés such as Café Coffee Day, UK’s Costa Coffee, Australia’s Gloria Jeans, and the US’s The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Now it’s time for India’s caffeine dreams to become even bigger with the entry of Seattle-based multinational coffee chain, Starbucks.

In an $80 million joint venture with Tata Global Beverages, Starbucks India is known as Tata Starbucks Ltd. Starbucks, which has more than 17,600 branches in over 61 countries, has now opened three new outlets in Mumbai at the historic Elphinstone Building in Horniman Circle, the Taj Mahal Hotel and Palace, and Oberoi Mall in the Mumbai suburbs.

The Indian menu has been tailored to meet the local tastes and the menu items reflect this unique fusion of East and West. There are items like Chicken Tikka Panini, Tamarind Peanut Chicken Calzone, Chai Tea Latte, and Elaichi Mawa Croissant. The items are also priced significantly lower as compared to those at other Starbucks’ outlets across the world. The company is in a bid to woo India, which is essentially a tea-loving nation. The country’s tea sector is the thousands of tea-stalls scattered all over the country’s streets. For as little as five Indian rupees, one can kick start their day on sweet, milky, elaichi-flavored tea served in small, glass tumblers.

India’s openness to cafes and coffee is still in the nascent stage. At present, there are 1,950 cafes in the country and they contribute to the country’s $230 million revenue. This figure is also expected to grow to 13-14 percent over the next five years. Tata Group plans to open 50 more stores by the end of 2012. The company is also planning to set up a café in Delhi by early 2013.

The Starbucks outlet in Horniman Circle is spread over sprawling 4000 square feet of space and occupies two floors in South Mumbai’s elite business hub, making sales of 8.5 lakh Indian rupees per day. On opening day, October 19, 2012, there were long queues of people forming outside the South Mumbai café, all waiting to get in. Everybody was excited to try out the offerings by the newest entrant on the coffee market in India. They waited to grab a cup of their favorite coffee for over an hour.

Starbucks boss, Howard Schultz, agrees that the company has faced challenges while entering foreign markets such as those in Japan and China but they have overcome them. Starbucks has over 600 outlets in China and the success of India’s outlets is already exceeding expectations.

Analysts are also hopeful with estimations that the coffee market in India is expected to haul in more than $500 million over the next five years. Will Starbucks be able to build its presence in India, facing stiff competition from other players such as Barista, Costa Coffee, and the local Café Coffee Day? Only time will tell.

Image Courtesy : Fran Simó

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British-born Henry Nicholas Greenwell grew up a world away from the tropical shores of Hawaii, but his life would ultimately make a mark on the Kona coffee industry.

World-renowned Kona coffee, grown specifically in an optimal region of the Big Island of Hawaii, is considered some of the world’s finest coffee and remains a highly desirable product. At Greenwell Farms, where the production of coffee has remained in the Greenwell family for generations, 150 years of local experience has gone into making some of the best tasting coffee in the Kona region.

Tom and Jennifer Greenwell currently run the family business, and as fourth-generation coffee farmers, are extremely knowledgeable about the coffee industry. As Greenwell Farms has been passed down through the Greenwell lineage, original entrepreneur Henry Nicholas Greenwell was able to establish a promising business through buying fertile land in the Kona region.

Although he started off his business for the purpose of growing oranges, he shifted his focus onto coffee and watched his success grow. His business-savvy techniques exposed Kona coffee to the European market in the 1870s, and he achieved recognition at the World’s Fair in Vienna where he received a ‘Recognition Diploma’ from the President of the Kaiser’s Expedition.

Located at 1,500 feet above sea level, the scenic Greenwell Farms showcases not only a beautiful farm, but also overlooks glimpses of the nearby ocean. Greenwell Farms is a welcoming spot in the Kona region for daily coffee tours, where friendly guides take groups around the property to see how coffee is created from start to finish.

The complimentary tours start at the airy, outdoor gift shop, where visitors have the chance to sample tastes of Greenwell Farms’ signature coffees. Tours are available every day from 8:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. and are a great interactive way in understanding where your morning cup of coffee comes from.

Greenwell Farms currently uses Arabica coffee trees for the production of their coffee, where the beans are handpicked and processed on site. They have an array of coffee products that highlight a variety of different flavors. Greenwell Farms Private Reserve is their most signature coffee, picked straight from their farm at the most optimal time. The Private Reserve comes from the farm’s largest beans and offers an exceptional taste. The Private Reserve is packaged in signature green bags with the Private Reserve designation on it.

A main component of the success at Greenwell Farms is 100% Kona coffee. The farm sources their coffee cherry from specific farms in North and South Kona to produce only the most exceptional coffee products. The precise labor of picking and harvesting the coffee comes from dedicated workers who truly understand the process of making coffee.

One of Greenwell Farms’ most famous coffees is Peaberry, which comes from a small bean that packs a lot of flavor. The peaberry combines an acidity with tones of fruit. Greenwell Farms also offers a variety of roasts, including the Dark City Roast and Full Body Roast. While the Dark City Roast showcases a level of sweetness without any hint of bitterness, the Full Body Roast has a medium body and is typically known as a Kona classic. An Espresso Roast is also available, as well as a smooth Medium Roast.

With the macadamia nut a popular staple all across the islands of Hawaii, Greenwell Farms has incorporated its special taste into their macadamia nut flavored coffee. It is a medium roasted coffee with a touch of macadamia nut flavor added at the end. Similarly, the chocolate macadamia nut coffee comes with the added bonus of rich chocolate that makes for an exceptional cup of coffee.

Greenwell Farms offers a unique opportunity to become part of their coffee club, where people are able to order a minimum of two pounds of a specified coffee and receive the shipment on either a two week, monthly, or every other month basis.

Aside from freshly roasted coffee, Greenwell Farms also offers a variety of souvenirs, ranging from beauty products, locally sourced gourmet food products, and apparel. A stop at Greenwell Farms is not to missed, as their daily tours provide an inside look into Kona coffee, one of the most famous staples across the island. For more information on visiting Greenwell Farms for a coffee tour, visit their homepage.

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Starbucks is expanding its multi-billion dollar company even further with a chain of juice bars, set to open next year. The world wide famous coffee shop chain is the largest in the world and now has plans to break into the health food market, a 50 billion dollar industry. The corporation bought the juice company Evolution Fresh for $30 million in cash last week.

Since the news was announced, stocks in Jamba Inc. have declined while stocks in Starbucks have increased. Jamba, a popular smoothie and juice chain with 752 juice bars in the U.S has been struggling the past few years. Revenues have declined as competition increased with major companies such as Starbucks and McDonald’s Corp introducing competing products.

Jamba CEO James White said “We will continue to accelerate our product innovation and, while we welcome new entrants to the marketplace, we will adjust our strategy as needed.” CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz argued that Jamba suffered after it moved toward a more commodity business and away from what popular independents do well.

Speaking about the new business venture Schultz said “We think we can build a major business”. Starbucks recently dropped the word ‘coffee’ from their famous Mermaid logo, suggesting that they don’t want to be only associated with coffee anymore. This is a move proven to be effective by other companies that have expanded their products.

Apple Inc. dropped the word computer from its name four years ago placing a stronger focus on consumer electronics, such as iPods, iPads and iPhones. PepsiCo was also once called Pepsi-Cola, before it became a broader beverage and food company. Starbucks says its developing consumer products business will one day be on par with its coffee shops in sales, although this prospect is at least several years away.

Bob Goldin, executive vice president at food service consultancy Technomic said “It has interesting potential, but I don’t know if it has the broad appeal that coffee has”. Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy argues a different prospective, “Starbucks is smart enough that, if it’s something that doesn’t work, they can pull the plug pretty quickly”.

President of channel development at Starbucks, Jeff Hansberry, notes that Evolution Fresh uses a special process called high-pressure pasteurization, which preserves the juice without heating it so the nutrients and taste are not lost. Although Starbucks have not yet released the number of juice bars they will be opening, it is official that the first of the juice bars will open on the West Coast of the U.S next year.

Brendan Howard / Shutterstock.com

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A recent study’s results produced coffee’s hidden benefit, its capacity to reduce the risk of getting prostate cancer. Coffee’s side effects have always been discussed, but its benefits have never been taken into consideration. Health news describes how “drinking six or more cups of coffee per day can lower a man’s risk of fatal prostate cancer by up to 60%.”

Kathryn Wilson, a research fellow in epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health discusses how coffee’s varieties of biological effects are relevant for prostate cancer. She discusses how “its an important source of antioxidants and also has positive effects on glucose metabolism and insulin levels, and its thought that insulin plays a role in the progression of prostate cancer,” according to Health News.

A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute involved 48,000 men. Kathryn Wilson and her colleagues “tracked the relationships between nutritional factors and cancer, heart disease, and other health conditions”. Between the years 1986 and 2006, every four years the participants reported how much coffee they drank per day as part of diet questionnaires. Health News discusses how in the follow-up period around “5,035 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer.” The cancer was considered lethal in 642 cases, the men either died of the disease or the tumors spread a good amount.

The consumption of coffee was known to lower the risk of all prostate cancers only slightly, and the change in the risk was pronounced for lethal cancer. Men who drank at least six cups of coffee a day had a 60% lower risk, whereas the ones who drank one to three cups a day had a 30% lower risk.

Health News describes how coffee consumption has been linked to a lower risk of “type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, and liver cancer, among other conditions.”

Women were known to lower their risk of developing an aggressive type of breast cancer by drinking at least five cups of coffee a day.

Regardless of the kind of coffee men drank, decaf or caffeinated, a decreased risk of cancer was still seen, which briefs on a property in coffee other than caffeine that might be helping this.

Shiuan Chen, PhD, director of tumor cell biology at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California mentions how the evidence isn’t justifying enough for doctors to recommend the increase in coffee intake. He says how, “I don’t think it’s any reason for changing habits in the immediate moment.”

Proven by other questionnaires, coffee consumption does not prove that it directly prevents aggressive prostate cancer. Health news proves that it “shows only an association, although it is a relatively strong one, since the researchers were able to take into account detailed information on the men’s overall diets and other factors.” Family history of prostate cancer, smoking, obesity and physical activity can be taken into account.

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