JulieCraves

Corporate coffee / Dunkin Donuts

The odd bedfellows of Dunkin Donuts

Dunkin Donuts is a coffee and donut chain that originated in the northeastern U.S. which now has 7,000 stores worldwide. The company reports that it serves 1 billion cups of coffee annually.

Last year, Dunkin’ Donuts announced an aggressive expansion campaign, in which it aims to triple the number of stores in the U.S by 2020.  In January, it added Asia to expansion agenda. Just last week, the company revealed it has entered into a distribution deal with Procter & Gamble to put Dunkin’ Donuts coffee on retail shelves.

All this market saturation comes about a year after the Dunkin’ Brands group (which also includes Baskin-Robbins ice cream stores and Togo’s deli) was purchased by three private equity firms.  Bain Capital was founded by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who left the firm in 2001. The Carlyle Group owns controlling interests in many military contractors. Headquartered in Washington, DC, so many politicians have been associated with Carlyle, including both Presidents Bush, that it has been called the “Ex-Presidents Club.”  Former G.H.W. Bush Secretary of State James Baker is one of the founders. Thomas H. Lee Partners is known for its recent purchase of Clear Channel Communications, and is now pursuing buyouts in China.

Even prior to the change in ownership, coffee accounted for over 60% of Dunkin’ Donuts $4.4 billion annual revenue, accomplished in part by one of the highest mark-ups in the industry, about 95%, according to an article in New York Magazine. Even as they contemplate world domination, there is grumbling that the quality of their coffee may be in decline or at least inconsistent.

Is it sustainable? Their espresso drinks are made from Fair Trade beans, but there is little information available on origin, other than they use 100% arabica beans from Central and South America.  However, this photo of a sun coffee farm comes from their “From Tree to Cup” slide show.

Let’s see, the idea of supporting the military-industrial complex, investments in China, and sun coffee for a so-so cup…. no thanks.  That just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

(Update: see also “A hot serving of empty promises” regarding the brands’ sustainability initiatives.)

Corporate coffee / Organic coffee

Millstone’s organic line

[Update: Millstone was one of the coffees acquired by JM Smuckers, but it has now been discontinued. This post is for historical reference.]

Last month, a number of coffee bloggers, including C&C, received an offer from a public relations firm offering samples of Millstone Coffee Company’s organic line. Millstone is a coffee brand of the global conglomerate Procter & Gamble.

There are five certified organic varieties in this line (update: as of 2011, after being acquired by Smuckers, there are only three in the line, neither is Rainforest Alliance certified). One is Fair Trade certified. Another is Rainforest Alliance (RA) certified. I asked the PR rep a series of questions regarding these coffees.  My questions, the answers from P&G relayed to me via the PR firm, and my further comments are below.

Arabica or robusta?
My question: For all types, are they 100% arabica beans? Or do some or all have some robusta beans in them? If they do, can you provide a percentage, and the country of origin of the robusta?

Millstone replies: All Millstone Coffee flavors and roasts, including the 100% Organic line-up of Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance certified coffees, are made from premium Arabica coffee beans.

My comments: This is not a straight answer.  My 50/50 cotton shirt is made from cotton, but half of it is made from polyester. Searching the entire Millstone site does bring up many mentions that only the top 15% of arabica beans are used in their coffees. I don’t know what that means. Along with robusta? Top 15% of what? The word “arabica” is not on any of the web pages for four of the five coffees in this organic line; it is on the Nicaraguan Mountain Twilight Blend, but 100% is not indicated.  It is not in the  promotional material for this line for this line I received. Four bags I got had handwritten labels so I don’t know what is on the usual bags.  The Rainforest Reserve came in a valve bag, which did read “100% certified organic arabica beans,” which could still be considered ambiguous.

Given the added appeal and marketing cache of labeling coffee “100% arabica,” I can’t imagine why, if this line is all arabica, that this specific wording is not trumpeted from every bag, brochure, and web page.

Origins

My question:What specific regions, cooperatives, or farms do the Peruvian and Nicaraguan coffees come from? Are they grown under diverse shade? There is no mention of country of origin for the Rainforest Reserve, Organic Mountain Moonlight Fair Trade, or Mayan Black Onyx varieties. Can you provide this information (with region and cooperatives?)

Millstone replies: P&G doesn’t disclose information about the specific regions, coops, farms, etc. where the coffee is grown. This is all proprietary information that the company does not share publicly due to competitive reasons.

My comments: This answer is nonsensical. A roaster might want to protect the source of an exceptional, small-lot coffee, available via auction, so that the competition doesn’t try to outbid them.  Why make a such a secret out of where you get your mediocre, inexpensive beans? Maybe, like Nestlé, P&G doesn’t even know where they all come from. Or, like Kraft, would rather you didn’t know.

No matter why they won’t divulge origins, the fact that a consumer cannot easily find out where their coffee was grown — and therefore if it was produced in an ecologically-friendly way — is unacceptable.

100% Rainforest Alliance-certified beans?
My question: What percentage of the beans in the Rainforest Reserve variety are Rainforest Alliance certified?

Millstone replies: A medium-dark roast, Millstone’s 100% Organic Rainforest Reserve coffee comes from the forested slopes of Latin America, where the high-altitude volcanic soils have produced high-quality coffees for centuries. And because the beans are 100% certified by the Rainforest Alliance, you can feel good that you’re giving back to farmers and the environment with each and every cup.

My comments: I asked this question specifically because big roasters have been using only the minimum amount of RA certified beans that are necessary to carry the RA seal (30%). I’m wasn’t quite sure that “the beans are 100% certified” is the same as 100% of the beans are certified.

Just to be sure, I wrote to Rainforest Alliance. They replied that the Rainforest Reserve uses 100% RA-certified beans. Great! But the link they provided [now dead] was to Millstone’s Signature Collection Rainforest Reserve.  It’s a different package and not marked organic. If this is the same coffee that has been relabeled or rebranded, why is one labeled certified organic, and the other not?

Determined to clear this up, I wrote to Millstone directly. I specifically asked if these were the same coffees (providing links to the product pages), why one was organic and the other not, and once again the percentage of RA-certified beans in the organic Rainforest Reserve. After a week, I received a reply informing me that there was lots of useful information on the web site that I would find helpful — but they did not give me any links or any answers!

I gave up. The answers to all of these questions should be simple, straightforward, and easily available to consumers.

Coming soon, the C&C tasting panel gives these coffees a try. Update: Reviews are posted here.

Research on coffee growing

Research: Beneficial fungi in wild Ethiopian coffee forests

Composition of coffee shade tree species and density of indigenous arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) spores in Bonga natural coffee forest, southwestern Ethiopia. Muleta, D., F. Assefa, S. Nemomissa, and U. Granhall. 2007.  Forest Ecology and Management 241:145-154.

Mycorrhizal fungi have mutualistic associations with plants. They benefit coffee plants by enhancing growth and tolerance to nematodes, increasing phosphorus and zinc uptake in young plants, and increasing overall survival. This study looked at which shade trees were associated with the highest levels of AMF in a wild coffee forest.  Four tree species were dominant: Millettia ferruginea, Olea welwitschii, Schefflera abyssinica, and Phoenix reclinata. Millettia are legumes, and thus fix nitrogen in the soil, an added benefit.  Higher mean counts of AMF were found under leguminous shade trees compared to non-legumes. This healthy ecosystem is considered to have high potential for conservation of the wild coffee gene pool.

Coffee regions

A sustainable Costa Rican coffee

In my post on coffee growing in Costa Rica, I described the difficulty in finding organic or truly shade grown coffee from this country.  The folks from Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History recently visited a true organic, shade coffee farm which practices very environmentally-friendly cultivation methods.  The farm is Finca Cristina, located in the Orosi Valley, Cartago province, in central Costa Rica.

You can read a very thorough account about the farm, with lots of photos and a nice introduction to the problems with sun coffee, at the Hilton Pond web site. It details how the Carmans, the farm owners, converted from sun coffee to organically-grown shade coffee.  So far, 272 bird species, including 87 North American migrants, have been recorded at Finca Cristina, along with the only confirmed nests of the Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridge (Dendrortyx leucophrys), and a population of the rare Crowned Tree Frog (Anotheca spinosa).

Finca Cristina coffee is available from their web site, or via a toll-free number from the U.S.  I’ve not tried this coffee, but this is certainly worth trying if you enjoy Costa Rican coffee, want to know exactly  where your coffee comes from, and that it helps preserve biodiversity.