Germany's Coffee Usage May Rise 9.2% by 2019, Tchibo Says

Coffee consumption in Germany, the world’s third-biggest and Europe’s largest user, may rise by 9.2 percent by 2019, according to Tchibo GmbH.

Demand will be 640,320 metric tons by 2019, up from 586,320 tons last year, the Hamburg-based coffee roaster said in a statement e-mailed today. The U.S. is the world’s biggest coffee user followed by Brazil and Germany, according to the International Coffee Organization in London.

Germany’s per capita coffee consumption was 153.4 liters (40.5 gallons) in 2010, beating water and beer, the company said. Table and spring water consumption in 2010 totaled 135.7 liters, and beer came to 107.4 liters, Tchibo said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Isis Almeida in London at ialmeida3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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Web Economy to Hit $4.2 Trillion as Users Pick Surfing Over Sex

The Internet economy of the G-20 nations will reach $4.2 trillion by 2016 almost 1.7 times last year’s estimated level, as more than two-thirds of Americans would forgo coffee and 21 percent give up sex for a year to stay online, Boston Consulting Group said.

U.S. consumers said they would need to receive about $2,500 to stay offline for that period, according to a BCG survey released today. Consumers in most countries would require three percent to six percent of their average annual income to follow suit, the study found. All said they valued search, e-mail, online banking and investing functions. BCG interviewed about 1,000 users in each country.

The study shows the importance of the Web to consumers and to businesses trying to reach them through sites, including social-networking company Facebook Inc. (FB) and online-search provider Google Inc. (GOOG) There’s an “explosion” of people buying online, said David Dean, a senior partner at the Boston-based management consulting firm.

“The Internet has become like electricity or water,” said Dominic Field, a partner at BCG in Los Angeles, who along with Dean was one of the authors of the study.

By 2016, the number of global Web users will reach 3 billion from an estimated 1.9 billion in 2010, BCG said. Across the G-20 nations, the Internet economy accounted for an estimated $2.5 trillion in 2011, BCG said.

Were it a country, the Internet economy would be in the top five, behind the U.S., China, Japan and India and ahead of Germany, the study found. In the U.S., the Web’s contribution to 2010 gross domestic product exceeded the federal government’s, according to BCG.

Mobile access will become more important with smartphones and tablets accounting for four out of five broadband connections by 2016, the study showed.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, and Apple Inc. (AAPL) dominated the U.S. smartphone sector in the three months ended January with 78.1 percent of devices carrying their software, ComScore Inc. (SCOR) said March 6. Apple software was found on 29.5 percent of smartphones, while Google had 48.6 percent share.

While the U.S. will still make the largest contribution to Internet-related spending, its leadership is slipping, Field said. The country will account for 25 percent of the total Internet economy in 2016, down from about a third today, he said. The U.S.’s Internet economy is growing slower than that of the U.K., for example.

“One big driver is infrastructure, and the U.S. has historically lagged in smartphone use and broadband speeds in rural areas,” Field said. Some developing countries, such as India, are seeing their Internet economies growing at double the rate of the U.S., he said.

Younger and older users value the Internet the most, the study found.

“For the older generation, the Internet is still relatively new,” Dean said. “As the older consumers understand what is possible, they see high value in the Internet. For younger consumers, the Web has become like air, they take it for granted.” View the original article here

Green Coffee Beans: 3 Ways They Help Weight Loss, Study

A preliminary study has found that green coffee beans taken daily can potentially speed up the process of weight loss.

The 22-week study carried out on 16 overweight men and women saw that a supplement of green (unroasted) coffee bean, on average, helped the individuals shed 17 pounds.

(Photo: Twitter)<br />A preliminary study has found that green coffee beans taken daily can potentially speed up the process of weight loss.” src=”http://coffeenewschannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/wpid-255639-green-coffee-beans.jpg”> </p>
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<p>The research presented at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) by Joe Vinson and colleagues, showed that an ounce of green coffee bean daily resulted in a 10 percent weight loss per day.</p>
<p>The participants aged 22-26, alternated between taking capsules of the extract and a placebo over the 22-week period. During this time, their diet and exercise regime was unaltered and they were monitored for their overall calorie and food intake.</p>
<p>“Participants lost an average of 17 pounds during the 22 weeks of the study. It included an average of a 10.5 percent decrease in overall body weight and a 16 percent decrease in body fat,” Vinson said adding that weight loss may have been faster had participants taken the full dose through the time period, instead of alternating between placebo pills. </p>
</p>
<p>Green coffee beans have been proved to assist weight loss in the past, but this has been the first study of its kind that uses such a high dosage of the extract.</p>
<p>Three reasons green coffee beans are thought to help weight loss:</p>
<p>Chlorogenic Acid: A substance which is more prominent in unroasted coffee beans.  The plant compound may have ”some effect on keeping down glucose absorption,” which in turn helps reduce weight, Vinson says.</p>
<p>Dosage: A higher dosage, which was experimented with in the study, showed better overall results for participants.</p>
<p>Side Effects: No side effects were reported during the study, which resulted in the participants taking the capsules daily without hesitation, although  the capsules are extremely bitter and are best taken with a lot of water before a meal, says Vinson.</p>
<p>While the research showed promising results, the findings are considered preliminary and a further study including more people is planned for the future.</p>
<p>The study was carried out to try and find an alternative to prescription weight loss drugs that not only have low efficacy, but serious side-effects as well. Overweight and obese subjects in the US are now 68% of the population and the epidemic is growing in industrialized societies. </p>
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Starbucks hunts for European tastes

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Patrons find gilt-edged decor at a Starbucks in an upscale Paris neighborhood as part of the chain’s European makeovers.

PARIS – On a recent sunny morning in this city’s chic Marais district, Marion Bayod squeezed behind a tiny table at Le Cactus, a neighborhood cafe she has frequented for years. She cast a sidelong glance at a Starbucks across the street.

“I never go into Starbucks; it’s impersonal, the coffee is mediocre, and it’s expensive,” said Bayod, a 35-year-old masseuse.

Nearly a decade after venturing into Europe, Starbucks is still laboring to lure people like her. Despite engineering a strong U.S. turnaround and growing steadily in Asia, the company has struggled on the Continent.

Now, Starbucks is embarking on a multimillion-dollar campaign to win over more of Europe’s coffee aficionados – with an upscale makeover of hundreds of stores to cater to an ingrained cafe culture, and adjusting beverages and blends to suit regional palates.

After eight years spent setting up 63 French Starbucks stores, the company has never turned a profit in France. Even in parts of Europe where it does make money, sales and profit growth lag far behind results in the Americas and Asia.

Europe’s debt crisis and sluggish economy are a factor. So are high European rents and labor costs. But the biggest challenge may lie in tailoring the Starbucks experience to appeal to a variety of European tastes.

Michelle Gass, who last fall became the chief of Starbucks operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, recently took an anthropological tour to try to better understand the varying wants and needs of coffee lovers at the company’s European locales.

“In markets where there is an entrenched coffeehouse culture, like Paris or Vienna, I was expecting to hear more requests to be like them,” Gass said. “But I heard the opposite – people want the true Starbucks experience.”

Because that can mean different things to different Europeans, the company has devoted hundreds of hours to studying the variations. The British, for example, are quite happy to drink takeout coffee, so Starbucks is planning hundreds of drive-through locations in Britain.

The most visible innovations involve “concept” stores designed to make a Starbucks feel more like a trendy neighborhood shop. In Paris, the company recently gave a rustic facelift to the Starbucks near the Paris Opera. A vast store near the Louvre got a modern makeover, featuring a sleek, wood coffee bar.

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Starbucks' coffee maker may drain Nespresso's growth

By David Jones

LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) – Plans by Starbucks to launch a rival coffee

machine to Nespresso may derail owner Nestle’s hopes for growth in the United States after the George Clooney-marketed system has proved a hit with espresso coffee lovers across Europe.

Starbucks’ news last week sent shares in Green Mountain Coffee Roaster tumbling as the seller of Keurig machines controls more than three-quarters of the U.S. single-cup coffee market. But analysts see Starbucks’ move as more likely to hit Nestle’s fastest-growing big brand.

Seattle-based Starbucks said it will beef up its presence in the rapidly-growing $8 billion single-serve coffee market with its new Verismo machine due out later this year in North America and selected international markets.

The single-portion coffee market, using refills known as cups, discs or pods, makes up around 8 percent of worldwide coffee sales, with half coming from ‘brewed’ coffee systems such as Keurig, Senseo, Tassimo, and Dolce Gusto, and the other half from espresso which is largely dominated by Nespresso.

Starbucks hopes to bridge this gap with its high-pressure coffee machine able to make both brewed and espresso coffee and heighten competition between the world’s biggest coffee houses, although it has given few details on pricing and availability.

‘The launch of Verismo by Starbucks is bad news for both of Nestle’s single serve coffee platforms, the Nespresso and Nescafe Dolce Gusto,’ said Liberum Capital analyst Pablo Zuanic.

He added the bulk of Nespresso’s growth in 2011 came from the United States as take-up in Western Europe has slowed, and he argues if Verismo halts the march of Nespresso then it could slice a fifth off Nestle’s overall annual profits growth.

The rapid rise of upmarket coffee makers is likely to have taken trade away from coffee chains such as Starbucks itself and Whitbread’s Costa chain, as they offer quality coffee at around a fifth of the price, analysts said.

‘These machines are the future of coffee, and Starbucks as an exciting young brand must see this as a massive opportunity,’ said Jonny Forsyth, senior drinks analyst at market research group Mintel.

Nespresso has made big inroads into western continental European markets with their espresso coffee shop cultures, but has found it more difficult in Britain and the United States due to its high price, Forsyth added.

The brand is very important to Nestle, accounting for over 4 percent of group sales and, with underlying sales growth of 20-40 percent a year, contributing some 10-15 percent of the group’s underlying sales growth. It boosts profit margins as well and so is a key focus for investors, analysts said. …

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