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CAFÉ ROYAL
The Café Royal stood rather pompously like a regal icon on Regent
Street – though the iconic nature of this garish rendezvous had
more to do with Louis XIV than Victoria. It was, most definitely French
in both food and fashion. That its back door opened out onto the fringes
of Soho, however, meant there was another side to the place perhaps
a bit more disreputable – appealing to that combination of opposites,
the Bohemian Prince or the High-minded Pauper. more>>>
PISA'S CAFFÉ DELL'USSERO:
A
Rendevous for Artists and Writers

In May 1845
John Ruskin prolonged his stay in Pisa in order to draw the
early 15th -century Palazzo Agostini on the Lungarno, or river
bank, of the Tuscan city. "There is nothing like it in Italy
that I know of", he said; and, writing to his father, he added: "They
have knocked a great hole in the middle to put up a shield
with a red lion and a yellow cock upon it for the sign of a
consul, and they have knocked another at the bottom to put
up a sign of a soldier riding a horse on two legs, with inscription
All'Ussero Café." ...more>>
CAFÉ BUZZ
All
across France, cafés and bars are closing by
the thousands and their mortality rate seems to be
accelerating because of the recession, changing drinking
and dining habits, and the stress induced by the money
culture. >>>
In
2004, Ho Chi Minh City saw the beginnings of a new
cultural highlight, book cafés. Despite intense
competition they have thrived. >>>.
Local
community-based cafes that serve as a place of social
exchange for neighborhood residents are becoming more
widespread in Japan.>>>
Starbucks
Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop operator,
is pushing some U.S. landlords for as much as a 25
percent reduction in lease rates, taking advantage
of a declining real estate market to save on rent. >>>
Several
coffee shops set to open next month in the Czech Republic
plan to offer more than the usual array of cafe services.
As they sip their drinks, visitors will also be able
to surf the Web, get help in building social networking
profiles or even chat with reporters working right
next door putting together their local newspapers.The
newsrooms-cum-cafes are part of a new venture in so-called
hyperlocal journalism, which aims to reconnect newspapers
with readers and advertisers by focusing on neighborhood
concerns at a neighborhood level. >>>
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CAFÉ DES PHARES
Café des
Phares overlooks the Place de la Bastille, seemingly oblivious
to the noise and the clamour, the soot and grime, the fumes
from the endless trail of automobiles that clog this dreary
roundabout like metallic litter.... more>>>

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COFFEE IN THE NEWS
A
roudup of coffee related stories

Coffee
prices fell from its highest in eight months as the dollar
rose and equities declined.>>>
The
Fairtrade movement’s drive to source more goods from
conflict zones has led to the first gourmet coffee being ordered
from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.>>>
The
Korea Food and Drug Administration said it found potentially
harmful germs and high levels of bacteria in iced coffees and
ice at 11 well-known chains, including Starbucks, McDonald’s
and Dunkin’ Donuts.>>>
Ethiopian
coffee exports will fall by 30-40 percent in 2009/2010, Ethiopian
officials have blamed bad weather for near total crop failure
in some southern growing zones this season. >>>
Colombia,
the world's No. 3 coffee exporter, will not default on its
export commitments despite having a shortage of arabica beans,
but sees some delays in deliveries >>> COFFEE TRADE EVENTS Shows and Exhibitions

Upcoming
shows and events in Russia, Italy, Britain and the US>>>

It was the
scourge of the Ottomans - the Dutch - who first got that bean
to grow outside its homeland. Now it had been handed over to
the French. What la Roque had witnessed at the Jardin des Plants
on that very special Sunday was the Mama tree. It was her progeny
that travelled the perilous seas to Dominica. And from there,
her grandchildren moved on, jumping from the Caribbean to French
Guyana and then to Brazil, becoming the founding nurseries
of the great coffee empires of South and Central America. more>>>

COFFEE AND CAFÉS IN AMSTERDAM
A
new generation of coffee establishments have taken over from
the old 'Brown Cafés'
Sitting in
Gary's Muffins, sipping a frothy cappuccino and munching a
toasted onion bagel oozing with cream cheese, you might easily
be in San Francisco or New York. The fact that you're in Amsterdam
isn't all that surprising since the energetic duo who launched
this thriving little chain are Americans - one from the East
coast and the other from the West. But the open, light, friendly
and relaxed ambience at Gary's couldn't be more in contrast
to the dour, dark and often dingy Brown Cafés where Amsterdamers
have traditionally congregated...more>>
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