Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters picked up California-based Diedrich Coffee earlier this week. According to Associated Press, Green Mountain has disclosed that the deal totals about $300 million, and Diedrich, and Irvine, California based coffee roasting company, agreed to sell for $35 per share.

Lawrence J. Blanford, the President of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, says that the company believes this deal will provide significant growth opportunities and advance Green Mountain’s goal of becoming a leader in the coffee and coffee maker industry.

Green Mountain and Diedrich were among the four roasters licensed to produce and sell K-Cups for the top-selling Keurig single-serve coffee brewing system.

Green Mountain K-Cups Available from American Coffee Services

This weekend, people around the globe celebrated World Fair Trade Day on May 8th. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, known for its socially conscious, eco-friendly and fair-trade coffee products, has decided to expand its commitment to Fair-Trade coffees in honor of the day.

Two of the company’s most popular blends–The Vermont Country Blend and Our Blend–will use fair-trade coffee beans by October of this year, just in time for Fair Trade Month. The products will then be added to eight other fair-trade blends available from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters.

Through this expansion of the fair-trade product line, Green Mountain hopes to increase public awareness of fair-trade products, which encourage small-scale farms, particularly in impoverished areas, and also benefit the farmers and communities from which these products will now be ethically derived.

View our selection of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters K-Cups here.

What will life be like for carafes after single-serve coffee makers?

I love my Keurig single cup coffee maker. It’s great for making a quick cup of coffee before I catch the bus in the morning and is also great when I’m entertaining and everyone wants a different brew of coffee with dessert. The Keurig has left me with just one challenge: what should I do with my poor drip-coffee-maker carafe?

So, I jotted down a list of a few ways to use my ex-coffee carafe constructively. After all, I probably won’t be using it for pouring coffee anytime soon!

1. Water Plants – I’m too cheap to buy an actual watering can, so I usually end up dumping water all over my coffee table and kitchen counter when I try to water my plants with a drinking glass. Turns out, my poor abandoned coffee carafe works really well for this surprisingly tricky task.
2. Refill the Fish Tank – It’s not so much of an issue now that humid summer is arriving, but during the winter my fish tank loses water to the air on a daily basis. A quick refill from my sink to the coffee carafe to the tank keeps my fishies happy and tank looking clean.
3. Orange Juice Pitcher – Don’t laugh! It works really well. I had an actual pitcher, but recently dropped it. I actually went out and bought another coffee carafe at Goodwill because they’re great for mixing and storing frozen concentrate juices in.
4. As a Measuring Cup – I don’t think this is true of all traditional glass carafes, but mine has 1-cup, 2-cup, etc marks on the side so it’s easy to measure water into your drip-coffee-maker. Carafes can easily be repurposed as glass measuring cups.
5. For Coffee (but with a twist!) – Occasionally, I’ve wanted to make more than one cup of coffee, but didn’t want to wait and wait for my drip-coffee-maker to gurgle and boil and hiss. I just put the carafe under my K-Cup brewer and make a few K-cups worth of coffee. It’s great for late nights when one cup just isn’t going to be enough.

Any other ideas? What will you use YOUR abandoned coffee carafe for?

This week I stumbled upon a short, informative video from the Discovery Channel on why coffee is good for you and what exactly about coffee gives you the “caffeine buzz.” Health nuts and coffee addicts alike should find this little clip interesting!

Actual Starbucks Sizes: Child's Size, Tall, Grande and Venti

In honor of April fool’s, Starbucks Coffee issued a press release on April 1st announcing the company’s newest beverage sizes. According the the press release, drinks would now be available in a 2 ounce size, known as a Micra and a 128 ounce “Plenta.”

The new sizes are designed to appeal to coffee addicts that aren’t satisfied by even the largest size available, and also to dieters and the easily impressed who might only want 2 ounces of a given beverage. Starbucks suggested that the Plenta cups could be reused as planters, yoga blocks or popcorn bowls. On a tinier note, the Micra cups could be reused as paperclip holders, a milk dish for kittens or a boiled egg cup.

While Starbucks might find the idea to be a joke, we think you should be able to have EXACTLY the amount of coffee you want. We suggest you get a single serving coffee maker, like a Keurig, and drink as much or as little as you want!