Friday, September 02, 2005

Coffee Talk



Attention Coffee Lovers:

Prepare for the price of coffee (and tea) to go through the roof just like the gas prices. Hurricane Katrina and the resulting levy break in New Orleans have destroyed everything (corporate offices, processing plants, storage, shipments from Columbia, everything) that JFG Coffee (Reily Foods) had in that area. I can't even link to their websites because even they are down. Click here to get the Katrina messages for www.luzianne.com. Reily Foods products include JFG Coffee, Luzianne Tea, mayonnaise, and various other seasonings and dry foods. For a good summary of the company click here. Much of their coffee processing and production (roasting, grinding, and packaging) is done here in Knoxville, and the company headquarters have been moved here for now. On a side note, sometimes when you drive through downtown you can smell the coffee roasting.

Our company does the heat and air and refrigeration work for JFG Coffee's plants and offices here. David talked to them the other day and found out that all their everything was lost because of Katrina and the levy breaking. JFG (Riley Foods) makes the coffee and tea for lots of other brands (like private store brands), not just the JFG brand. This means that coffee is going to go through the roof too, just like gas. And since New Orleans is the major port where coffee comes in from Columbia and where-ever else it's grown it's not just JFG that is affected. I'm not sure if Starbucks coffee beans have been shipped through the New Orleans port, but if it they have been their already outrageous prices will probably go even higher too. Add those factors to the increased cost of shipping stuff with the gas prices so high and we're in for higher prices for everything.

14 comments:

Kat said...

Another good reason I don't drink coffee, however I am a big tea drinker.

Sometimes downtown smells like burnt beans!

Anonymous said...

The smell of roasting coffee always takes me back to visiting my grandparents in SF when I was very young. There was always that aroma wafting from their neighborhood...it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

And it's not as if Starbucks isn't expensive enough already. Although coffee is a necessity for me every morning, Starbucks is definitely a luxury.

Boy, nothing like a doom and gloom post to start off the weekend! Word verification: drkclds Go figure.

Rae Ann said...

kat, I love coffee! but sometimes it does smell like they've burned a batch downtown.

dh, I don't like Starbucks coffee. Not only is it ridiculously expensive, but it is impossible to get sweet enough. yeah, I'm a milk and sugar type. Sorry about the doom and gloom. I'm working on a more upbeat post. Are you serious about the word verification?

Rae Ann said...

oh, and dh, you should drive through Knoxville sometime when they are roasting coffee. they have a JFG coffee house downtown right next to the plant.

ghartstein said...

I'm glad I get my caffeine from Coca Cola! Damn, that sucks though...so much loss and so many after-effects still unfelt!

And sorry to venture slightly off topic...but WTF happened to our friend MM? I got (I assume) the same cryptic "anon" email as you. Do you have any clue what happened?

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Rae Ann. I was just having some fun. Would you believe this time it was ntfnny?

Rae Ann said...

mr g, apparently mm got into some serious trouble over the blogs and had to delete them. there was an anonymous comment about him on eatmisery's blog which she might have deleted by now. I don't have his email. do you?

dh, no I wouldn't believe that because urvfnny. lol

ghartstein said...

Wow...no, I don't have it. Trouble at work??? Did he save them offline, I wonder?

Rae Ann said...

mr g, yeah, I think it was trouble at work. I don't know if he saved them. I hope he did. Maybe if he reads this he'll email one of us.

Kristi said...

Great. My last great vice. Go figure.

I suppose I should go stock up on my espresso beans. Yes, I am a coffee snob. I really enjoy Starbucks, but it is definitely a luxury. My husband bought a espresso/capuccino machine for me for my birthday. A very inexpensive, simple machine, yet it brings me so much happiness.

I suppose we are going to pay for this storm many times over. If it is not gas, it is coffee. I sometimes think that some retailers will just take advantage of the situation regardless of their financial place. Even if it doesn't cost them a dime more, they will raise the price because they can. It makes me sick.

I work part time as a server at an upscale Italian restaurant. Last night was my first shift since the storm, and I could already feel the pinch being passed down. No one was leaving as much gratuity as normal. Less people dined at the restaurant. It is going to be a scary downhill spiral.

I am disappointed that my word verification wasn't a hidden message. xcvfwt

Rae Ann said...

kristi, that really sucks that people aren't tipping as well. And I like the expensive coffee at Barnie's at the mall, but I don't get to buy it very often. We usually drink JFG's restaurant coffee because they give it to us for free. (a nice perk, but I wonder if it's going to disappear now) I never can figure out messages in the word verification. kwlrgv?

SierraBella said...

Yep, everything's going to go up except our paychecks.

Kristi said...

ok...I just found madman the other day...but what happened????

I am just concerned. His blog was great!

Rae Ann said...

sierrabella, how right you are!

kristi, he had to delete it. but he's okay.