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National Audubon Society Launches Coffee Club and Product Line Certified by Rainforest AllianceNovember 19, 2003 New York, NY -- The National Audubon Society introduces Audubon TM Coffee, a line of 100% Rainforest Alliance-certified premium products offered at select retail outlets, gourmet stores, supermarkets, pet stores, through corporate service, and the "Audubon TM Coffee Club" . Thanks to the launch of Audubon Coffee, the Rainforest Alliance, Audubon and the Rogers Family Coffee Companies, a group of specialty coffee roasters, are helping to promote environmentally and socially responsible products that protect bird species, wildlife habitat and dwindling rainforests and raise the quality of life for people in the world's coffee communities. Coffee lovers everywhere can now purchase various premium blends of Audubon Coffee certified by Rainforest Alliance that meet its rigorous standards for coffee farming, including sound working conditions for farmers, protection of natural resources, reduction of agrochemical use and waste and the safeguarding of soil quality and water supplies. The product line includes Audubon French Roast, Audubon Breakfast Blend, Audubon Rainforest Blend, and Audubon Decaf blends. These Rainforest Alliance Certified Audubon Coffees can also be purchased online at www.auduboncoffeeclub.com or by calling (800) 770-9381. Audubon Coffee is also 100% certified organic and shade-grown. "We are very pleased to forge this partnership with Audubon and the Rainforest Alliance, whose shared goal of protecting the world's threatened wildlife and natural resources mirrors our own commitment to preserving nature and improving the quality of life in the world's coffee-growing regions," said Jon B. Rogers, President of the Rogers Family Coffee Companies. "Audubon hopes this partnership will increase consumer and industry awareness of the need to produce coffee in an environmentally and socially responsible manner," said Patrick Milliman, National Audubon Chief Communication Officer. "The Rogers Family is committed to helping Audubon and the Rainforest Alliance promote the production of coffee in harmony with nature." The family-owned and operated Rogers Family Coffee Companies, founded in 1979, is the largest gourmet coffee roaster in the San Francisco Bay Area. It sells San Francisco Bay Coffee, The Organic Coffee Co., Fairwinds Coffee, Cunningham's Coffee, Pleasant Hill Farms Quality Coffee and East India Coffee and Tea. Together the companies supply millions of pounds of coffee and tea each year to customers worldwide including all Costco stores throughout the Western U.S. Audubon Coffee is made exclusively from carefully selected Arabica beans cultivated by farmers using traditional production techniques to grow beans as nature intended - under a lush canopy of tropical trees, habitat for hundreds of bird species such as toucans and migratory warblers, and rainforest wildlife such as jaguars and tree frogs. To boost production, many coffee farmers have switched to full sun farming and destroyed native shade trees, leaving little possibility for wildlife habitation. The introduction of Audubon Coffee helps reverse this destructive trend. "It is only natural for Audubon, a like-minded conservation organization, to launch a certified sustainable coffee product. We are pleased that Audubon has chosen for its coffee program beans that meet Rainforest Alliance's guidelines for protecting workers, wildlife, and communities," said Tensie Whelan, Executive Director of the Rainforest Alliance. "Increasingly, businesses and consumers are looking for the seal of approval that guarantees social and environmental responsibility."
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