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.

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!

The band KISS will be opening their very own coffee shop in Melbourne, Australia. The shop will showcase memorabilia from the band’s 35-year history and offer coffee and blended coffee drinks.

At first, I was a little skeptical about this idea. When actors try singing careers, it hardly ever goes well, so why would it be a good idea for KISS to cross over into coffee? Considering there’s over $1 Million invested in this project so far, the coffee better be delicious.

Some of my fears were eased when I read that there was already a KISS coffee shop in Myrtle Beach. This first coffee and memorabilia shop in Florida has been open for nearly four years now, and seems to be a sustainable business model. When I think of music in a coffee shop, it’s generally hippies and indie bands playing on acoustic guitar, and not hard rock with metal guitar solos. Best of luck to this investment project, but I’d personally like to enjoy my coffee to the sound of acoustic instruments and poetic lyrics for now.