I don't even drink coffee..

Though I found this article very interesting.

The discovery of coffee plants with naturally low caffeine and high sales potential has sparked an international tug of war over their ownership, according to legal and agricultural experts.

I don't know the difference between decaf and caf, but I do know this random fact.

Starbucks is running into supply problems. While starbucks does not buy up a high percentage of coffee beans worldwide, starbucks does buy up a large percentage of high quality coffee beans, which has driven up the value of the high quality beans.

"Ethiopia is hoping for a mutually agreeable solution.

"We feel that it is possible for us to come up with a 'win-win' solution that would benefit both Ethiopia and Brazil," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Reuters in Addis Ababa earlier this month."

Sounds like Ethiopia is willing to take what it can get, because it has no grounds for the coffee claim. I wonder if Brazil will stick it to them. They have been known to be hard bargainer, for example when they stopped using windows in government computers.

Legal and agriculture experts said that resolving the wrangle surrounding the decaf coffee find could also help settle the issue of compensation for developing countries for plant genetic resources found growing in their back yards by scientists from rich countries.

Of course if Ethiopia is able to get a cut, then that could provide a plus for maintaining forests.

cube