Attorney Terry Chapko reports a $105 million award to 120,000 former and current baristas in a class action tip-sharing lawsuit against Starbucks. The suit was initiated in October 2004 by Jou Chau, a former barista in La Jolla, CA, who alleged Starbucks supervisors were illegally forcing baristas to share tips with them since October 2000. Yesterday, Judge Patricia Y. Cowett of California Superior Court in San Diego ruled that Starbucks must provide restitution, with interest, of over $100 million. Thats almost $1,000 per barista! She also enjoined Starbucks from sharing any more tips with supervisors.
Filtering coffee does not remove a chemical linked to heart disease and stroke, researchers claim. Scientists in the Netherlands said they were surprised that levels of homocysteine did not drop when the coffee was filtered. It had been thought that by filtering coffee and removing chemicals called ditrepenes, responsible for raising cholesterol levels, homocysteine content might be reduced.
The researchers extracted oils from Starbuck's spent coffee grounds, and went on to perform a standard transesterification process to convert the oil to biodiesel using methanol (a type of alcohol) and potassium hydroxide (a base for catalyzing the reaction).
Starbucks coffee shops seem to be on nearly corner in major U.S. cities, but surprisingly 76 percent of American adults say they rarely or never visit one of the shops, and only 14 percent say they visit occasionally.
That might be because the java giant's prices are too high.
The coffee chain Starbucks plans to close 500 stores in the US on top of the 100 it had already announced.
Up to 12,000 full and part-time jobs will go
High plasma homocysteine concentration is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and consumption of unfiltered and filtered coffee raises homocysteine levels. As yet, it is unclear which substances in brewed coffee are responsible...
