Specialty Coffee Association of America Names 2008 Recognition Award Recipients

MINNEAPOLIS--(Business Wire)--
Honoring some of the leading experts and professionals who have
made outstanding contributions to the coffee industry, the Specialty
Coffee Association of America (SCAA) today announces the recipients of
its 2008 Recognition Awards. The honorees will be recognized on May 3
before thousands of coffee professionals during SCAA's 20th Annual
Conference & Exhibition in Minneapolis, Minn. SCAA is the world's
largest coffee trade association.

SCAA's Recognition Awards acknowledge outstanding achievements in
the specialty coffee industry and unique contributions to the
association, resulting in the development and promotion of coffee
excellence and sustainability.

The 2008 SCAA Recognition Award Winners include:

Lifetime Achievement Award: Paul Katzeff, Thanksgiving Coffee
Company

Co-founder of Thanksgiving Coffee Company, Paul Katzeff has been
the chief executive officer of the company since its beginning in
1972. Katzeff was also a co-founder of SCAA and served on the
association's board of directors for 13 years. He established SCAA's
Environment Committee in 1994, as well as SCAA's Fair Trade Task
Force, which brought coffee industry leaders together with fair-trade
activists. In 1999, he received a grant to build nine cupping
laboratories at nine coffee cooperatives. He has worked in Nicaragua,
Rwanda and Uganda with coffee cooperatives on quality improvement
projects and marketing strategies to help those countries understand
how to relate to the specialty coffee markets worldwide. Katzeff's
company, Thanksgiving Coffee, is America's first and perhaps only
carbon-neutral coffee company, having planted more that 75,000 trees
in Ethiopia in 2001 while working with sustainable agroforestry
non-profit organization, Trees for the Future. His book, "The Coffee
Cupper's Manifesto" was published in November 2001.

Outstanding Contribution Award: David Griswold, Sustainable
Harvest Specialty Coffee Importers

David Griswold is the founder and president of Sustainable Harvest
Specialty Coffee Importers. He is a former SCAA president and has been
working with coffee growers for the past 18 years. Prior to becoming a
coffee importer and market builder for organic, fair-trade and
shade-grown coffees, Griswold served as the acting director for
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. He began his work at Ashoka, under
the mentorship of William Drayton, as Ashoka's first communications
director, a position he held from 1987 through 1989. Griswold's coffee
career began in 1989, when he opened his first importing and marketing
office for an Ashoka Fellow who was helping Mexican coffee
cooperatives find new markets. With these cooperatives, he co-founded
Aztec Harvest, the first coffee importing and marketing office owned
by small-scale Mexican coffee growers, which he directed from 1990 to
1995. Griswold has served as a delegate to the International Coffee
Organization's Sustainable Task Force, the Advisory Board for Coffee
Kids and the SCAA Board of Directors.

Distinguished Publisher Award: Connie Blumhardt, Roast Magazine

Connie Blumhardt is founder and publisher of the award-winning
Roast magazine, an award-winning magazine dedicated to the success and
growth of the specialty coffee roaster. She has spent 20 years in
magazine publishing while working in the coffee industry for the past
11 years. She possesses a wealth of knowledge regarding magazine
publishing, marketing, design and photography. She proudly sits on
SCAA's Allied Services and Conference Committees, and she is one of
the founding members and leaders of the Northwest Roasters Group. She
grew up in Michigan and graduated from Eastern Michigan University
with a degree in English language and literature.

Special Recognition Award: Dr. Ernesto Illy, Illycaffe S.p.A
(posthumous award)

Born in Trieste, Italy in 1925, Ernesto Illy educated himself in
hopes of educating the world. He obtained a degree in chemistry from
the University of Bologna in 1947. In 1956, control of Illycaffe S.p.A
passed from the company's founder Francesco Illy to his son Ernesto
Illy, who started a research laboratory that soon became the source of
numerous new inventions and patents, allowing the younger Illy to
become a leader in innovation and technology. It was Illy, a scientist
and researcher, who established cooperative agreements with
universities and research centers promoting premium-quality coffee
around the globe while bringing Italian-style espresso to the rest of
the world. From 1963 to 2005, he was chairman of Illycaffe S.p.A. in
Trieste, and last held the title of honorary chairman. Ernesto Illy's
passion and life's work made him coffee's most respected ambassador.
He single-handedly introduced some of the most important
quality-control innovations in coffee brewing in the last 30 years.

Alfred Peet Passionate Cup Award: Alfred Peet, Peet's Coffee & Tea
(posthumous award)

Alfred Peet was born in Alkmaar, Holland in 1920 and died in
Ashland, Ore. in 2007. His father had a small coffee roastery prior to
World War II, where Peet helped by cleaning machinery and doing odd
jobs. When the war ended, he joined Lipton's Tea in London as an
apprentice and afterwards went to Indonesia to work in the tea
business. He immigrated to San Francisco in 1955 and found a job in
the coffee importing business. While finding good coffee in the city
by the bay was difficult, it was not impossible for Peet. He scoured
the West Coast looking for a suitable location for a high-quality
coffee roastery before he settled in Berkeley, Calif. As Peet's Coffee
& Tea in Berkeley flourished, he opened stores in Menlo Park (1971),
Oakland (1978) and another in Berkeley (1980). When he retired in
1983, Peet's had a cult following from coast to coast. Recounting his
life's story, Peet responded simply, "The coffee tells my story."

As the specialty coffee industry's premier event, SCAA's 20th
Annual Conference & Exhibition features in-depth educational sessions
covering a variety of specialty coffee topics, hundreds of exhibit
booths, a keynote presentation from Michael Shuman, author of "The
Small-Mart Revolution," the 2008 SCAA United States Barista
Championship, the 2008 SCAA Coffee of the Year Competition and the
2008 Roasters Choice Tasting Competition.

In accord with SCAA's mission of promoting sustainability in the
specialty coffee industry, the association has created a carbon
neutrality program to help offset emissions related to conference
travel, lodging and energy consumption. All conference attendees are
required to participate in the program. The funds collected from will
be donated to non-profit organization, Trees for the Future, for the
purchasing and planting of new trees.

About the SCAA

Celebrating 26 years of success, SCAA is the world's largest
coffee trade association. SCAA members are located in more than 40
countries and represent every segment of the specialty coffee
industry, from coffee growers to coffee roasters and retailers. The
SCAA's mission is to be the recognized authority on specialty coffee,
providing a common forum for the development and promotion of coffee
excellence and sustainability. The SCAA's dedication to excellence in
coffee is realized through the setting of quality standards for the
industry; conducting research on coffee, equipment and perfection of
craft; and providing education, training, resources and business
services for members. The SCAA's annual conference is held in a
different U.S. city each year and is the coffee industry's largest
gathering and exhibition.

Specialty Coffee Association of America
Rick Havacko, 562-624-4100
rhavacko@scaa.org

Copyright Business Wire 2008