Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. Issues Comment on Starbucks' Espresso-Based Single Cup Category Initiative

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) today released the following statement regarding Starbucks' announcement of their new initiative in the espresso-based single-cup category. The Keurig® Single Cup Brewing system has been designed to deliver a premium, filtered-coffee taste profile directly in line with the sweet spot of the majority of North American coffee consumers. Our Keurig® K-Cup® system and new Vue™ Single Cup brewers use low pressure to extract maximum flavor and taste from ground and filtered specialty Arabica coffee, producing an excellent cup of fresh-brewed coffee at the push of a button in a matter of seconds. Espresso systems generally use high pressure and high temperature to produce a more intense taste profile, frequently used for mixing with milk in North America. “We believe Starbucks to be a very satisfied participant in the Keurig® K-Cup® system, having frequently communicated its ongoing support of the Keurig® K-Cup® platform,” said Lawrence J. Blanford, GMCR's President and CEO. “The two companies continue to collaborate with each other in the low-pressure Keurig® Single Cup Brewing system in North America. As a leader and one of the few long-time participants in single-cup premium coffee brewing, we agree that there also is opportunity for complementary high-pressure espresso-based systems, as evident by our joint development work with Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. on a high-pressure capsule-based espresso system targeting North American consumers.”