Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Debuts Paper-Based K-Cups

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. is pleased to announce it will package and distribute a new green tea in a K-Cup portion pack made with paper. Celestial Seasonings Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Tea Paper K-Cups are the first beverages to be offered in the new paper-based K-Cup, which is designed for use in the Keurig Single-Cup Brewing System. The K-Cup contains authentic green tea and delicate Bai Mu Dan white tea - one of the rarest and youngest of teas - creating a smooth, balanced cup with a pleasantly mild flavor.

We can't be more excited to try out the new paper K-Cups, and also being a big Green Tea drinkers here at Single Serve Coffee (hmmm... maybe we need to say Single Serve Tea) makes this announcement even more special. What we really like here is the commitment shown by Green Mountain to get recyclable K-Cups in their product mix, and this should lead the way for recyclable coffee K-Cups in the future.

The announcement also states they are looking at even more ways to reduce the materials needed in all of their portion pack materials, which we believe will result in innovative packaging for on shelf, and more K-Cups shipped in bulk. All of these eco-friendly ideas are great steps in making Green Mountain even greener in the future.

At Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Tea Paper K-Cups

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. Debuts Paper-Based K-Cup Portion Pack with Celestial Seasonings Green Tea

WATERBURY, Vt.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) is pleased to announce it will package and distribute a new green tea in a K-Cup® portion pack made with paper.

"We believe K-Cups made with renewable resources like paper represent a positive step as we continue to search for more sustainable alternatives to our current portion pack technology."
Celestial Seasonings® Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Tea is the first beverage to be offered in the new paper-based K-Cup, which is designed for use in the Keurig® Single-Cup Brewing System. The K-Cup contains authentic green tea and delicate Bai Mu Dan white tea - one of the rarest and youngest of teas - creating a smooth, balanced cup with a pleasantly mild flavor.

"As part of our overall commitment to corporate social responsibility, we are dedicated to reducing our environmental impact by cutting our energy consumption, advancing our product packaging, and pursuing many other initiatives," said Paul Comey, Vice President of Environmental Affairs for GMCR. "We believe K-Cups made with renewable resources like paper represent a positive step as we continue to search for more sustainable alternatives to our current portion pack technology."

"Our analysis suggests that K-Cups made with paper have a smaller environmental impact than K-Cups made with plastic because they reduce the use of non-renewable materials," said Comey. "But we're not stopping here. Our research has indicated additional areas of opportunity to reduce our environmental impact. We are collaborating with our packaging suppliers on more significant improvements to our portion pack materials, and we look forward to sharing our progress."

K-Cup portion packs contain the exact amount of coffee or tea to create a perfect, single cup. The construction of plastic K-Cups® protects coffee from the effects of light, air, and moisture. This new paper-based K-Cup is not currently a viable solution for coffee because the technology does not provide a sufficient barrier to ensure product freshness. Tea can be effectively protected by paper that is lined with polyethylene. While this layer prevents the paper-based K-Cup from being recyclable, it helps to maintain the freshness of the tea and allows the paper to withstand the water, heat, and pressure of the brewing process.

Celestial Seasonings Honey Lemon Ginseng Green Tea is available online at www.GreenMountainCoffee.com and www.Keurig.com. A box of 24 K-Cups currently sells for $13.95.

About Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR)

As a leader in the specialty coffee industry, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. is recognized for its award-winning coffees, innovative brewing technology, and socially responsible business practices. GMCR's operations are managed through two business units. The Specialty Coffee business unit produces coffee, tea and hot cocoa from its family of brands, including Tully's Coffee®, Green Mountain Coffee®, Newman's Own® Organics coffee, Timothy's World Coffee® and Diedrich, Coffee People and Gloria Jeans®, a trademark licensed to the Company for use in North America and owned by Gloria Jeans Coffees International Pty. Ltd. The Keurig business unit is a pioneer and leading manufacturer of gourmet single-cup brewing systems. K-Cup® portion packs for Keurig® Single-Cup Brewers are produced by a variety of roasters, including Green Mountain Coffee, Tully's, Timothy's and Diedrich. GMCR supports local and global communities by offsetting 100% of its direct greenhouse gas emissions, investing in Fair Trade Certified™ coffee, and donating at least five percent of its pre-tax profits to social and environmental projects. Visit www.gmcr.com for more information.

GMCR routinely posts information that may be of importance to investors in the Investor Relations section of its website, including news releases and its complete financial statements, as filed with the SEC. The Company encourages investors to consult this section of its website regularly for important information and news. Additionally, by subscribing to the Company's email alerts, individuals can receive news directly from GMCR as it is released.

Celestial Seasonings® is a registered trademark of Celestial Seasonings, Inc.

GMCR-S

GMCR Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein are not based on historical fact and are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the applicable securities laws and regulations. Generally, these statements can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "feel," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "project," "should," "would," and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Owing to the uncertainties inherent in forward-looking statements, actual results could differ materially from those stated here. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the impact on sales and profitability of consumer sentiment in this difficult economic environment, the Company's success in efficiently expanding operations and capacity to meet growth, the Company's success in efficiently and effectively integrating Tully's, Timothy's, Diedrich's and Van Houtte's wholesale operations and capacity into its Specialty Coffee business unit, the Company's success in introducing and producing new product offerings, the ability of lenders to honor their commitments under the Company's credit facility, competition and other business conditions in the coffee industry and food industry in general, fluctuations in availability and cost of high-quality green coffee, any other increases in costs including fuel, Keurig's ability to continue to grow and build profits with its roaster partners in the At Home and Away from Home businesses, the Company experiencing product liability, product recall and higher than anticipated rates of warranty expense or sales returns associated with a product quality or safety issue, the impact of the loss of major customers for the Company or reduction in the volume of purchases by major customers, delays in the timing of adding new locations with existing customers, the Company's level of success in continuing to attract new customers, sales mix variances, weather and special or unusual events, as well as other risks described more fully in the Company's filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements reflect management's analysis as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake to revise these statements to reflect subsequent developments, other than in its regular, quarterly earnings releases.

Contacts

GMCR's Specialty Coffee Business Unit
Sandy Yusen, 866-968-2739
sandy.yusen@gmcr.com

Via Business Wire

Read More in: Keurig & K-Cups | Single Serve Tea

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