illy, the well-known Italian coffee brand, dedicated to visual arts, has launched a revised platform of its digital network, illysustainArt.org, which is dedicated to artists and curators, who live and work in emerging and developing economies. The online program, which was first presented in 2008, offers representatives of the modern art scene from the countries, which provide little opportunities for those who want to share their creativity with the world, to join the global community for better communication and getting a feedback on their works.

Yesterday, February 3, Chinese people around the world celebrated the Year of the Rabbit, and Starbucks, which has been present in China since 1998, just couldn’t miss the opportunity to congratulate its fans on the colorful and boisterous holiday. The brand released a compilation of eastern music titled ‘World Is China’ as a precious gift to those who adore the eastern culture. The set comes as a valuable addition the globally-themed collection started by ‘World Is Africa’ and ‘World Is India’ CDs, which represent a diverse selection of recordings by several generations of local music artists.

As part of its promotional campaign for Tazo teas, the busiest Canadian Starbucks restaurants located in Toronto and Vancouver are now attracting passers-by with the newly-installed interactive storefronts. These projection devices invite people to play an interactive game by guiding a creature of their choice (a hummingbird, a dragonfly or a butterfly) through a journey aimed at collecting all the ingredients for Tazo teas merely as they touch the screen and move their hand around it.

Today Starbucks introduced its latest offer—Starbucks VIA® Taste Promise— encouraging consumers to discover the taste of Starbucks VIA® Ready Brew. Starbucks VIA® is a natural roasted arabica coffee in an instant form that, according to the manufacturer «is rich and full-bodied just like a fresh-brewed cup of Starbucks coffee.»

Starbucks VIA® is manufactured based on U.S. patent-pending microgrind technology that preserves the coffee’s taste and quality.

In partnership with non-profit organization The Adventurists, Hendrick’s gin presents a series of ‘Afternoon Tea with a Legend of Adventure’ events. During each event, the invitees will meet a famous adventurer, take tea with home-made cakes and taste the best Scottish gin in a free bar sponsored by Hendrick’s. The events will be held in Edinburgh, New York and Madrid. However, the first ‘Afternoon Tea’ is scheduled in London for February 05.

Using eco-friendly drinkware is one of the top priorities for environmentally conscious global and local coffee retailers. Naturally, every coffee chain wants to offer its customers only the best product and at the same time turn them into eco-believers. Unfortunately, it takes some time (and money, and a good dose of creativity) to implement these «green» commitments into real life. This review is set to attract our attention as an industry to cups, paper or plastic containers for steaming hot beverages, which together with other sustainable packaging is able to improve (or at least not to harm) the environment. The idea of this article came from the recent announcement from Repurpose Compostables about the launch of the greenest coffee cup in the world, One Cup, which begins our short study of eco-cups, with due respect to other products mentioned below.