Yesterday, Starbucks announced that it had purchased Evolution Fresh for $30 million in cash and held a conference call formally disclosing its plans to enter the $50 billion health and wellness industry.

Started by Jimmy Rosenberg, the original founder of Naked Juice, Evolution Fresh is a California-based company that sells a line of organic and non-organic pressed juices in retail locations on the West Coast.

This acquisition by Starbucks is just the first step of a large strategic initiative to tap into the growing health and wellness sector. Read more »

At my two local organic markets here in NYC, Integral Yoga Natural Foods and Lifethyme Market, in-store demos take place at least a few times per week.

Naturally curious and wanting to learn about new organic products, I always stop by to see what they are selling.

Yet, never have I left the demo tables overly impressed. That is, until the other day.

It only took a few minutes for me to understand why Sei Mee Tea Edible Green is so interesting and so different than the other organic green tea products I have been drinking. Read more »

Sometimes you hear about new products and you just know that they’re going to be interesting.

Well, it took me about 10 seconds to realize that Dr. Drip Coffee was going to be one of those.

THE PRODUCT

By itself, organic coffee is not unusual in the least. There are all types of brands, blends, roasts, classifications (Fair Trade, shade grown, etc.) and the list goes on and on.

Yet, Dr. Drip Coffee is different than anything that I have ever seen.

It is solving a real problem for people who want high quality, organic coffee and don’t have the time or energy to seek it out. Read more »

For many people, switching to an all-organic diet is simply not practical or possible. And I completely understand this.

So, if a person can’t keep an entirely organic household, what organic foods should they buy?

My Top 3 Most Important Foods to Eat Organic

1) MILK If you have kids, organic milk should be the absolute number one priority for the entire household. Do whatever you need to do to make sure that the children are drinking organic milk. Read more »

David Wolfe, the most well-known person in the raw food world, is famous for saying “have the best day ever.”

Well, I can tell you that it was indeed the best lecture and after-party ever at Organic Avenue on Wednesday night. Read more »

For organic beer lovers, the North American Organic Brewers Festival (NAOBF) that takes place in Portland, Oregon from June 24-26 has to be as good as it gets. Where else can you sample dozens and dozens of organic beers, listen to great music and be surrounded by so many like-minded people?

After speaking with Craig Nicholls, the founder of the event, I realized that this is much more than exposing people to organic beer. This is about raising the bar for sustainable living, especially for large events.

What does this mean exactly? Read more »

When I attended the Deepak Chopra event at ABC Home on Friday night, I had an opportunity to ask a question that has been stirring in my mind ever since Expo West – Why isn’t there a national advertising/branding campaign for organic?

From the numbers I saw at Expo West, the Florida orange juice industry ($1.3b) spends $16m on advertising, the beef industry ($30b) spends $42m on advertising, and the milk industry ($27b) spends $10m on advertising.

Yet, the organic food industry ($25b) spends practically nothing. This makes no sense whatsoever. Read more »