CBOU Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. (MM)

Company Honored By Industry and Consumers for Its Coffee Quality MINNEAPOLIS, May 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBOU) Caribou Coffee is proud to announce the following awards and accolades for its various coffee offerings. Caribou Coffee's Ethiopian Organic Yirgacheffe(TM) earned the Roasters Choice Tasting Competition Gold Award at the 2008 Specialty Coffee Association of America Conference & Exhibition. Celebrating the art of roasting specialty coffee, the competition featured exceptional coffees from some of the finest coffee roasters throughout the country. "It's so gratifying to win this competition," said President and interim CEO Roz Mallet. "We truly strive to source the best coffee in the world and then craft roast it to bring out the nuances of each bean rather than using a one-roast-fits-all philosophy. To be recognized as the best by our peers in the coffee industry is a wonderful honor." In celebration of the award, Caribou Coffee will be giving free samples of Ethiopia Yirgacheffe and its sister blend, the lighter-roasted Ethiopia Sidamo(TM), in stores May 19-21. A leading consumer publication once again named Caribou Coffee's Colombia coffee as a top-rated best brand in its May 2008 issue. After giving the coffee a top rating in 2004, the publication again highlighted Colombia describing it as complex and fragrant with well-balanced floral, fruity and earthy notes. Hailing from the area surrounding the southern town of Timana in the Huila region of Colombia, this Rainforest Alliance(TM) Certified coffee is full of sweet caramel flavors, smooth roasted nut notes, and delicate floral nuance. Rainforest Alliance presented the nonprofit organization's prestigious Corporate Green Globe Award to Caribou Coffee for its commitment to sourcing coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified(TM) farms. Caribou Coffee is proud to be a partner of the Rainforest Alliance(TM), an organization that certifies coffee farms to guarantee: -- The environment is preserved and protected. -- Workers are paid fairly. -- Coffee-growing communities can support a good quality of life. -- Coffee is harvested responsibly. In 2005, Caribou Coffee made a commitment that by the end of 2008 the company would source 50 percent of its coffees from Rainforest Alliance Certified(TM) sources. Caribou Coffee is pleased to announce that it has already surpassed that goal for coffees purchased for 2008. In addition, Caribou Coffee has also been recently recognized by the following: -- Caribou Coffee was voted Best Coffeehouse by the readers of Mpls. St. Paul Magazine. -- Caribou Iced Coffee was named a Best New Product of 2007 by Beverage Industry Magazine. -- Caribou Coffee was the recipient of a Silver Spoon Award by Minnesota Monthly Magazine. -- Caribou Coffee was voted Best Coffee Shop by the readers of the Saint Cloud Times newspaper. To learn more, order online or find a location near you, visit www.cariboucoffee.com. ABOUT THE COMPANY Caribou Coffee (CBOU), founded in 1992, is the second-largest company-owned gourmet coffeehouse operator in the world based on number of coffeehouses. At Caribou Coffee, our mission statement is "an experience that makes the day better". We provide this by sourcing the highest-quality coffee in the world and craft roasting it in small batches to bring out the best in every bean. We then bring this extraordinary coffee to our customers via several channels including grocery locations, online or via our coffeehouses, which provide a relaxing escape for our customers. Caribou Coffee is committed to expanding our business by bringing this experience to new customers through multiple means without compromising our unwavering commitment to quality. Caribou Coffee is a proud recipient of the Rainforest Alliance Corporate Green Globe Award. For more information, visit www.cariboucoffee.com DATASOURCE: Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. CONTACT: Lauren Mihajlov, Director of Brand Marketing of Caribou Coffee, +1-763-592-2200, Web site: http://www.cariboucoffee.com/

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