Gevalia

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Gevalia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kraft Foods, is the largest coffee roastery in Scandinavia. It is located in Gävle (Gevalia in Latin).

Gevalia was introduced in 1920 in Sweden by the trading company Victor Theodore Engwall & Co. After 120 years as a family company it was sold in 1971 to Kraft Foods.

Gevalia produces 40,000 metric tons of coffee every year. Most of it is sold in Sweden, Denmark and in the Baltic area, but some is exported to America.

Gevalia began North American sales, via mail-order delivery service, in 1983. Gevalia is perhaps most well known for its introductory offer of a free coffeemaker and other coffee-related incentives. These offers were seen in magazine advertisements, direct mailings, and television commercials, but were later overtaken by online advertising. Some of these Gevalia.com advertisements were the basis of the 2005 Hypertouch based lawsuit.

A mainstream supermarket brand in Northern Europe, Gevalia is marketed in the United States as an expensive, ultra-premium brand. Gevalia holds the Royal Warrant for coffee roasters from the H.M. the King of Sweden. Gevalia also maintains an Office Coffee Service, offering premium mail-order coffee by the case, as well as premium coffee singles.

Gevalia is the primary coffee brand for the Tassimo coffee maker in the United States, a machine developed by Kraft Foods.

[edit] Coffees and Teas

As of February 2007, Gevalia offers over 40 coffees and teas, according to Gevalia.com. The majority of these coffees are Arabica blends, using beans from Kenya, Guatemala, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Gevalia Kaffe is composed of up to 6 different varieties of these Arabica beans as well as high-quality Brazilian beans, which creates a balanced acidity for a complex and poignant flavor.

[edit] Advertising Controversy and Lawsuit

In 2005, Kraft was sued by Hypertouch, an ISP, for spamming its Gevalia coffee brand. Kraft was accused of sending multiple waves of junk advertisement to the ISP's customers, the action brought under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 act. The parties resolved their dispute by mutual agreement and the litigation has been dismissed.^{[citation needed]}

Here is an example of a graphic embedded in an illegal spam e-mail sent by or on behalf of Gevalia in October 2007. <img src="http://dataex548.info/gev/images/gev2.jpg">