Brazil's coffee industry has brewed up a plan to serve up to 1 million schoolchildren a free breakfast -- complete with a cup of java.

Brazil's Coffee Industry Association (Abic) is seeking the support of 50 roasters to launch a pilot "Adopt-a-School" program to feed breakfast to 1 million Brazilian school children aged 6 to 18.

Under the plan, a coffee roaster would adopt a school of at least 500 children and provide them with a free breakfast of coffee, milk and bread. The annual cost of the program for each school is estimated at 33,500 reais ($15,000).

"Kids have soft drinks at school. ... Why not coffee instead to make them alert and attentive?" Professor Darcy Lima, project scientific adviser, told the association's annual conference in northeast Brazil.
"It's normal here. The project looks like a good idea."