The coffee company was cited for its "meticulous attention to corporate social responsibility," including its pioneering work in the fair trade movement, which pays coffee growers stable, fair prices. Green Mountain has been among the top 10 companies on Business Ethics' list for four years running.

Now in its seventh year, the list for 2006 is striking because of the dominance of technology firms among the top 10, including Hewlett-Packard, Advanced Micro Devices, Motorola and Agilent Technologies.

Why the strong showing by tech? "Surprisingly, it's not due to financial out-performance," said Marjorie Kelly, editor of Business Ethics, "since none of the top tech companies ranked in the top 10 in financial returns." Instead, Kelly noted, most top tech companies do well on environmental issues. They also tend to be active in their communities and score high in employee relations, she said. "These firms know that to attract and retain talent, it pays to be socially enlightened. High-tech seems to be a genuinely socially responsible sector."

Top 10 1. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters 2. Hewlett-Packard Company 3. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. 4. Motorola, Inc. 5. Agilent Technologies, Inc. 6. The Timberland Company 7. Salesforces.com, Inc. 8. Cisco Systems, Inc. 9. Dell, Inc. 10. Texas Instruments Incorporated

The list saw quite a bit of turnover from 2005, with 33 companies appearing for the first time. Newcomers Johnson & Johnson and McGraw-Hill Companiesscore particularly high in workforce diversity. Newcomer Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls rates high marks because of products that help conserve energy.

The 100 Best Corporate Citizens list puts a numerical rating on service to these various stakeholders. Environmental, social and governance ratings are drawn from an online social research database created by KLD Research & Analytics, Inc.

More details regarding the 100 Best Corporate Citizens list are available at http://www.business-ethics.com/whats_new/100best.html