Kongo Coffee

Alright everyone, this is very much a community request post. I've been contracted to develop the Kongo Coffee website at:
Kongo Coffee

Now then, I already have a few ideas on the layout of the website and I've spoken to their sales manager about it but I want your feedback. I'll be doing a complete overhaul and giving a fresh modern look while retaining the rugged browns of coffee.

I'm not sure if any of you are coffee drinkers, let alone coffee critics but I think the input from you guys would really help.
If everything turns out well, I'll be payed for my job and depending on the amount, I might be able to kick some to the KTPT to help fund any future project. No promises, just saying.

So just tell me what you guys think of the website. What's good about it? What's bad about it? Can you think of any cool features? What websites can I gain inspiration from? All that kind of stuff. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Oh and if want to go the extra mile, a nice palette of colours would be really cool.

I guess it really depends on what the owner said he wanted,

But at the current moment i would say it looks slightly...cheap. The drop shadows on the pictures, the transparent text background. Albeit, this is just my taste.

I would personally remove of the pictures in the background, and incorporate them in different ways. A banner of sorts along the top, perhaps some colour into the links on the side. And maybe if you wanted some of the coffee colour, you could use it for borders and such. I'm no designer though, this is just... my opinion

Well I kinda tried to help a bit by making a palette (although making it in one minute, before you had to go out wasn't a good idea).

Here is the world's worst palette: http://gyazo.com/dba5f9c3feb0e6b476e55be656440a42

Actually I have full reign over it so I can make any changes I like. But, yeah, background images need to go.

Maybe you can rock a light brown border, cream white top with name and logo, and tan text area. I don't know how that would turn out. Il make you an example tomorrow. This idea is very simplistic.