Fresh Cup Magazine | October 2018

R ABBLE COFFEE + BARTER SCHOOL INDY | CHOOSING A GRINDER FOR YOUR C AFÉ | KENYA COFFEE

Chiya Chai Chicago PAGE 20

October 2018 » freshcup.com

Plant-ba sed

MIL KS With their increasing popularity, and with more options than ever, plant-based milks are here to stay. PAGE 32 >

T H E M AG A Z I N E F O R S P E C I A LT Y CO F F E E & T E A P RO F E S S I O N A L S S I N C E 1 9 9 2

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CONTENTS O C TO B E R 2 0 1 8 | V O L . 2 7 . N O. 1 0 | F R E S H C U P M A G A Z I N E

D E PA R T M E N T S 10 Drink of the Month Blackbird by Bird & Branch

14 In House

Barter School Indy Unites a Community and Benefits a Coffee Shop.

By Thomas Hill

18 Café Crossroads Chiya Chai

By Carrie Pallardy

50 The Last Plastic Straw Strawless in Seattle

By Robin Roenker

F E AT U R E S 24 The Right Grinder for Your Café

There are a plethora on the market, from espresso to bulk to singlecup grinders. It can be challenging to pick the right one for your café.

By S. Michal Bennett

32 Go Nuts for Plants The rise of alternative milks.

By Kaitlin Throgmorton

38 Shifting Grounds

Kenyan farmers move from growing coffee to other crops.

By Daniel Sitole

10 12 44 46 48

LET TER FROM THE EDITOR CONTRIBUTORS COFFEE FEST SHOW SHOTS C ALENDAR AD INDEX

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BIRD & BR ANCH’S AL MOND MAC ADAMIA MILK PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER McCLELL AN

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 9

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

C

offee to me is Saturday mornings with my 96-year-old grandfather, the two of us trying to solve a crossword. It’s becoming a regular at the local café because I still haven’t called Comcast and need Wi-Fi

to work. It’s late-night study sessions, early mornings with my partner, a mid-

DRINK OF MONTH

The BLACKBIRD

day treat with coworkers. It’s comfort, energy, and love.

I believe that life is infinitely better with a warm cup of coffee or tea (or a good cold brew, if it’s over 80 degrees) between your hands, which is why I’m excited to join Fresh Cup as its new editor. I’m honored to be a part of this hard-working team dedicated to telling stories about the vibrant, evolutionary world of coffee and tea.

In full transparency, I come into this position having been only an avid consumer of the beverages written about in these pages. While I’ve been faithful to my French press for nearly a decade now, it was only recently I made my first-ever pour-over—and don’t even get me started on trying to pull my own espresso.

But this publication—and this industry—is about so much more than brewing methods. It’s about the farmers, and how they support themselves and their families (“Shifting Grounds,” p. 38). It’s about the equipment, and

and tastes (“Go Nuts for Plants,” p. 32). It’s about sustainability, and how

T

coffee shops are implementing more environmentally friendly products

features their house-made almond

keeping your café in proper working order (“The Right Grinder for Your Café,” p. 24). It’s about the customers, and adapting to their changing needs

his month’s featured recipe comes from Bird & Branch in New York City. The Blackbird

is one of their signature drinks that

(“The Last Plastic Straw,” p. 50). It’s about giving back, and becoming a hub

macadamia nut milk. Turn to page 32

of community and learning (“How Barter School Indy Unites a Community

to read more about how Bird & Branch

and Benefits a Coffee Shop,” p. 14). And it’s about family, and sharing one’s culture and traditions with the world (“Welcome to Chai Town,” p. 18).

and other coffee shops around the country are implementing more plantbased milk alternatives in their menus.

In that spirit of family, I want to thank the Fresh Cup team for graciously welcoming me into the fold. I want to invite you—whether you’re a roaster or writer, barista or blender, grader or grower—to share your thoughts with me at editor@freshcup.com, or come say hi at trade shows. Finally, I want to dedicate this, my first letter as editor, to my own family, especially my grandfather, for all those Saturday mornings spent gathered around the dining table. Thank you for sending me on this journey.

INGREDIENTS: 30 g. blackberry syrup (see below) 10 oz. almond macadamia nut milk Double shot of espresso Thyme for garnish Mix syrup with the almond macadamia milk. Steam together and pour into the espresso. Garnish with thyme.

For blackberry syrup: 3 cups blackberries 1 cup granulated sugar Zest of half a lime 1 cup water

CAITLIN PETERKIN, EDITOR

Add blackberries, sugar, lime zest, and

editor@freshcup.com

water to a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring

ON THE COVER:

occasionally, and boil for about

Seattle’s Anchorhead Coffee Co. house-made pistachio milk and almond milk.

Photo by Jake Paulson

2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow

10 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

to cool slightly before use.

DRINK PHOTO COURTESY OF BIRD & BR ANCH

CONTRIBUTORS

S. MICHAL BENNETT co-owns Coffee Roboto, a mobile coffee cart that traverses the streets of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Besides slinging shots, she’s been actively putting pen to paper since she was 15, writing about food, health, and most things literary.

Connecticut-based freelance journalist THOMAS HILL writes for numerous online and print publications, specializing in subjects including legal, personal finance, and business. He is also an online marketing consultant for businesses and nonprofits.

Ardent tea drinker and bookworm CARRIE PALLARDY is a freelance writer and editor based in Chicago, Illinois. She writes about a wide range of topics, from real estate and entertainment to education and global travel.

DANIEL SITOLE is a Kenyan journalist and photographer whose stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world, including in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. His writing interests include business and finance, economic development, agriculture, globalization, environmental, climate change, and human interest stories.

Lexington, Kentucky-based freelance writer ROBIN ROENKER has extensive experience reporting on business trends, from cybersecurity to real estate, personal finance, and green living.

KAITLIN THROGMORTON lives in Seattle, Washington, and writes about coffee, travel, and books. For this issue, she researched the rise of plant-based milks, from house-made almond macadamia milk to wholesale oat milk. Read “Go Nuts for Plants,” starting on page 32.

CORRECTION: In the September issue, in a story on Toronto coffee shops, we misstated the ownership of Dineen Coffee Company.

The owners are Ivan Schneeberg, David Fortier, and John Young. We regret the error.

12 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE FRESH CUP FOUNDER WARD BARBEE 1938-2006 FRESH CUP PUBLISHING Publisher and President JAN WEIGEL jan@freshcup.com EDITORIAL Editor CAITLIN PETERKIN editor@freshcup.com Associate Editor JORDAN JOHNSON freshed@freshcup.com ART Art Director CYNTHIA MEADORS cynthia@freshcup.com ADVERTISING Sales Manager MICHAEL HARRIS michael@freshcup.com Ad Coordinator DIANE HOWARD adtraffic@freshcup.com CIRCULATION subscriptions@freshcup.com ACCOUNTING Accounting Manager DIANE HOWARD diane@freshcup.com

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD DAVID GRISWOLD

ANUPA MUELLER

Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers

Eco-Prima

CHUCK JONES

BRAD PRICE

Jones Coffee Roasters

Phillips Syrups & Sauces

JULIA LEACH

BRUCE RICHARDSON

Toddy

Elmwood Inn Fine Teas

COSIMO LIBARDO

MANISH SHAH

Toby’s Estate Coffee

Maya Tea Co.

BRUCE MILLETTO

LARRY WINKLER

Bellissimo Coffee Advisors

Torani

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FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 13

In HOUSE

How Barter School Indy Unites a Community and Benefits a Coffee Shop

By Thomas Hill

J

osie Hunckler, owner of Indianapolis, Indiana-based Rabble Coffee, does a lot to create an inviting place for a cup of joe, from playing music and hanging art on the wall to maintaining an active community board. But a few years ago, Hunckler’s passion for connecting the community was energized by an offer from a local organization to have her coffee shop hold informal, educational classes.

Brittany West, one of the founders of Trade School Indianapolis, which is now called Barter School Indy, reached out to Hunckler to see if Rabble Coffee would like to host Barter School’s classes.

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“West,” says Hunckler, “thought it would be a good idea for Barter School to be in a community coffee shop—the most engaged coffee shop that she could find in Indianapolis.”

WHAT IS BARTER SCHOOL? Barter School Indy evolved from a collaboration of East Coast creatives. As Emily J. Snider, Classroom Organizer of Barter School Indy, says, this “movement” evolved from an “experiment by New York City artists in January 2009,” who received an opportunity to work with a storefront, and came up with barter for knowledge. Over the course of

35 days, more than 800 people participated in 76 single-session classes, which ranged from Scrabble strategy and grant writing to composting and ghost hunting. In exchange for instruction, teachers received items such as running shoes, mix CDs, and flowers. Today, Trade School operates out of more than 25 cities worldwide.

West, along with Blaire Huntley, founded Trade School Indianapolis in September of 2012. However, after several years running the organization, both moved on. With the original founders gone, Snider, along with other volunteers, continued running Trade

PHOTO SOURCE: RABBLE COFFEE/BARTER SCHOOL INDY

School Indianapolis at Rabble Coffee, eventually rebranding to its current name Barter School Indy in January of 2018, with the tagline, “A local learning exchange.”

Now running independently from the Trade School cooperative, Barter School Indy has established itself as a valued local community organization.

the subject, helping better tailor class instruction. After giving a presentation with the help of a projector or handouts to cover the subject matter, Barter School teachers wrap up classes by inviting students to ask questions and develop an open discussion to promote a relaxed learning environment.

FROM COFFEE SHOP TO CLASSROOM

Bartering is embodied in the truest sense for each 90-minute class, which consists of five to 15 students, running six

In June 2016, Hunckler started hosting Barter School classes in her coffee shop.

From 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Rabble Coffee is open to the public; about 15 minutes before regular business hours end, Hunckler lets customers know her shop will be transitioning to Barter School after hours, making sure to inform everyone of the night’s topic.

To any interested remaining customers, she gives a list of the barter items, which includes items from Rabble Coffee, such as whole bean coffee.

A LOCAL LEARNING EXCHANGE

IN EXCHANGE FOR TEACHERS SHARING THEIR EXPERT KNOWLEDGE WITH STUDENTS, STUDENTS ARE ASKED TO BRING ONE ITEM FROM A LIST THAT EACH TEACHER REQUESTS IN ADVANCE. “When I close, my space goes from coffee shop to classroom,” says Hunckler.

Classes begin at approximately 6:30 p.m., and are held in Rabble Coffee’s front space, where there are couches, individual tables, and a large group table. After students check in, writing down their name, barter item, and email address, everyone introduces themselves. Teachers start the lesson by asking what previous experiences or questions the students may have about

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 15

IN HOUSE

nights a week, Monday through Saturday. More than 100 different topics are offered in classes, varying from sewing and photography to designing video games and building a fully functioning chicken coop.

“Since every class is different, students are constantly learning a variety of things,” says Snider.

In exchange for teachers sharing their expert knowledge with students, students are asked to bring one item from a list that each teacher requests in advance.

RABBLE COFFEE sells locally made donuts. Who wouldn’t barter for donuts?

“Some [teachers] will take donations for homeless shelters/food banks and ask for donate-able items, while others will ask for local beer, wine, and baked goods,” Snider explains.

However, if a student forgets their barter item, Barter School offers a “pay-it-forward” system. “They can come the night of class and purchase a token for a free meal or drink to someone in need of one,” says Snider.

Hunckler explains that while some teachers, such as Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), work with Barter School to help people do their taxes because there aren’t many free tax services available, other teachers like to use the program as a marketing tool. Whatever the reason teachers run a class, Hunckler and the community benefit equally.

HOW RABBLE COFFEE GETS THE WORD OUT Since it started, both Barter School and Rabble Coffee have each seen a strong increase in students and customers, respectively. Through flyers, posters,

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word-of-mouth, and social media, attention for both the school and the shop itself has spread from only nearby residents to people living in suburbs nearly 30 to 40 minutes away. Hunckler also set up a chalkboard on her wall, which highlights her participation with Barter School and informs customers what classes will be held for the next two weeks; the variety of classes, according to Snider, drives the school’s diverse attendance.

Hunckler also appreciates the cyclical nature of how Rabble business has increased Barter School attendance, and vice versa, with customers becoming students, and students becoming customers.

“I will stay open until the very start of class. I often see my own customers in their classes and I often meet people for the very first time when they’re going to a trade school class,” says Hunckler. “Then I see them come back as customers during the day. If they feel comfortable in the space during the trade school class, they often come back.” FC

PHOTO SOURCE: RABBLE COFFEE/BARTER SCHOOL INDY

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 17

CAFÉ CROSSROADS

KASHMIRI CHAI (pictured) is a delicate tea made with salt and milk, and topped with crushed pistachios. A pinch of baking soda gives it the pink color when it reacts with the chlorophyll in the tea leaves.

Welcome to Chai Town In a Chicago neighborhood dominated by coffee shops, CHIYA CHAI is pouring only tea.

By Carrie Pallardy

W

alk into any coffee shop in Logan Square—and there are many— and you can probably order a chai. But, the tea drink is most likely made from bagged leaves or a boxed syrup. After all, these places live and breathe coffee—tea is more of an afterthought. Chiya Chai Café, located on the neighborhood’s heavily trafficked Milwaukee Avenue, is a different story. Step inside this restaurant and café and you’ll have your pick of more than 150 varieties of chai, all of which are brewed right there.

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TEA RUNS IN THE FAMILY Swadesh Shrestha owns and runs Chiya Chai with three family members: his wife Rajee Aryal, his brother Saujanya Shrestha, and his brother’s wife Nadine Schaefer. But, tea flows back much further through the family tree.

“I come from Nepal, and I grew up with tea,” Shrestha says. Growing up in a remote village, he remembers his grandfather gathering with neighbors to sit by the radio, listen to the news, and drink chai. His father left Nepal to study in Germany, but when he came

home he started a tea business. It has been more than 35 years since tea became Shrestha’s livelihood too.

BRINGING CHAI TO CHICAGO After finding success with its sister location, Namaste Café in Minneapolis, Shrestha opened Chiya Chai in 2016.

Chai, with roots in Southeast Asia dating back thousands of years, is a blend of black tea and spices like ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, and clove. Some chai is sweet, others spicy; it all depends on the brewer.

PHOTO BY CAREN LEONARD

CAFÉ CROSSROADS

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHIYA CHAI

“Chai is popular across the Indian subcontinent,” says Shrestha. “We want to educate people about chai and share our tradition with the world.”

All of the chai brewed in-house at the café is imported from Nepal; Shrestha’s father ships the certified organic teas to Chiya Chai. Most of the spices that create the signature chai flavor and the café’s unique blends, like black cardamom, are sourced by Shrestha’s wife when she travels to Nepal.

The spices that don’t come from Nepal are typically sourced locally. “Chai, by its very nature, is inclusive,” says Shrestha. “It can be made with a ton of different spices.”

CHAI, BY ITS VERY NATURE, IS INCLUSIVE,” SAYS SHRESTHA. “IT CAN BE MADE WITH A TON OF DIFFERENT SPICES.”

The flavor of chai, whether hot or iced, is created in large part by the brewing process. At Chiya Chai, the tea and spices from Nepal and local sources are brewed together in equipment created by Shrestha and his brother.

The equipment is essentially an iced tea machine, according to Shrestha. “It infuses the chai with water for a longer time and makes it perfect for mixing with milk,” he says.

FINDING A HOME IN LOGAN SQUARE Why come to a neighborhood full of coffee shops? Shrestha and his team were attracted to this North Side Chicago neighborhood because of its young, diverse population. “Logan Square is the perfect location for us,”

TOP PHOTO BY CAREN LEONARD; BOTTOM PHOTO COURTESY OF CHIYA CHAI

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 21

CAFÉ CROSSROADS

says Shrestha. “People are very interested in trying a lot of different things.”

At first, Shrestha was a little unsure how Chiya Chai’s patrons would respond to the huge variety of flavors, but he soon found people were interested in the new and creative takes on chai. In addition to finding traditional chai, such as masala, anise, and black cardamom, on the menu, you’ll find more inventive options like dark chocolate spearmint, espresso hazelnut, coconut crème, and iced blueberry lavender. “We have regular customers, and people have their favorites,” says Shrestha.

THE FOOD MENU AND THE SPACE Chiya Chai is split into two different sections. In front, patrons sit in a sunny café that looks out on the busy street. This section of the café has a long counter where customers come to order chai and food off of the café menu. A small collection of tables and chairs sits

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHIYA CHAI

directly against the large front windows, while longer communal benches and tables line the wall across from the counter. The second half of Chiya Chai, located in back, is aptly named the Backroom. Here, customers can sit down and order from the full dinner menu.

The café menu dishes up items like savory pies, dumplings, and curry dishes, while the dinner menu is more expansive with appetizers and a wider variety of curries.

Like the café’s tea, much of the food you will find on the menu is organic. Chiya Chai strives to work with nearby farms to source the milk that is brewed with its chai and the vegetables and meats that go into their dishes. “Most of the food we serve is organic and locally sourced,” Shrestha says. “Natural things inspire us.”

Continuously inspired by his childhood in Nepal, Shrestha and his family wanted to create a space that brings people together—and they’ve succeeded. FC

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 23

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I

n 2014, I spent a few days at origin in the Jimma region of Ethiopia, a country where it is tradition to host guests with a coffee cer-

emony. One aspect of the slow-paced ritual involves grinding roasted beans in a wooden bowl called a mukecha using a pestle called a zenezena. I was mesmerized by the rhythm of the zenezena cradled in the supple grasp of the woman’s weathered hands as she crunch, crunch, crunched the hot beans into a coarse powder.

Surely there was a time when this technique was “new” and transformed the consumption of coffee. We are far, far from that time. Cafés today are filled with the cacophony of powerful and innovative electric grinders, machines that have taken this tedious task out of our hands and refined it into a system that almost guarantees a “perfect” cup. There are a plethora on the market, from espresso to bulk to single-cup grinders. It can be challenging to pick the right one for your café.

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 25

THE RIGHT GRINDER

W

hether you are opening a new operation, upgrading an established one, or rethinking your current model, here are three fundamental questions you should ask yourself when buying a grinder—or grinders:

• What’s your menu?

• What’s your anticipated flow and traffic?

• What space do I have?

DRINKS While it is possible to use one grinder for all brewing methods, it usually isn’t the best option. If you pull a blend on espresso, brew single origin on drip, and have a decaf option, you will quickly find that one grinder is not enough. “Choosing the grinder best suited to the coffee program,” says Joyce Klassen, marketing manager at Baratza, “will allow you to offer great coffee and not have to sacrifice extraction due to wrong grinder for the job.”

Grinder manufacturers like Baratza, Nuova Simonelli, Mazzer, Mahlkönig, Ditting, Bunn, and Fetco make it their mission to develop innovative ideas and refine time-tested technology to build grinders that maximize individual brewing methods. An espresso grinder, like the Nuova Simonelli’s Mythos Clima or Mazzer’s Super Jolly, works best for espresso. A bulk grinder, like Fetco’s GR series or Ditting’s KR retail series, works best for batch brewing.

In our mobile coffee business, my husband and I grind cold brew and large batch drip coffee on a Bunn G1 back at “home base,” but utilize a Baratza Sette 270 for espresso on location. When we operate our pour-over set up, we use a Baratza Virtuoso, a small pour grinder that is simple to use, but adjustable enough to produce a great cup of coffee. What works, works, but you have to figure that out for your own drink offerings.

VOLUME Volume is huge. You don’t want to be switching out your espresso beans for decaf beans in the middle of a busy service hour for that early morning customer who likes coffee but can’t take the caffeine. It’s true that we rarely predict with accuracy how popular a café may become. Being prepared fosters consistency, which then creates returning customers. Marcus Boni, Mahlkönig USA’s director of brand and marketing, also adds this advice: “Have a long-term game plan in

PHOTO BY SHENGUIN SHI

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 27

THE RIGHT GRINDER

mind. Consider not just what your Day 1 operations will look like, but also your Day 900 operations.”

How often you grind is also a key aspect. “Perhaps you only want to grind 20 pounds a day, but you want to do it all at once,” says Nancy Wideman, president of Ditting USA. “That affects the model I might recommend.”

A BARISTA using Mahlkönig’s EK43S at a competition.

“A couple times it happened to us that our grinder broke,” says Martin Gaida, owner of The Coffee Trike in Boston, Massachussets. “It was very useful to have a back-up grinder, because the parts took some time to be delivered.”

SPACE Often in café build-outs, form takes precedence over function. Architects don’t always know how coffee service flows or what design aspects might

cause equipment to affect the customer experience. Grinders are loud, and you want to shield that loudness from the consumer, while also allowing room for heat venting and workability. “For example,” says Klassen, “don’t put the grinders in a closet with tiles on the walls, which can cause lots of echoing.”

Ergonomics, height, space restrictions, access, and counter support are all essential aspects of grinder placement.

For example, the shorter hopper on

THE COFFEE TRIKE in Boston uses Mahlkönig’s K30 Vario for espresso.

DITTING: K804 Lab (top) is perfect for the cupping room. The KR1203 (bottom) works great for bulk grinding.

Some baristas or owners may have the skill and desire to “play around” with their dosing more than others. If your model is to have more control over your grind, while still retaining consistency, you don’t want to choose a fully automatic grinder. If speed and consistency are your goal, you might want a machine that you can simply dial in, program, and forget about—almost.

One vital consideration that is often missed when thinking about volume and flow, is what do you do if your grinder breaks down. It is always worth it to have a versatile back-up grinder.

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Mahlkönig’s EK43S was developed with height-challenged baristas in mind, without significantly sacrificing bean capacity.

MOBILE AND FAST Mobile and drive-thru cafés come with their own set of issues. Jonathan Casteel, president of operations for Mercurys Coffee Co. based in Woodinville, Washington, and operating four stand-alone drive-thrus in the Seattle area, puts it this way: “When you’re looking at a strictly drive-thru operation, you have to think about your

WHEN YOU’RE MOBILE, YOU ARE GRINDING, PULLING, AND POURING OUT IN THE WIND AND HUMIDITY, HOT AND COLD, DUST AND RAIN. IF YOU DOSE A SHOT, AND THE WIND BLOWS HALF THE GRINDS AWAY BEFORE THEY REACH THE PORTAFILTER, YOUR WASTE BECOMES SIGNIFICANT. location, what you can fit, and how fast it works. It’s all about speed. You can get something small and compact, but ultimately you have to make it work if it makes your operation go faster.”

For Justin Shaheen, owner of the espresso-only Pilgrim Coffee Truck, also in Seattle, the decision wasn’t as simple. In addition to voltage, dimensions, and durability, he wanted obvious quality. “I wanted to convey that we were using a highquality grinder,” says Shaheen, “but also needed on-demand grinding.”

THE BULK GRINDER: YOUR CAFÉ’S UNSUNG HERO

I

t sits in a corner or on the back counter of your café, out of the spotlight. Espresso grinders are what people talk about. They are perched up front, prettily designed, next to your superstar, the espresso machine. They get noticed and touched a thousand times a day. And the bulk grinder is still there, a bit chunky around the edges, but always ready to grind.

At least one bulk grinder is an essential when designing a café.

They grind for pour-over, automatic drip, French press, Turkish-style, cold brew, and yes, if needed, even espresso. They also provide the convenience of grinding coffee for your customers to take home.

They work hard and generate long and steady grinds. And yet we often take them for granted.

Bulk or filter grinders, as they are sometimes named, are typically there to grind large, coarser batches than espresso. This means they have to mitigate the heat and friction associated with higher volumes for longer times, while still producing a consistent and precisely distributed grind. Espresso is great, but take a moment and think about how many pots of drip you go through in a day.

How many laptop business people make your café their office every morning over a couple mugs of drip coffee? Volume is significant when it comes to bulk grinding.

So are speed and particle distribution. A bulk grinder is designed to give you more ground coffee in a shorter period of time and with fewer fines. Flat burrs, as opposed to conical burrs, are the main components that accomplish this. Mahlkönig, Ditting, Bunn, and Fetco all use a type of flat burr.

They are also workhorses and will thrive in any location you choose to place them. They are built with heavier-duty components with covers designed for convenience and durability, rather than frills. And they treat their job the same way, with steady persistence rather than flashy fuss.

So, show your bulk grinder some love today. Give it a cleaning.

Check for needed maintenance. Change its burrs. Log the number of pounds it grinds up in a day. Then whisper it a little thank you. Just make sure your co-workers don’t hear you. They’ll think you’re crazy.

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 29

THE RIGHT GRINDER

PILGRIM COFFEE TRUCK: Owner Justin Shaheen (above) grinds beans with Mahlkönig’s K30.

When you’re mobile, you are grinding, pulling, and pouring out in the wind and humidity, hot and cold, dust and rain. If you dose a shot, and the wind blows half the grinds away before they reach the portafilter, your waste becomes significant. Shaheen’s Mahlkönig K30 has a narrow chute that dumps right into the portafilter. “It makes it really easy to grind fresh coffee on demand,” Shaheen adds, “and there’s minimal impact on the elements when we’re out at events with the truck.”

WRONG I also had to ask the experts, what might go wrong if someone chose the wrong grinder? Worst case, no coffee.

And we know how grumpy people can be when there isn’t coffee when expected. Not-so-worse, bad coffee. Okay, sometimes that is worse. Then, there’s inconsistent service. Consistency and quality are arguably what keep people coming back, or bring one-hit drinkers to your café.

“Inconsistency,” says Roberto Bresciani, president of Nuova Simonelli, “has been blamed on a lot of different things over the years. A few years ago everyone was obsessed with consistency, and it frustrates people.”

30 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

BARATZA’S FORTÉ BG incorporates many features that fit well into commercial operations: all metal construction; small footprint; intuitive control panel; and solid macro/micro adjustment.

DEEPER Across the board, the grinder goal is to create and foster consistency.

Consistent particle size. Consistent temperature. Consistent dosing. Consistent timing. Consistent flow. Each grinder maker tests and builds and tests again to find the best settings, parts, mechan-

ics, automation, science, and design that speak to their core values and offer clients just the right set up for them.

Beyond the fundamentals, here are a few more details to think about.

Everyone agrees that burr grinders are better. But not all are the same.

Baratza’s Sette 270 has an outer burr

that rotates and an inner burr that is fixed, which means the coffee passes through vertically, dropping directly into the portafilter. The burrs in Nuova Simonelli’s Mythos are constructed in such a way that only ½ a gram is retained within the burrs after a grind, as opposed to 7 grams or more with some other espresso grinders. An efficient burr set and setup will reduce waste and improve your shots.

Grinding creates friction, which produces heat. We heat coffee to roast it. We heat it again to brew it. But we don’t necessarily want to heat it while grinding it—at least not past the brewing temperature. In a busy café, a well-used grinder can generate a generous amount of heat. Most companies offset this with some sort of fan-cooling system. The Mythos One and Mythos Two, to be released this fall, have a heating element that regulates the warmth of the coffee with the goal of matching it as closely as possible to the temperature of the water in your

espresso machine. And who knows what the future holds for this unavoidable pulverizing issue.

Additionally, think about what container you will be grinding into. “There are so many methods of grinding these days,” says Wideman from Ditting, “a coffee bag, filter, can, cup, bowl. The design of the grinder and what it is meant to grind into may determine which model(s) will work or not for your specific application.”

Finally, buy a grinder that you like, you find easy to work with, and that is straightforward to repair and maintain. Once you’ve chosen, you have to live with it. Make it the right one for you. FC

NUOVA SIMONELLI’S MYTHOS regulates the coffee’s temperature as it’s being ground.

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 31

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PHOTO BY NIKOLAI CHERNICHENKO

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 33

GO NUTS FOR PLANTS

A

lternative milk. Non-dairy milk. Plant-based milk. Almond “beverage.” While no one seems to agree on what to call not-milk milk-like drinks, most of us can agree that they’re everywhere.

Whether made in-house or purchased from wholesale brands, alternative milks are one of the latest café items to become highly specialized.

Though these milks might seem trendy, plant-based drinks date back to medieval times, to ancient Arab recipes for almond milk. While most cafés now stock at least one type of non-dairy milk, it’s worth noting that non-dairy products are only likely to grow. Not only is incidence of lactose intolerance on the rise in the U.S., so is consumption of plant-based beverages. In fact, for the past few years, dairy milk sales have been falling, while alternative milk sales have been rising. Though inclusivity and sustainability are good arguments for a plantbased future, the numbers continue to prove convincing as well.

LABOR OF LOVE For two shops—Anchorhead Coffee on the West Coast and Bird & Branch on the East Coast—making alternative milk from scratch seemed like the obvious choice. Each shop already carefully sourced their coffee, dairy milk, and food offerings, so in-house nut milk felt natural.

“When we opened we tasted a lot of commercially available products, and as a point of pride, we just decided we’re going to make a milk alternative that’s delicious, not overly complicated, just simple,” says Ross Beamish, who handles sales and education at Anchorhead Coffee in Seattle, Washington.

“We wanted to roll out a milk alternative product that was distinct enough to be a counterpoint to dairy offerings, that could pour well, and that you could actually get good latte art with—and ultimately taste good,” he adds.

At Anchorhead, they make almond milk, as well as a pistachio milk matcha made with pistachios, matcha

34 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

ANCHORHEAD COFFEE offers a matcha latte made with its hand-crafted pistachio milk.

tea, real Madagascar vanilla bean, sea salt, and maple syrup. At Bird & Branch, they make almond macadamia milk, as well as several seasonal drinks that use almond macadamia as a base, including the Blackbird, made with espresso, blackberries, lime zest, thyme, and their house-made almond macadamia milk.

For both Anchorhead’s pistachio matcha and Bird & Branch’s Blackbird, the in-house nut milk paired better with the tea and coffee than anything else they tried, and those winning pairings have been very successful. Anchorhead’s pistachio matcha often sells so well it only comes in second to lattes.

Bird & Branch actually sells slightly more house-made milk than dairy milk, thanks to multiple signature drinks,

including the Blackbird, that exclusively feature their almond macadamia.

“People who normally drink dairy are drinking our almond macadamia,” says Faith Lee, co-owner of Bird & Branch in New York, New York.

Making plant-based milks in-house requires dedication. The process itself is simple—just soak the nuts, blend with water and other ingredients, then strain (three times, for Anchorhead’s recipe)— but it takes time and labor to execute.

Bird & Branch relies on a kitchen staff person to manage the process, while Anchorhead rotates out various staff members who make milk in the morning.

If a café can spare the time and labor, though, customers go nuts for housemade milks. “It’s obviously easier to buy a carton,” says Lee. “Customers say,

PHOTO BY JAKE PAULSON

a local dairy, than their house-made alternatives, they stopped upcharging for them. With strong customer support and a mostly vegetarian and vegan staff, Beamish decided it made sense.

“Now the price point at the register goes down, it’s a lower barrier to entry to try something,” he adds.

Balancing that barrier to entry with business savvy can be tricky, but figuring it out pays off, both in profit and customer loyalty.

THE ALCHEMY OF MIMICRY To achieve that balance, many shops turn to a wholesale vendor to supply their plant-based needs. In addition to their house-made almond milk, Anchorhead also offers Oatly. As Beamish puts it, “people are figuring out the alchemy of mimicry”—and that includes wholesale companies, some of whom have been specializing in milk mimicry for decades.

BIRD & BR ANCH’s iced Blackbird is created with house-crafted almond macadamia milk.

‘There’s something about this milk, I crave it.’ They like that you put some effort and thought into the milk.”

Beamish says the same of Anchorhead’s customers. “Instantly, people gravitated towards it and were excited about it,” he says. “It speaks to the level of care we do most things with.”

WORKING THE NUMBERS Making milk in-house requires resources—time, effort, and capital.

In addition to the cost of plant-based ingredients and equipment, milks made from scratch require a significant labor commitment. Though many cafés prioritize quality above profit, the numbers eventually have to work, too.

To make that happen, Anchorhead emphasizes research and development,

as well as careful attention from upper management to each of the café’s processes. “If you’re a business owner, you have to be able to do the higher level of stuff, or you’re just going to be trapped, never able to get past the first stage,” says Anchorhead’s general manager, Russ Huston. For instance, after monitoring costs and demand, Anchorhead determined the pistachio matcha could only be offered in one size—both to keep the shop from selling out of it too quickly and to keep costs reasonable.

Working the numbers doesn’t always mean raising prices or capping sizing options, though. Sometimes it means removing a fee instead. When Anchorhead realized they actually pay more for their regular milk, supplied from

TOP LEFT PHOTO COURTESY OF BIRD & BRANCH; BOTTOM RIGHT PHOTO COURTESY OF OATLY

OATLY’s Barista Edition oatmilk won’t separate when foamed—or splashed— into hot drinks.

Back in the seventies and eighties, soy ruled the alternative milk world, but, most recently, oat has emerged as the new darling of not-milk lovers everywhere. At the forefront of the oat excitement is Oatly. Oatly was invented by food scientist Rickard Öste, a protégé of Arne Dahlqvist, the discoverer of lactose intolerance. In 1990 at Sweden’s Lund University, Öste landed

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 35

GO NUTS FOR PLANTS

on a method for liquifying oats, and Oatly was born.

Oatly’s process balances oat’s proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, producing a nutrient blend that’s “ideal for a human diet,” according to Callie Eberdt, marketing development manager at Oatly. “It was really important to [the researchers] that they were able to maintain the beta-glucan fiber in the oats themselves—that’s the fiber that’s been touted in things like Cheerios to lower cholesterol,” she says.

Formerly in the coffee industry, and also lactose intolerant, Eberdt understands that dairy alternatives should be just as good as the coffee itself. “You want something that’s going to balance the espresso and its acidity, and carry the really delicate notes that the baristas have so carefully dialed in,” she says.

“[Oats] don’t overpower coffee, they just accentuate what’s already there, and carry the flavor along, like milk does.”

At Anchorhead, customers were asking for Oatly by name. “We were pretty adamant about having one house-made milk alternative and standing behind it, and not having soy, and rice, and all these crazy things that we didn’t know if they tasted good or not,” says Beamish.

“But then when Oatly came along, it was just a clear choice to add it.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF SUSTAINABILITY Oatly also touts their low environmental impact. In Sweden, Oatly has been measured to produce 80% less carbon emissions than those created by producing cow’s milk. Drawing on her background in coffee, Eberdt highlights

the importance of sustainability in the industry. “I think the industry as a whole really needs to get their priorities straight about where they can make certain changes in the way they do things, the kind of cups they use, and the kind of milks they offer,” she says.

Elmhurst, another wholesale vendor, also cares deeply about sustainability and nutrition. A dairy since 1925, the company pivoted to a “plant-forward” approach in 2016, both to combat declines in dairy prices, and to embrace more environmentally friendly, nutrient-rich processes. As a bonus, the company’s new direction allowed Elmhurst’s senior vice president of ingredient manufacturing, Dr. Cheryl Mitchell, to finally realize her dream of producing a non-dairy milk that retained the nutritional value of the original product.

ELMHURST, a dairy since 1925, began producing plant-based milks in 2016. They offer nut milks as well as grain milks— aptly called “Milked Brown Rice” and “Milked Oats” (below).

36 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELMHURST

Before joining Elmhurst, Mitchell, a food scientist, created and patented a rice beverage known as Rice Dream.

While she’s proud of that product, she wanted a better process that didn’t remove so many nutrients. She eventually discovered one, patenting HydroRelease™ technology, which uses water to liberate nutrients from raw grains, nuts, and seeds, and then recombines them to form a creamy beverage without the need for industrial chemicals or thickeners. After discovering HydroRelease™, she met Elmhurst’s owner, Henry Schwartz, which she calls a “confluence of two perfect people at the right time.”

Not long after that fortuitous meeting, Elmhurst broke ground on a new facility to produce “milked” beverages.

Elmhurst aims to achieve sustainability through diversity, which is why they offer many different types of “milked” products, including almond, walnut, cashew, hazelnut, peanut, rice, and oat.

“With dairy milk, we saw what happened when you’re relying totally on one source,” says Mitchell. “Say you have one gallon of milk in your fridge.

What if, instead of one gallon of milk, you could have cashew milk, walnut milk (high in omegas), milked oats (with beta glucans, and 100% whole grain), then throw in hazelnut milk for cereals—but it’s all the same footprint as a gallon of milk.”

A CULTIVATED COLLECTION Elmhurst also plans to expand into other types of plants, as well as other types of products, such as creams, in the coming years.

To produce non-dairy milks that play well with coffee, Mitchell works closely with baristas when developing Elmhurst’s beverages, assessing what properties create good foam and latte art.

In addition to its desirable properties, Elmhurst’s in-house barista, Clinton Hodnett, loves having so many options.

“The benefit to having a diverse lineup of milks is that there are many opportunities to pair the right milk with the right coffee; for example, a clean and nuanced parchment-dried coffee from South or

PHOTO COURTESY OF PACIFIC FOODS

PACIFIC’s Barista Series offers a plethora of non-dairy beverages created specifically for the barista.

Central America goes great with the neutral flavor and light body of Milked Brown Rice; and a fruit-dried roast from Ethiopia will be great with something a little sweeter to round out its powerful notes, like oat or cashew,” says Hodnett.

No stranger to offering a long list of products, Pacific Foods was founded in 1987 as a tofu co-packer—not exactly the beginning you’d expect for a nondairy milk product recognizable to café owners everywhere. The byproduct of tofu is soy milk, however, and because Pacific was eager to reduce waste, they were soon in the business of producing non-dairy beverages.

In 2002, they released their first soy Barista Series. Then, in 2013, Pacific launched an almond milk Barista Series; coconut, rice, and oat would follow over the next couple of years. With more than a decade of selling to cafés, Pacific knows shops serve a diverse group of customers.

“That’s the whole challenge of being a barista: how do you make every conceivable consumer happy?” asks Nathanael May, customer marketing manager for specialty coffee at Pacific Foods. “They want sweet drinks, or

drinks not sweet at all, or drinks filled with milk, or black coffee. Baristas have to have such a wide range of knowledge to pick a single-origin espresso, and to pick a vanilla latte recipe.”

In order to cater to such a wide range of tastes, Pacific offers multiple types of milk in its Baristas Series, all of which are developed by food scientists so they work well when steamed or iced. Much like Elmhurst’s Hodnett, May sees this variety as a positive for baristas.

“I think as we go forward, the breadth of offerings is going to increase, and I think that’s just going to be a win for baristas being able to craft and cultivate their selections,” he says. “Not just for coffee or syrups, but a cultivated collection of plant-based selections, rather than the two they have to carry because that’s all that exists.”

Like most plant-based companies, Pacific promotes the environmental benefits of deriving milk from plants instead of cows. May’s explanation is straightforward: “You can talk about the amount of water required to grow an almond, or the GMO issues around soy, but still, there’s a dramatic improvement in your carbon footprint if you switch from dairy to a plant-based beverage.” Add that to the fact that Pacific either reduces or recaptures 87% of its waste, and hopes to be 100% zero waste in future, and the environmental impacts are significant.

While plant-based beverages continue to grow, the arguments for offering them become more compelling, too.

“When you lay down the facts, there isn’t a reason why you wouldn’t carry non-dairy at your shop,” says Oatly’s Eberdt.

With their increasing popularity, cafés now have more options than ever when it comes to which plant-based beverages to carry. Will you make them in-house, or choose a wholesale brand— or partner with a local plant-based company instead? Whatever you choose, and whether the decision arises from inclusivity, environmental concern, nutrition, or simply a craving for the taste, plant-based milks are here to stay. FC

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 37

CASH CROP: Geoffrey Wahome samples some of his avocados going for an average $0.80 per piece.

38 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 39

SHIFTING GROUNDS

P

roduction of coffee in Kenya is on the verge of decline as farmers shift to other exportable cash crops with high returns and lower costs of farm inputs.

Farmers have experienced problems in the coffee-growing areas for several years, to an extent of most of them living on the biblical daily bread as their earnings from the crop cannot sustain them.

Wanjau Kihu, 73, a coffee farmer and member of the Barichu Farmers Cooperative Society in Mathira, Nyeri County, grows coffee on his four-acre farm. In 2017, he supplied 3,000 kilograms (kgs) to his co-operative, and earned only $2,580 while incurring $3,240 in total production costs—even after borrowing farms inputs on credit from the co-operative.

“My sweat in 2017 has left me with a loss of $660,” says Kihu. “I did not pay myself even a penny, and I have no money to continue farming for the 2018 season.”

He fears borrowing again from the co-operative, because the output this time without cash may not even repay the credit if extended to him.

WHY ARE KENYAN FARMERS SHIFTING FROM COFFEE? Kihu’s dilemma is a sample case of what coffee farmers in Kenya go through, despite the high demand and ranking of their crop in the global market.

Some of the challenges farmers currently face include poor returns and delays in receiving payments (it usually takes six months to one year for them to be paid).

A majority of the coffee farmers in Kenya are smallholders, and most of them are living under extreme poverty.

Some farmers opt to sell part of their coffee to brokers for as little as $0.25 per kg in order to raise cash for school fees, medical bills, and other needs.

“People benefiting from our coffee do not even own farms,” says John Ndirangu, a farmer in Embu County.

“They are traders, brokers, and

40 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

COFFEE FARMER Wanjau Kihu is happy with the yield of coffee but is concerned about the declining benefits of growing the crop. Kihu uses plastic papers for grafting his coffee trees from SL28 to Ruiru 11 variety to help protect his crop from coffee berry disease.

officials in the organizations responsible for coffee marketing.”

Ndirangu, 71, said he never went to school because he helped his parents to take care of their coffee farm in the early 1960s. He said in those days, coffee was like gold and farmers hoped to be millionaires.

“I have never earned $1,000 from coffee in my life as a farmer,” he says. “The legacy I have created for my family is poverty.”

Coffee theft is another problem that farmers have had to cope with. Thieves invade farms at night and harvest mature coffee for sale to brokers in the black market.

Factories are also hit, with groups raiding and stealing hundreds of bags of coffee. Incidents of coffee factory guards being killed during a robbery are common in the Mount Kenya region, which comprises counties in central Kenya, in the slopes of its eponymous mountain.

THE NEW CASH CROPS Coffee farmers in Kenya have now turned to moneymaking crops: avocado and macadamia nuts, for the U.S., Europe, and China markets, are more lucrative than coffee.

Not only are the farmers paid cash on delivery for the two crops, but the prices are also attractive and demand exceeds the supply.

Many coffee farmers in the Mount Kenya area, especially Muranga, Kiambu, Embu, Kirinyaga, Meru, and some parts of Nyeri, are shifting to avocado and macadamia nuts. Those who got an early start with these crops are making a booming business.

Geoffrey Wahome, a coffee farmer in Nyeri, has 1,000 coffee plants, along with five avocado trees he planted in 2003; he has ordered 1,000 seedlings of avocado from Muranga County for planting during the May rain season.

GEOFFREY WAHOME shows one of his coffee trees, which he wants to abandon for avocado.

“Avocado and macadamia nuts are the talk of every farmer in Mount Kenya,” says Wahome. “These plants require little care and inputs, and that is why I want to phase out coffee gradually.”

Companies from New Zealand and Israel, such as Amiran Kenya, have set up avocado processing plants in Kenya. They also provide quality seedlings and training to farmers, and ready the market for the output.

County governments in the region are also mobilizing and helping farmers to focus on avocado and

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 41

SHIFTING GROUNDS

GATOMBOYA FACTORY production manager James Mwangi working on a coffee milling machine (left); pointing to one of ten coffee fermentation tanks (top, right); a 30-meter tower fitted with high-voltage lights and security alarm to alert the farmers in case of an emergency like a fire or robbery (bottom, right).

macadamia. Nyeri County, for example, plans to distribute two million seedlings for free, while the County Government of Muranga has already distributed three million avocado seedlings for free. Muranga County is the largest producer of avocado in Kenya, and it is the only county with an avocado farmers’ co-operative society.

The export market for avocado to Europe and the U.S. has been on the rise.

Figures by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicate that Kenya exported 46.7 MTs of avocado in 2016 and earned $65 million, an increase from 38.9 MTs valued at $52 million in 2015.

THE MOUNT KENYA GREEN GOLD Chinese and Kenyan companies are competing for macadamia nuts, locally referred to as the Mount Kenya “green gold.”

The crop is in high demand for local processing and export markets, attracting coffee farmers to shift to the green gold. New investors are also moving in to take advantage of good prices.

42 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

According to the International Centre for Research in Sustainable Development, the price of macadamia nuts in-shell (unprocessed) increased from $0.07 to $0.23 per kg in 2002, and continued upwards to $1.50 per kg in 2017.

Production of macadamia nuts has also seen a surge, with an increase of nearly 50% over the past ten years.

While Australia and South Africa are the top producers, responsible for over half of the world macadamia production in 2017, Kenya comes in third, with 11% of the global production, according to the International Nut and Dried Fruit Council. Production is still below the market demand, with only about 100,000 farmers growing the crop. But as more farmers abandon coffee, that number is sure to increase every year.

Paul Ngotho, 68, a farmer from Muranga County, is one of the pioneers who shifted from growing coffee to macadamia, and he feels happy growing the crop.

“My life changed in the first year,” he says. “I have built a house for my family, bought a car for myself and a lorry to transport my produces to the processors.”

Ngotho cleared all coffee plantations and bought more land from macadamia profits. He was a coffee farmer for 35 years and lived in a hut, which he decided to retain “as a symbol of suffering of the coffee farmers.”

AN UNCLEAR FUTURE As farmers continue to face the perennial problems of fluctuations of coffee prices in the global market, high cost of farm inputs, and a lack of finances— along with the increased demand and prices of avocado and macadamia—the future of coffee production in Kenya is decidedly unclear.

Francis Onyango, an expert in agribusiness, is certain that coffee output will continue declining as long as the problems the coffee farmers face are not addressed.

“The problems coffee farmers are raising today are the same they complained about over 50 years ago. Farming is like any other form of business, the driving factor is return on investment,” says Onyango. “Farmers cannot continue growing the same crop that gives them losses every year.” FC

MARKETPLACE

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 43

COFFEE FEST LA SHOW SHOTS

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August 19–21, 2018 | Los Angeles

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 45

TRADE SHOW & EVENTS CALENDAR OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

OCTOBER 1 EAST COAST COFFEE MADNESS Montreal, Canada eccoffeemadness.com

NOVEMBER 7–11 SINTERCAFE San Jose, Costa Rica sintercafe.com

OCTOBER 10–12 COTECA Hamburg, Germany coteca-hamburg.com/en/

NOVEMBER 8–9 ALLEGRA WORLD COFFEE PORTAL CEO FORUM Los Angeles, California allegraceoforum.com

OCTOBER 12–14 NEW YORK COFFEE FESTIVAL New York City, New York newyorkcoffeefestival.com

OCTOBER 16–17 CAFFE CULTURE London, United Kingdom caffecultureshow.com

NOVEMBER 8–11 CAFE SHOW SEOUL/ WORLD COFFEE LEADERS FORUM Seoul, Korea cafeshow.com

NOVEMBER 9–11 LOS ANGELES COFFEE FESTIVAL Los Angeles, California la-coffeefestival.com

OCTOBER 18–22 CHINA XIAMEN INTL. TEA FAIR Xiamen, Fujian Province, China teafair.com.cn/en

NOVEMBER 9–18 KONA COFFEE CULTURAL FESTIVAL Kona, Hawaii konacoffeefest.com

OCTOBER 25–27 TRIESTESPRESSO EXPO Trieste, Italy triestespresso.it

NOVEMBER 11–12 HX: THE HOTEL EXPERIENCEROOMS TO RESTAURANTS New York City, New York thehotelexperience.com

NOVEMBER NOVEMBER 7–9 INTERNATIONAL COFFEE WEEK Belo Horizonte, Brazil semanainternacionaldocafe.com.br/en/

NOVEMBER 7–9 WORLD LATTE ART CHAMPIONSHIP Belo Horizonte, Brazil worldlatteart.org

46 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

DECEMBER DECEMBER 1–2 COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL VALLEY FORGE Valley Forge, Pennsylvania coffeeandteafestival.com

DECEMBER 3–7 INTERNATIONAL COFFEE & CHOCOLATE EXHIBITION Riyadh, Saudia Arabia coffeechoco-expo.com

DECEMBER DECEMBER 5–7 INTERNATIONAL COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL Dubai, UAE coffeeteafest.com

JANUARY 2019 JANUARY 17–19 CAFE MALAYSIA Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia cafe-malaysia.com

FEBRUARY 2019 FEBRUARY 7–9 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE EXPO Melbourne, Australia internationalcoffeeexpo.com.au

FEBRUARY 13–15 AFRICAN FINE COFFEE CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION Kigali, Rwanda afca.coffee/conference

MARCH 2019 MARCH 1–3 AMSTERDAM COFFEE FESTIVAL Amsterdam, Netherlands amsterdamcoffeefestival.com

MARCH 3–5 INTERNATIONAL RESTAURANT & FOODSERVICE SHOW New York City, New York internationalrestaurantny.com

MARCH 3–5 COFFEE FEST New York City, New York coffeefest.com

MARCH 2019 MARCH 13–15 COFFEE & TEA RUSSIAN EXPO Moscow, Russia coffeetearusexpo.ru/en

MARCH 16–17 SOUTHWEST COFFEE & CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL Albuquerque, New Mexico chocolateandcoffeefest.com

MARCH 21–23 CAFE ASIA & ICT INDUSTRY EXPO Albuquerque, New Mexico cafeasia.com.sg

MARCH 30–31 COFFEE & CHOCOLATE EXPO San Juan, Puerto Rico coffeeandchocolateexpo.com

APRIL 2019 APRIL 11–14 SPECIALTY COFFEE EXPO Boston, Massachusetts coffeeexpo.org

APRIL 14–15 NORTHWEST FOOD SHOW Portland, Oregon nwfoodshow.com

MAY 2019 MAY 18–21 NATIONAL RESTAURANT SHOW Chicago, Illinois show.restaurant.org

MAY 31–JUNE 2 COFFEE FEST Indianapolis, Indiana coffeefest.com

FRESH CUP MAGAZINE | 47

ADVERTISER INDEX

Go to freshcup.com/resources/fresh-cup-advertisers to view the Advertiser Index and the websites listed below.

ADVERTISER

CONTACT

ONLINE

Art of Tea

213.493.6518

wholesale.artoftea.com

Barista Pro Shop

866.776.5288

baristaproshop.com/ad/fresh

23

Bistro Collection

855.5BISTRO (524.7876)

bistrogourmetbakery.com

19

Brewista

888.538.8683 mybrewista.com

16

Coffee & Tea Festival

631.940.7290

coffeeandteafestival.com

43

Coffee Fest

425.295.3300

coffeefest.com

4

Danone Away From Home

888.620.9910

danoneawayfromhome.com

7

Ditting

810.367.7125

ditting.com

9

Divinitea

518.347.0689

divinitea.com

43

Dominion Tea

540.999./TEAS (8327)

wholesale.dominiontea.com

16

Elmhurst

888.356.1925

elmhurstmilked.com

41

Empire Tea Services

812.375.1937

empiretea.com

43

Fresh Cup Magazine

503.236.2587

freshcup.com

49

Ghirardelli Chocolate

800.877.9338

ghirardelli.com/professional

52

Gosh That’s Good! Brand

888.848.GOSH (4674)

goshthatsgood.com

11

Grandstand Glassware + Apparel

800.767.8951

egrandstand.com/coffee

9

Java Jacket

800.208.4128

javajacket.com

6

Malabar Gold Espresso

650.366.5453

malabargoldespresso.com

Milkadamia

630.861.2102 milkadamia.com

Monin Gourmet Flavorings

855.FLAVOR1 (352.8671)

monin.com

Mountain Cider Co.

800.483.2416

mountaincider.com

22

Mr. Espresso

510.287.5200

mrespresso.com

17

Pacific Foods

503.692.9666

pacificfoods.com/foodservice

RetailMugs.com

970.222.9559

retailmugs.com

43

SelbySoft

800.454.4434

selbysoft.com

22

SerendipiTea

888.TEA.LIFE (832.5433)

serendipitea.com

43

TeaSource

855.320.4832

teasource.com

Toddy

888.863.3974

toddycafe.com/wholesale

Torani

800.775.1925

torani.com/foodservice

Your Brand Café

866.566.0390

yourbrandcafe.com

Zojirushi America

800.264.6270

zojirushi.com

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2

6 23 26, 27 13 5

THE LAST PLASTIC STRAW

Strawless in Seattle

By Robin Roenker

I

n July, Seattle became the first major U.S. city to ban plastic straws and utensils. Businesses there must now offer compostable or recyclable serviceware, or face a $250 fine.

Fresh Cup reached out to three Seattle coffee shops to ask about the impact of the new ordinance—and how it has shifted the ways they serve their customers, if at all.

Espresso Vivace founder David Schomer said that while he’s been using sustainable packaging, including EarthSense compostable straws as well as compostable hot and cool beverage cups and lids from brands like EcoChoice and Fabri-Kal Greenware, at his three Seattle locations for years, the citywide ordinance has led to broader understanding about the importance of reducing single-use plastics.

“Awareness expanded when the regulations went in, because people now go, ‘Well maybe this is important because look, even McDonald’s and Starbucks and other big corporations are doing it now, along with the independent shops that have been doing it for years,’” says Schomer, whose decades-long dedication to environmental sustainability included planting thousands of cedar trees in 2004 in order to make his roasting operation carbon neutral.

50 | OCTOBER 2018 » freshcup.com

Recently, Espresso Vivace went virtually 100 percent compostable with the adoption of “omnidegradable” retail coffee bags produced by a Canadian firm called TekPak Solutions.

In the café, Schomer and his team have installed picture charts over the recycling, compost, and garbage bins to help customers better understand what goes where. Schomer is encouraged by the fact that the only items now going into the trash bin are mini cream cheese containers. Everything else, save for plastic food containers, which are recyclable, goes into the compost bin.

Victrola Coffee currently offers both compostable and recyclable cups at its four Seattle locations. According to owner Dan Ollis, educating customers about composting versus recycling—and the relative pros and cons of each—continues to be a challenge for many shop owners, who must work to stay informed about new sustainable products, as well as the best practices of the recycling and composting facilities in the city.

At Tougo Coffee, which operates three locations in Seattle, founder Brian Wells said one ongoing challenge is educating customers about the importance of tossing their straws and cups in designated compost and recycling bins, rather than a traditional trash can, even on the go.

“A lot of times, we fear our guests won’t take the time to find a compost or recycling bin to dispose of their recyclable or compostable products,” says Wells. “They’ll just throw it all in the rubbish barrel on the street,” thereby defeating the purpose of offering sustainable serviceware.

Wells hopes as more months under the new ordinance pass, access to curbside composting and recycling bins will increase, as well as residents’ understanding of how best to use them.

Like Schomer and Ollis, Wells continues to look for new and innovative ways to expand his shops’ commitment to sustainability. In addition to offering compost made from used grounds and food scraps to area neighbors for their gardens, Tougo has begun working with local artisans to create a line of wallets, keychains, and even coffee cup sleeves crafted from used, non-recyclable fivepound retail coffee bags.

Along with their use of compostable and recyclable serviceware and efforts to donate excess food to a nearby retirement community and the homeless, Tougo’s effort to upcycle represents another step in their overall approach to reducing landfill waste.

Wells’ next goal: adopting sustainable bags. “We’re currently exploring compostable bags for our takeout pastry items,” he says. FC

PHOTOS COURTESY OF: ESPRESSO VIVACE (LEFT) AND VICTROLA COFFEE (RIGHT)