GCR Jul 2019

JULY/AUGUST 2019

LABOUR ISSUES AT ORIGIN Who’s responsible for prevention and mitigation?

SURVIVAL STASH

Why the Swiss government could abolish its emergency supply

BREEDING FOR THE FUTURE Attention turns to East Africa to help combat low yield and disease

FROM ADVERSITY TO DIVERSITY Hope for PNG amid stacks of challenges

A REVIVIAL

MISSION

NESPRESSO CEO JEAN-MARC DUVOISIN ON BUILDING TRUST AND RESURRECTING COFFEES THAT WERE ONCE LOST, BUT ARE NOW FOUND www.gcrmag.com

CONTENTS July/August 2019

COVER STORY

A REVIVIAL MISSION

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Nespresso CEO Jean-Marc Duvoisin talks about 33 years of growing Nespresso’s sustainable platform and why every roaster must be responsible for paying the right price to farmers.

IN THIS ISSUE FEATURES

10 A REVIVAL MISSION

Nespresso CEO Jean-Marc Duvoisin on resurrecting coffees from Zimbabwe, Colombia, and South Sudan

16 LABOUR ISSUES AT ORIGIN

Why consuming countries and companies have to play a greater role in prevention and mitigation

21 SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

he ICO on the urgency T to improve farmers’ livelihoods and foster a sustainable value chain

24 SWITZERLAND’S SURVIVAL STASH Why the Swiss Government is considering abolishing its 1920s tradition of stockpiling coffee

28 BREEDING FOR THE FUTURE

A new Breeding Hub is using advanced approaches to combat climate change and disease

32 BOSTON’S HOME RUN

New releases share the spotlight with the World

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Coffee Championships at the Specialty Coffee Expo

PROFILE

34 KEEPING COFFEE DEFORESTATION- FREE

4C Services implements new technologies to verify the traceability and validity of its deforestation-free certification

36 TWO IN ONE

WMF adds Fresh Filtered Coffee technology to its fully automatic models

38 A HUB FOR ALL

46 COLD BREW REVOLUTION

MyCoffeeWorld introduces Mastercoldbrewer and its method of cold coffee extraction

OPINION

48 THE POWER OF DECISION

Eversys Chief Commercial Officer Kamal Bengougam on how to navigate the world without a map

ORIGIN

50 ADVERSITY TO DIVERSITY

Five manufacturers join forces to launch the new all-in-one Ima Coffee Hub

Why differentiation is key to saving Papua New Guinea’s coffee supply

40 WE ARE ONE

LAST WORD

Simonelli Group on the importance of embracing digital solutions to connect with the next generation

42 A TASTE OF THAILAND

Jean-Marc Duvoisin Nespresso CEO

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58 RE:CONNECTING

Coffee in Crisis takes

centre stage at this year’s Re:Co Symposium

Thaifex-World of Food Asia connects Asia’s top decision makers

REGULARS

45 THE WORLD IS COMING

07 NEWS DRIP BY DRIP

Why the Melbourne International Coffee Expo will be the must-attend global event of 2020

“WE SHOW OUR CHALLENGES AND OUR TRIUMPHS, BUT I PERSONALLY BELIEVE WE ARE DOING THE BEST WE CAN WITH OUR AMBITION TO BE THE MOST SUSTAINABLE COFFEE BRAND.”

04 EDITOR’S NOTE 54 DIARY DASHBOARD 56 MARKETPLACE

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EDITOR’S NOTE Global Coffee Report

PUBLISHER Christine Clancy christine.clancy@primecreative.com.au EDITOR Sarah Baker sarah.baker@primecreative.com.au

SPECTATORS OR ACTORS? Sitting front row at this year’s Re:Co Symposium in Boston Plaza’s Grand Ballroom, I couldn’t help but feel like I was back at university about to attend a lecture.

In one hand, I had my pen and paper ready to take notes, and in the other, a delicious Colombian filter coffee that 2018 World Barista Champion Agnieszka Rojewska had just made me in the foyer.

I, along with hundreds of industry decision makers and representatives, had travelled far and wide to hear guest speakers discuss one pivotal topic: the current price crisis.

The only disadvantage, however, was little representation from producers.

Unlike the many attendees who are supported by companies and in a privileged position to travel, many producers can’t.

They can’t afford to leave their farms, nor the accomodation or the luxery of sipping a barista-champion-made coffee in a fancy ballroom. While a lucky few represented their farms and communities, as if wearing a proud Olympic uniform, the dialogue continued with presenters being a voice for those producers who couldn’t raise their concerns in person.

The conversations were inspiring, thoughtprovoking, and in many ways a serious and sad reality hit of the situation our industry finds itself in. But for me, the most touching moments were those from producers who painted a picture of a life most people in that ballroom had never experienced, nor ever will.

On the last day of the event, attendees broke up into ‘change-making sessions’ and had healthy discussions on how we could make collective and personal pledges to better support the industy amid the price

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crisis, ranging from having more open discussions with consumers to displaying the Free on Board price on coffee packaging. I pledged to be a voice through this publication.

As Enveritas CEO David Browning best said in his talk: “In the future, will we ask ourselves ‘did we do enough? The world’s smallholder farmers are waiting for us to act’.” I for one don’t want to be a spectator in this crisis.

Someone who has committed the past 33 years of his employment at Nespresso to ensuring the company is doing enough, is CEO Jean-Marc Duvoisin.

Most recently, Nespresso has devoted its resources to restoring coffee farming in regions, such as Adjuntas in Puerto Rico, Zimbabwe, conflict zones of Colombia and South Sudan (see page 10).

When my interview with Duvoisin came to a close after 55 minutes and my third attempt at ‘just one last question’, I ended the call to Switzerland with the sense that Duvoisin isn’t just a man at the helm of a well-recognised brand doing his job. He’s a man committed to making a positive impact for the benefit of farmers and the future of our industry, and it shows not just in his voice, but his actions.

Sarah Baker Editor, Global Coffee Report

JOURNALISTS Ethan Miller ethan.miller@primecreative.com.au Alexandra Duffy alexandra.duffy@primecreative.com.au DESIGN PRODUCTION MANAGER Michelle Weston michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au ART DIRECTOR Blake Storey blake.storey@primecreative.com.au DESIGN Kerry Pert, Madeline McCarty BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING ACCOUNT MANAGER Camilo Molina camilo.molina@primecreative.com.au CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Brad Buchanan brad.buchanan@primecreative.com.au CLIENT SUCCESS MANAGER Janine Clements janine.clements@primecreative.com.au CONTRIBUTORS Lindsay Holloway, Kamal Bengougam PHOTOGRAPHY World Coffee Events, Darrin Vanselow, CMOABI/CIC, Rainforest Alliance HEAD OFFICE Prime Creative Pty Ltd 11-15 Buckhurst Street South Melbourne VIC 3205 Australia p: +61 3 9690 8766 f: +61 3 9682 0044 enquiries@primecreative.com.au www.gcrmag.com SUBSCRIPTIONS +61 3 9690 8766 subscriptions@primecreative.com.au

Global Coffee Report Magazine is available by subscription from the publisher. The rights of refusal are reserved by the publisher.

ARTICLES

All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

COPYRIGHT

Global Coffee Report is owned and published by Prime Creative Media. All material in Global Coffee Report Magazine is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published. The opinions expressed in Global Coffee Report are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated.

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NEWS In brief

NEWS DRIPBYDRIP EUROPE Nespresso is investing CHF10 million (about US$9.8 million) over the next five years to revive the coffee industries in selected countries with the aim of encouraging rural economic development. Reviving Origins is part of Nespresso’s overall commitment to invest CHF500 million (about US$490 million) from 2014 to 2020 in its sustainability strategy.

Nespresso CEO Jean-Marc Duvoisin says the Reviving Origins program is an opportunity to bring back forgotten coffees, boost economic development in regions where there has been significant adversity, and share a completely new taste experience with consumers.

See page 10.

In the United States Department of Labor’s “2018 List of Goods Produced

by Child Labor of Forced Labo” report, coffee ranks fourth behind gold, bricks,

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and sugarcane, with 17 countries reporting incidence of child labour, forced labour, or both.

Andrew Sargent, Coffeelands Director at international humanitarian nonprofit Catholic Relief Services, says in the coffee industry, labour violations can occur all along the value chain, but they are most likely to occur during harvest when labour demand and costs are highest.

See page 16.

On 6 June, the International Coffee Organization (ICO) discussed the urgency of attracting and nurturing a generation of young farmers with new technologies to increase productivity, living income, and livelihoods at the ‘Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals’ Symposium at the Albert Borschette Congress Center in Brussels, Belgium.

This symposium, held in partnership with the European Coffee Federation, was the fifth event held as part of the ICO’s Structured Sector-Wide Labour violations are most likely to occur during harvest when labour demand and costs are highest.

Dialogue to implement Resolution 465 on coffee price levels. It brought together coffee sector stakeholders, policy-makers, academia, civil society, and development partners to identify solutions for a sustainable and inclusive development of the coffee sector.

See page 21.

The Swiss Government has stockpiled emergency supplies of coffee since the 1920s but is now considering abolishing them for ‘“nonessential” reasons.

Under Swiss law, coffee importers who trade more than 500 tonnes of green coffee a year are required to maintain the government-subsidised stockpiles and become a member of Reservesuisse. Together, these stockpiles amount to approximately 15,300 tonnes of green coffee, enough for three months of consumption. The Swiss Government says it is open to consultation on the decision until July 2019.

See page 24.

Germany-based company WMF has introduced a Fresh Filtered Coffee system to its 1500S+ and 5000S+fully automatic espresso machine models to capitalise on the growing popularity of filter coffee in the country. A 2017 German Coffee Association study found that 66 per cent of respondents drank filter coffee on a regular basis, and filter was the second most popular method of coffee served at bakeries and restaurants/ hotels, behind fully automatic, and the preferred choice for kiosks.

See page 36.

During early 2019, Italian coffee manufacturing company Ima established a Coffee Hub encompassing a coffee handling,

15,300

Tonnes of green coffee stockpiled in Switzerland due to the government’s emergency supply laws.

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NEWS In brief

processing, and packaging production line. Consisting of five companies – Petroncini, Mapstar, Tecmar, Gima, and Spreafico Automation – the Coffee Hub aims to provides a key slice of experience and expertise needed to serve the coffee industry from the delivery of green coffee to bulk packaging of capsules, and the delivery of ground coffee or whole beans to retail outlets.

See page 38.

Italian coffee machine and grinder manufacturer Victoria Arduino has launched the I Am One Instagram contest, which will see the winner invited to participate backstage at the preview of Victoria Arduino’s new product in September.

Marco Feliziani, Vice-President of parent company Simonelli Group, calls Instagram “the social media platform of choice among millennials” – Victoria Arduino’s youngest demographic and the future decision-makers of the global coffee indsutry.

See page 40.

MyCoffeeWorld, an investment vehicle from Pascal Schlitter, supports and invests in companies to help revolutionise the coffee industry. This includes

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Mastercoldbrewer, which has developed and patented a new manufacturing process that allows the production of cold brew coffee within minutes, compared to the eight to 24 hours it takes to extract traditonal cold brew in large batches.

See page 46.

the industry’s genetic breeding pools, using advanced breeding techniques.

WCR has created 40 varieties that are being tested in three locations in Central America at different altitudes, and one on location at the Rwandan breeding hub.

See page 28.

Eversys Chief Commercial Officer Kamal Bengougam says the “perfect” espresso has become a dot on a computer screen.

Total dissolved solids replace taste and flavour as machines make our choices, and intricate algorithms, mass spectrometers, charts, and sensors tell us the quality in the cup.

See page 48.

Boston Convention Centre hosted the 31st Specialty Coffee Expo in April with more than 14,000 visitors and 600 exhibitors representing everything from roasters to green beans, and equipment manufacturers to packaging.

The expo hosted a record number of 35 educational classes, 88 lectures, and a fleet of new product releases from companies including La Marzocco, Bellwether Coffee, Marco Beverage System, Tree Field, Cometeer Coffee Capsules, and Elemental Beverage Company.

See page 32.

AMERICAS World Coffee Research (WCR), in collaboration with the Rwanda Agriculture Board, has began working on a Breeding Hub in Rwanda to develop new diseaseand climate-resilient varietals.

The new Hub is expected to produce the next generation of coffee varieties that will be adapted to various growing conditions in Africa and sustain The Rwanda Breeding Hub will serve as a centralised location for different countries to access breeding populations.

To ensure coffee supply chains are free of deforestation, Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C) Services is using remote sensing technology capable of monitoring coffee production areas and detecting changes in land use.

The technology uses the Enhanced Vegetation Index with values ranging from zero to one, indicating the greenness of the soil cover.

The closer to one, the greener the area. If it drops below 0.25, this is a clear indicator for bare soil. This could be caused by deforestation or just replanting crops, but with the help of satellite imagery, 4C Services can assess what has actually happened on the ground.

See page 34.

From 10 to 11 April, Boston Park Plaza’s ballroom filled with hundreds of industry executives and company representatives attended Re:Co to hear guest speakers present solutions on what

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could be done to address one of the most pressing issues facing the producing sector: coffee prices.

See page 58.

ASIA PACIFIC Thaifex-World of Food Asia saw thousands of attendees congregate to examine the changing demographics in the Asia Pacific region and increase awareness of its food and beverage sector. The show gave exhibitors an exclusive glimpse at upcoming trends in food production, technologies, alternative foods, and culinary service from more than 42 countries and regions.

See page 42.

Australia has a coffee scene unlike any other, with 95 per cent of its cafés independently owned. This scene will be on display when the coffee world gathers for the Melbourne International Coffee Expo from 4 to 7 May, 2020. Event organisers expect the expo to top 2019’s record attendance of 11,978 visitors to the Southern Hemisphere’s largest coffeededicated event.

See page 45.

In the past decade, Papua New Guinea’s coffee production has dropped 22 per cent, from about one million 60-kilogram bags in 2009 to 800,000 bags today, according to the ICO. With two exceptions, the past decade’s annual production has averaged fewer than 800,000 bags. Exports have followed a very similar trend, falling nearly 23 per cent during the same period. Today, PNG’s coffee industry contributes only about 0.5 per cent to global production.

However, experts still see hope for the country’s coffee industry.

See page 50.

Image: Darrin Vanselow

COVER STORY Nespresso

A revival mission NESPRESSO CEO JEAN-MARC DUVOISIN ON INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO THE COMPANY’S BUSINESS MODEL, AND RESURRECTING COFFEES THAT WERE ONCE LOST, BUT ARE NOW FOUND.

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espresso CEO Jean-Marc Duvoisin and Academy Award-winning actor George Clooney have more in common than most might think. Both are strong advocates for sustainability, look sharp in a suit, and are committed to presenting Nespresso as a premium portioned coffee product. The only difference is that Duvoisin, a Swiss national, does so with a responsibility to Nespresso’s thousands of consumers and producers while American movie icon Clooney flashes his mischievous smile at the TV lens, coffee in hand, asking: “How far would you go for a Nespresso?”

Clearly for Clooney, very far. Since he starred in the company’s first celebrity campaign in 2006, Clooney has charmed fans as the perfect personification of the understated elegance and authenticity that makes Nespresso famous around the world.

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting George in different occasions, one of them being the Nespresso Sustainability Advisory Board, in which he is a committed and active member,” Duvoisin tells Global Coffee Report. “George is not only our brand ambassador but a strong sustainability champion.”

It was Clooney who encouraged Duvoisin to visit South Sudan to meet with farmers and support the recovery of South Sudan’s coffee industry in 2015. Once there, Nespresso’s coffee experts discovered a lot of “very interesting” coffee plants and an industry in need of revival.

Nespresso and its global non-profit partner TechnoServe hired agronomists to help improve the locals’ production methods through its AAA Sustainable Quality Program, which it first launched in Colombia in 2003 with the support of Rainforest Alliance.

“It’s an internal certification,” Duvoisin says.

“AAA is based on having agronomists go to the farms and support the farmers by training them to produce a better quality product, achieving more volume and greater productivity in an environmentally and socially sustainable way.”

Nespresso now has more than 450 agronomists working around the world, lending their expertise to 100,000 farmers in 13 countries, including South Sudan. In 2015, Nespresso released the country’s first significant

“SULUJA TI SOUTH SUDAN WAS AN ENORMOUS SUCCESS FROM THE CONSUMER POINT OF VIEW BECAUSE THE AROMA WAS VERY DIFFERENT TO ANYTHING ELSE WE HAD ON OFFER, BUT ALSO BECAUSE THE STORY WAS VERY APPEALING.” Jean-Marc Duvoisin Nespresso CEO

non-oil export in a generation, Suluja ti South Sudan coffee capsules.

“Suluja ti South Sudan was an enormous success from the consumer point of view because the aroma was very different to anything else we had on offer, but also because the story was very appealing,” Duvoisin says.

That’s where the concept of Reviving Origins was created, a new Nespresso program to restore coffee farming in regions where it is under threat, such as Zimbabwe, former conflict zones of Colombia, and South Sudan.

Nespresso is investing CHF10 million (about US$9.8 million) over the next five years to revive the coffee industries in selected countries with the aim of encouraging rural economic development.

Reviving Origins is part of Nespresso’s overall commitment to invest CHF500 million (about US$490 million) from 2014 to 2020 in its sustainability strategy, The Positive Cup. “Through our Reviving Origins program, we have an opportunity to bring back forgotten coffees, boost economic development in regions where there has been significant adversity, and share a completely new taste experience with consumers,” Duvoisin says.

Every restoration situation is different. In South Sudan, Duvoisin says while the coffee quality was good, it was a cash crop with low volumes. The revival process was about improving processing methods to improve coffee quality, and increasing production so that the product could be commercialised.

In Colombia, coffee almost disappeared in Caquetá following 50 years of conflict, with many farmers abandoning their lands. As such, Nespresso has partnered with local farmers and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) to support the rebuilding of the industry, encourage producers to implement sustainable farming practices that facilitate the growth of high quality coffee, and provide better access to international markets. With the support of the FNC and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Nespresso has also just added El Rosario in the Nariño region – a municipality where illicit crops continue to be cultivated – to its Revivals list with plans to improve the municipality’s coffee farms and community infrastructure.

And in Zimbabwe, Duvoisin says Reviving Origins is about empowering farmers with production techniques to improve crop quality.

In the late 1980s, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, Zimbabwean coffee farmers produced more than 15,000 tonnes of coffee. However, production almost came to a complete halt as a result of climate factors and economic instability. By 2017, production levels were at less than 500 tonnes.

“In Zimbabwe, the people no longer knew about coffee production or how to care for their coffee. So, its revival was about restoring its production industry along with TechnoServe to support agronomy expertise in the country,” Duvoisin says. “What we’ve done is opened the farmer’s eyes to a new means of having a stable income.”

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COVER STORY Nespresso

George Clooney has been a Nespresso brand ambassador since 2006 and remains an active member of Nespresso’s Sustainability Advisory Board.

TechnoServe and Nespresso have since worked with the local coffee farming community in Manicaland Province, eastern Zimbabwe, to establish sustainable farming practices and bring expert trainers and new techniques to tackle issues such as coffee processing and tree management. The result is a higher quality Arabica coffee.

“Revival is taking place in regions where we can imagine having access to very good quality coffee and large volumes. We’ve found unique coffees in other countries but sometimes the quality is not there,” Duvoisin says.

“It’s also about ensuring that we find an interesting coffee that embraces a story and a flavour or aroma in the cup the consumer hasn’t experienced before. These initiatives are not only a question of responsibility, they are part of our business model. It’s something consumers expect from us.”

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LONG-TERM COMMITMENT Duvoisin joined Nestlé in 1986 and worked in different markets across Latin America before becoming Market Head of the Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador region, and Mexico. His deep knowledge of the company, international experience, and recognised leadership made him the right candidate to later lead the Nespresso expansion in 2013, when he replaced then-CEO Richard Girardot. It was around this time Nespresso was finalising the Vertuo coffee machine, which it first launched in the United States, then Canada. It was also a time when more capsule brands were making their presence known on the market, providing Nespresso with healthy competition for the first time.

“Nespresso is one of the most interesting companies you can run,” Duvoisin tells GCR .

“Competition will always be there. The only thing it does is push you even more to ensure you’re delivering what the consumer really wants, and to create competitive advantages based on that. If you can identify what they want and deliver it, that’s the key.”

A LEAGUE OF ITS OWN What Nespresso customers want, according to Duvoisin, is an exciting coffee and a fascinating story.

“Five to 10 years ago coffee consumers just wanted strong coffee with milk or sugar. Little by little, they’ve got to understand that the world of coffee is wide and diverse, and they want to widen their experiences. They want to try different flavours and enjoy coffees linked to stories. That’s how they develop their coffee expertise,” Duvoisin says.

“Nespresso was probably one of the first companies to offer this idea of diversity to consumers,

and it’s this broad selection that’s helped evolve consumer expectations.”

At origin, Duvoisin says “unique flavour” is achieved through various processing techniques, such as asking Colombian farmers to keep cherries on the trees longer during fermentation, encouraging Nicaraguan farmers to leave the mucilage on the cherry for a sweeter cup profile, or building trust with farmers in Indonesia to change their traditional practices.

Duvoisin says experimentation is key to evolution, however with the C market price continuing to decline, support for the industry’s farming communities must come first.

“Coffee pricing is a big concern for us. It’s not where it should be,” Duvoisin says. “The situation for the past two years has become a cycle that goes up and down, as often is the case in agricultural production. What we see now is overproduction, which drags the price of coffee down. But why is it not healthy? In some countries the price doesn’t even cover cost of production. Because we pay our farmers more, much more than the coffee market, they

“WE DO EVERYTHING WE FEEL WE SHOULD BE DOING AND WE SHOWCASE IT IN A VERY TRANSPARENT WAY. WE SHOW OUR CHALLENGES AND OUR SUCCESSES, AND I PERSONALLY BELIEVE WE ARE DOING THE BEST WE CAN WITH OUR AMBITION TO BE THE MOST SUSTAINABLE COFFEE BRAND.” Jean-Marc Duvoisin Nespresso CEO

are protected, but [the current environment] is not good for the whole industry. What happens is quality goes down and so does volume.”

Duvoisin says every roaster must be responsible for correctly paying the right price to farmers. In this way, Nespresso wants to be seen as doing “absolutely everything it can” to support its producers, economically and environmentally, including through its pilot weather index insurance program for smallholder coffee farmers in Colombia.

COVER STORY Nespresso

SUSTAINABLE STANCE Nespresso’s sustainable commitments extend to changing consumer behaviours through its recycling scheme. In most countries, public recycling infrastructure is unable to process small light items such as coffee capsules, so Nespresso set up dedicated schemes 28 years ago. Today, it covers 53 countries with more than 100,000 drop off points.

In April 2019, Nespresso issued an invitation to other portioned coffee manufacturers to join its recycling program to help improve the accessibility and convenience of aluminium capsule recycling. It is confident this program is driving the industry towards a global solution for the whole capsule category.

“Aluminium is a very noble product because it can be recycled in infinite ways. We use aluminium because we believe it’s the best packaging solution to keep peak freshness,” Duvoisin says. “I see the decision [to open the recycling program to other manufacturers] as pre-competitive, meaning that it’s not from recycling that we make a competitive cup. We see where we have our competitive advantages, but recycling is not one of them.

We need everyone to be contributing and all our consumers should be helping us recycle too. The packaging we have on the market is a professional responsibility.”

Duvoisin says one of his greatest accomplishments at Nespresso is embedding sustainability across Nespresso’s entire production chain, and having the brand recognised by its customers as working in the most sustainable way. By 2020, it has committed to reach 100 per cent sustainably sourced coffee, 100 per cent sustainably managed aluminium, and 100 per cent carbon efficient operations.

“We do everything we feel we should be doing and we showcase it in a very transparent way. We show our challenges and our successes, and I personally believe we are doing the best we can with our ambition to be the most sustainable coffee brand,” Duvoisin says.

However, Duvoisin isn’t afraid to admit there’s always more to be done.

“We can always push our ambition further to offer consumers the best coffee in the most sustainable way, and to be perceived as such,” he says.

“We want to increase our recycling rate, and for that we need more communication 14

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with consumers. But so far the system is working really well and the recycling rates in each participating country are very strong.”

Duvoisin adds that it’s also important to increase consumer awareness about the impact of climate change and waste consumption.

“Many people won’t know that portion coffee is the best way to prepare a cup of coffee in terms of its carbon footprint. It’s more efficient than any other method with the exception of soluble coffee,” Duvoisin says. “Most carbon footprint comes from coffee production and preparation at home – look at the energy used to grind coffee beans, the energy to warm water and extract a coffee in a traditional espresso machine. All this is much more efficient in portion coffee. It’s something we measure all the time and strive to improve in our machines. It’s probably something that will become even more important from a consumer point of view.”

THE NEXT STEP Duvoisin says the company’s success as one of the fastest growing global food and beverage brands with close to 800 boutiques worldwide is because of its strong growth rate which “has allowed the everyday consumer to prepare good quality coffee at home based on a Nespresso innovation”.

“Nespresso brought something completely new to the market. It positioned coffee as a premium product and consumers recognised this. Our direct consumer relationship was a completely new way of marketing at the time. I’d say [Nespresso] is one of the only companies like this,” he says.

Duvoisin doesn’t discount Clooney’s charming contributions to the company’s luxury reputation, but says as long as consumers connect with the stories of origin and embrace Nespresso’s evolving product range, he is confident in 2030 customers will still be saying, “Nespresso, what else?” G C R Jean-Marc (right) meets farmers Susan Waithira and Patrick Gitau, pictured with their Nespresso AAA agronomist in Kenya.

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Labour issues at origin: Who’s responsible?

FROM FORCED AND CHILD LABOUR TO HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES, COFFEE-BUYING COUNTRIES AND INDIVIDUAL COMPANIES ARE HAVING TO PLAY A GREATER ROLE IN PREVENTION AND MITIGATION.

A

ccording to the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO), nearly 25 million people are in forced labour worldwide, a number that doesn’t capture the additional 152 million youth in child labour. The ILO estimates that modern slavery in the private economy generates US$150 billion in illegal profit every year. Agriculture is one of the top sectors for incidence of child labour, forced labour, and other labour violations, including health and safety issues.

In the United States Department of Labor’s (USDOL) “2018 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor of Forced Labor” report, coffee ranks fourth behind gold, bricks, and sugarcane, with 17 countries reporting incidence of child labour, forced labour, or both.

In the coffee industry, labour violations can occur all along the value chain, but they are most likely to occur during harvest when labour demand and costs are highest. In addition, places with more vulnerable populations and weak or variable law enforcement are also more susceptible to labour issues, explains Andrew Sargent, Coffeelands Director at international humanitarian nonprofit Catholic Relief Services.

“In most cases, it’s not binary, as in there either is or isn’t forced labour,” adds Miguel Zamora, Core Markets Transformation Director at Rainforest Alliance. “So we try to identify those

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and other risk factors because when they are present, the potential for forced labour increases significantly.” Sargent and Zamora have worked together extensively on this topic and led the session ‘Labor Concerns at Origin’ at this year’s National Coffee Association (NCA) conference in Atlanta in the US. Experts say that even though child labour and forced labour get more attention from the likes of government authorities, humanitarian agencies, and media outlets, wage, health, and safety issues are more common labour violations. Examples include under- or nonpayment of workers, absence of safety equipment or training, and substandard living conditions for migrant workers.

According to the ILO definition, forced

Images: Rainforest Alliance

FEATURE Labour concerns

labour is work or service that is extracted from a person under threat of penalty and for which the person has not offered voluntarily.

Despite focusing on those two core elements, Sargent says it’s not so straightforward.

The definition assesses three dimensions: recruitment, work and life, and the worker’s ability to leave (or not). To control workers and keep them through the end of the harvest, estate owners or labour brokers may confiscate identification or travel documents, force overtime, limit mobility, threaten violence, and withhold or delay wages.

While child labour conditions can overlap with forced labour, the ILO definition focuses on work that is harmful to a child’s mental and physical development, depriving them of their childhood, potential and dignity.

The USDOL’s 2018 report actually points to greater incidence of child labour at origin than forced labour in the coffee industry. This is due in part to a high number of migrant workers who have no childcare options during seasonal harvesting jobs in distant regions.

While forced and child labour have long been part of the agriculture sector overall and the coffee industry specifically, coffee has managed to operate somewhat under the radar due to the “characteristics of the workforce involved in coffee production and of the coffee supply chain”, says Kate Dunbar, Senior Business and Human Rights Analyst at Assent Compliance, a supply chain risk management company. “The industry is heavily reliant on poor, vulnerable, and

Coffee ranks fourth on the 2018 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, behind gold, bricks, and sugarcane.

often migrant workers, who work in remote locations, have little leverage over their working conditions and pay, and may not have access to support systems. [Meanwhile], the coffee supply chain is nontransparent, making it hard to identify and address risks. Many of the countries where coffee is produced have weak legal protection for, and monitoring of, workers’ rights.”

Few large-scale studies have been carried out on labour issues in the coffee sector, according to Verité, a nonprofit that focuses on labour and human rights abuses in global supply chains, but the organisation’s own research and other independent reports have highlighted a number of violations in various countries over recent years.

Verité has identified indicators of forced labour in the Guatemalan coffee sector. Investigations by investigative media and research centre Danwatch and Finnish civil society organisation Finnwatch have uncovered indicators of forced labour in Brazil, Honduras, and Guatemala. A Univision/Weather Channel documentary also found child labour, degrading living conditions, and a lack of inspections in the Mexican coffee sector, and both Oxfam and the ILO have identified juvenile coffee harvesters in Kenya.

More recently, the Brazilian Ministry of Labour detected labour abuses on two farms in International Labor Organization global estimates the Minas Gerais region last year, resulting in a on child and forced labour rescue of 33 workers from “conditions analogous to slavery”.

Of the 152 million children in child labour Of the 25 million people in forced labour in Despite reports on Brazil, which has higher in 2016: 2016: probability of labour issues just based on its size, experts agree that the leading coffee producer • 73 million were in hazardous work • 64 per cent were in the Asia-Pacific region actually serves as a strong model for enforcing • More than 70 per cent worked in agriculture • More than 8 million experienced debt bondage labour law. “There is stricter labour law in • 48 per cent were below age 12 • More than 4 million were in government-imposed Brazil, as well as more resources to identify • 58 per cent were boys forced labour and disseminate information about labour issues,” Zamora tells Global Coffee Report. “So Source: International Labor Organization and the Walk Free Foundation, 2017. although the labour situation on Brazilian coffee farms might be better than in other countries [because of these factors], I think we will also

J U LY /A U G U S T 2 0 19 | GCR

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FEATURE Labour concerns

for enforcing labour law,” explains Quinn Kepes, Senior Program Director at Verité.

“If coffee buyers can be confident that the governments at origin are doing their jobs regarding enforcement of labour laws, then they don’t have to invest so much in their own monitoring.”

But because of that weak or variable law enforcement that the experts cite, onus falls significantly on coffee importers and roasters.

On top of increasing regulation, risk to brand reputation has motivated more companies to act.

“When it comes to respecting human rights in supply chains, companies recognise this is not simply a regulatory compliance issue,” Dunbar tells GCR . “At stake are their brand reputation, their ability to attract investment, and the stability of their supply chains. Consumers today have access to information about coffee companies that prioritise sustainability and human rights, and [they] expect companies they buy from to take responsibility for how their Exposed labour issues at origin could have a negative impact on products were made.” the entire coffee industry, like it did for cocoa in the early 2000s.

What’s more, exposed labour issues could have a negative impact on the entire coffee industry, the way they did on the cocoa industry in see more reports about labour abuses from the early 2000s, notes Zamora. He doesn’t believe that labour issues within the coffee sector Brazil in the future.” have fully hit consuming countries’ radars, “but if this blows up, the potential recourse could Among labour abuses, child and forced be significantly damaging to individual brands as well as coffee’s brand”. labour also have the most legislation currently, This puts importers and roasters in the precarious situation of carrying full responsibility particularly on the buyer side. Within the without clear next steps. “We don’t fully understand the problem, our role isn’t completely past seven years, coffee-consuming countries around the world have been enacting “supply clear, there are priority issues, and the problem is at such a scale that one single company acting chain” and “modern slavery” legislation that in isolation can’t solve the problem,” Sargent empathises. “[But then] if you say ‘I’m going to do something,’ everything falls on you, so there’s a disincentive to step forward.” regulates labour practices in companies’ supply chains – all the way back to the farms.

In the NCA session, he and Zamora introduced social compliance systems, a recommendation The US Trade Facilitation and Trade from the USDOL. “A social compliance system is a structure of integrated processes and practices Enforcement Act of 2015, for example, that a company can implement in order to maximise compliance with its code of conduct,” Zamora explains. “These systems can help companies better understand their supply chains prohibits all goods produced wholly or in part so they can monitor, prevent, or mitigate labour issues.” Steps include engaging with suppliers by any forced labour from being imported into all along the chain, conducting extensive research, and mapping the risk. the country. But similar to the lack of clarity Some governments and nonprofits in importing countries have resources for developing around ILO definitions, “the devil is in the such systems, like the USDOL’s Comply Chain tool or Social Responsibility Alliance’s opendetails,” says Zamora. “If you find information source Slavery and Trafficking Risk Template. In the works currently is a US$2 million project that can reasonably but not conclusively demonstrate that goods that were produced funded by the USDOL that Verité is leading with a robust coalition of industry stakeholders to with forced labour are being brought into the create an open-source toolkit that can help companies identify and address labour risks across US, an investigation process starts. ‘Reasonably the supply chain, but especially at the producer level.

There are also organisations like Assent Compliance and Verité that can provide guidance but not conclusively’ is very subjective.”

Despite increasing regulation, the role of in specific areas or even conduct full audits at origin. Those workplace audits can be very the private sector is not entirely clear, especially costly for a coffee company, but less so when done as a preventative measure rather than after a when labour issues at origin are assumed to be violation is detected. There are inherent limitations with an audit, though, if not done correctly, the responsibility of the particular countries.

Kepes cautions. “Otherwise, it can lead to a very skewed picture of what’s actually going on.”

Estate owners can select which workers are interviewed, for example, or clear fields of “Our position is that the governments child labourers when audits are preannounced, he says. Meanwhile, workers may not answer at origin are first and foremost responsible

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candidly when interviewed at the workplace, they may withhold information altogether for fear of retaliation, or they may not even know that they are victims of forced labour.

Other organisations working to help address labour issues at origin are certifying bodies, such as 4C, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and UTZ (the two merged in 2018). Some coffee companies have their own certifications and standards too, such as Nespresso’s AAA Sustainable Quality Program and Starbucks’ CAFE Practices.

“Most of the certifications working in coffee include something around workers, and they all forbid forced and child labour,” Zamora tells GCR . “The problem is that by just forbidding it, you don’t solve issues like forced and child labour because they can be hidden relatively well.”

Kepes adds that certifications can give companies a false sense of security that their operations and supply chains are in complete compliance and, thus, clear of any issues.

That’s where a multifaceted, multi-stakeholder approach can have the biggest, most comprehensive impact. Relevant certifications, due diligence, and internal social compliance systems will together make individual companies stronger, while farm audits and support of related initiatives can reach beyond the single company.

Those far-reaching efforts are where Zamora sees the biggest opportunity in the coffee industry regarding labour issues – the collective action.

“Companies don’t buy coffee from only one country and many companies have similar interests [regarding labour issues], so this is an opportunity for collaboration,” he says.

“Collective action can significantly reduce the cost and risk for an individual company. And with more minds working on this, we have better contacts and information, we are stronger and more efficient, and we can be more effective and impactful.” G C R

They say that the challenges you face make you grow stronger.

Through Reviving Origins, Nespresso is making a long-term commitment to support faded coffee regions that have experienced severe adversity to emerge out of the other side, and create something truly remarkable.

It’s still early days for farmers in Zimbabwe and Caquetá, Colombia, but we can already see promising results as they rebuild their coffee production, aiming to produce the highest-quality beans. We’ll be there to help them improve the productivity of their farms, so the volume of the coffee will grow year-on-year, until it’s ready to become a permanent Nespresso blend.

We have partnered with National Geographic to capture the extraordinary dedication and spirit of our partner farmers, shining a light on all that they can achieve through the Nespresso AAA Sustainable Quality™ Program, and the impact is has on their communities.

Discover more at: nationalgeographic.com/beyond-the-bean

Selected indicators of forced labour • Coercive recruitment • Deception about the nature of work • Confiscation of identity papers or travel documents • Physical or sexual violence • Forced overtime • Limited freedom of movement or communication • Withholding or delay of wages • Denunciation to authorities • No freedom to resign in accordance with legal requirements Source: International Labour Organization.

Hard to See, Harder to Count: Survey guidelines to estimate forced labour of adults an children 2012.

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LABOUR ISSUES AT ORIGIN Who’s responsible for prevention and mitigation?

SURVIVAL STASH

Why the Swiss government could abolish its emergency supply

BREEDING FOR THE FUTURE Attention turns to East Africa to help combat low yield and disease

FROM ADVERSITY TO DIVERSITY Hope for PNG amid stacks of challenges

COFFEE

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Global Coffee Report is the leading business magazine covering the international coffee industry. In-depth features explore on-the-ground developments at origin, coffee pricing issues, technology updates, research breakthroughs and much more.

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FEATURE ICO report

SHARED RESPONSIBILITY THE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE ORGANIZATION ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FINDING SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE FARMERS’ LIVELIHOODS AND FOSTERING A SUSTAINABLE COFFEE VALUE CHAIN.

T

he coffee market has been experiencing a continued downward trend since 2016. Coffee prices today are 32 per cent below the average of the past 10 years, with supply and demand, production, consumption, and stock movements all determining factors in the market decline.

At this year’s Re:Co Symposium, Executive Director Emeritus of the Specialty Coffee Association Ric Rhinehart addressed the macroeconomic dysfunction in the coffee trade, noting that although the situation is like a “chronic disease”, it’s “cyclical market behaviour”.

“The devastating Brazil frost occurred in 1975, recurring at lower impacts in ’76, ’77, and ’79. The 1975 frost is the one that is generally regarded as the most severe. It wiped out more than half of the 1975-76 coffee crop of Brazil,” Rhinehart says. “Prices began a long term downward trend in 1989 after the collapse of the ICA quota system, and spiked again in 1994 as a result of another Brazilian frost series.”

The risk, Rhinehart says, is that when prices go back up, farmers put more effort into their land and invest, but if it drops again, they can’t sustain it.

“There is a chronic failing in the fundamentals of our market, but at this point in time there’s millions of folks who depend on coffee for their livelihood who are in crisis,” he says.

The immediate question is how can we address the situation and get the industry heading back to a healthy state?

Production is consolidating dramatically, with the top five producing countries of the world

responsible for producing and exporting just over 70 per cent of the world’s coffee volumes.

Brazil and Vietnam remain the leaders followed

by Colombia, Indonesia, and Honduras, with speculation growing that the industry is heading to a whole supplier scenario.

According to International Coffee Organization (ICO) research, coffee is produced predominantly in countries that rank low in economic and social development metrics, with 31 out of 44 exporting members of the ICO falling into the low and lower middle income categories of the World Bank.

Many of the approximately 12 million coffee farms worldwide are struggling to cover their operating costs while prices decrease and inputs, compliance, and transaction costs rise. As a result, farm income declines, and the livelihoods of coffee-producing households, the majority of which are smallholders in low- and middle-

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FEATURE ICO report

Figure 1: Increase in the proportion of farmers living on less than US$1.90 a day Nicaragua Cameroon Tanzania Sierra Leone Costa Rica Peru Honduras Uganda 0%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Source: ICO

Figure 2: Share of top five producers in global coffee production increases 80% 70% 60% 50%

2018/19

2014/15

2010/11

2006/07

2002/03

1998/99

1994/95

1990/91

40%

Source: ICO

Figure 3: Coffee consumption in select Asian markets Indonesia

Million 60-kg bags

5

Philippines

3

Vietnam Korea, Rep. of

India

2

China

Taiwan 0 1992

1997

2002

Source: ICO

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2007

2012

2017

income countries, are increasingly at risk.

A recent ICO survey shows that the income of coffee growers decreased by 10 per cent on average in 2018, among respondents. With farm incomes falling, poverty rates in producing areas are rising, with the survey results suggesting that the proportion of farmers living below the poverty line of US$1.90 per day increased between seven to 50 per cent.

According to The Economist and Financial Times, 2019 qualitative evidence also suggests a link between low coffee prices and migration from coffee-producing countries, especially from Central America to the United States.

The economic and social consequences of low coffee prices for producing countries can be severe, and include the pauperisation of rural communities, social unrest, domestic and international migration, abandonment of coffee growing, or even a switch to the production of illicit crops.

Prolonged periods of low prices and resulting lower revenues from coffee production is also putting a serious strain on farmers’ liquidity, as well as their ability to buy inputs and undertake investments in the modernisation of their farms. This hampers future coffee production and could negatively affect farmers’ earnings as well as the supply of quality coffee.

To solve the issues caused by low coffee price levels, the ICO says it’s necessary to first understand what causes them, and currently, it’s first and foremost a result of excess supply.

Production is expected to increase by 1.5 per cent in coffee year 2018-19 to 168 million 60-kilogram bags, while consumption is estimated at 165 million bags. The supply overhang is likely to amount to three million bags, due to expected bumper crops in a number of producing countries. This is the second consecutive year of surplus, adding to the downward pressure on coffee prices.

Additional factors can supersede the underlying fundamentals and thus influence coffee price behaviour and volatility. This includes exchange rate movements, trading activities in futures markets, and the consolidation in the roasting industry.

Volatile prices also negatively affect those growers who lack access to price risk management tools, such as hedging in futures markets. Smallholders in particular do not have the scale or capacity to use formal risk management tools. Volatility in the exchange rates of the US dollar against the currencies of coffee-exporting countries can have a profound impact on the competitiveness of producers. For example, the nearly 44 per cent depreciation of the Brazilian real against the US dollar encouraged record volumes of coffee exports from Brazil in 2016 and 2018. This depreciation increased the earnings in local currency of Brazilian exporters, thereby creating an incentive to release their stocks to the international market.

However, the appreciation of the US dollar can also contribute to higher production costs, caused by increased prices of imported inputs, such as fertilisers and fuel.

International futures exchanges are important as a price discovery mechanism and instrument for market participants to hedge price risks. Over the past two decades, the main exchanges have been subject to a process of “financialisation”, characterised by a significant increase in the trading activity of non-commercial traders. This phenomenon causes some concern among sector stakeholders, since the increased participation of these investors or speculators in the futures markets may exacerbate price trends caused by fundamental factors. However, while recent ICO research finds a short-term causal link between speculative activity and spot market prices at the coffee futures markets in New York and London, fundamentals prevail in the long term.

Finally, the coffee-processing industry has undergone a process of market concentration. For example, a series of mergers and acquisitions has resulted in the two biggest coffee companies in the US and Europe having a combined market share of about 39 per cent of global coffee sales.

Many stakeholders are concerned that an increase in market power could have a negative impact on the relationship between buyers of coffee and upstream value chain actors such as farmers, in terms of contractual arrangements such as prices and payment terms. However, further research is required to better understand how seller-buyer relations may have changed over time, and if sustainable sourcing practices could result in measurable benefits to farmers.

While coffee prices have significantly deteriorated in recent years, the trend for the consumer

enormous sustainability challenges of the sector, requires joint efforts of all sector stakeholders, both public and private. In the short run, the extreme poverty of some producers, which is exacerbated by current depressed price levels, needs to be overcome. Social issues must also be promptly addressed and significant investments made to increase the resiliency of farmers against the impact of climate change.

Simultaneously, the sector needs to attract and nurture a generation of young farmers that are ready to adopt new technologies that can increase their productivity, living income, and the livelihoods of their families.

The ICO discussed these points during the ‘Meeting the SDGs: Challenges for the Coffee Value Chain. Shared Solutions to coffee price levels, volatility and long-term sustainability’ Symposium on 6 June 2019 at the Albert Borschette Congress Center in Brussels, Belgium.

This symposium, held in partnership with the European Coffee Federation, was the fifth event held as part of the ICO’s Structured Sector-Wide Dialogue to implement Resolution 465 on coffee price levels, and brought together coffee sector stakeholders, policy-makers, academia, civil society, and development partners to identify solutions for a sustainable and inclusive development of the coffee sector in a spirit of shared values and responsibility.

Then in September, the sector dialogue on coffee price levels will culminate in the ICO’s first CEO and Global Leaders Forum, to be held as part of the 125th Session of the International Coffee Council in London. Here, high-profile representatives of the coffee sector and policy leaders will help set measurable commitments towards a sustainable future for coffee growers and the whole coffee sector in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

These are necessary steps not only to maintain current levels of supply but to ensure that coffee production will meet future consumer demand. G C R

C

O

O

MY

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market points upwards. Why? Because coffee is a growth market.

Over the past two decades, global production of coffee has increased by more than 78 per cent, from 94.6 million 60-kilogram bags on average in the first half of the 1990s to an estimated 168 million bags in coffee year 2018-19.

Analyses of coffee trends forecast that global consumption of coffee will continue to grow at average annual rates of around two per cent. This increase is mostly due to steadily increasing consumption in emerging markets.

In Asia, for example, consumption of coffee increased at average annual rates between 10 and 12 per cent over the past two decades.

This also includes domestic consumption in coffee-producing countries, such as India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Enabling farmers to benefit from growing global demand for coffee, and to find new markets for their products, including expansion of their domestic markets while addressing the

EEWORL

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CONNECTING THE COFFEE WORLD

FEATURE Swiss stockpile

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STARBUCKS ISN’T THE ONLY ONE WITH A RESERVE. THE SWISS GOVERNMENT HAS STOCKPILED COFFEE SINCE THE 1920S BUT MAY SOON STOP. GLOBAL COFFEE REPORT EXAMINES WHAT EFFECT THIS COULD HAVE ON THE NATION’S COFFEE INDUSTRY.

O

n 10 April, a news story made headlines around the world: Switzerland to end decades of emergency stockpiling of ‘nonessential’ coffee beans.

From Reuters to the British Broadcasting Corporation and Fox News, media platforms reported the Federal Office for National Economic Supply’s (FONES) declaration that “coffee contains almost no calories and therefore does not make any contribution to food security from a nutritional point of view” and is therefore “not vital” for human life.

Hans Häfliger, Director of Reservesuisse, the organisation responsible for monitoring Switzerland’s food stockpiles, tells Global Coffee Report the companies required to stockpile coffee do not support FONES’ decision.

“All the main players in our coffee sector are affected by these laws, from Nestlé to

Switzerland’s government-subsidised stockpiles amount to 15,300 tonnes of coffee.

internal distributors like Migros,” Häfliger says.

“Coffee is not necessarily nutrition that’s key, but it’s used daily and the Swiss love it. Our coffee consumption is about eight to nine kilograms per person each year.”

Under Swiss law, coffee importers who trade more than 500 tonnes of green coffee a year are required to maintain the government-subsidised stockpiles and become a member of Reservesuisse. Together, these stockpiles amount to approximately 15,300 tonnes of green coffee, enough for three months of consumption. Häfliger says most people’s reactions to the news follow a similar pattern.

“First they think, ‘we have stockpiles?’ because the public is not aware of them. Then: ‘That’s a good idea. It makes sense’,” he says.

“Next, they react: ‘Why stop stockpiling coffee? I need my coffee in the morning.’ If the only argument is that it does not contain calories, that leads to the question, ‘why change?’ Because coffee was never stocked for its calories.”

The Swiss Government’s laws relating to stockpiling date back to the 1920s, when the landlocked country feared supply shortages following World War I. These stockpiling laws cover agricultural products such as rice, grains, and vegetables, as well as pharmaceuticals and energy resources, including diesel and gasoline.

Michael Von Luehrte, Managing Director of the Interest Group for Coffee – a Swiss organisation responsible for promoting coffee consumption in Switzerland, a platform for the industry stakeholders to share information, and to educate the public – says it became important to include coffee in these stocks during and following World War II (WWII).

“In the 1920s, we had supply crises around Europe. It was smart to stockpile products critical to daily life,” he says. “During WWII, coffee became hard to find and an almost black-market product, which led to a kind of parallel economy.

So, the Swiss government and people had an interest to maintain those stocks.”

Häfliger says it is already normal for coffee companies around the world to stockpile small volumes inside their factories, but current laws double the amount Switzerland importers hold.

“These laws are essentially the government saying: ‘In order to make sure we can both survive and deliver, you need to stock a little more than you usually do’,” he says. “These stocks are paid by the government but belong to the company. They are not piled up, untouched, and set aside for five years. They’re rotated in normal procedures.”

Von Luehrte says this method has proved beneficial to the Swiss coffee industry.

“Through the stockpiling program, companies are basically given free working capital for three months and all we have to

J U LY /A U G U S T 2 0 19 | GCR

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FEATURE Swiss stockpile

do is report on and rotate it,” he says.

He adds this also provides a buffer, especially when certain origins or varieties are short or shipments are delayed.

“This year, one country in particular was extremely late in shipping, and we could take coffee out of our reserve stocks and replenish it later,” Von Luehrte says.

Häfliger agrees, saying the stockpiling results in a win-win situation for the government and coffee traders.

“We like to work against the ‘just in time’ idea,” he says. “The obligation for mandatory stockholders is only to maintain a certain amount and quality of stock. We monitor the quality, but you can still change it out if you need.

“This gives entrepreneurs a degree of certainty that they have enough stock, while the government receives food supply security.”

Of the 15 companies required to stock coffee, Reservesuisse says 14 oppose changing the laws. The other one, Häfliger says, feels it is state intervention.

“If you’re a real liberal-minded person, you might think the government has nothing to do with it, and the industry can manage itself,” he says.

“This system is also financed by an import taxation. If you import coffee, you are taxed about CHF3 [about US$3] or CHF3.70 per 100 kilograms of coffee. If you export the coffee, you get this money back. If you don’t, this price is put onto the consumer and it can become an administrative burden if you trade a lot. However, most companies agree it is worth it, and if there’s no reason to stop it if the only other argument is that it does not contain calories.”

Von Luehrte agrees. “The large companies and roasters in Switzerland, and the majority of smaller roasters, are in favour of maintaining the reserve stock. Ultimately, I don’t think politicians in an election year will abandon coffee stockpiling and create a big fuss in the press for no reason.”

Many Swiss traders have also argued that coffee is rich in antioxidants and beneficial minerals. Häfliger says while this is true, this is not what makes coffee ‘vital’ to life.

“If there is some kind of crisis – whether it’s environmental, technical, or something unexpected – we know coffee has some mental and psychological benefits,” he says.

“You get your coffee and you are motivated. The belly needs to be fed with calories, but the brain needs motivation. This is a more comprehensive argument than that of coffee’s nutritional elements.”

Von Luehrte adds having strategic stock available creates a degree of stability within the industry. “[In November/December 2018], we were experiencing a very hot summer and the River Rhine, which runs through Germany, France, and Holland, ran very low. We couldn’t ship goods over it into Switzerland,” he says.

Häfliger explains this incident forced the government to dip into its oil reserves.

“If 20 per cent of all traded goods come in through this river, suddenly our supply chain has problems,” he says. “So, we turn to trains or lorries. This augmented our diesel consumption, so we needed to open some stock. This proves the system is working.”

While the stockpiling debate only rose to prominence in April, Von Luehrte says the idea has been examined before.

“In 2015, the administration reviewed its stockpiling policies. They decided reserved stocks should only include products which contain calories, are for human consumption, and will keep the Swiss people going,” he says.

“Coffee was questioned at this point because it did not have calories, but since then, nobody brought it up again until 2019.”

Von Luehrte says a decision on the future of Switzerland’s reserve stocks is yet to be confirmed, with the Swiss Government open to consultation until July 2019.

“It’s wrong to say these stocks will definitely be abolished. The community can provide feedback until 15 July. That’s the first very important deadline,” he says. “We expect a final decision to be made around November during the autumn parliamentary session.”

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tonnes a year. What companies like Nestlé trade worldwide is much larger what they use in their home country.”

Von Luehrte concurs that abolishing the stockpiles will likely not cause problems in the short term.

“I was surprised to get phone calls from all over the world, asking, ‘how can you liquidate stocks in a situation where coffee prices are so low?’ The stockpiles will be dissolved slowly, over two or three years, and are not large Michael Von Luehrte Managing Director of the Interest Group for Coffee enough to impact the world coffee market,” he says. “But, if we enter a supply crisis, which Should the changes be passed, Häfliger says could be for political reasons, tariff wars, or another incident like what happened with the Rhine, we would need to worry.” they will not have major repercussions on the global supply chain.

Häfliger says while seaside countries with port access can be less fearful of supply chain “ Sw is s compa n ies a re t rad i ng disruption, Switzerland needs to be prepared.

“I believe in the near future, we will have more supply chain problems, not necessarily due approximately three quarters of the world’s to war, but the environment, or pandemics and illness. If people in Northern Europe get sick, coffees, but most of this never even touches those countries will have concerns other than carrying goods to Switzerland,” he says.

Swiss soil,” he says.

“We’re talking only about the coffee “I hope the Swiss Government will reconsider its decision. The world is more complex consumed in Switzerland – that’s only 60,000 than calories.” G C R

“DURING WWII, COFFEE BECAME HARD TO FIND AND AN ALMOST BLACK-MARKET PRODUCT, WHICH LED TO A KIND OF PARALLEL ECONOMY. SO, THE SWISS GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE HAD AN INTEREST TO MAINTAIN THOSE STOCKS.”

ARE YOU READY FOR 2

1M OF QUALITY, VARIETY AND THE HUMAN TOUCH?

FEATURE World Coffee Research

Breeding for the future A NEW BREEDING HUB IN EAST AFRICA IS USING ADVANCED BREEDING APPROACHES TO HELP COMBAT LOW YIELD, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND DISEASE.

S

even years ago, Finca El Valle, a coffee farm south of Antigua in Guatemala, saw an outbreak of coffee leaf rust, resulting in an 80 per cent decrease in the farm’s coffee production. That was just the beginning of this debilitating disease. Two years later, it decimated the majority of the country’s coffee producing regions, with nearly 300,000 coffee farmers across the Guatemala needing to replant.

“This was our wake-up call,” says Hanna Neuschwander, World Coffee Research

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(WCR) Communications Director. “When the infection hit Central America, it became clear that if we had good, functional, and funded research on an ongoing basis, that crisis wouldn’t have happened, or at least the devastation would have been significantly lessened.”

Neuschwander says due to Africa’s severe and persistent lack of agricultural research and development, African coffee producers were even more at risk of a disease outbreak than those in Central America. In response, the African Fine Coffee’s Association and WCR hosted the 2015 African Coffee Renaissance Summit where more than 55 coffee research, companies, national bodies, developing organisations, and finance institutions united in Nairobi, Kenya.

The purpose was to collaborate on developing a climate-smart, market-driven strategy to raise coffee productivity while enhancing crop quality in Africa.

The summit formed a plan to get existing, high-performing varieties and soil treatments into the hands of African coffee producers and extension services while simultaneously building a research platform to jumpstart more breeding.

In 2018, that plan became as reality as WCR in collaboration with the Rwanda Agriculture

Board (RAB) began working on a Breeding Hub in Rwanda to develop new disease- and climate-resilient varietals.

Since 2011, RAB has run its own coffee breeding program to help generate a new wave of disease-resistant varietals, with its most successful release the RAB C15 for coffee producers in Rwanda. However, Simon Martin, RAB Breeding Hub Ambassador, says the new Hub in collaboration with WCR will play an important role for Africa’s coffee producing industry going forward.

“The Hub is expected to produce the next generation of coffee varieties that will be adapted to various growing conditions in Africa and sustain the industry’s genetic breeding pools,” Martin says. “The creation of new, highly adaptable varieties, coupled with a sustainable and effective seed production and distribution systems, is expected to improve coffee productivity and quality gains, not only in Rwanda’s coffee industry, but also in Africa.”

Using molecular breeding, infant plants are being tested to find DNA markers.

In order to achieve this, the Hub supports participating countries to create new varietals, and to utilise advanced breeding techniques to accelerate genetic improvement, including molecular-assisted and F1 breeding.

“In traditional pure line breeding it can take up to 30 years from the moment breeders start their work on a new variety until it is released to farmers. With F1 hybrid breeding you can speed up the process from 10 to 15 years,” says Neuschwander.

Solution provider for sustainable and deforestation-free coffee supply chains • Credible multi-stakeholder certification scheme • Impact through continuous improvement process • Innovative risk assessment tools • Measurement of “Carbon footprint” possible • Recognized by leading brand owners • Effective and cost efficient implementation

FEATURE World Coffee Research

Christophe Montagnon, Chief Science Officer for WCR, describes F1 hybrids as “a new group of varieties created by crossing genetically distinct Arabica parents and using the firstgeneration offspring”.

F1 hybrid varieties are known for their “hybrid vigour”, which can translate to everything from improved yields to better protection against diseases like coffee leaf rust, to tolerance to stress like heat and drought.

The genetically distant “mates” are selected from a collection of 100 plants, known as the WCR Core Collection. The Core Collection was created from a large collection of more than 826 Arabica plants, which WCR studied to determine the ones that were the most genetically different from one another. All 100 plants from the Core Collection are currently in the field at the new breeding hub.

“Many of these relatively new F1 hybrid varieties are being created to combine the best characteristics of the two parents, including high cup quality, high yield, and disease resistance, with added hybrid vigour,” Montagnon says. They are also expected to be more effective in combatting challenges such as climate change.

“Droughts have become more frequent in coffee regions in recent years. It’s expected that Arabica production will decline in the next 20 years, but the development of cultivars that are tolerant to drought and heat stress can delay this from happening,” Montagnon says.

“Currently, we have 40 varieties that we’ve created that are being tested in three locations in Central America at different altitudes, and one on location at the Rwandan breeding hub,” says Lucile Toniutti, WCR’s Molecular Breeder. “We are conducting several trials where we are comparing yields, growth, resistance, and cup quality, and the best performing varieties will be released to farmers.”

One caveat about the use of F1 hybrids is that the children of an F1 hybrid will not look or behave the same as the parent, and the variety should only be reproduced through clonal propagation. This, in effect, makes “copies” of the mother plant from leaf tissue or cuttings, a commonly used propagation technique for crops including apples, cherries, and grapes.

In addition to pursuing the creation of new F1 hybrid varieties, the new Hub at RAB will also make use of molecular breeding approaches.

“Molecular plant breeders undertake scientific research into plant-based agriculture to try The WCR and RAB team at the Rubona Research Centre.

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“CURRENTLY, WE HAVE 40 VARIETIES THAT WE’VE CREATED THAT ARE BEING TESTED IN THREE LOCATIONS IN CENTRAL AMERICA AT DIFFERENT ALTITUDES, AND ONE LOCATION AT THE RWANDAN BREEDING HUB.” Lucile Toniutti

WCR’s Molecular Breeder

and improve plant breeding techniques to develop new strains of crops,” Toniutti says.

Toniutti adds that using molecular markers, breeders can condense breeding time even further because it becomes possible to test plants to see if interesting traits are present when plants are in the infancy stage.

This is preferable then having to wait until plants reach full maturity, which in coffee, can be three to five years.

“You can test on a plant that’s six weeks years old. Using a hole puncher, you can take a sample of the leaf tissue, run it through a machine, and see if those DNA markers are there or not. If they’re there you continue to test on that sample,” Toniutti says.

WCR adds that breeding new varieties is a slow process, but with time, it hopes to speed up the development of varieties and learn from other industries that have vast experience in dissemination.

“Currently, there are 3442 strawberry varieties registered with the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants but only 52 coffee varieties. There’s more innovation in strawberry breeding than coffee,” says Neuschwander. “The overall

result of launching this new regional hub will be that more breeding is able to happen.

More breeding means more problems solved for farmers, for example: specialised varieties for high versus low altitudes, drought, heat tolerance, and cup quality.”

WCR’s Toniutti adds that scientific breeding will preserve specialised coffee for the future of the industry.

“Climate change will continue to impact coffee production. If we did nothing it might disappear. Our best hope will be sustaining the supply of high quality coffee and making the coffee plant more resilient,” Toniutti says.

Through the development of molecular breeding and creating F1 hybrids the Rwanda Breeding Hub will serve as a centralised location for different countries to access breeding populations, expertise, and materials that can be utilised to create new coffee varieties.

“It’s the first time we’ve organised an

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international collaboration on this scale. Breeders from across East Africa will come to Rwanda to make their own variations and take the seeds back to breed in their countries,” WCR’s Montagnon says. Similar Coffee Hubs are being developed for Latin America and Asia and are expected to open in 2019 to 2020.

RAB’s Martin adds the Breeding Hub will provide long-term solutions in developing highly adaptable varieties that are accessible to farmers in the region.

“This is the first time we’ve had access to such a huge genetic diversity,” Martin says. “It’s a gold mine for the farmers who have this type of breeding at their fingertips.”

Chairing the Hub’s Breeders Committee, Jane Cheserek of the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation says “the results of the breeding process within the hub is going to ensure that new varieties are developed to satisfy the coffee value chain’s beneficiaries from the farmer to consumer.

“This Breeding Hub will help build connections between different partners and collaborators.

It is expected that farmers will be able to receive feedback from buyers to continue to improve and develop more specialty coffee.”

WCR’s Montagnon, Toniutti, and Neuschwander believe that in five years’ time the Rwanda Breeding Hub will become a producer of specialty coffee and establish a community of regional breeders.

“The future of this Hub will foresee a community putting their brains together to develop the best varieties for their region,” Montagnon says.

Neuschwander adds that the importance of preserving coffee is more prevalent now more than ever.

“You wake up to coffee, become reinvigorated with it, and rely on it,” Neuschwander says.

“Why wouldn’t you do everything you possibly can to preserve it?” G C R

SCA EXPO Boston

Boston’s home run

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GCR RELIVES SHOW HIGHLIGHTS AS MORE THAN 14,000 GUESTS ATTEND THE 31ST SPECIALTY COFFEE EXPO.

oston is a town renowned for its cold weather, annual marathon, and ninetime world series baseball champions the Red Sox, but in April it was coffee that commanded the city’s attention when it hosted North America’s biggest coffee event.

For many, the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Expo is an annual global reunion of industry members, but this year the expo had the added bonus of hosting the World Barista and Brewers Cup Championships, and a number of ‘new releases’ usually reserved for Europe’s biannual trade expo Host, held later in the year.

Once the official cutting of the ribbon was complete, the glass doors to the Boston Convention Centre opened to reveal a birds eye view of more than 600 exhibitors representing everything from roasters to green beans, and equipment manufacturers to packaging. Meanwhile on the outskirts of the expo venue, a record number of 35 educational classes took place simultaneously, as did 88 lectures.

On the Victoria Arduino stand, passersby could see their reflection in the ruby red VA388 Black Eagle, the official 2019 WBC machine and the first professional coffee machine to gain lifecycle certification and join Victoria Arudino’s new ongreening platform. This is a new green building rating system that supports the growth and promotion of sustainable building. On the adjoining Nuova Simonelli stand, ambassador and former Swiss Barista Champion Andre Eiermann ran demonstrations of the Aurelia Wave, highlighting its patented pulse jet technology, which helps create different cup profiles with different water pressure during the dispensing phase.

Popular espresso machine manufacturer La Marzocco had visitors crouching down and looking up at what was the first glimpse for many of the new KB90 ‘straight in’ portafilter machine.

Bellwether Coffee is the 2019 SCA Best New Product Award-winner for its electric, zero emission coffee roaster.

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The new model makes espresso preparation easier with less strain on high-volume cafés and busy baristas. Even LM Board Chairman Kent Bakke, who the KB90 is named after, was on hand to talk through the stunning new design.

And the new inventions kept coming, including coffee preparation methods. None got more attention than the AeroPress Go, a new model of its signature filter coffee brewing device, optimised for portability. Not since 2005 had AeroPress made a change to its product, and order forms for its August release were quickly snapped up.

On the Marco Beverage Systems stand, the company displayed its new-release prototype, the Marco Friia, a minimalist font tap that distributes hot, cold, and sparkling water at the touch of a button. Operations Director Paul Stack says with the boiler, carbonated chiller, and three-litre water delivery system housed under-counter, Friia is ideal for highvolume cafés and offices with limited space.

“No longer are coffee machines the only way to dispense coffee. We’re changing the game with beverage stations that dispense multiple beverage options from one font,” Stack says.

Automation was a big feature at this year’s SCA Expo, signalling the continued demand for convenience paired with quality and consistent output. Eversys introduced its new Cameo c’2 1.5 step that allows milk to be automatically frothed in one of three ways, each catering to a different level of control and ability, while Japanese company Tree Field explored flavour possibilities with its new automated filter brewing machine.

Yoshikazu Iwase, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Japan Barista Champion and 2016 WBC second place competitor, was one of many stars on hand helping demonstrate the prototype, which is “super focused on replicating consistent recipes through controlled agitation and adjustable pressure increases”.

Elemental Beverage Co showed off its Snapchiller that turns hot coffee into cold in less than one minute. This machine combines thermodynamics, engineering, and artistry to transform hot beverages into cold drinks on demand. Eyes fixated on the machine as hot brewed coffee was poured into the top chamber of the Snapchiller before the liquid filtered down the magnetic coils and extracted into a cup at -10°C. Ryan McDonnell, Chief Coffee and Tea Officer of Elemental Beverage Company says snapchilling preserves all the flavours of a hot coffee, unlike any other method for making cold coffee.

“From the moment coffee is brewed, it starts to chemically break down. By Snapchilling the coffee, flavours can be experienced at more drinkable temperature, without them dissipating into the air,” McDonnell says. “There’s no ice, no dilution, and no oxidisation, so the product doesn’t become stale.”

On the roasting front, it was Bellwether Coffee that had heads turning for its entirely electric, fully automated, zero emission coffee roaster. This machine won the electrical category of the 2019 SCA Best New Product Awards, just one of 11 awards handed out for products embracing quality and value to the specialty coffee industry. Mostly convective with a hint of conduction roasting, Bellwether’s automatic roaster has no gas lines or ventilation, therefore no exhaust or emissions.

The air is filtered and recycled through a closed loop system.

“The idea is to make coffee more accessible and bring the cost of roasting down in a sustainable way,” Bellwether Coffee Operations Coordinator Marissa Parkes says. “People who begin roasting for the first time need a starting point, and this machine is a great reference for that. “ Just went you thought you’d seen it all, the Cometeer Coffee Capsule, winner of the Best New Product open class category, had fans flocking to the product like seagulls to a chip. These new-format capsules feature frozen brewed coffee in ‘peak state’ that can be melted whenever you want. Served hot or cold, the capsule is 100 per cent recyclable and compatible with or without a K-Cup machine. Even George Howell, US-based coffee roaster, was on hand to endorse his own brewed coffee concealed in the new-look capsule.

While there was plenty of gadgets and gizmos to swoon over, from the producer end, many origin countries were represented from Brazil to Honduras, Ethiopia to Colombia, with a large presence from this year’s Portrait Country Burundi, a designation given to a different producing countries every year.

Dr Déo-Guide Rurema, Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock at Café Du Burundi, told the press that now was the time to “discover the undiscovered flavours of Burundi coffee”.

As the expo days dwindled, so too did the number of competitors left in the WBC and WBrC. With the lights dimmed and strobe lighting to set the tone, resident emcee Stephen Leighton in his bright red shoes read the honours, announcing Jia Ning Du of China the 2019 World Brewers Cup Champion and Jooyeon Jeon of South Korea the 2019 WBC winner, signalling the end to what was another family union of grand proportions. G C R The Specialty Coffee Expo returns to Portland in 2020, from 23 to 26 April 2020, at the Oregon Convention Center.

PROFILE 4C Services

Keeping coffee deforestation-free 4C SERVICES HAS IMPLEMENTED NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO VERIFY THE TRACEABILITY AND VALIDITY OF ITS DEFORESTATION-FREE CERTIFICATION AND EMPOWER FARMERS WITH GREATER KNOWLEDGE.

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ommon Code for the Coffee Community (4C) Services says climate change is having a significant impact on coffee production.

Farmers rely on a wellfunctioning ecosystem, but extreme weather conditions such as sudden, heavy rainfalls are causing huge damages and exposing crops to increased risk of pests and diseases.

Myriel Camp, Program Manager of 4C Services, says to mitigate these effects, coffee producers should apply good agricultural practices and maintain and restore biodiversity through shade management and biological pest controls.

“The main coffee producing regions are in tropical, biodiverse areas. Many regions in those countries are at risk, especially with increasing temperatures leading to producers looking for higher grounds where the temperature is more suitable for them to grow coffee. This might include forests,” Camp tells Global Coffee Report.

This is one of several reasons Camp says coffee farmers could be causing deforestation by converting forests into production areas.

“Another possibility could be that small producers don’t have the means, knowledge, or capacity to increase income through improved production techniques and yields. Often, the only option they see is to expand production into new areas,” Camp says. “Impact oriented certification can provide an opportunity to help them out of this situation through access to training, increased productivity, and additional market access.”

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4C Services operates a Changing climates are causing coffee producers global certification system for to look for new grounds to plant coffee. the sustainable cultivation and processing of coffee. Its 4C standard ensures that coffee production is not contributing to deforestation or reduction of biodiversity, that good agricultural practices are respected, and that farmers are sufficiently trained to increase productivity and profitability.

To integrate smallholders into certification and support programs in a cost-efficient way, 4C Services offers a smallholder app that allows them to collect, manage, analyse, and visualise basic data and to capture field polygons directly onsite.

“Deforestation and biodiversity loss are tremendous challenges.

A recent report [from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on biodiversity and Ecosystem Services] shows more than one million species of flora and fauna are endangered due to loss of biodiversity,” she says.

“Forests provide a lot of services for human beings too. They are an important carbon sink – [they] purify water and air, maintain wildlife habitats, and prevent soil erosion.”

However, Camp says climate change and a lack of information are not the only drivers of deforestation. Downwards trends in coffee prices are also preventing farms from investing in the environment.

“A producer’s first worry is if their income can cover their costs, which impacts the living conditions of themselves, their families and workers. If they don’t have the financial means, they’d rather invest

in short-term income-increasing measures than more sustainable long-term plans,” she says.

To ensure that coffee supply chains are free of deforestation, 4C Services uses remote sensing technology capable of monitoring coffee production areas and detecting changes in land use.

“With this technology, one is able to identify the exact point in time when land use has changed in a certain region,” Camp says.

The technology uses the Enhanced Vegetation Index, with values ranging from zero to one, indicating the greenness of the soil cover.

“The closer to one, the greener the area. If it drops below 0.25, this is a clear indicator for bare soil. This could be caused by deforestation or just replanting crops, but with the help of satellite imagery, we can assess what has actually happened on the ground.”

The remote sensing technology is currently used in the coffee producing regions of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, and Malaysia with plans to shortly expand it to Vietnam, Ecuador, and Bolivia.

4C Services is also in the final phase of developing a tracking app, which will improve traceability and efficiency within the 4C Units of its certification system.

“The origin and amount of 4C coffee per farmer will be collected, monitored, and analysed through a QR code system and unique trip IDs. These will then be uploaded into a data management tool by the collector of the coffee, which the dry mill or managing entity in charge of the group’s certification

ITC sustainability map: Percentage of indicators covered against all standards.

Percentage of indicators covered against all standards

Fairtrade International - Small Producers Organizations

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Rainforest Alliance - RA 2017

4C -CAS

Percentage of requirements for each of the standards down per sustainability area, as referenced in the T4SD database.

can assess and countercheck,” Camp says.

“It can be seen where potential deficits exist, dues to low yields of coffee quality from certain farmers, and if further training is needed to improve the situation. Hence, it can also serve as a monitoring and control tool.”

The 4C Principles are laid down in its Code of Conduct, developed in a comprehensive and transparent multi-stakeholder process involving coffee producers, trade and industry, and various civil society organisations from around the world. This communication led to the creation of the 4C Association in 2007. In April 2016, the 4C Association chose to separate its commercial certification and pre-competitive activities, forming Global Coffee Platform (GCP) and Coffee Assurance Services, today called 4C Services.

Despite this separation, Camp says 4C Services remains a system based on multi-stakeholder dialogue with strong connections to GCP, of which 4C Services continues to be an active member.

To further contribute to conversations of issues at origin and how to tackle them by applying innovative tools and technologies, 4C Services held its first Global Sustainability Conference in June 2019. The German conference saw government and non-government organisations, multinational companies, and producer organisations – such as the Conservation International, Global Coffee Platform, Nestlé, and Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia – unite to discuss strategies of leading brand owners, how to increase the impact of sustainability certification, and innovative tools for risk assessment and conduction of audits.

“The goal was to host a discussion platform with different kinds of stakeholders to paint a broad picture from all these perspectives on challenges facing sustainable supply chains and to provide answers for these issues,” Camp says.

“The Global Sustainability Conference is something we would like to do on a regular basis in order to learn from these discussions and to continuously improve our system.”

She adds with the recently published survey from the International Trade Center, Retail Perspective on Sourcing Policies and Consumer Demand, it is clear that the sourcing of sustainable products is a market requirement with consumer demand for sustainable and certified products continuously on the rise.

As such, 4C Services has seen a growing understanding of the importance of sustainability certification from companies across the supply chain. With the new possibility of on-product 4C logo and claims, the company has seen not only European companies such as Melitta, but also producers such as Cocatrel and Cooxupe take advantage of this opportunity to make their commitment visible to its customers. Camp says it is important companies seek external verification of their sustainable practices.

“Anyone can make a claim, but to make it credible is another thing.” G C R Detection of deforestation through an EVI time series and satellite image.

J U LY /A U G U S T 2 0 19 | GCR

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PROFILE WMF

Two in one WMF HAS INTRODUCED FRESH FILTERED COFFEE TECHNOLOGY TO ITS 1500S+ AND 5000S+ MODELS, ALLOWING VENUES TO SEAMLESSLY PROVIDE TWO FORMS OF COFFEE WITH THE SAME MACHINE.

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MF has an ability to identify emerging trends and incorporate them into its coffee machines. Seeing the popularity of telemetry used in other manufacturing industries, the Germany-based company decided to capitalise on the automated communications movement and integrate it in the form of WMF CoffeeConnect.

This time, WMF has pinpointed a growing consumer trend: filter coffee. WMF Head of Product Management Matthias Drexler says while filter coffee has taken off in specialty coffee shops around Europe, it has also seen a resurgence in wider foodservice.

“Filter coffee is a big trend in Europe and around the world. In Germany in particular, filter is one of the most in-demand forms of coffee because of its familiarity. Everyone drinks it at home, with their breakfast, or when they visit hotels,” Drexler says.

A German Coffee Association study released in November 2017 found that 66 per cent of respondents drank filter coffee on a regular basis. It also found that filter was the second most popular method of coffee served at bakeries and restaurants/hotels, behind fully automatic, and the preferred choice for kiosks.

Thomas Ege, WMF Product Manager for the 1500S+ and 5000S+, says the popularity of filter and fully automatic coffee is why WMF has united the two styles in its 1500s+ and 5000S+ models through its new Fresh Filtered Coffee (FFC) technology.

“We were experiencing a high demand for filter coffee, with our customers asking for a better option for fresh filter coffee out of a machine,” Ege says.

“Previously, your options for a filter coffee machine were a paper filter machine or larger model, both of which produce coffee by batch. We now offer a solution for freshly brewed filter coffee cup by cup.”

The FFC system sees coffee extracted through the same bean-to-cup grinding and brewing as it would for an espresso-based beverage. It is then run through the new filter capsule before being served to customers.

“The filter coffee is not only optically different without espresso’s characteristic crema, it has a different taste. The filter capsule removes any leftover oils or sediments, bringing out new flavours in the coffee,” Ege says. “This means you can offer your customers more variety, with different coffee flavours.”

The filter capsule can be used up to 100 times, or for three days, before being changed out. While developing the FFC, Ege found that the capsule could experience blockages when a capsule is reinserted. To overcome this, WMF implemented internal sensors and safety functions to prevent damage to the machine.

An additional steam valve was also introduced to clear coffee residue from the system between beverages. Ege says this new feature maintains the machine’s internal temperature, helps keep it clean, and improves consistency.

“Every cup has the same temp, volume, and taste,” he says.

“If you’re purging all the remaining coffee, different beverages don’t impact each other’s flavour, and, combined with other automatic cleaning steps, the system will stay clean for longer.”

For venues requiring large amounts of filter coffee with less focus on espresso, WMF

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recommends its 1200F, 9000F, and combiNation F models. However, Ege says a big reason to combine filter and espresso capabilities in one machine is to save on space.

“You do not need two machines sitting on your counter. Save money in only purchasing one machine and save time on cleaning and operations,” he says.

“This means the coffee machine can offer customers a wider variety of coffee with a smaller footprint in the shop.”

He adds these benefits prove useful to different kinds of venues.

WMF’s Fresh Filtered Coffee technology comes installed in its 1500S+ and 5000S+ models.

The filter capsule removes traces of oil and sediment from espresso coffee to provide a traditional filter coffee flavour.

“YOU DO NOT NEED TWO MACHINES SITTING ON YOUR COUNTER. SAVE MONEY IN ONLY PURCHASING ONE MACHINE AND SAVE TIME ON CLEANING AND OPERATIONS.” Thomas Ege

WMF Product Manager

“You’re getting freshly brewed coffee cup by cup. You don’t need a menu or follow steps.

You only need to press one button to get the beverage you want,” Ege says. “This means small bakeries or kiosks with low demand don’t need to make filter coffee by batch with a paper filter machine. Meanwhile, self-serve locations such as gas stations appreciate being able to offer more types of coffee.

“Even cafés and coffee shops, where there is a high value on freshness and consistent quality, benefit from the machines’ automated aspects.”

Despite WMF’s renewed focus on filter coffee, Ege assures Global Coffee Report the 1500S+ and 5000S+ models produce espresso-based coffees just as well as they did before implementing FFC technology.

“The FFC is an additional component we’ve introduced to the existing models. You can still order an espresso or cappuccino to the same quality as you could before,” he says.

WMF maintains a consistent quality of its espresso-based drinks with its Dynamic Coffee Assist features. This program monitors and adjust the operation and settings of the machine, including grinding, brewing time, and extraction, as necessary.

Dynamic Milk, along with Easy or Basic Milk options, provides the user with options to drink their coffee with differently prepared

milk or foam regarding temperature or consistency. Drexler says maintaining a high level of usability is paramount in the fully automatic area.

“Every customer that stands in front of the coffee machine will have a different level of understanding about coffee,” Drexler says.

“Many of them don’t want to go through multiple steps or lots of trouble to get their coffee. We’ve integrated each feature to make using, cleaning, and setting the machine as easy as possible.”

While filter coffee spreads across Europe, WMF sees a similar boom happening in Asia in regards to automation.

“The market for fully automatic coffee machines has grown strongly over the past few years, and I predict it will continue to do so,” Drexler says.

“A lot of convenience stores in Asia, with limited counter space, are asking for options to serve their customers filter coffee as well as espresso-based drinks. So, we see huge potential in this market, especially with the new FFC technology.”

In the near future, WMF intends to further improve its fully automatic machines. One new feature currently in development is a cup height sensor to be released in the second half of 2019.

“New features are going to more and more focus on automation, improving the customer’s interactions with the machines,” Drexler says.

Ege adds that the FFC system is an important step in the evolution of automated coffee technology.

“It improves the quality and variety of what automatic coffee machines can provide, and WMF is the only one offering this option,” he says. “You can have both coffee worlds with one machine.” G C R

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FEATURE Ima

A hub for all THE IMA COFFEE HUB, MADE UP OF SPECIALIST BRANDS GIMA, PETRONCINI, SPREAFICO, MAPSTER, AND TECMAR, IS PROVIDING PROCESSING AND PACKAGING SOLUTIONS FOR THE COFFEE INDUSTRY.

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uropean manufacturer Ima has launched the Ima Coffee Hub, offering a variety of machines and technologies to reach every corner of the coffee handling, processing, and packaging sector.

According to Klaus Peters, Ima’s Hub Director, the Coffee Hub was designed as a one-stop-supplier to provide high to low speed pods and capsule filling machines, a range of processing equipment for green coffee handling, and form fill and seal machinery.

“We offer our customers a variety of solutions via one commercial network,” Peters says.

The Ima Coffee Hub consists of companies including Petroncini, Mapster, Tecmar, Gima, Spreafico Automation, and the Ima BFB division. Each provides a key slice of experience and expertise needed to serve the coffee industry from A to Z. “We looked at these companies and realised that if we wanted to grow, we should do it together.

From there, the idea was to consolidate a cluster of specialist brands to serve the coffee industry world-wide,” Peters says.

In the beginning, Peters says it was a little challenging to have different companies congregate and settle on one goal, but the result has been worthwhile.

“Ultimately, what got us to where we are today was having a common view on what the market

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The Ima Coffee Hub is a one-stop-supplier to serve the coffee industry from A to Z.

was missing and through working together, we will strengthen the position of each company within the coffee market,” he says.

Peters explains that each company plays an integral part to the business, bringing new ideas and products to the table.

“We call it a Coffee Hub because it’s a group of companies that are bringing different levels of expertise, experience, and products to the coffee sector,” Peters says.

Petroncini provides expert consultancy and a complete range of equipment for green coffee handling and processing, roasters for all capacity requirements, and high-quality grinders.

Spreafico designs medium speed machines

“THE ADVANTAGES OF SPEAKING TO ONE SINGLE SUPPLIER ARE NUMEROUS. SYNERGIES COME INTO PLAY, TIMING ISSUES ARE EASIER TO COORDINATE, EVERYONE YOU SPEAK TO IS FOCUSED ON YOUR KEY OBJECTIVES, AND CONSISTENT QUALITY AND SHARED KNOWLEDGE IS GUARANTEED.” Klaus Peters

Ima’s Hub Director

for the packaging of coffee capsules and soluble products. It creates specialised machinery to customise standard capsules according to specific requirements and is considered a market leader in its field due to its mechanical expertise and technical competence.

Machines for soft and hard pods are also designed and offered at the Ima Coffee Hub. Gima produces high-speed packaging machinery for single serve capsule filling, as well as paper coffee pods.

Coffee capsules that are ready to leave the production site benefit from Gima’s cuttingedge secondary packaging solutions that aim to uphold product integrity and provide top-rate protection right through to delivery.

In comparison, Mapster produces low-speed capsule filling machines. Together with Gima and Spreafico, the three can cover 100 per cent of the marketing demand for capsule filling machines.

Mapster and Techmar (Ima’s latest acquisition located in Argentina) offer a full array of machines to handle dosed filling of flexible, sealed packages in all shapes and sizes.

Ima’s range of machines expands from green coffee handling to end-of-line solutions.

Lastly, the Ima BFB division produces end of line solutions. Its bundling and wrapping machines, case packers, palletisers, and depalletisers cover a wide range of speeds.

“The advantages of speaking to one single supplier are numerous. Synergies come into play, timing issues are easier to coordinate, everyone you speak to is focused on your key objectives, and consistent quality and shared knowledge is guaranteed,” Peters says.

“The coffee industry is a very dynamic and challenging market. We want to cater to this market, providing customised solutions to roasters and the entire coffee industry.”

He adds that each company is continuously learning and growing from each other.

“Each company brings something different to the Hub. Through combining our forces, we’re able to showcase our strengths and have created a family,” Peters says.

“We believe in the managers of these companies, and we will continue to promote each other and make it possible to continue to cooperate in the next years.”

Peter adds the Coffee Hub will consistently evolve its technology to ensure customers have access to the most up-to-date products.

“Customers rely on good technology and we want them to have confidence in our machines, technologies, and services,” Peters says.

Looking to the future, Peters says Ima’s goal is to expand the Coffee Hub worldwide.

“We believe there is a tendency to build in new areas,” Peters says.

“We’re seeing more countries converting to coffee. These are the markets where we believe there is an interest in tech. We want to be the first ones saying, ‘we’re here, we can Petroncini provides a complete range of offer you everything’.” G C R equipment for green coffee handling and processing.

J U LY /A U G U S T 2 0 19 | GCR

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PROFILE Victoria Arduino

We are one SIMONELLI GROUP VICE-PRESIDENT MARCO FELIZIANI DESCRIBES HOW VICTORIA ARDUINO’S I AM ONE CAMPAIGN CONNECTS THE BRAND TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF COFFEE PROFESSIONALS.

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cross its 114-year history, Victoria Arduino has managed to remain relevant, from releasing its first coffee machine in the early 20th century to the recent VA388 Black Eagle espresso machine and Mythos grinders. Marco Feliziani, Vice-President of Victoria Arduino parent company Simonelli Group, believes it has done this by connecting with, supporting, and listening to the baristas who will use its products. The brand intends to continue this legacy with its I Am One competition.

“Victoria Arduino is inspired by passion and this contest was born from this precise vision.

Everyone has their own personality, dreams, and inspirations – coffee and otherwise – and we want to learn what drives coffee people,” Feliziani says.

“Our desire is to support these people, their passions, and the search of excellence. Loving what you’re doing is the best way to reach your goals.”

I Am One is an Instagram competition that sees coffee professionals post a picture on Instagram that represents their dreams, passion, personality, interest in coffee, and job, while displaying the #IAmOneVictoriaArduino hashtag.

The six pictures with the highest number of likes by 31 July be republished on Victoria Arduino’s official profile, @victoriaarduino1905. Of those, the entrant with the most likes

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will be invited to participate backstage at the preview of a new Victoria Arduino product in London, United Kingdom, in September.

The preview will provide the contest winner with an opportunity to connect with the global coffee industry, network, and understand what goes into the creation of Victoria Arduino’s coffee equipment.

“The preview will involve activities with very interesting people from the coffee world.

The winner will have the chance to talk to people with different perspectives about coffee and what it can be,” Feliziani says.

He says it is important Victoria Arduino remains connected to up-and-coming members of the industry and sees I Am One as its next step.

“Victoria Arduino was the first espresso machine company to go outside Italy and attend exhibitions and events. It was a way to communicate to the world who and what we are. Social media is the new way of sharing this message,” Feliziani says.

“Our favourite social media channel at the moment is Instagram. You can share so much with one picture or story. From our side, we can share not only an image of a coffee machine but what goes on behind the scenes and the passionate people who worked on it.”

Feliziani says Instagram has also become the preferred network of Victoria Arduino’s youngest demographic.

“With pictures, everything is fast and to the point. You can get your message across to other coffee lovers very quickly,” he says. “You see this not only in posts but stories too. People are telling their friends what they are doing, their passions, ideas, and feelings, while they’re doing it. It’s the best way for them to communicate how they feel and what their dreams are.”

Feliziani says connecting with Generation Y is important to nurture this new wave of talent and carry on the Victoria Arduino legacy.

“We always discuss what Victoria Arduino can be in the future, and the answer is a community. This idea comes from young baristas, micro-roasters, and everybody looking for excellence in what they’re doing,” Feliziani says.

“They will design the coffee experience of the future. This generation’s approach to coffee is completely different to what mine was, even though I’m only a few years older.”

I Am One is not the only way Victoria Arduino has connected with this younger demographic.

For years, the manufacturer has sponsored the World Barista Championship (WBC), increasing the visibility of its brand and support of baristas.

“People are always investing in themselves and trying to reach their targets. For baristas, there is no higher target than the WBC,” Feliziani says.

Simonelli Group also runs a Youth Academy program, which each year provides training and education to six young European baristas.

“In our Youth Academy, we’re training people who dream of being successful baristas or micro-roasters,” Feliziani says. “It’s our way of supporting young baristas who want to understand the championship and give them information on how to arrive to that position.”

Simonelli Group has also made investments in the future beyond people. The company has recently joined the Ongreening sustainable architecture network and is the first coffee equipment manufacturer to produce Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) compliant espresso machines. LEED provides a framework to create healthy, efficient, and costsaving green buildings, and is the most widely used green building rating system in the world.

“There is a growing trend towards sustainability in most industries across the world. It’s not only social or economic, but environmental sustainability as well,” Feliziani says.

“If you want to have an office, building, or coffee shop be LEED certified, you need to respect certain parameters. With the VA388 Black Eagle, we have the first LEED-compliant coffee machine on the market, which means using it will provide a building with points towards certification.”

Feliziani adds that this demonstrates how Victoria Arduino supports people in the industry, even those not directly tied to coffee making.

“When we talk about coffee, we always think of the barista or roaster, but there are many people involved. Architects, for example, are designing these coffee shops while trying to respect the rules,” he says. “They also want a machine that provides value to the coffee shop.

While architects value its sustainable aspects, consumers and baristas will value the machine’s sleek design and ease of use.”

While it is important to help grow coffee professionals, Feliziani knows that, as a coffee machine and grinder manufacturer, Victoria Arduino must produce great equipment first.

Simonelli Group Vice President Marco Feliziani.

“We have to give people a product they will enjoy using, appreciate, and is aligned with their ambitions and needs,” he says.

This will be embodied in the product Victoria Arduino will preview in September.

“I can’t spoil anything at the moment, but it is something that will entice the coffee industry. Everyone involved in the production process is very dedicated and I’m excited to share something so special,” Feliziani says.

“I can say, however, that my background is in mechanical engineering, and it is very interesting from that point of view.”

Feliziani says he looks forward to the big reveal and seeing the product adopted in coffee shops around the world.

“These spaces have the function not only to serve the best espresso, but to make people feel good,” he says.

“This is what Victoria Arduino is looking for and hopes to achieve through I Am One: to make people feel good, inspire them, and, of course, promote excellence of coffee.” G C R

J U LY /A U G U S T 2 0 19 | GCR

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FEATURE Thaifex

A taste of Thailand THAIFEX-WORLD OF FOOD ASIA CONNECTS THE FOOD AND BEVERAGE SECTOR FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBE. GCR EXPLORES WHY THIS YEAR’S EVENT WAS A GATEWAY TO ASIA’S TOP DECISION MAKERS.

O

nce a year Thaifex-World of Food Asia sees thousands of attendees congregate to examine the changing demographics in the Asia Pacific region, increase awareness of its food and beverage (F&B) sector, and bring unparalleled access to emerging markets.

In its 16th edition, Thaifex-World of Food Asia returned to Bangkok, Thailand at the Impact Muang Thong Thani centre as a strategic gateway for companies looking to access the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Indochina regions.

Wendy Lim, Koelnmesse General Manager, says Thaifex-World of Food Asia is geared towards businesses and facilitates looking to create quality trade deals, connecting the F&B chain.

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“Thaifex-World of Food Asia is a gateway for F&B players in Asia to do business with the international community, and is also a doorway for international players to capitalise on opportunities with the growing Asian market,” Lim says.

From 28 May to 1 June, attendees were treated to a wide array of trends and innovations and given access to insights that could help extend their businesses from

industry experts in the F&B trade.

“The exhibition is a testament to the show’s ability to provide businesses with the best opportunities to rub shoulders with decisionmakers of major food, beverage, and buying channels,” says Lim. This year’s Thaifex-World of Food Asia theme was trends and innovation. The show gave exhibitors an exclusive glimpse at upcoming trends in food production, technologies, alternative foods, and culinary service from more than 42 countries and regions.

As part of showcasing the F&B industry, Thaifex Coffee and Tea was one of the 11 specialised trade shows presented at ThaifexWorld of Food Asia.

Thaifex Coffee and Tea provided a forum for coffee roasters, manufacturers, and influencers to share valuable insights on the rapidly evolving nature of the industry.

Lim says as coffee consumption increases throughout the Asia-Pacific, innovation is vital as consumers continue to steer towards quality and new ways to enjoy their morning beverage.

“Coffee is no longer just seen as a beverage but increasing as part of a lifestyle. As such, with many consumers being more accustomed to instant coffee, there is opportunity for specialist coffee shops to create unique experiences to engage consumers and encourage them to spend more on a cup of coffee,” Lim says.

Lim adds that coffee culture is gaining in popularity in the Thai community, and hopes through demonstrations, seminars, and product reveals, attendees can learn more about coffee culture.

“Thailand has made great progress honing its coffee-growing industry in recent years.

With a steady increase in coffee demand and consumption in the country, consumers are willing to pay more for a premium cup of coffee,” Lim says.

“There are a variety of factors that are holding the coffee market back from reaching its full potential. Through Thaifex Coffee and Tea, featured coffee and tea products, which include quality coffee beans, tea leaves, cocoa, brewing machines, presented an opportunity to help leverage the industry.”

The show hosted a wide range of exhibitors from international café chains, such as Boncafé,

equipment specialists K2, and Peaberry.

Lim hopes that through Thaifex -World of Food Asia, coffee business in Thailand can prosper and establish an international presence.

“Specialty beverage businesses in Asia will be able to capitalise on Thaifex Coffee and Tea. With an international audience, they can reach out to different markets all over the world. They will also be able to learn what other companies are doing to stay competitive, find out about innovative products and solutions in the market, and keep abreast of consumer trends,” Lim says.

In keeping with market evolution Thaifex-World of Food Asia announced at the expo its official rebranding to Thaifex-Anuga Asia in order to deliver a stronger trade fair for its 2020 event.

“Through its rebranding, Thaifex-World of Food Asia is partnering with its parent company Anuga expanding out of the Asia Pacific and being able to cater to the European sector,” Lim says.

Thaifex-Anuga Asia will be supported through co-organisers Koelnmesse, the Department of International Trade Promotion and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, creating a unique synergy through this private-public partnership.

Lim says Koelnmesse will carry the company’s long history and established brand to the market, while the Department of International Trade Promotion, and the Thai Chamber of Commerce will continue to expand the presence of Thai F&B businesses through this global transition.

“Thai manufacturers are strongly represented at Anuga, and the Department of International Trade Promotion’s participation in Thaifex-Anuga Asia will boost the bilateral relations between Asia and Europe, a significant step forward in the F&B industry,” Lim says.

“Thaifex-Anuga Asia will work to deliver an even stronger experience focused on enabling business, trade, and networking opportunities for the industry.”

The merger of Thaifex-Anuga Asia, Lim anticipates, will assist in showcasing Asia’s coffee sector even more.

“During the rebranding we are putting together a food, coffee, and tea trade show where you’ll be able to buy a more extensive range of coffee varieties and machines,” Lim says.

Lim adds that she expects all representation of the F&B industry to benefit from Thaifex-Anuga Asia as it aims to deliver a more targeted focus on business, trade, and networking opportunities.

“The show itself is geared towards business and facilitates quality trade deals by matching buyers with exhibitors,” Lim says. “It will allow attendees to witness first-hand the trends that are propelling the F&B industry into the future.” G C R Thaifex brings F&B specalists from around the world to showcase Asia’s coffee sector.

J U LY /A U G U S T 2 0 19 | GCR

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MICE Melbourne

The world is coming GCR DISCOVERS WHY THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE EXPO WILL BE THE MUST-ATTEND GLOBAL EVENT OF 2020.

A

ustralia has a coffee scene unlike any other, with 95 per cent of its cafés independently owned. Wandering through Melbourne, the country’s unofficial coffee capital, visitors will find laneways filled with baristas serving coffee from holes-in-the-wall covered in graffiti. It’s these unique characteristics that will be on display when the coffee world gathers for the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) from 4 to 7 May, 2020.

For the first time since 2013, during MICE, Melbourne will host the World Barista Championship (WBC) and World Brewers Cup (WBrC), making Australia the only country outside the United States to host these competitions more than once.

“Next year will be the biggest MICE to date,” MICE Show Director Lauren Winterbottom says. “The event will see the world’s most accomplished, inventive, and technical baristas compete under strict time constraints in front of elite judges and a packed audience.”

However, there is more to MICE than the World Coffee Championships. Winterbottom says the expo remains a platform to conduct business and connect with the coffee community.

“MICE is continuously evolving. We’ve already seen a significant uptake in international companies wanting to exhibit at MICE2020 and have extended exhibition space to meet this demand,” she says. “Every market is represented at MICE, and what better place to start forming those essential relationships with future partners and customers?”

One company which has secured its place in the expo is Japanese brewing manufacturer Hario, title sponsor of the WBrC, which will launch Hario Australia during the show.

“We respect all coffee lovers and baristas who want to share good coffee together. Australia will experience the newest trends in coffee brewing equipment and Hario-style hospitality,” Hario President John Jong says. “Melbourne has established itself as a sacred place for Australian coffee, constantly creating and grafting new coffee trends based on traditional coffee culture from Europe.”

The 2020 Melbourne International Coffee Expo expects to top 2019’s record attenadance of 11,978.

Another company set to make its MICE debut is Swiss Coffee manufacturer Eversys.

Commercial Director Kamal Bengougam says Australia’s premier coffee event is the perfect place to showcase its automatics range.

“We are pushing the boundaries of automation into traditional territory and believe that Australia could be early adopters of this new dawn,” Bengougam says. “Australia is becoming an important market for us and we think that having a presence at MICE highlights our interest to invest in promoting our products and philosophies in the region.”

Cosimo Libardo, CEO of Carimali, says the event will provide the Italian coffee machine manufacturer with an opportunity to strengthen its foothold in the Australian market.

“We are launching new products and technologies focused on sustainability, modularity, and workflow improvement, that will definitely appeal to roasters and coffee shops,” Libardo says. “Australia is extremely competitive in every sense. The average drink quality is high, with consumers always looking for the ultimate experience.”

From its beginning in 2012, MICE has remained Australia’s largest and only coffeededicated trade show, connecting buyers and sellers, and bringing industry members together. Winterbottom looks forward to the global coffee industry experiencing this first-hand.

“MICE attracts a quality audience and provides us with opportunity to connect the Australian and international coffee communities,” she says. “There’s less than a year to go, and we can’t wait.” G C R For more information and to book exhibitor space, contact MICE organisers at +61 3 9690 8766 or event.organiser@primecreative.com.au

J U LY /A U G U S T 2 0 19 | GCR

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ADVERTISING FEATURE mycoffeeworld.com

COLD BREW RE-VOLUTION RE-COFFEE FROM MASTERCOLDBREWER HAS DEVELOPED AND PATENTED A NEW MANUFACTURING PROCESS THAT ALLOWS THE PRODUCTION OF COLD BREW COFFEE WITHIN MINUTES.

W

hen Swiss musician, entrepreneur, and winery owner Dieter Meier announced his intentions to bring a new type of chocolate to market, created using the cold extraction of green cocoa beans, MyCoffeeWorld Founder Pascal Schlittler was keen to learn more.

He did his research and discovered the cold extraction process was the invention of Prof. Tilo Hühn of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and Roland Laux, co-founder of food innovation consultancy firm Unico-first. To Schlittler’s surprise, upon contacting them, he discovered Laux had patented the process for use in coffee under the name Mastercoldbrewer. Schlittler says this new cold brew production method extracts the full aroma of the bean with little to no bitterness.

“It’s taken a very old product and found a new way to extract it,” he says.

“Cold brew is growing in popularity worldwide, with more than 20 per cent market penetration in the United States and it already well established in the Asia-Pacific. And multinationals like JAB Holdings have recently invested in cold brew producing companies of their own.”

Mastercoldbrewer uses its Spin Cold Brew method to extract coffee. First, the lightly roasted whole beans are finely ground while submerged in cold water.

“This enlarges the surface, which enables the reactions and the extraction of valuable substances including rich aromas from the natural source,” Laux says.

After milling, a decanter is used to separate the coffee into oil- and water-phases. This forms a cloudy liquid that is filtered to produce a clear, black cold brew.

“By using the coffee-oil, we are able to produce a coffee beverage which contains complex flavours,” Mastercoldbrewer uses a patented spin cold brew method to produce aromatic coffee.

Laux says. “[Other] cold brew products on the market contain only a small part of the potential richness of the flavour’s captured in the coffee-oil.”

He adds the lack of heat in this extraction also helps the coffee’s flavours to flourish.

“Cold coffee has a long history in Japan, South Korea, and Greece. However, like in hot coffee, the coffee beans are extracted at high temperatures and then cooled down,” Laux says.

“In comparison, cold brew sees powdered coffee soak in a tank with cold water for many hours.

The absence of that 100°C temperature during the extraction avoids the creation of bitter and acidic substances, while the caffeine and primary aroma components still get extracted.”

Spin Cold Brew, however, is more efficient than this traditional batch production and creates a higher quality product.

“Due to the intense grinding and extraction of the coffee bean, as well as the short process time in a closed system, a ready-to-drink beverage is directly produced, without the need of concentration and re-dilution,” Laux says.

“Besides the aroma advantages, this method is superior because it produces a more consistent quality than batch production and has lower processing costs.”

Laux says it only takes about one minute from putting the beans and water into the mills for the finished product to come out.

“Meanwhile, traditional cold brew takes

“It’s taken a very old product and found a new way to extract it.”

Pascal Schlittler My Coffee World Founder

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between eight and 24 hours to extract in large batches. Ours is one continuous process,” he says.

While this cold extraction method now applies to coffee, that was not the original intention for the process, and neither was its application to chocolate.

With a background in sales and marketing at Nestlé North and South America, Laux returned to his native country of Switzerland in the early 2000s where he established his food innovation firm Unico-first. He met Hühn while searching for a unique selling proposition for a Swiss apple juice company in 2004.

“We started a great collaboration and created a common vision, which was, ‘how can we extract more of the good from raw materials into a finished food product?’,” Laux says. “We’d observed the difference between the intrinsic and inherent quality of raw materials – fruits, vegetables, even coffee beans – and the finished product. We wanted to make products as fresh, authentic, and close to their original taste, aroma, and nutritional value as possible.

“We are looking to capture the quality related to the raw material – the origin, variety, complexity, vintage, and humans growing and roasting one of the most complex raw materials of the world.”

At ZHAW, Hühn had previously used the decanter method to produce wine and olive oil, and with Laux, apple juice. The two began thinking of other ways to apply the technology, finding inspiration while on a trip to Nestlé’s Venezuelan factories.

“The rich aromas of the roasted cocoa beans could be smelled throughout the factory. Roland asked, ‘why are all the flavours lost in the air? They should stay in the final product’,” Hühn says.

Laux follows, “I asked Tilo, ‘why don’t we extract cocoa with a decanter, like we do for apple juice, wine, and olives?’ He looked at me and said, ‘Roland, I was thinking the exact same thing’.”

On the plane back to Switzerland, Laux and Hühn began work on how cold cocoa extraction would work. When patenting the technology, Laux decided to do the same for coffee, a relatively similar bean to cocoa. After Meier purchased the patent for cold cocoa extraction in 2014, Laux had no intention to stop exploring the possibilities of cold extraction.

“I’d dealt with cocoa for four years, and thought, ‘what should I do now? Coffee,’” Laux says.

Mastercoldbrewer currently sells its cold brew coffee in Switzerland under the brand name ReCoffee in the country’s largest retail chain, Migros.

“We conducted multiple trials with different beans. Unlike chocolate, we do not use green beans because the taste is not as pleasant. Instead, we roast it gently at a lower temperature,” Laux says.

“It was also important to find the right bean. We looked at a wide range of different origins and heritages. We decided on a Sidamo varietal, an Arabica single origin from Ethiopia because it’s very complex, fruity, and flowery. That was exactly the kind of beans we wanted to use.”

Re-Coffee has developed recipes for three products to cater to different consumer preferences: Black, Milky, and Fruity – an exotic flavoured cold brew with pink grapefruit juice and tea infusion.

To raise capital for Re-Coffee, Laux appeared on the television series Höhle der Löwen, the Swiss version of American show Shark Tank. All five of its investors wanted to support Re-Coffee. Laux says the show made him realise cold brew is still new to many end users, and it will be a journey to promote the product.

“A selling point that works well with consumers is how one bottle of Re-Coffee provides a better ‘kick’ than energy drinks,” he says. “Our products contain the caffeine content of three espressos, which really wakes you up, but no sugar, so your attention curves better than with energy drinks.

“This is especially valuable to students and night owls, who are in need of a lot of energy. So, at the moment, we are focusing on rolling out Re-Coffee at universities.”

After this, Mastercoldbrewer’s next step is to find the right partners to either help Re-Coffee or its Spin Cold Brew technology expand overseas.

“We have a nice momentum because our cold brew is delicious and sugar-free. We can give consumers an energy drink that is healthy and can compete against the likes of Red Bull,” Schlittler says.

“With Spin Cold Brew, Mastercoldbrewer has really created a whole new beverage.” G C R

“Besides the aroma advantages, this method is superior because it produces a more consistent quality than batch production and has lower processing costs.”

Roland Laux Co-founder of Mastercoldbrewer

Roland Laux CO-FOUNDER Mastercoldbrewer has developed and patented a radically new method for the continuous manufacturing of cold brew coffee: spin cold brew.

In comparison to other methods, Mastercoldbrewer extracts more aroma out of the coffee beans and reduces the process time from many hours to only one minute.

After running tests in various channels in 2018, RE-Coffee became available across Switzerland in February 2019.

For more information, contact r.laux@re-coffee.ch

Pascal Schlittler MYCOFFEEWORLD FOUNDER MYCOFFEEWORLD.COM is an initiative & investment vehicle around Pascal Schlittler.

The mission is to power and grow the future of innovation and business networks in the coffee industry.

For more information, visit mycoffeeworld.com

J U LY /A U G U S T 2 0 19 | GCR

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OPINION Kamal Bengougam

THE

POWER OF

DECISION

EVERSYS CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER KAMAL BENGOUGAM ON HOW TO NAVIGATE THE WORLD WITHOUT A MAP.

“F

or he who doubts is like a wave in the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”

The 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, enjoyed telling the story of how he learnt to make firm decisions.

When he was a boy, his aunt sent him to a cobbler to have a new pair of shoes made.

When the shoemaker asked, “do you want a square toe or a round one?” he hemmed and hawed, so the cobbler said, “come back in a day or two and tell me what you want”. Later, the cobbler saw Reagan in the street and asked what he had decided about the shoes. “I have not made up my mind yet,” he answered. “Very well,” the cobbler said, “your shoes will be ready tomorrow.” When Reagan got the shoes,

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one had a round toe and the other a square toe. Reagan said, “looking at those shoes every day taught me a lesson. If you do not make your own decisions, somebody else will make them for you.” History has been kind to President Reagan. He shared the lead role in a movie with an ape ( Bedtime for Bonzo) before becoming the revered leader of the most powerful nation on earth.

So there is hope for us all. If the ‘Gipper’ can do it, so can you.

And so it is with life. Every day is filled with many decisions for us to make, ranging from the simplicity of what to wear or eat that day through to the complexity of recruiting people, choosing a partner, buying a home or, in my case, just deciding which bottle of wine to uncork, a very tough choice at the best of times.

A wise man once said to me that problem solving was the key to success, that since the road to the top was filled with crossroads, those who were good at decision making would definitely prosper. This in my opinion is one of life’s truisms. Decisions have consequences, outcomes that determine what we become, and therefore form the building blocks that help shape our destiny. The more time and reflection we take in making wise choices, the more likely we are to witness the miracle of life enfold its magic wings, take us soaring high above the mundane and into the realm of the heaven.

I recently held a conversation with my assistant Cristina who is always so eager to help that the time between request and outcome often passes by in the blink of an eye. I sat down with her

and discussed the fact that the gap between a question and an answer was where her freedom was, and that freedom was a great gift, one that must be often applied and cherished.

In my work life I have to make difficult decisions every day. It often feels like navigating uncharted territories without a map. Every situation is different. How does one determine what a good decision might be, especially if our destinies depended on the result? My beautiful wife Tracy believes that a good decision can only be validated in time, once the outcome has been revealed, but I disagree with that approach, a brave admission.

To me, a good decision is determined at the time it is made, and what happens later is outside of our realm of control. When making decisions, facts and figures must be analysed in depth, stakeholders’ positions respected, and core values honoured but, ultimately, it is often the peace, the voice within that helps define the choices we make.

Management gurus teach us to seek win-win outcomes, others promote the power of compromise, and the law of the jungle, the animal within, just wants to eat. I do not like compromise as this is the one outcome in which neither party gets what they want. It’s a bit like rosé wine, it is neither white nor red, just some strange shade in between. It is also a reflection of our world today. We blur the boundaries and find comfort in nothingness. We can no longer be defined by gender, we are surrounded by fake news so no longer know what or whom to believe, and political correctness has censored the spirit of truth. Solomon was right all those years ago – there is nothing really new under the sun.

In our world of coffee, it is often about which bean to buy, what machine to utilise, what recipes to manufacture. However, being the resourceful creations that we all are, we have also developed new ‘intelligent’ tools like refractometers to supersede our ‘limited’ senses. Total dissolved solids have replaced taste and flavour as we use machines to not only vindicate but to also make our choices. Intricate algorithms, mass spectrometers, charts, and sensors now tell us the quality in the cup. In older times, people used their eyes, nose, and mouth, archaic and redundant tools nowadays. The ‘perfect’ espresso has become a dot on a computer screen rather than this magical concoction that seduces the senses and sends gentle whispers from faraway lands.

There are also those who fear making decisions, that if they did not exert choice they could not be blamed for the outcomes. This cowardly approach is nothing but utter delusion as in the absence of decision, we are just like ships fighting rough seas without propulsion. In this story, the results are really never desirable. In the absence of choice, we merely turn around in circles or end up in a place we do not like. Also, choices are what promote confidence and confidence nurtures maturity. It is maturity that defines character and character that shapes destiny. Fear is nothing more than the imaginary potential of a negative outcome which is based on past failures. The only way to redress this vicious cycle always begins with another, good decision.

In my opinion, when making a tough decision, we must answer the following two questions: 1. W hen going through a storm, do we have a clear vision of what things look like on the other side?

2. Is the sacrifice worth the journey?

If the answer is yes, then be brave. If no, then be wise.

Life is a journey, not the destination of popular belief. Our role is not to always be right but to have the courage of our beliefs and exert it, to not be afraid to fail. It is that sense of vulnerable ownership, humble acceptance, that connects us to all those around us. We often think, wrongly, that good leaders never make mistakes of judgement. This is simply not true; they just do not advertise their failures. Real leadership is having the ability to walk with a limp and not hide it, as it is in the crucible of life that character is forged and wisdom gained.

Reading books and going to movies are good forms of entertainment but life is never learnt from being a mere spectator. It must be lived.

My final point would be to encourage people to make decisions without fear of the potential outcome, to take a walk on the wild side of life. By all means, analyse and reflect, use both mind and gut, take the freedom of time to optimise outcome. But, in the end, if your choice Kamal Bengougam says the key to making a good results in a storm, you must just learn to dance decision is to do so without fear of the outcome. in the rain. GCR

J U LY /A U G U S T 2 019 | GCR

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ORIGIN Papua New Guinea

PNG: from adversity to diversity THE SMALL COFFEE PRODUCER HAS A MYRIAD OF CHALLENGES STACKED AGAINST IT, BUT EXPERTS SEE HOPE FOR THE LOCAL INDUSTRY IN DIFFERENTIATION.

S

cott Bennett remembers working in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) coffee industry in its heyday, when his Australian coffee importing business Bennetts was a major buyer of the neighbouring country’s number-one cash crop. His grandfather started the Melbourne-based business 100 years ago, and Bennett joined in 1980, spending several years of that decade working in PNG. Because of the International Coffee Organization’s (ICO) original quota and duties system, Australia bought most of its coffee from the 463,000-square-kilometre island because it was an Australian territory at the time.

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“The ICO import restrictions incentivised the Australian roasting industry to use PNG coffee because otherwise you paid duty on everything that you brought in, and there was also an incentive from a logistics standpoint,” Bennett tells Global Coffee Report . “So historically about 50 per cent of the coffee coming into Australia was from PNG, and

More than 85 per cent of PNG coffee is produced by independent farmers working small plots on tribal land.

Image: CMOABI/CIC

so that meant everyone used it.”

But after PNG gained independence in 1975 and the ICO dropped its quota system in the 1980s, the global market became more accessible to Australian coffee importers and the PNG coffee industry started to struggle. In the past decade in particular, PNG coffee production has dropped 22 per cent from about one million 60-kilogram bags in 2009 to 800,000 bags today, according to the ICO. With exception to two strong years during the decade, annual production has averaged fewer than 800,000 bags.

Considering coffee is PNG’s second leading agricultural commodity – it dropped behind palm oil in 2009 – exports have followed a very similar trend, falling nearly 23 per cent during the same period. Today, PNG’s coffee industry contributes only about 0.5 per cent to global production.

Although those two significant events decades ago may have contributed to the beginning of coffee’s decline in PNG, Bennett and others in the local industry point to a

number of other challenges that have had greater impacts.

Near the top of the list is an ageing tree population. “The age of the trees is probably the most critical issue,” says Bennett. “A lot of the trees in the ground are the same trees from when I was there in the ‘80s. No-one’s really replanting and no-one’s instructing them how to replant.”

World Bank research confirms that many of PNG’s coffee trees are now more than 40 years old, producing yields far below those of their prime about 30 years ago.

In an ongoing support program funded largely by World Bank and the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development, more than seven million coffee trees have been replanted or rehabilitated since the program commenced in April 2010. Many coffee farmers involved in the first round of the program have already seen improved yields, according to World Bank.

With more than 45 projects implemented across 10 of the country’s coffee growing regions, more than 36,000 coffee farmers have benefitted, says Potaisa Hombunaka, Program Manager for the Productive Partners in Agriculture Project (PPAP). He notes, however, that it’s only a small percentage of the more than 400,000 coffee-farming households in PNG. Also coming out of the program were winning coffees at PNG’s third annual National Coffee Cupping Competition last year, hosted by the local coffee board, Coffee Industry Corporation (CIC), in partnership with Australian government-funded Pacific Horticultural and Agricultural Market Access Program (PHAMA). Seven entries scored above 85 points, and many of the top entries participated in the PPAP. Although the PPAP and other initiatives happening on the island are working to improve quality, historically PNG has had a reputation for high-quality washed Arabica. Similar to neighbouring coffee producer Indonesia, PNG is a diverse country with all the characteristics of high-quality coffee production.

“The soils are incredible, and the rainfall, weather, and climate are perfect. They have a great range of altitudes and unbelievable terroir and capacity,” Bennett details. “They have all the ingredients there to produce fantastic coffee.”

But for a variety of reasons, PNG is unable to produce high volumes of high-quality coffee consistently. “That’s always been a problem in PNG, largely because more than 85 per cent of its coffee is produced by smallholders,” says Charles Dambui, CEO of CIC. Not unlike other coffee-producing countries with high numbers of independent farmers working small

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ORIGIN Papua New Guinea

plots, buyers struggle to get the same quality each batch.

Aside from the few past and current projects, there is minimal large-scale coordination or organisation across the local industry, further contributing to inconsistent volumes and qualities. According to World Bank, extension services have also seen significant declines during the past decade, leading to a loss of valuable agricultural knowledge throughout the country.

“The loss of coffee management experience has been detrimental to the local industry,” Bennett says. “A lot of people who have been there 30 to 40 years are leaving, and not a lot of that knowledge is being passed on.”

PPAP’s Hombunaka also points to the greater industry trend of younger generations leaving Historically, PNG had a reputation coffee farming for more appealing or profitable for high-quality washed Arabica. work in other industries or in the cities.

Any knowledge that is there generally isn’t shared beyond the smallholders in specific regions across PNG’s 600 islands, due to long-standing complications among the more than 10,000 ethnic clans speaking 800 different languages.

“The tribal complexity that overlays the entire country is unbelievable,” Bennett says.

“So getting any knowledge base out to different communities on a mass basis is really difficult. An indigenous farmer might have the best knowledge, but [other tribes] may not Large, well-managed PNG estates, which once produced high coffee volumes, are now becoming overgrown or being converted into other crops.

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listen because of tribal conflict.”

The tribal complexity has also created issues with land ownership. Coffee plots have been left uncultivated as land has changed hands or people fight over ownership. CIC’s Dambui says 85 per cent of PNG land is owned by different tribes through community arrangements. These unmanaged or abandoned plots, thus, contribute to PNG’s inconsistent volumes and qualities.

Smallholders didn’t always make up such a large share of the country’s total production.

In some of the land ownership conflict and as people have left the industry, “many of our big plantations have fallen back into the hands of smallholders”, Dambui tells GCR , noting that smallholders’ level of input and commitment to coffee production pales in comparison to that of the previous plantation owners. These large well-managed estates, which were capable of producing high volumes of high-quality coffee consistently, are now overgrown or have been converted to other crops.

Aside from a lack of knowledge and resources, smallholder farmers also lack incentive to stick with coffee considering their dependence on subsistence farming and coffee’s low return on investment currently.

“The vast majority of farming time is spent making food to eat, so coffee takes a second

Charles Dambui

CEO of Coffee Industry Corporation

position to that,” Bennett explains. “And today with the global coffee price crisis, there is even less incentive to plant coffee. If coffee trees are not paying their way, then in goes sweet potato, which has higher yields and is a staple food.”

This has been exacerbated as the country’s population has expanded rapidly in recent decades. According to World Bank, the number of people jumped from 3.3 million in 1980 to 8.3 million in 2017.

Dambui also emphasises the role low global coffee prices are playing on the local industry, with its vast number of “price responsive” farmers who fluctuate in and out of the coffee industry often and without hesitation. He calls on the government to step in with better financial support.

“I think the government should focus on establishing a financing scheme for farmers to have easier access with less stringent guidelines,” he says. “Many of our farmers want to go into large-scale production and want to have more technologically advanced processing facilities, but they can’t afford those things with limited funding.”

PHAMA-commissioned research conducted during the past year also has recommendations for how the government can help coffee’s future

in PNG. The resulting report released this year, “Papua New Guinea Coffee Market Study”, points to current extensive government regulation and requirements that actually complicate an already difficult operating environment.

“The nation’s coffee industry will be more productive with less government intervention and more support with: 1) expanded agricultural extension services and best practices training, 2) scientific research on agronomic and economic issues leading to new national programs and policies, and 3) support for private industry that facilitates doing business domestically and abroad,” the report reads.

The research identified three areas to focus efforts in hopes of turning the industry around: supporting women in coffee; facilitating business growth, domestic consumption, and international trade; and promoting quality from tree to cup.

Within those areas, additional recommendations include boosting awareness and consumption of PNG coffee domestically and abroad, and hosting coffee competitions and other events. In this latter vein, CIC, PHAMA, and PPAP put on the National Coffee Symposium. The two-day event in May covered topics within the three pillars, but with a significant focus on differentiation.

The three organisations see differentiation, including specialty and certified coffees, as key to reversing the local industry’s decline. It will help them earn not only greater recognition, but also higher prices – two trends that will, in theory, motivate farmers back into coffee and drive improved production and quality. According to CIC, about 85 per cent of PNG coffee is organic (though not all certified) and about 21 per cent of coffee exports are specialty, up from only five per cent in 2002.

“We are very pleased that many of our farmers, processors, and exporters are now looking at tapping into those differentiated markets,” Dambui says. “That’s where the market is and that’s where the future is.” G C R Image: CMOABI/CIC

“MANY OF OUR FARMERS WANT TO GO INTO LARGE-SCALE PRODUCTION AND WANT TO HAVE MORE TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED PROCESSING FACILITIES, BUT THEY CAN’T AFFORD THOSE THINGS WITH LIMITED FUNDING.”

PNG exports have fallen nearly 23 per cent in the past decade, with the industry contributing only about 0.5 per cent to global production.

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DIARY Dashboard COFFEE COFFEE AROUND AROUND THE THE GLOBE GLOBE

GLOBAL COFFEE EVENTS

WORLD COFFEE PRODUCERS FORUM

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL

10 – 11 JULY The second WCPF will continue efforts and consider the actions necessary to solve scenarios that compromise the future supply of coffee. The forum invites the entire coffee production chain to the event with the purpose of acting jointly and co-responsibly. The 2019 Edition of the WCPF will bring coffee-growing nations together for discussions relating to common interest issues, such as the revenue of coffee growers, sustainable economies, environmental issues, climate and sustainability, increasing consumption, and market volatility. www.worldcoffeeproducersforum.com

INTERNATIONAL COFFEE WEEK

BELO HORIZONTE, BRAZIL

20 – 22 NOVEMBER International Coffee Week is a gathering of all players in the coffee value chain, from producers to passionate coffee consumers. The event takes place in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the largest coffee producing state in Brazil. It offers countless activities to different professional profiles: B2B, Consumer Market, or Education. www.semanainternacionaldocafe.com

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SPECIALITY & FINE FOOD ASIA

SUNTEC, SINGAPORE

17 – 19 JULY Speciality & Fine Food Asia provides a dedicated platform for gourmet food producers and purveyors to meet with key buyers and decision makers from the retail, wholesale, foodservice, and hospitality sectors in South-East Asia. The second edition held in July will welcome 160 local and international exhibiting companies and more than 3300 visitors across South-East Asia, cementing its position as a leading showcase of specialty and premium food in South-East Asia. www.speciality-asia.com

WORLD TEA & COFFEE EXPO

MUMBAI, INDIA 21 – 23 NOVEMBER At the Bombay Exhibition Centre, the seventh edition of the World Tea & Coffee Expo will provide networking opportunity for serious industry players to meet and undertake business, as well as understand and determine future trends. The trade show is accompanied by a two-day high-level conference, and workshops on the last day. www.worldteacoffeeexpo.com

TEA & COFFEE WORLD CONFERENCE 2019

HONG KONG, CHINA

23 - 25 SEPTEMBER The Tea & Coffee World Conference assembles delegates and suppliers from the entire industry. Coffee roasters, packers, and retailers can interact with suppliers of equipment and raw materials, importers, exporters, and service providers, maximising the channels of communication between key decision-makers. The three-day event will feature high-profile keynote speakers and technical experts, educational workshops, and a table top exhibition. www.tcworldcup.com

INTERNATIONAL COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

4 – 6 DECEMBER The International Coffee & Tea Festival showcases all facets of coffee, tea, bar, and café products, and equipment services. The Middle East’s flourishing food and beverage industry is growing exponentially and continues to show an upward trend. The Dubai event is a one-stop event presenting a focused, industry-recognised platform in the region. It is also home to the world’s richest coffee championship, with a prize pool of US$50,000. www.coffeeteafest.com

HOST MILANO

MILAN, ITALY

18 – 22 OCTOBER Host Milano is a world-leading trade fair dedicated to the world of catering and hospitality. Attendees will find a complete offering from international hospitality and hotel industries, including the latest trends in terms of equipment and products, a busy schedule of events, and a suite of coffee and product competitions and awards. www.host.fieramilano.it

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE EXPO 2020

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

4 – 7 MAY, 2020

Now in its ninth year, the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) is known throughout the Asia Pacific as the largest and most exciting dedicated coffee event. Each year, café owners, roasters, baristas, equipment manufacturers, service providers, and more gather at this trade-oriented event to network and do business.

MICE2020 will take place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. It will host the 2020 World Barista Championship and World Brewers Cup. www.internationalcoffeeexpo.com

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PRODUCTS Marketplace

CAFETTO POLAR CLEAN Cafetto Polar Clean is a unique formula specifically designed for cold brew systems and blenders. It is an odourless formula that eliminates smells and removes residual coffee and food colour stains. Cafetto recommends its use for Brewista Cold Pro, Nitro, and blenders.

Polar Clean keeps blender jugs from forming a cloudy appearance, making sure they are in optimal condition. It is an effective sanitiser and kills 99.999 per cent of common food-borne bacteria when used according to the in-use instructions. The cleaning process is simplified by using only one product, where results can be seen in just one hour.

For more information, visit www.cafetto.com

FRANKE IQFLOW The iQFlow technology from Franke Coffee Systems redefines espresso preparation with fully automatic machines.

To prepare a perfect espresso is a science. The grinding degree of beans, water quality, pressure and temperature, and extraction time are all factors that have to be well coordinated so that the espresso flows aromatically into the cup with a beautiful crema.

However, since coffee is a natural product and no bean or harvest is the same, these parameters have to be checked and adjusted frequently to ensure the coffee always tastes the same. This requires profound knowledge and experience.

In order to ensure constant beverage quality, Franke has developed a new technology: iQFlow, an intelligent extraction system that controls the espresso extraction time and taste profile in real time. The advantage is very good, consistent coffee quality cup by cup.

For more information, visit iqflow.franke.com/en

IN-SITU GRINDER MPE’s revolutionary, ultra-compact In-Situ Model 600.IS roller style coffee grinder is designed to operate on top of capsule, pod, and any other types of packaging machines.

Until now, only large industrial roller mills could reach particle size distributions and coffee densities to meet the highest quality capsule experience consumer demand. This means more coffee batching, grinder cleaning, conveying, storage, and possibly totes. If a capsule or pod manufacturer wanted a grinder installed above their packaging machine, they would previously be forced to use a convenient but inferior disc style grinder.

Now, the same leading edge roller grinding technology and patented densifier systems available with MPE’s larger grinders are available with a water-cooled environment. The In-Situ can be mounted directly on top of a packaging machine. No more hassles, just fresh ground coffee delivered direct to the filler, perfectly densified to espresso or lungo-style capsule or K-cup pod.

For more information, visit www.mpechicago.com

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NEUHAUS NEOTEC LEAK TEST 1 Ground coffee quickly loses its aroma when exposed to oxygen. Neuhaus Neotec’s Leak Test 1 unit enables leak testing of coffee packages such as tubular bags, thermoformed packages, cans, and coffee capsules.

This technology, which does not require test gas, detects both coarse leaks and micro leaks smaller than 10 µm.

The reliable Leak Test 1 can be easily integrated into the quality assurance process of the production line allowing simple and quick testing of single or multiple packages. Any deviation of the tightness of the package from a specified threshold value is displayed. The measuring results are recorded and can be retrieved for further processing when the device is connected to the IT network via an interface.

As a roaster, you not only improve your package and product quality, but also reduce the reject rate through targeted, statistical evaluation of the measured data.

For more information visit www.neuhaus-neotec.com

RYCHIGER FS 960 The new FS 960 high-performance filling and sealing machine from Rychiger can be used to fill, seal, and assemble prefabricated containers. The machine, originally designed for dry cleaning, consists of standardised modules that can be combined with add-on functional modules to suit different customer’s needs.

The FS 960 has been designed for low noise emissions, allows easy access to its components, and meets the highest standards set for process hygiene. The FS 960 guarantees the highest process integrity thanks to a construction of standardised replicate components as well as uncompromised safety for people in contact with the machine.

For more information, visit www.rychiger.com

WMF ESPRESSO The WMF Espresso represents a revolution in coffee preparation, enabling any user to whip up a barista-standard espresso right from their very first attempt. The fully automatic portafilter machine now comes installed with digital solution packages and additional convenience functions.

Not only is the WMF Espresso the embodiment of Italian barista flair and outstanding coffee quality, it also delivers results with unparalleled reliability. The machine’s unique blend of features is made even better thanks to a digital power pack that will allow customers of the Geislingen-based coffee machine manufacturer to benefit from its WMF CoffeeConnect telemetry and Dynamic Coffee Assist technology. Two large optional bean hoppers, each holding 1.1 kilograms, plus the option of a second auto steam spout on the right-hand side of the machine, create even more flexibility.

For more information, visit www.wmf-coffeemachines.com

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LAST WORD Re:Co

Re:Connecting INFLUENTIAL THINKERS GATHER IN BOSTON TO ADDRESS A CALL TO ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THE LOW C MARKET.

U

nlike other Re:Co Symposiums that celebrate and encourage discussion on a range of global coffee initiatives from gender equality to climate change, this year’s event had one core theme: Coffee in Crisis.

From 10 to 11 April, Boston Park Plaza’s hotel ballroom transformed into a coffee Ted Talk of sorts, with hundreds of seats filled with industry executives and company representatives – coffees in hand – to hear guest speakers present solutions on what could be done to address one of the most pressing issues facing the producing sector.

Following an evening of Fellows presentations to highlight the next wave of curious minds and inspiring research projects, event emcee Peter Giuliano officially commenced day one of proceedings by explaining the logic behind this year’s Re:Co focus.

“It was clear from industry conversations around the world that this is a serious topic you wanted to discuss. One of the reasons for that was because in the autumn of the year [August 2018] the C market price, an index to coffee pricing, fell for the first time in many years below the US$1.00 per pound limit,” Giuliano says. “That moment was a stark reminder to many of us of a fundamental truth.”

That truth was best addressed in a quote Giuliano referenced that said: “While the $1 mark is an important psychological marker, the fact is that the prices have been unsustainably low for years.”

That may be so, but it was a reminder that something has to change.

Executive Director Emeritus of the Specialty Coffee Association Ric Rhinehart hosted the first Re:Co session on macroeconomic dysfunction in the coffee trade, in what he said was “his last time on stage” in a Re:Co capacity. Rhinehart described the current low C market price as “fundamental market behaviour” and said that while pricing is “cyclical”, it’s “chronic and degenerate.”

“Yes, there is a chronic failing in the fundamentals of our market but at this point in time there are millions of folks who depend on coffee for their livelihood who are in crisis, and that’s what we need to remember,” Rhinehart said.

Jefferson Glassie, an attorney representing nonprofit organisations, continued the discussion, speaking about antitrust laws, and why they’re meant to protect of the free market system. Janina Grabs, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Münster in Germany, addressed “bandaid solutions” to sustainable systems and overcoming the single exist fallacy.

“How do we get farmers to differentiate themselves? Inflation is a huge problem at origin.

We need to get prices to more sustainable levels, and that can only be done if there is economic sustainability,” she said. “We need to build honest conversations and a model based on scalability.”

A panel of speakers spoke about the visions of progress and what’s beyond the crisis, with Peter Dupont, CEO of The Coffee Collective in Denmark, explaining why he discloses the Free on Board price on his coffee packs, and the importance of engaging customers in conversations about coffee pricing. “We need to be transparent in our conversations about creating a sustainable economy and invite the consumer into the reality of the situation. Only then can they be part of the solution,” Dupont said.

The in-depth conversations continued over the two-day event, with discussions on market consolidation and its impact on sustainability, the progression of consumption growth in producing countries, future profitability for coffee producers, and economic viability of coffee farming. Taya Brown, a doctoral candidate in horticultural sciences, even drew on her experience in the world’s banana industry to explain how coffee could take a similar approach

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Ric Rhinehart gives a macroeconomic talk at Re:Co on the reality of the coffee price crisis.

to achieve a fair price to cover the cost of production and address the living wage gap.

The role of innovation and technical advancement in the coffee sector also played a large role in thought-provoking discussion.

David Browning, CEO of non-profit organisation Enveritas, gave interesting insights into chain sustainability insurance and the potential to use technological innovation to identify problems at origin and find new resolutions. One idea was to use drone technology to correlate school absence rates against the distance children walk to school.

After two days, Re:Co concluded with ‘Changemaking sessions’ where attendees broke up into groups to have robust discussion on “how can we each make a difference in light of the crisis?” With individual pledges made, Giuliano urged guests not to be discouraged by the severity of the macro topics discussed, but be inspired by the power of change they can bring about together.

“We are not alone. We have the large coffee community behind us,” he said.

“Our job is to amplify what we need in this world and industry, and make a positive change together.” G C R

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