coffee business strategies

It’s been over 5 years since I began jotting down my thoughts, tips, press releases and frustrations with the coffee industry to this blog and I have always wondered “who is reading this stuff?” So, I thought, why not ask: who are you?

In two sentences, post a reply below to describe your business, what you do and how you got involved in coffee. Anyone related to coffee (producers, importer/exporters, roasters, retailers, affiliated service businesses and industry suppliers, writers, bloggers etc.) is welcome to post and be sure to include your web address for a link and subsequent free publicity for future readers. The post will be up for the next 5 years and with any luck, longer.

One note: only legitimate coffee businesses please, no link referral websites, pyramid schemes, herbs and fungi made to sound like coffee or kopi luwak. I understand that kopi luwak is technically coffee, but I have a moral problem promoting the stuff, as it is a gimmick that promotes cruelty to animals.

I’ll start off below and let’s see how many participants we can get!

Organizers in Dubai are gearing up for the 2nd annual Middle East Coffee & Tea Conference, which is also the site of the official UAE Barista Championship. Having attended and presented at last year’s inaugural conference, I can say firsthand that the event is an important educational opportunity and market linkage for the fledgling specialty coffee industry in the Gulf region.

Coffee has deep roots in many cultures of the Middle East and several GCC nations are encouraging entrepreneurial diversification into food and beverage businesses to reduce their future economic reliance on petroleum. This combination bodes well for the future of specialty coffee in the region.

Be sure to register for the event online and check out the skill building workshops organized by the SCAA.

Bangalore (August 6, 2010) – Kaapi Royale Coffee announces the January 2011 return of our annual origin tour to India’s exotic coffee growing regions for coffee professionals, this year adding Coorg to an expanded 5-day itinerary.

The event begins on Tuesday, January 11th in Bangalore with a welcome reception at the Bangalore Club, a grand English country club that has been one of India’s finest since being established in 1868. This centuries old institution has hosted numerous distinguished members, including Sir Winston Churchill.

After spending the evening in Bangalore, the trip will commence on Wednesday morning with a welcome meeting hosted by the Coffee Board of India, followed by lunch and a drive by chartered bus to Chikmagalur. Wednesday evening will be spent at the colonial Kadur Club in Chikmagalur.

On Thursday, January 13, the tour continues to Magundi in the Chikmagalur region, home of Kaapi Royale’s award-winning Sethuraman Estate farms. Participants will take a guided walking tour of Sethuraman Estate, other farms in the region and processing facilities at the height of the bustling coffee harvest.

Friday morning will begin with a sunrise breakfast on the farm, followed by the organized cupping of numerous coffees prepared in a range of processing methods from the locations visited the previous day and from other farms from around India. That afternoon, the tour will continue to nearby tea plantations and visit exotic forests with native wildlife.

On Saturday, January 15th, the tour turns north to explore Coorg, a burgeoning coffee growing region that is referred to as the “Scotland of India” by British colonialists for its green hills and lush forests.

Before returning to Bangalore from Coorg on Sunday, January 16th, the group will visit world famous Mysore Palace, a place of architectural beauty and historical significance with temples dating back to the late 14th century.

A tour fee of US$995 per individual traveler or US$1,500 per rooming pair includes hotels, meals and ground transportation originating in Bangalore. Reservations for the available seats can be guaranteed with a US$250 nonrefundable deposit; all fees are due on or before December 1, 2010.

Availability is limited to 9 attendees plus 1 seat reserved for 2010 Kaapi Royale Challenge winner Craig Dickson of Melbourne Australia’s Veneziano Coffee.

To make your reservations or if you have any questions please contact Andrew Hetzel in the USA at +1 (336) 443-0290 or by email.

See photos from last year’s tour!

(alternative title: Belated Blog from Brazil)

Google sends me news updates on search keywords that are of interest to me, things like “coffee,” “espresso,” my name, my company and sales at my favorite stores. As news items are generally added very quickly, I was surprised to see this article from Exame, Brazil’s largest business magazine pop up in an alert over the weekend, as it is from almost a year ago and also coincidentally foreshadows a trip to Brazil that I have planned for next month.

The article Starbucks à moda latina, or “Starbucks Latin-style,” when translated using my complete lack of Português language skill, near-complete lack of Español and Google Translate, discusses the history, (2009) present and future prospects for the Juan Valdez coffee chain.

I vaguely recall speaking about the chain, some of its setbacks, difficulties and things that I might do differently in their position, but only the following quote appears in the article:

“A grande ironia é que a Starbucks preparou o terreno para o crescimento da Juan Valdez”, afirma Andrew Hetzel, dono da Cafemakers, consultoria americana de mercado de café. “A Starbucks pegou um consumidor analfabeto em matéria de café e fez escola. Agora, as pessoas estão mais exigentes e a Juan Valdez aproveitou a oportunidade para vender seu produto de qualidade superior.”

Ou,

“The great irony is that Starbucks paved the way for the growth of Juan Valdez,” said Andrew Hetzel, owner of Cafemakers, consulting American coffee market. “Starbucks took an illiterate consumers on coffee and did school. Now people are more demanding and the Juan Valdez took the opportunity to sell their product of superior quality.”

…well, I guess that is close enough to get the basic point across.

Be sure to read the article in Exame Magazine.

In a story printed in today’s Pacific Business News, LION Coffee of Hawaii announced that it will launch an antioxidant-spiked coffee line on August 1st.

Lion Coffee is introducing a new line of antioxidant-rich coffee called Pure Choices. The new line will use all-natural KonaRed Coffee Fruit in four flavors: original, French roast, coconut and vanilla macadamia. The company says that one cup will contain more than double the daily USDA-recommended antioxidants.

Aside from ironically naming the chemically flavored and antioxidant-laced nutraceutical line “pure,” there is one small problem with their marketing mantra: it does not appear that the USDA issues guidelines specifically on dietary antioxidant consumption.

The situation is best summarized by the International Food Information Council Foundation, its own name a mouthful, when they reported on antioxidants last October:

Most research indicates that there are overall health benefits from antioxidant-rich foods consumed in the diet. The results of clinical trials with antioxidant supplements have yet to provide conclusive indication of health benefits. Current recommendations by the U.S. government and health organizations are to consume a varied diet with at least five servings of fruits and vegetables per day and 6-11 servings of grains per day, with at least three of those being whole grains.

It is possible that such a guideline will be contained in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans that is published every 5 years by the USDA, last in 2005, but I doubt it. For now, it’s probably best to avoid products that have been doctored by man for the sole purpose of implying an intangible health benefit as a marketing gimmick.