Pete Licata Wins 2011 United States Barista Championship for Hawaii
In two coffee industry firsts this weekend in Houston, Pete Licata of Honolulu Coffee Co. became the first competitor from Hawaii to win the United States Barista Championship and also the first-ever to prevail at any national barista championship using 100% Hawaiian...
Coffee Adventures in Russia
You may have noticed that I have been acting more strange than usual for the past couple of years: sometimes secretive, making occasional large and unusual purchase inquiries without too much detail, taking urgent phone calls at late hours and of course leaving my...
Kaapi Royale Coffee video shows the beauty of India
Kaapi Royale Coffee just released a video of their January 2011 India origin tour, beautifully filmed and produced by Ralph Gastons of Isla Coffee. The only thing we're missing is an organized Bollywood-style dance number. This does a wonderful job of capturing some...
Kaapi Royale Coffee Introduces Organic Robusta
Kaapi Royale Coffee today announced the introduction of a new line of coffee in conversion that will be debuted at SCAA in Houston this year -- essentially a coffee that is along the way to become certified organic. Considering the track record for the company and...
Massimo Zanetti buys Kauai Coffee
Massimo Zanetti, the Italian-based mega coffee roasting company best known in the USA for brands including Chock Full 'O Nuts, Hills Brothers, Chase and Sanborn, MJB and Segafredo Zanetti today announced the acquisition of the Kauai Coffee Company from Alexander &...
SCAE Wrap-up of the St. Petersburg European Team Coffee Challenge
Thanks again to Chris Speirs for hosting the 2011 European Team Coffee Challenge in St. Petersburg Russia last week. You can read a complete summary of the event (a sort of coffee competition meets The Apprentice reality television show) on the SCAE blog. Check out...
Nespresso featured in Time Magazine
Nespresso is Western Europe's dominant single serve coffee system and also the most reliable decent cup of coffee available in some emerging specialty coffee markets. I had the pleasure of commenting on Nestle's fastest growing brand for Time Magazine, available...
Coffee events added in Russia and Sweden
Two new events have been added to my schedule in March, the 2011 European Team Coffee Challenge in St. Petersburg and 2011 Swedish Barista Cup in Stockholm organized by the SCAE Russian and Swedish chapters. The ETCC and Northwest Russia Regional Barista Championship...
Starbucks dropping coffee from logo
Remember when Starbucks pledged to return to its roots and focus on core coffee business? Well, it's time for those roots to get a new bleach job. Today in yet another move that has confused brand marketers flipping their calendars ahead to April 1st, Starbucks...
Gwilym Davies: Business Leadership Icon
I receive updates periodically on coffee news from Google, including but not limited to stories including the keywords "World Barista Championship," and "World Barista Champion." There are normally a half dozen or so stories per month excluding those immediately...
Coffee Prices: Drowning at ‘C’ Level
Earlier this week I shared comments with a coffee industry publication regarding truth and fiction surrounding today's higher coffee prices and the prospect of future shortages. The article will probably pull a few of my words that are quote-worthy, but I thought that...
World Coffee Research First Congress
My wig is powdered, shoe buckles shined and best waistcoat and velveteen breeches packed for the first Congress of the World Coffee Research, which is being held this week at the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, a part of Texas A&M University....