Increase awareness and establish a strategic form of growth and comprehension of the organization.
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Table of Contents
PG: INTRODUCTION
3
VISION & MISSION STATEMENTS
4
CCRE VALUES
5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
6
WHY THIS RESEARCH IS IMPORTANT
7
KEY FINDINGS: Demographics - GENDER & RACE/ETHNICITY
8
- AGE & SOCIAL MEDIA
9
KEY FINDINGS: Consumer - KNOWLEDGE
10
- INTEREST
11
REPORTING DETAILED RESULTS - DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
12
- CONSUMER KNOWLEDGE & INTEREST
13
REFERENCES
14
2
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Introduction Dear Reader, The Coffee Center for Research and Education (CCRE), is an established organization that is located on campus at Texas A&M University. This organization is housed within the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture. CCRE was established in response to the rapid growth of the specialty coffee industry. This organization meets a need for education and training for the next generation of coffee agronomists, researchers, business leaders, and connoisseurs. As we collaborate with coffee farmers, students, and industry partners this research and preliminary data is key to this organization's present and future success. The research that is found within these documents includes data from different age ranges as well as an assessment on their initial knowledge of coffee, and where and how it is created. The CCRE has a key initiative of working with people and getting information about the center to the students of Texas A&M and other people who are interested in collaborating with the center. With the research that is provided, the center has a better understanding of how to get key information out to the public. In the future, there will be more details about where key information will be delivered because of the help that this research has provided. Sincerely,
AGCJ 406 Students
3
Our Vision The Center for Coffee Research and Education has a vision to be a changemaker in a growing industry. Through development, innovation, and education, the CCRE strives to produce sustainable and ethically-sourced coffee that supports small-holder farmers, roasters, and retailers.
Our Mission The mission of the Center for Coffee Research and Education is to provide
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
accessible training, certification, and transaction to small-holder coffee farmers, roasters, and retailers. With a commitment to educating these producers, Texas A&M University students, and the coffee-drinking community, the CCRE brews informative content to shed light on the industry.
4
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Our Values 1
Development
2
Innovation
3
Education
4
Environmental Social Governance
5
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Executive Summary
With the CCRE’s positioning within the domestic and international coffee industry, education and audience engagement needs to be properly assessed. With social media and other mediums of exposure being correlated to product consumption and program engagement (Shang, et. al., 2022), it is imperative to procure deeper insights on domestic demographics. Key questions include what social media platforms do most potential consumers use, what exposure to the CCRE do they have, and what level of knowledge they have related to coffee. To accomplish this, the Jace and the Chicks research division employed a purposive nonrandom survey design targeted towards subjects who are within immediate social vicinity of Texas A&M University. These include students, friends, and family members. After surveying and data collection through a Google Form, researchers were able to interpret the data to form two main conclusions. The first finding is that Instagram is the most used social media platform with 89% of respondents stating that they use it. This trend can be further expanded to 95% among subjects age 18-30. The second finding is that 70.7% of all respondents have interest in learning more about the CCRE. This trend remains constant among subjects age 18-30 with 70% of respondents showing interest in the CCRE. These two findings demonstrate a need to address the age 18-30 demographic through Instagram. This would help drive interest in learning about the program on a convenient platform that is easy to share content and produce an online community. Further analysis of this demographic’s content consumption tendencies will be necessary to further determine future social media campaign strategies. Additional analysis will need to be conducted on different demographics and audiences within the coffee industry to address key stakeholders and expanding program outreach. These include small-holder farmers and prospective roasters and retailers.
6
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Why this research is important The Center for Coffee Research & Education is focused on research and educational opportunities to improve the coffee industry around the world from coffee cultivation to producer livelihoods through research in the areas of post-harvest, genetics, water management, and consumer preferences. The Center for Coffee Research & Education collaborates with coffee farmers and industry partners to find sustainable solutions that enable the coffee supply and coffee farmers to thrive. As the CCRE works to better the industry and establish the center as a hub for the coffee industry, the CCRE must establish a strong connection with students, consumers, small-holder farmers, and many more audiences. With this research, we focused on Texas A&M Students by using a survey to see their interest and knowledge of both the CCRE and coffee consumption. Within this survey, we asked the following questions: 1. Have you heard of the Center for Coffee Research and Education on campus? 2. Do you know where your coffee grounds come from? 3. Select topics you would be interested in 4. Interest in coffee origin 5. amount of coffee drank weekly 6. where do you get your coffee from? 7. social media usage 8. TAMU student 9. Age 10. Gender 11. Ethnicity
This information will give us valuable information about how we as an organization should be conducting student engagement. This is key in order for CCRE to expand in its future endeavors.
7
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Key findings
Demographic data Male 17.2
Gender Female 81.8
Hispanic or Latino 10.1% African American 4%
Asian 2%
Race & Ethnicity White 82.9%
8
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Key findings
Demographic data
40
AGE
30
20
10
0
18-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
80
60
40
20
9
Ti kT ok
Sn ap ch at
Yo ut ub e
Re dd it
Li nk ed In
X
Th re ad s
Fa ce bo ok
0
In st ag ra m
Social Media
100
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Key findings
Consumer Knowledge
1.) Have you heard of the Center for Coffee Research & Education on campus?
Yes
100
No
80 60
2.) Do you know where your coffee grounds come from?
40 20
3.) Are you a student at Texas A&M University?
0
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Yes 13.1% Yes 31.3%
No 68.7%
No 86.9%
Question: Have you heard of the Center for Coffee Research & Education?
Question: Do you know where your coffee grounds come from?
10
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Key findings
Consumer Interest
50 40 30 20 10
ov e th
e
O
of e on N
ce
Co
Co ff
ee
ffe e
ab
th er
ise nd er m
nt
O
co u
ch a er
s rig in
ce r es / rs
of
tifi ca
co ff
te s
h rc se a Re ee Co ff
ee
0
30 25 20 15 10 5 0
0
1-2
3-5
6-8
CUPS OF COFFEE DRANK PER WEEK 11
9+
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Reporting Detailed Results Demographic data
Through our survey, we found that most of our participants were females rather than males. From this, we can draw a conjecture that women have more interest in coffee in regards to males from a demographic standpoint. The survey also showed that it reached a primarily white-based audience. It also reached 10.1% of a Latino audience. Although these were the two primary ethnicities that the survey reached, there was also a mix of African Americans, Asian Americans, and other ethnicities as well. Age was another factor that we analyzed. The two highest categories that our survey reached were ages 21-30 and 18-20. While there were other age groups that participated in the survey, these two were the most prominent. In today's society, social media is a key source for receiving information. Through our survey, we analyzed different social media platforms that are most often used. We were able to understand that Instagram and Facebook were the two most prominent platforms to be used. Many participants also use LinkedIn, Tik Tok and X as well. From this information, we can conclude that if we want to share information with the public and educate them on the different aspects of CCRE we should primarily use Instagram and Facebook to engage our audiences. Overall, there were 99 participants in our survey. From these results, we discovered that 63.3% of the participants were students at Texas A&M University. From these results, we can conclude that coffee is very prevalent and popular with students at this university.
12
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Reporting Detailed Results
Consumer Knowledge & Interest From the survey that we conducted, we discovered that over three-fourths of the participants did not know what the Coffee Center for Research and Education was. The total amount of people who did know about the center was approximately 13.1%. This just shows that we need to become more engaging with the public and the students at Texas A&M University. From the research conducted, it seems there is a broad audience for coffee research and education. The majority of participants drink coffee on a daily basis but do not know where their coffee beans come from. From our study, our results show that the majority of survey takers, almost 30%, drink 6-8 cups of coffee a week. The lowest percentage sits at 11% with 0 cups being the amount of coffee drank in a week. The majority of participants make their own coffee at home or shop at chain coffee companies. We also found that many respondents were on the fence regarding whether or not they were interested in learning more about coffee, however, the majority were interested in learning more about where their coffee comes from. Results were high on interest levels and further information on coffee courses/certifications, the origins of coffee beans, and Coffee Center merchandise/coffee products. All of the information that was analyzed will help with discovering new and innovative ways to help grow the Coffee Center for Research and Education. In the future hope to have a better assessment of followers of the center.
13
References
COFFEE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
https://borlaug.tamu.edu/project/center-for-coffee-research-and-education/ https://borlaug.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/CCRE-WorkingPaper-No.-2.pdf https://borlaug.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/06/CCRE-Documentode-Trabajo-No.-2.pdf https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/asset-local/center-of-coffee-research-andeducation/ https://today.tamu.edu/2021/05/24/12th-man-coffee-supports-small-farmerscoffee-research/ https://texags.com/s/54697/introducing-texags-btho-morning-arabica-coffeeblend Shang, Y., Rehman, H., Mehmood, K., Xu, A., Iftikhar, Y., Wang, Y., & Sharma, R. (2022). The nexuses between social media marketing activities and consumers’ engagement behaviour: A two-wave time-lagged study. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.811282
14