№ 1’2018
№1’2018 Founder INTERNATIONAL TEA HOUSE
Publisher INTERNATIONAL TEA HOUSE
Advertising Director JULIA CHANTURIYA
Editor-in-Chief RAMAZ CHANTURIYA
Advertising Manager DARIA ARAKELOVA
Deputy Editor-in-Chief SVETLANA BELIKOVA
Promotion Manager SVETLANA KRUTSKIH
Computer-Aided Design NATALIA KOROSHCHENKO
Subscribe Manager OLGA BABAEVA
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Chairman of the Editorial Board
170 years of Georgian tea: what’s good today?
R.O. CHANTURIYA, General Director, Rusteacoffee Association
30 Tea culture and the experience of amateur combinatorics
Members of the Editorial Board S.G. BELIKOVA, Ph.D. Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Coffee&Tea in Russia Editorial Board Secretary S.V. DIKHTIAR, Director, Institute of Hospitality and Tourism, RUDN University A.V. ELSON, General Director, KLD Coffee Importers
A. MALCHIC, Chief Executive Officer, Montana Сoffee
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S.V. KASIANENKO, Chairman, Board of Directors, Orimi Trade Group of Companies
Shanghai Coffee notes
Traces on the tea road, printed in the book
M. PEIRIS, International Tea Committee D. SHUMAKOV, Head Judge and Member of the Tea Masters Cup Organizing Committee I.A. SOKOLOV, Ph.D. in History V.A. TUTELIAN, Director, Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Member, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences A.K.WAGNER Founder and Leader of the Project Chaism.pro Editorial Address: Russia, 123060, Moscow, Berzarina str., 36, building 2, of. 214 tel./fax: +7 495 935-87-07 Email: magazine@coffeetea.ru, www.coffeetea.ru Printed: OOO IPO Izumrudny Gorod Distribution: coffeetea.store Cover photo: KATARYNA VYMAZALOVA (Chech Republic) – Tea Masters Cup International 2017 Champion in Tea Mixology. Enshi (China, Hubei province).
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”Coffee & Tea International magazine” has been included in the VINITI (All Russian Institute of Scientific an Technical Information of the Academy of Sciences Vserossiisky Institut Nauchnoi i Tekhnicheskoi Informatsii (VINITI)) list of synopsis journals and the institute's data base. Information about the magazine will be annually published in the “Ulrich's Periodicals Directory”, international handbook of periodic magazines and ongoing publications. ”Coffee & Tea International“ is an appendix of the ”Coffee & Tea in Russia magazine”.
– advertising materials
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NEWS 4 6 8 10 11
This photo is the copyrighted property of Tea Masters Cup International and International Tea Forum.
Distributed worldwide among coffee and tea producers, wholesale companies, shops and restaurants. Printed in Russia. According to the registration certificate of mass media ПИ №777213 from 30th January, 2001. Reprinting of materials is allowed only by permission of the magazine. The reference to the magazine ”Coffee and Tea International” is obligatory. The editors don't bear any responsibility for reliability of data placed in advertising blocks or announcements. The editor's point of view may not coincide with the author's point of view. All provided materials will not be returned or reviewed.
Calendar of events
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3rd Tea Masters Cup International determined the winners of 2016-2017 cycle When Tea Masters Cup becomes your winning cup of tea COFFEE&TEA RUSSIAN EXPO 2018 NEWS TMC Vietnam chose the winners UAE National Tea Masters Cup to debut at Dubai International Coffee & Tea festival PR-NEWS
SCIENCE NEWS 22 24
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The Global Coffee Pods Market in 2017: The End of an Era? Brewing up the future: ready to drink coffee in 2017 Ranked: top 15 tea-drinking countries
The quality of coffee: a Never-Ending Research 170 years of Georgian tea: what’s good today?
HORECA NEWS
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World Barista Champion 2017: “I’m not sure my approach is the best way for everyone”
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Tea culture and the experience of amateur combinatorics Shanghai Coffee notes
MONITOR
REVIEW & STATISTICS 14
Some words about professional profile of a specialist working in the consumer tea sphere
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INTERVIEW
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Tea & Trouble maker: Kevin Gascoyne on the North American tea market and more Traces on the tea road, printed in the book
ADVERTISER INDEX 1
CALENDAR OF EVENTS February 2018 — June 2018
14-16 February
19-23 April
AFCA-Uganda
Global Specialty Coffee Expo
Country: Uganda. City: Campalа Company page: afca.coffee/conference
Country: USA. City: Seattle Company page: coffeeexpo.org
19 February
3-5 May
Russian Hospitality Award
Vietnam Int’l Coffee Show
Country: Russia. City: Moscow Company page: hospitalityawards.ru
Country: Vietnam. City: Ho Chi Minh City Company page: cafeshow.com.vn
22-24 March
8-11 May
Café Asia
HOFEX
Country: Singapore. City: Singapore Company page: cafeasia.com.sg
Country: China. City: Hong Kong Company page: hofex.com
5-8 April
29 May – 2 June
Coffee Expo Seoul
Thaifex/World of Coffee & Tea
Country: South Korea. City: Seoul Company page: coffeeexposeoul.com
Country: Thailand. City: Bangkok Company page: worldoffoodasia.com
12-15 April
12-14 June
London Coffee Festival
World Tea Expo
Country: UK. City: London Company page: londoncoffeefestival.com
Country: USA. City: Las Vegas Company page: worldteaexpo.com
17-19 April
19-21 June
Food Service Moscow 2018
World of Coffee
Country: Russia. City: Moscow Company page: foodserv.ru
Country: Netherlands. City: Amsterdam Company page: scae.com/news-and-events
EVENTS OF THE MAGAZINE СOFFEE & TEA IN RUSSIA March 2018 — August 2018
15-17 March
15-17 March
Coffee&Tea Russian Expo 2018
Tea Masters Cup Russia
Country: Russia. City: Moscow Company page: coffeetearusexpo.ru
Country: Russia. City: Moscow Company page: teamasterscup.ru
15-17 March
25-26 August
Russian Barista Days
Coffee&Tea Festival
Country: Russia. City: Moscow Company page: baristabattle.ru
Country: Russia. City: Moscow Company page: coffeeteafest.ru
PR-NEWS
Already 3rd Tea Masters Cup International (TMCI) successfully took place at the 7th International Tea Forum and Expo in Enshi in China, Hubei province.
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uring three days of 25-27 September the best tea masters, winners of national rounds of 15 countries, showed their skills and presented their innovative ideas in front of 8 judges, famous tea experts from all around the world. Countries who joined the 20162017 cycle are Australia and New Zealand, Belarus, China, Czech Republic, Georgia, Italy, Latvia, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam. The program of TMCI consisted of competitions in four categories: Tea Preparation, Tea Pairing, Tea Mixology and Tea Tasting. The guests of championship could also attend a presentation about Turkish tea from Çaykur company as well as several Chinese tea ceremonies, which showed the traditions of different regions of China. Tea Masters Cup International 2017 was organized in cooperation with the China Chamber of Commerce of I&E of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-Products (CFNA) and Hubei province, traditionally 3rd time supported by Çaykur company, and with partnership of Lichuan Jinli Tea Co., Ltd, Hubei Tea Group Co., Ltd, Wangfu Tea House Group, Enshi Rainbow International Rich-selenium Tea Co., Ltd, Wuhan Yellow Crane Tower Tea Co., Ltd and Enshi Jimei Selenium Tea Culture Co., Ltd. Tea Preparation category consisted of two stages: preparing and serving Organiser’s tea and Master’s tea. The winner of Tea Preparation category in Tea Masters Cup International 2017 is Dmytro Filimonov from Ukraine. The second prize was given to Andrei Ivanov from Latvia. The third place was given to Alissiia Daineko, Russia. Tea Pairing category consisted of serving Organiser’s composition and Master’s composition. First place is for Andrei Ivanov, Latvia. The second and the third places are for Dorothy Chan from Australia and Dave Lim from Singapore accordingly.
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Tea Mixology, which was conceived and added to the International championship this year, had a great and bright launch. The best Organiser’s and Master’s Mix were made by Katerina Vymazalova, Czech Republic. The second place was awarded to Valerio Vitiello, Italy. The third prize went to Tatyana Filimonova, Russia. Tea Tasting contained two stages as well: degustation by identifying tea samples of pure teas and multi-ingredient beverage. First place - Jakub Rysavy (Czech Republic), second place - Andrei Ivanov (Latvia), third place - Dmytro Filimonov (Ukraine). After the competitions all the participants and guests of TMCI 2017 could join the Tea Tour around the tea plantations and tea factories in cities of Enshi and Yichang, province of Hubei. A unique opportunity to meet tea people and to know the technologies of producing wonderful and famous Chinese tea was a good final point for Tea Masters experience. Together with amazing nature and warm reception of China, that Tea Masters Cup International was a special and unforgettable. We will be happy to welcome you in the next 20172018 Tea Masters Cup cycle. Join us!
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PR-NEWS
Aliona Velichko
4 WINNERS AFTERTASTE Each of the TMC International participants was expecting his or her name to be announced as a winners. Up to the final moment nobody knew who were the luckiest ones. And only for four people the long way to the stage was the most exciting one. Meet now on our pages the first place winners in four categories! KATARYNA VYMAZALOVA, 18 y.o. (Chech Republic) – TEA MIXOLOGY The youngest and the most energetic one. Tea and all the cups and shakers were dancing in her confident hands shaking her tea up. Serious and at the same time with the most charming smile she shared her aftertaste with us: – I decided to participate in TMCI to gain the experience. And I even didn’t dare to think I could win. To tell you the truth I still can’t believe it! At the TMCI for my drink I mixed green japanese tea Sencha Kirishima Asanoka with banana juice, lemon juice and honey water. I am happy the judges loved it! When they announced the winner and I heard my name it took me a long time to believe it! It was a great feeling. I have been working with tea as a bar attendant for three years, Being a student I am very fine with the things I do now so I don’t want to change anything. But after school I hope to find a place in some nice bar where they treat tea with respect and give it the high place it deserves. JAKUB RYŠAVÝ, 25 y.o. (Chech Republic) - TEA TASTING He sipped tea fast and sharp and even though being seduced by Chinese food he managed to do his best: – I work as a manager in a tea room and I do a lot of tasting tea and brewing tea. I found myself at TMCI because of my friend Karel who was interested in tea and participated and helped to organise national TMCI. But before TMCI, 12 years ago I started to work in tea house. It was a long way where I learned a lot about tea. But tea always was a part time job for me. In Chech Republic we have tea section in bar attenders association and it is very valuable section. We show bar attenders that we have something to say. Before the TMCI I tried to be on a diet, to clean my mouth, use no spices but I failed. I love Chinese food which is very spicy and I wanted to taste everything. Actually I tried not to eat anything spicy at least two hours before TMCI and it was ok. May be it is not true for the others but for me it worked. Herbs were difficult to define for me. One or two teas were a bit difficult but about the other teas I was pretty much sure. TMCI gave me a lot of confidence about opportunities of working with tea. I realised that people working with tea are very special and even though as any business tea business is about money but tea people are different than for example people who sell cars. So it doesn’t matter for me if I will be a manager of tea room or brew tea – the main thing is that tea is of big value for me and I want to work with it and find more details about tea. It is really great opportunity to meet with other people who have the same kind of passion and come as participants to meet each other. We all got new experience in learning something new and sharing things. COFFEE&TEA INTERNATIONAL 1/2018
I think I will do some small things like helping other people who are interested in making good tea and don’t have passion to do it. I hope I will be able to give them reason to participate in TMCI and join tea community. If I do these little steps more people will join tea family and this will make me happy. DMITRY FILIMONOV, 31 y.o. (Ukraine) – TEA PREPARATION He impressed everybody with his idea os serving Darjeeling tea – using three tea purovers and putting them one on the top of the other. Giving special brewing time to teas and letting them brew each other. One should see it: – Once I was going on train and I was treated by a friend of mine by Long Jing and when I tried I realised I can’t drink another tea. So I started searching for good teas and reading a lot. With time I became more and more experienced with tea. Darjeeling thanks to Denis Shumakov1 became my favourite tea. So I made internet shop with Indian teas as I wanted to sell them unlike others who sell Chinese teas. Internet shop closed but I stayed with tea. Recently I became a tea sommelier in the wine company and it worked. So I became a full time tea professional. Again Denis Shumakov was the one from whom I learned about TMCI and I wanted to take part in it to meet tea people from all over the world. In Kiev my victory in national TMCI gave me more confidence and I became challenged to take part in international TMCI. The method that I created was interesting to test with others and see how they like it. I wanted to win and my victory was needed also for the company I work for. My highest ambition is to put emphasis on unpopular teas that are new at the market so I want to find them. For example when last spring I discovered Georgian teas they stroke me. Vietnamese teas also impressed me. Red wild teas charge me with energy. So I want to bring to Kiev Vietnamese and Korean teas that I am sure people will love them. When you are together with people who love tea at international tea event with high density of tea people it inspires and structures you. Tea mixology is the category I really loved – the new tastes impressed me a lot. Listening to tea people who tell you about their teas worth a lot. I would never go to TMCI just for the sake of participation. You need to go only if you want to show something for the judges and audience. Otherwise it is not fun for you or the judges. I enjoy tea and it brings me a lot of pleasure so as any kind of pleasure it need to be developed and set new horizons. ANDREY IVANOV, 31 y.o. (Latvia) – TEA PAIRING He was the only one who participated in international tmc for the third time. It was a long three year way of participation in local competitions and tmc international and finally it brought its results. He spent a lot of efforts, nerves and time but he did it! First prize and a lot of valuable tea experience: – Participation at my first international TMCI experience was very accidental and I even hadn’t expected that I would get there. But it was a good start for shaping my serious intentions about tea. I changed my teas that I had at home and I improved the quality of the teas I was drinking. And then we had a visit of Alexander Wagner2 who gave a very good seminar about tea and again changed my attitude to tea. Thanks to these two things I became very oriented at becoming professional. I did a lot of rehearsals before TMC International, found local Latvian ceramics master and we designed with her special tea set. Korean TMCI again taught me a lot and I made my conclusions. Every time I come to TMCI and get to know people, new teas and ways of making tea I got more and more inspired. First time in my life the topic developed itself – things and people came and all I had to do is to let it be. Not other topic in my life came to me so naturally and easily. I can say that tea chose me. And all my TMCI participations gave me a lot of contacts with tea people and I drink only high quality tea and share wth others. Now I am here and I think I deserved all the prizes I got and I feel very satisfied. It has been a long time since I last felt so happy calm and satisfied. In future I want to become an international judge. I think among judges there should be people who have gone through many TMCI like I did. When you have experience of participating in TMCI it is different when you are a judge and know what is at the other side. I was a judge at local kids TMCI Latvia and it was very interesting for me. I think I will stop participating in TMCI and need new big steps. May be one day we become grey haired guys who will get awards for tea in China as we saw during this trip. My motto is to become better every day and share knowledge with the others. 1 2
Denis Shumakov (Russia) - tea expert. Alexander Wagner (Russia) - tea expert.
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PR-NEWS
PARMALAT – GENERAL SPONSOR OF MILK FOR COFFEE&TEA RUSSIAN EXPO 2018
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ilk is the key component of coffee drinks. Specially for Barista and Latte Art championships the Parmalat company will provide milk and cream of high quality. The participants of the championships will be able to prepare for the performance with products from the sponsor – Parmalat - in advance, so they can successfully demonstrate their skill during Russian Barista Days. In Russia the professional line of Parmalat products is presented by several categories: milk, cream desserts: Crema Pasticcera, Crema Cioccolato Panna Cotta and yoghurt of six types. Products of the Parmalat company is the choice of professionals!
THE GROUP OF COMPANIES UNITEX – GENERAL SPONSOR OF THE EXHIBITION
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his year the group of companies Unitex for the first time will be the general sponsor of the CTRE 2018 exhibition, and also the Coffee&Tea Laboratory zone by providing the water filtration, that will be used for drinks preparation. Since 2007 Unitex have been the exclusive representative and distributor of the equipment for HoReCa. At the stand of the company will be presented the high-quality water treatment equipment under the world famous BWT brand. This equipment – the choice of professionals.
DAVINCI GOURMET IS THE GENERAL SPONSOR OF SYRUPS FOR THE EXHIBITION GOURMET
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he Kerry company with the DaVinci Gourmet brand became the general sponsor of syrups of Coffee&Tea Russian Expo 2018. DaVinci Gourmet – global brand of various syrups, toppings and smoothie with wide palette of tastes used for creation of unique recipes of coffee, alcoholic and soft drinks. DaVinci Gourmet syrups will become fine addition for the signature drinks from participants of the Russian Barista championship and the Tea Masters Cup Russia championship.
WHITE EAGLE VA - OFFICIAL COFFEE MACHINE OF RUSSIAN BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP 2018
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or the second time Nuova Simonelli and Business Russia support the most significant championship in the world – the Barista championship. During Russian Barista Championship 2018 companies will be the technical sponsors of Russian Barista Days with VA358 White Eagle coffee machine which belongs to Victoria Arduino brand. Besides the championship zone on the exhibition with the support of the company will be organized a special zone - Espresso Bar – where any visitor will be able to taste espresso from participants of the championship – the best barista of the country.
GOURMET STYLE COMPANY – OFFICIAL SPONSOR OF BREWING EQUIPMENT
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he Gourmet Style company will once again assist in carrying out the coffee championships within Russian Barista Days and the Tea Masters Cup championship. Being an official distributor of the equipment and accessories of Bonavita, the company will become the sponsor in category of brewing equipment. In addition, Gourmet Style will give support in organizing new zones for alternative coffee and tea brewing – Brew Bar on CTRE 2018.
KLD COFFEE IMPORTERS WILL BE THE GENERAL SPONSOR AND COORGANIZER OF THE RUSSIAN CUP TASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018
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he Cup Tasters champioship gains steam from year to year. In this season at the national level will participate more than 80 barista who will fight for the title of the Russian champion. Across the Russia also 6 selection stages, 6 winners of which will get to finals’ one sixteenth at once. The championship is very dynamic and spectacular, but it is big and laborious work on selection, roasting of coffee and also brewing on the championship stage that amounts to it. For the last several years the KLD Coffee Importers company actively supports and invests in the championship all its possible resources. This year it will also become the general sponsor and will do everything possible that the best from the best could become the winner.
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ECONOMICS
TMC VIETNAM CHOSE THE WINNERS facebook.com/TeaMastersCupVietnam
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ontinuing the success of Tea Masters Cup Vietnam 2015 in Thai Nguyen and Tea Masters Cup Vietnam 2016, from 2nd – 3rd December 2017, Tea Masters Cup Vietnam 2017 was hosted once again in No2, Ly Thai To, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, crowning worthy winner representing Vietnam compete in the international round of Tea Masters Cup 2018. This year, Vietnam Tea Association is honoured again to be the Organizing Committee of Tea Masters Cup Vietnam 2017. 20 candidates have been through regional rounds all around Vietnam before entering this national stage. This year, there is a slight change in the competition rule. Tea Masters would compete in 4 categories similar to the new format of International Tea Masters Cup 2017 which include: Tea Preparation, Tea Pairing, Tea Tasting, Tea Mixology. In this year competition, Judges Committee included high-reputation tea experts from both Vietnam and also international head judge. There were 9 Vietnamese Judges and 7 International Judges from Australia, Canada, Latvia, Ukraine, Japan, Sri Lanka. After two days full of amazing performances from tea masters, and thanks to serious and hard work of the judges committee, TMC VN 2017 succeeded in crowning the worthy champion of each category as below: - Mr Nguyen Hoai Linh – Champion of both Tea Preparation and Tea Pairing; - Ms Tong Thi Xuan – Champion of Tea Tasting; - Ms Nguyen Thu Trang – Champion of Tea Mixology. These 3 champions would represent Vietnam competing in International Tea Masters Cup 2018. There are 2 special things about this year result: firstly, for the first time ever, there is a tea master winning in
COFFEE&TEA INTERNATIONAL 1/2018
both categories Tea Preparation and Tea Pairing. Secondly, all of the champions are really young talented tea masters from the Y generation; in fact one of the champions this year is the youngest contestant of the whole competition. This has proved that there is a change in beverage consumption trend of Vietnam young generation in which pure tea has steadily gained its position among the youth and tea culture is also being promoted, spreading more influences in this generation. This suits the overall objective, the original purpose of Tea Masters Cup – to promote tea drinking culture and nourish young talent in this industry. In TMC VN 2017, to promote the competition further, it was decided to host the 4th Category – Tea Mixology outdoor. Since the venue is in a walking street which is also a well-known tourist attraction not only for foreigners but also locals, the event attracted a large crowd of audience for this category. The main sponsor of the competition – Vinatea also put some booths in the same place, brewing their products, invite people to taste their free sample, all of this had created a special tea space for people. After Tea Masters Cup Vietnam 2017, The Organizing Committee also arranged a tea tour to one of tea planting area – Moc Chau where all of the champions, VIP guests, judges and tea friends could enjoy the chilling picturesque scenery of mountainous area tea field, experience staying one night in the Stilt House, and have the special Oolong tea which is produced by one of the most famous tea masters in this area as well as share with each other their skill, their technique and passion for tea. The Organizing Committee would like to express deepest thanks to sponsor and the Culture Information of Hoan Kiem Lake and other local authorities to help host a successful Tea Masters Cup Vietnam 2017.
UAE NATIONAL TEA MASTERS CUP TO DEBUT AT DUBAI INTERNATIONAL COFFEE&TEA FESTIVAL coffeeteafest.com
A total of 10 talented and world-renowned tea specialists took part at the exciting UAE National Tea Masters Cup, which made its debut at Dubai International Coffee & Tea Festival (DICTF) at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre (DICEC). Six contenders faced off in the Cup’s UAE National Tea Preparation Challenge, while four were pitted against each other at the UAE National Tea Mixology Challenge. Participants prepared their most distinct and creative tea-based beverages to impress and win the nod of six celebrated judges comprising business owners and tea experts from
the UAE, the United States, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Winners of the inaugural edition of the Tea Masters Cup in Dubai will represent the Middle East on the international stage at the 2018 World Tea Masters Championship. Sponsored by “The Tea Company” and “Pure Leaf” by Unilever Gulf, the UAE National Tea Masters Cup aims to attract higher public and business interest to the local tea industry and pave the way for more recognition of Dubai’s involvement in the sector. The names of the winners are: Ricardo Dekker – Tea Preparation and Nima Dorjee Bhutia - Tea Mixology.
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ECONOMICS
RUSSIA, YOUTH, TESS orimi.com
25,000 delegates from 188 countries, 5,000 volunteers, 1,325 speakers, 3,000 experts, 1,364 journalists, and 11,000 participants of education and discussion events. These numbers comprise the “statistical portrait” of the XIX World Festival of Youth and Students, which has come to a close in the Russian city of Sochi. Roundtable discussions, educational programs, workshops, and project exhibitions – more than 800 events were included in the festival, along with many dramatic events included in the cultural and sports programs. However, the following should probably be considered the main result of the festival: it has successfully and effortlessly united young people coming from every continent, proving once again that youth knows no boundaries. Another number has to be added to the “statistical portrait” of the XIX World Festival of Youth and Students: 345,876. This is the total number of cups of TESS tea and Jardin coffee (the official hot beverages of the festival) drunk by delegates, participants, and guests of WFYS-2017.
TATA GLOBAL BEVERAGES COMPLETES SALE OF RUSSIAN SUBSIDIARIES moneycontrol.com Tata Global Beverages (TGBL) has completed the sale of two of its subsidiaries in Russia - Sunty and Teatrade - for 375 million roubles (about Rs 41 crore). TGBL in August announced sale of its business in Russia as part of restructuring operations in that country. “We now inform you that the process of restructuring has been completed resulting in the sale of two of the company’s overseas subsidiaries (Sunty and Tea Trade),” TGBL said in its latest filing. It added that Coffee Pack is the purchaser of Sunty, while Skhodnya Grand has bought Tea Trade. The transaction
was completed on November 3, 2017. The company received “375 million roubles for transfer of equity and assets of Sunty and Teatrade. Additionally, the company’s overseas subsidiary will receive license fees as a percentage of sales towards license of brand,” it said. The turnover and net worth of Sunty for the year-ended March 31, 2017 was Rs 248 crore and Rs (73) crore, respectively. Tea Trade had a turnover of Rs 18 crore and net worth of Rs (1) crore, the filing said. “Both Sunty and Tea Trade have ceased to be subsidiaries of the company,” TGBL said.
COFFEE MARKET PRICE ENDS 2017 AT 21-MONTH LOW ico.org The ICO composite indicator price averaged 114 US cents/ lb in December 2017, down 2.8% from November 2017. Prices for all groups of coffee fell over the course of the month, though the steepest decline occurred in Robusta prices. Exports in November 2017 were 9.2% lower than the same month last year on 9.02 million bags. Shipments of Arabica were 5.5% lower at 6.06 million bags while Robusta shipments decreased by 15.9% to 2.96 million bags. COFFEE&TEA INTERNATIONAL 1/2018
Global coffee output for 2017/18 is preliminary estimated at 158.78 million bags, 0.7% higher than last year. Arabica production is provisionally estimated at 97.32 million bags, 1.1% lower than last year due to an expected reduction in output from Colombia and Brazil. However, Robusta production is provisionally estimated 3.7% higher than last year at 61.46 million bags, due largely to growth in Vietnam.
BARISTA & FARMER TO TAKE PLACE FROM THE 3RD TO 13TH MAY IN COLOMBIA comunicaffe.com The new edition of the talent adds sustainabilitу to the values of “education” and “competition”, proposing itself as a cultural bridge between Colombia and Italy, between the reality of the coffee producers and the international scene. Nicole Battefeld (Germany) (1), Diego Campos (Colombia) (2), Iuliia Dziadevych (Ukraine) (3), Cong Yuan (China) (4), Matija Matijaško (Croatia) (5), Daniel Munari (Brazil) (6), Sara Ricci (Italy) (7), Vala Stefansdottir (Iceland) (8), Victoria Rovenskaya (Russia) (9). These are the nine baristas, selected among more than 250 applications who, along with the tenth participant (who will be revealed at Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) in march 2018), will be committed in a complete training course, from the picking in the plantation, through all the steps of the coffee production, using different technologies, up to the tasting experience and the multiple consumption opportunities. Work and learning will be interspersed with opportunities for fun and relaxation, with themed games and competitions. The finalists will be filmed and the videos will be broadcast on www.baristafarmer.com and the talent show’s social networks. Among the confirmed places that will host the talent, there are Meta, one of the 32 departments of Colombia. Here, the Lavazza Foundation is promoting sustainability projects aimed at the community of producers and their families, for a total of 350 people working with coffee. Huila is another region that will witness the arrival of the international baristas: its lands were once controlled by the cocaine producers, but now they have been freed by the colombian government and donated to small local coffee producers.
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REVIEW&STATISTICS
© Euromonitor International 2016
Matthew Barry1
In celebration of International Coffee Day, Euromonitor is sharing recent findings in the coffee pods market. Fresh ground coffee pods remain not only the fastest growing category of coffee, but of hot drinks in general. However, market maturity, high prices, intellectual property battles and sustainability concerns have started to cause this category to lose its lustre. Growth will still continue in pods’ core markets, but at a more subdued rate than in the recent past, as the gatekeepers to the major pod systems try to fend off a wave of new entrants to the category.
1 Matthew Barry is a Beverages Analyst with Euromonitor International specializing in global trends in non-alcoholic beverages. He is particularly interested in how economic growth and changing demographics are affecting the global beverage industry. His insights have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, Market Watch, and Beverage Daily, and he is a regular contributor to trade and industry publications. Matthew holds a degree in International Relations from Knox College and has been with Euromonitor International since 2015.
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REVIEW&STATISTICS
Matthew Barry
The RTD (ready to drink) coffee category first became a major soft drinks category in Japan, and well over half of global sales still occur there. However, category maturity, demographic issues and changing coffee consumption patterns are all weighing the Japanese category down. Growth is minimal and Japan’s importance to the global category is falling with each passing year.
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RANKED: TOP 15 TEA-DRINKING COUNTRIES These are the top 15 markets for both hot and cold tea globally ranked by total volume consumption in 2016.
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REVIEW&STATISTICS
Denis Shumakov
The strategy of the tea market and tea culture development will inevitably lead to the occurrence of a full-fledged profession, representatives of which will be involved in the work with the final tea consumers. Currently this profession has no name; there is neither more or less standard set of necessary knowledge and skills, nor, of course, a system of professional training system. And, most importantly, there is no sustainable market demand for such profession. But, once again, in the next five to ten years the situation may change, and there will be at least a small demand for specialists, who are qualified to work with tea on the top of its path on the market - at the tea table.
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ccasional demand for such specialists appears even now, but at present this demand is mostly localized within specific tea companies. And it is supplied by the companies themselves, by holding trainings of specialists with necessary competencies. Often such trainings become independent and sufficiently popular product - that is when tea schools, ready to work with exterior listeners on rather difficult educational programs, appear. But none of the tea schools I know does the professional tea training in the tea consumer sphere in the full sense of “professional training”. Undoubtedly, a graduate of almost any tea school will have more tea knowledge, than an average consumer. Will be higher and his skill in working with the beverage. But let’s be realistic. These “more” and “higher” are just a little more developed consumer outlook, a dozen of entertaining stories for retelling, a hundred new terms and names, the simplest skills of working with several types of dishes and, as a cherry on the cake, the opportunity to have a privileged access to tea and information, which in the most neglected cases are presented as the best. Ten hours of classroom training, five hours of practice and a week of unburdensome independent work — all of these can be mastered in the best possible way. But even in the mastering of “all of these” at its best, a graduate of the standard modern tea school is simply an advanced consumer, and his knowledge and skills have primarily entertaining nature. Obviously, this situation is not related to any malicious intent of those people who are engaged in tea training. Most often such people are the real tea enthusiasts, almost always their tea qualification does not cause any doubts. Everything is much simpler and is already described above: If there are no formalized requirements to the profession, it is unclear what to teach people in order that their tea preparation ceased to be a consumer one and become professional. And here we need one more reservation and one more repetition. I am talking about tea specialists who can work professionally in the field of consumer tea cul-
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ture. With the experts who work in the field of tea production and in the field of tea trade, all if not simpler, then certainly clearer. It is clear that the tea farmer and the tea trader should know: this knowledge is well formalized and can be tested both theoretically and practically. And what should know and what tasks should be able to solve a specialist who is professionally involved in the field of tea consumption? That’s the real question. Before I try to answer it, I will take the liberty to make two retreats, built “from the contrary.” If it is not possible to immediately answer the question “what the tea specialist should know”, maybe the task will be easier if you can understand what knowledge and skills are useless for such a specialist? First retreat. Let’s imagine a certain abstract tea school, which prepares tea masters, tea sommeliers, tea bartenders, tea infusiasts or even tea evangelists and ambassadors - we can invent any name. Try using the most template thinking for a moment and predicting the approximate curriculum of such school. History of tea, it’s botany, tea cultivation and production, tea countries and their typical teas with detailed study, if possible, basic tea traditions, biochemistry of tea and its influence on health, tea utensils, ways of brewing and tea tasting, tea gastronomy and, as the top of tea knowledge, a trip to the plantation with the ability to make your own tea. At the first sight, the program is convincing. But if we, as I have stated earlier, look at it realistically, even in the best performance, is only the basis for really professional knowledge. So to say, the most basic basis. Very suitable for general development, increasing self-confidence and developing a sense of belonging to a professional community — but almost useless. Roughly the same as the idea of the architecture of Von Neumann and the Turing Test and the knowledge that the first computers were large and hot for modern IT-engineer. All this knowledge is great for making an impression on basic girls - but would hardly help to solve real problems. This, of course, does not mean that the history of tea should not be taught and there is nothing to do on plantations. All this can be useful, at least as a source of entertaining stories at the tea table. But such knowledge and such trips is obviously not enough for the solution of real problems at the mentioned tea table, so it is necessary to treat them rather, as amusing expansion of horizons and as thematic tourism, rather than as a professional training. Second retreat. Work with tea is very often correlated with work with coffee. It is connected with the formal proximity of tea and coffee in the consumer culture (both hot and soft drinks) and with much greater professional sophistication of the modern consumer coffee cul-
ture. In this situation, the desire to transfer coffee approaches to the consumer tea culture looks quite natural. But, in my opinion, is not natural – because there are no less consumer differences between tea and coffee than consumer similarities. And the thing here is not only in substantially greater variety of tea and tea traditions. And also in the fact that the cornerstone of consumer coffee culture is the idea that delicious coffee is a product that can be prepared only by a specially trained person and on special (and expensive, of course) equipment. This is a very competent approach with excellent market potential, but in consumer tea culture it can be used only locally. Because the cornerstone of the consumer tea culture in general is the idea that really tasty tea can be perfectly prepared at home. In fact, consumer tea culture is much closer to consumer wine culture than to consumer culture of coffee. And “wine” borrowings seem to me more promising-but also not without adjustments, because the complete analogy between wine and tea, of course, is impossible. To generalize both deviations I want to say that for professional work in the sphere of consumer tea culture it is impossible to completely copy approaches from wine and coffee cultures and obviously general tea knowledge and skills are not enough. We need something else. In
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my opinion, “something else” is the basis of the profile of the tea consumer professional and includes the following blocks of knowledge and skills. 1. Ability not only to work with tea independently, but also ability to organize the performance of this work by other people and in different (including simple) conditions, for example, at home. Practically this skill includes the ability to give the qualified recommendations on brewing and serving tea in the given conditions, and these conditions can be very arbitrarily specified. A simple example of such a task is the request for help which sounds like: “I’ve got green Chinese tea, and I don’t know what to do with it.” Complex examples of such a problem can be invented in abundance. 2. Understanding of the tasks that the consumer aims to solve with the help of tea - starting from the simplest (washing down morning sandwiches or to legitimize office breaks) and ending with the most difficult (self presentation through tea, etc.) and, of course, the ability to solve these tasks using a given set of tea resources. Of course, in order to solve all these tasks, both simple and complex, you will need... 3. Ability to create reproducible techniques of work with tea and reproducible tea recipes. It is the ability not only to use existing methods of work with
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tea, but also to modify them or at all invent them from scratch that distinguishes a productive professional from the advanced consumer. For a professional, tea is a tool used to solve your own problems and the tasks that other tea consumers are putting before you (see above). These tasks are very different, and often in order to solve them one will have to go beyond the developed, cozy, but far from universal tea traditions. It implies another important competence. 4. Ability to transform traditions into innovations. For a professional the tool is not only tea itself, but tea traditions in a whole. They can be used modularly, i.e. in a whole and without any changes, solving the problem immediately, as well as the basis for the creation of new tea products, including eclectic ones. If to transfer this principle into practical plane, the tea professional should be well orientated in the maximum quantity of existing tea traditions, be able to create stylized tea-parties of different degree of accuracy, freely extract both key principles and “decorative” components from existing traditions and develop them into independent and modern solutions. 5. Having actual tea knowledge and ideas of current actual tea trends. And, as a result, a wide professional outlook, allowing to effectively con-
struct tea solutions not only with the use of traditional techniques and own insights, but also with active borrowing of ideas of other experts. Naturally, for realization of this block of knowledge it is necessary, that the expert is involved in the developed system of professional communications and had the holistic perspective on modern consumer tea culture. 6. Knowledge of the tea market relevant for his area of responsibility in all its diversity and ability to solve tea problems with the use of resources of this market. A professional working with a consumer tea culture should know and be able to use all the resources on which this culture is based. In other (very simplified) words, such a specialist should give an exact answer to the question “what kind of packaged tea to buy in a local supermarket”, and not to start squeamish talks in response to such questions and say that in supermarkets
one can find only sawdust, and the true tea should be bought from real professionals and for real money. 7. Knowledge about taste and gastronomic possibilities of tea, as well as about other consumer qualities, and skills of their usage. Such knowledge and skills will make it possible to create accurate tea solutions in response to the requests formulated by consumers, even if the formulations are not very clear. At first glance, such a “reactive” offer in modern consumer tea culture is present, but is based, as a rule, on communication technologies and convincing imposing, rather than on real knowledge of tea and its consumer qualities. 8. Tea party organization skills for different number of guests and with different service pace. The organization of tea tasting for three persons and without time restrictions and organization of the tea table at the banquet for thousand of people, where each guest will spend at the tea table no more than a minute, are two completely different tasks, even if they are implemented on the same material supply and by the same specialist. Theoretically it is clear to anyone without any special training. But to really understand this difference and to develop effective methods of work in various conditions is possible only by having real work experience. All blocks of knowledge and skills mentioned above have pronounced tea specifics and absolutely can be considered industrial and sectoral. However, in addition to such a pure tea training for work in the consumer tea culture sphere one will need a non-specific training. First of all, of course, it concerns presentation skills, skills of narrator and commentator, basic ideas about the design of the working space and the ability to work with clothes. A pleasant bonus to such skills will be the personal charisma of a specialist, which, of course, is not very technological, but if a specialist has one, he is to learn how to use it, not inly to attract attention to himself, but to tea as well. Also basic knowledge about coffee and alcohol will also be very useful, as well as the insights on the restaurant business and gastronomy, skills in cooking different dishes (first of all, of course, confectionery products) will come in handy too. The result of such professional training should be a universal tea equally successfully classical tea party, make tea shows, give expert comments and work in a restaurant with equal success. In the situation when the profession connected with work in the sphere of consumer tea culture is only in the process of being created, these are specialists which are needed the most. There can not be a lot of them, but they must be very good and very versatile. Subsequently, if the market of tea-related professions develops, there will be a demand for more narrow specialists. But now we need broad ones.
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To look more deeply into details of coffee processes on a fundamentally new level for making drink beloved by millions of people more attractive – that is what The International Hub For Coffee Research And Innovation, or simply The Coffee Hub, tries to achieve. Maurizio Giuli, marketing director of Simonelli Group (project is owned by this company), told about key moments of center and its team life, also about first successes in laboratory research promotion.
Evgenia Troitskaja
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– How did you come up with the idea to create The Coffee Hub? What was the main purpose of the project? – The collaboration between Simonelli Group, universities and research centers can’t be called recent – the premiere projects were done in the middle of 1990’s. But at that time all activities were focused on making some specific explorings for new technologies. The Coffee Hub is something different, and it isn’t considered the continuity of previous phase, even if we can admit that it has some relations with it. The global purpose is to connect the scientific world and the coffee community in a cooperative approach able to extend the level of coffee knowledge. All of us from Simonelli team were involved in this new inspirational project since the launching. – Which problems have you faced while creating the project? – Bringing something new in our world, as well as it was new also for universities, is always connected with challenges. The main of them was to transform a conceptual idea into a concrete project with all the organizational and management difficulties you may imagine. – What is the geography of your project? Are you planning to expand it? – The presence of the word “hub” in the name is not a coincidence, it represents a core of its identity. The Coffee Hub is not an internal project, but it is an international network, where all the best players can show an interest in giving their contribution to explore some scientific aspects about the coffee. – Who is your key audience? Why? – We have two main audiences: one is the scientific community, which is the foremost to be included, because they do the biggest part of studying activity. Other audience is the coffee community, which is concerned to transform the results of this research in a never-ending improvement of the coffee quality. – Who is your team now? How big is it? – Let’s say that The Coffee Hub has just started its journey. At the moment there are four researchers and two professors fully dedicated to the all working processes, but its goal is to expand procedures involving other universities and other research centers. – You have a coffee scientist Joseph A. Rivera among your experts. Who else would you like to collaborate with? – Joseph Rivera is a great example of The Coffee Hub’s identity, he has a strong experience in coffee research. And he was very enthusiastic to be a part of the project since the first meeting, when we presented it to him. We are happy to work with Joseph
as well as we are happy to work together with all experts who are looking for cooperations. – How do you convince your partners to participate in your project? – This is not a commercial program, so we do not want to convince anybody. The Coffee Hub has opened to work and everyone with a specific knowledge, with a desire of giving a positive contribute in its research plans can ask to be invited to the project. – How did you promote your project? Which methods were the most efficient and which ones didn’t really give necessary results? – At Host Milan The Coffee Hub was presented with a booth. It was the first time, when the research world exhibited inside the business trade-show, and it was a challenge for us and also for Fiera Milano, which had believed in this project since the beginning. After the huge attention to our pioneer appearance from visitors, we can say that everything overcame with success and satisfaction for all the parts. – As you have already said, your project is non-commercial. Are you planning to monetize it? – We are not interested in monetization. The Coffee Hub is a not-for-profit center and all collected resources are reinvested again in the researches, for example, for buying new equipment or hiring new specialists. The Coffee Hub is able to collect more funds and then more projects can be managed. – How much money did you need to create the project? Who are your sponsors and investors? – At this stage the most part of resources invested in The Coffee Hub comes from Simonelli Group and from Unicam, but we do not exclude external investors. After Host exhibition some companies, such as Ikawa, Pentair, which took part in that project, donated their equipment to the proceeding of The Coffee Hub, in this way they gave their input to the research activity. – Why does coffee industry need your project? What will it bring to the market in the future? – We believe that it can’t be a further improvement of the quality of coffee without appropriate knowledge. The role of The Coffee Hub is to give a contribute at this purpose. The most exciting aspect of this project is its nature – to be a network not just a private research center. In this way it is a sort of open system where anybody can provide its concepts, which will be shared with the coffee community. – Not so long ago you celebrated the first birthday of The Coffee Hub and organized a big conference “The Quality Of Coffee: A Never Ending Research”. What was the idea of that? How would this event help to develop the project? – Conference was the part of The Coffee Hub activity; it was a scientific event where researchers from all over the world who have been making some observable works about coffee can participate and interact with each other in order to present their results, at the same time to get feedback from the scientific association. We had 23 speakers and many participants from 12 different countries – so remarkable to us, because it was just the first, but not last, edition. 23
SCIENCE NEWS
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n 2017 Georgia celebrates the 170 anniversary of the beginning of tea cultivation. The history of tea growing in the country is traced back to 1847, when the Governor general Vorontsov gave an order to transfer the first bushes of the Chinese tea from Sochi Botanical Garden on acclimatization station in the area of georgian town Ozurgeti. Over the years, there were periods of rapid blossoming and aggravating downturns in the tea growing. At present, the authorities are striving to maintain the industry to the extent possible, so as not to lose everything that has been worked out for many years of work on earth and in scientific laboratories. Since 2016, the Government of Georgia has launched a program of rehabilitation of tea plantations. Besides, the Partnership Fund of Georgia together with the Chinese partners has started realization of the program of Georgian tea production. Shota Bitadze, an importer of tea from China and one of the founders of the Georgian-Chinese relations Center “Silk Road”, shares his expert view on the current prospects for tea in Georgia. He believes that unlike the past years of mass production, at the present stage the tea industry of the country should be oriented to the production of specialty category products and its variety, such as organic tea.
The possibility of successful tea production in Georgia has been historically confirmed and good prospects for this area are undeniable: Georgia’s proximity to the largest tea markets-Russia and Eastern Europe, historical and cultural ties with these countries and good consumer awareness. Georgia has the potential of industrial tea production, its more northern location in comparison with other tea producing countries allows to cultivate high-quality tea with individual taste peculiarities. Isolated ecosystem, which is provided by mountain group from the north, fertile climate created by the warm Black Sea, mountain rivers with glacial water, enriching the local soil with minerals, the ability of tea plants to carry the cold under the snow and natural supply of clean water – all these conditions ensure the resistance of tea bushes to diseases and allow not to use chemicals in agCOFFEE&TEA INTERNATIONAL 1/2018
ricultural methods. Tea plantations also do not require artificial irrigation. Modern rethinking of the listed soil and climatic peculiarities of the region led me to the understanding that the territory of western Georgia has the conditions for growing organic tea and, thus, for making the cultivation of tea much more profitable than before when the country produced a mass product. However, the solution to the problem of gradual transition to the production of organic tea is not as simple as it may seem at first glance. The fact that the largescale production of tea, which was developing in the Soviet period, used a fast and cheap method of creating tea plantations-planting tea seeds directly in the open ground, besides seeds were imported from different tea countries. As a result, the plantations contained heterogeneous tea plants, which in itself already excludes the production of products that meet the high requirements of such tea category as specialty, for example. In addition to that, seeds that naturally fell off the tea bushes, especially in the period of critical state of the industry and abandonment of large plantation areas, de-
fined a wild development of new plants, which differed from parent ones. Thus, the subsequent natural selection, which lasted 25 years, caused the transformation of the tea plant into its wild variety in Georgia. The development of the plant was natural, it was accustomed to environmental conditions, became a genetically stable and healthy. The original heterogeneity of the plantations once cultural, but now wild tea bushes gave life to wild varieties of different teas. Thanks to this, the tea produced from the raw materials grown in different regions, demonstrates distinct and different taste characteristics. Thus, the producers of tea have the opportunity to manufacture different types of Georgian tea depending on the location using an appropriate technology, production cycle and agrotechnical schemes. In my opinion, the most important at the present stage is to carry out the breeding works with wild plants and the breeding of new cultural varieties depending on which qualities are necessary for the modern market. The gradual realization of the potential for the Georgian tea production and the need to revive it within the framework of the new concept (specialty and organic) has been coming about since 2006. Since 2007 plantation restoration measures have being taken in light of the requirement of organic farming. There are opportunities for supplying Georgian tea manufacturers with modern equipment and providing them with new technologies. We studied the production of pollution-free, high quality tea in various regions of China while visiting the main tea provinces. We learned a lot about peculiarities of plantation farm arranging and growing technologies. This new knowledge and experience has strengthened our conviction that the new approach to tea production in Georgia has excellent prospects. Meeting with partners from different tea countries (Kenya, Sri Lanka, India, Korea, China, Japan, etc.) and the variety of their tea inspired us and we continued further actions aimed at the development of organic tea. The first batch of high quality tea produced in Georgia on new organic standards was successfully sent to Ukraine in 2010. The main task was to unite the producers of tea in Georgia, which share our approach. It was necessary to involve companies, cooperatives and families ready to produce organic tea to work together. We started looking for opportunities to help them, to share our own experience and knowledge gained in China and other countries. For today Georgian Organic Tea Producers Association was established. It works in such areas as development and adherence to organic standards, restoration of plantations and breeding of new varieties of Georgian tea, establishing of private Tea museum and Tea school, growing of tea plants possessing desired varietal properties of such species as green, black, white, magenta and others. For realization of the set tasks it is necessary to work on technologies of deriving organic fertilizers from tea waste, to help tea manufacturers in organization of tea production as a self-sufficient business, to do all possible for promotion of Georgian Organic Tea – to participate in forums, various international organizations, to popularize our organic products, to participate in competition projects of tea masters and so on. In short, if eleven years ago everything was very vague and much was not clear, today we already clearly understand in what direction we need to work and how to develop to bring back to the market a new, transformed Georgian tea!
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Photo: Kim Sangkab (Black Tribe) for Black Water Issue, official media partner of the World Barista Championship.
Photo: Jake Olsen for World Coffee Events
- For how long have you been preparing for the World Barista Championship 2017? Who helped and trained you? - My national championship ended in the middle of August, leaving us just 12 weeks to get ready for Seoul (WBC 2017 took place there – C&T). I hadn’t really thought about what would happen if I won the UK championship – I had a holiday booked pretty much right after – and I took that time to stop thinking about competition for a little while with the hope that I would come back with new ideas. That left us with just 8 weeks to prepare for Seoul. It’s always been my goal to compete at the world level, and something that I believed I would only ever have one chance of doing, so with the help of my employer Steve at Hasbean (Dale is the Director of Wholesale at Hasbean Coffee in the UK – C&T), my longterm coach Pete Williams and I put all of our other projects aside for the eight weeks and, wherever possible, tried to focus just on the preparation for competition. The longer answer is this: getting ready for this competition took nine years – nine years of making mistakes and learning new things through the national competition, and also from the community which competition allowed me to be part. When I look back at the routine we presented in Seoul, I can see lessons learned throughout those years and how they played into the final routine. - What played the key role in your victory? - When we reviewed the scoresheets after the announcements, we could see that my signature beverage was the drinks course where my routine excelled in terms of points – this was mostly down to Pete. Pete is constantly excited by flavours but he is also one of the most organized and technically gifted people – he understands how flavour can be developed or enhanced through fermentation, chemistry, temperature, and different methods to deliver these within a drink. Most of all, he embraces the challenges the rules demand, bridging the gap between delicious and espresso dominance whilst developing synergy between ingredients. One of the other distinguishing factors of my routine was the coffee I chose to use – this was a microlot from Finca Las Brumas, one of Ernesto Menendez’s farms. Ernesto is widely respected in El Salvador as one of their most progressive coffee
farmers and has a history of success at both the COE but also at WBC, having grown both the coffees that Alejandro Mendez used when won the championships in Bogota. That success, however, hasn’t made life easy. Coffee farming is difficult and there are no guaranteed results; this has been Neto’s hardest year since he began working in coffee. I feel both really privileged that through Steve and Hasbean, I had the opportunity to work with Neto’s coffee, but also that we can celebrate his work at a time when it matters most. It was important to me for this competition to select a coffee based on its taste balance and not on its story – I believe when you engage with a coffee properly, almost every single one has a story to tell, but when we tasted this blind on the cupping table, both the flavours and balance felt right for presenting in the competition. - What was your performance strategy and how did you decide on it? - I actually approach competition in a very particular way – I’m not sure it’s the best way for everyone! I try to begin either by finding something that is important for me to say or finding a coffee that I want to present and then following its story to see which angle I feel best describes what makes it distinctive. In this case, the idea of building a presentation around a sensory experience rather than the coffee story came first and then the challenge was using that concept to reveal some of the story behind this coffee. In the end, it felt like I had to let some really interesting stories about Neto’s farm fall away so that I could retain the clarity needed to present both the drinks and the ideas effectively. - How did you choose the right ingredients? - When we look at signature drinks and the ingredients I chose there, it was completely led by the results of the GCMS analysis we undertook through the department of Food Sciences at the University of Nottingham. Ian Fisk, an associate professor there and his PhD Student Chujiao Liu (Gloria), who is already deep into an exciting thesis project on improving robusta cup quality post processing, kindly gave their time both running the tests and refining the results into something understandable. The results were super complex and it took Jenn, my partner, another week of researching, interpreting data, and cross referencing with oth-
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he winner takes it all. After having titled as the best barista of the United Kingdom Dale Harris took the next step three months later and won the World Barista Championship of 2017. Key is to be able to demonstrate proficiency behind the machine, he says. Dale chose his profession as a field with “lots of different stories you could get lost in”. Coffee & Tea International decided to listen to his own story. Here Dale shares a bit of what helped him to win, main things he has learnt out of years in the industry and why he decided to build his victorious presentation around a sensory experience rather than the coffee. 27
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er studies to identify what we considered the three aromatic families that raised this cup’s profile. We gave these to Pete who then built a signature drink component based on each family that would allow those flavours to shine. - How do you spot the winner? What is the main criterion? - Wherever possible, I try to avoid describing championship winning baristas as the best – the skills required for barista competition don’t always align with those needed to be the best barista on a bar or for a customer. There are definitely skills that will help a barista achieve results in the competition: for me, the best barista competitors are able to demonstrate proficiency behind the machine and be able to present information clearly in an engaging way without either skillset getting in the way of the other. Outside of competition, I believe the real skills great baristas have are tied to curiosity, a willingness to learn, and a desire to serve both the coffee and the customers ahead of their own reputation. - Would you call it sport or is it more of a way to contribute into culture, to develop coffee industry? - This is an interesting question – I’m not sure about the actual definition of sport. Whilst barista competitions can be stressful and exhilarating, it’s definitely a game for geeks. I think barista competition is able to shape the direction that the industry pushes specialty coffee in both positive and negative ways. For my part, I hope we can continue to use it to focus both on origin and the globally connected nature of the work we do rather than on technology or brewing skill which, in my opinion, receive attention more easily because it’s often easier to innovate there than it is to do the hard, slow and necessary work where coffee is grown. - How important is it to train with a world class coach to become a champion today? - Firstly, I don’t believe you can set winning as a goal for this kind of competition – too much of that result sits with other people, be it judges or fellow competitors. You can however set large personal goals and the best way to achieve them is as part of a team. Secondly, I think there are many definitions as to what a “world class” coach is or could be. To me a world class coach isn’t necessarily some-
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one who’s won a championship, it’s someone who understands the competition and the scoresheets as well as who you are as a person. And, most importantly, who is willing to create a training approach tailored to your needs as a competitor. I had the benefit of a long working history with my coach Pete Williams, so we understood both each other’s skill sets and working styles but also our limitations. Because of this, we could build a coaching relationship that worked for both of us. Whilst I think it’s necessary that anyone competing at the world level has a coach or teammate who will help motivate them when it’s difficult and keep them focused on the goals they’ve set together, I don’t think that this particular kind of relationship is an off-the-shelf product you can buy. Both parties truly need to put work in together as a team. It’s also helpful to get guidance and advice from people who have been in the WBC situation, be that judges or previous competitors: As a part of my training, we took some time to do run-throughs with some experienced judges and competitors from the UK circuit. It was a really difficult and painful experience because they gave lots of sharp criticism, but as we tweaked and polished the routine with their thoughts in mind, both the performance and the message became stronger. Should any of your readers be successful in winning their national championships, I would encourage them to take every opportunity to engage with their local community to ensure they’re at their best when they present on the world stage. - Did you have any sponsors? - Actually, I had no formal sponsorship for this competition beyond the support of Steve and Hasbean, who continued to pay both my wage and Pete’s wage whilst we were pretty useless to the company for a while. In the future, I would like to see barista competition develop so there is considerably less need for large, individual investment. At the same time – or until we get there – I’d like to see the opportunities for support spread more widely around the global community. Investment and support are easier to come by in a market where the competition is valued, particularly in consuming countries and I think this can be detrimental to our industry, where new, valuable ideas to progress specialty coffee come from all corners, not just the mar-
ket-developed countries. - How much money do you need to get prepared for such competition and to take part in it? What does the price include? - I think it’s important to differentiate between money spent on things like table settings, paraphernalia, and equipment and the money – or more importantly, time – invested in preparation. I am incredibly privileged that over the last few years, Hasbean has been able to build up the necessary tools to allow me to practice on the competition machine and grinder at our roastery. I also had a strong network of friends, colleagues, and customers who were happy to support me with both their insight and time, both of which were invaluable not only to this year’s competition, but through all the years. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve this success without the freedom Steve offered me to spend the weeks before competition focused almost exclusively on preparing, nor could we have presented what I wanted without the generosity of the University of Nottingham in allowing me time on their equipment and with their team. More than anything the support and time Pete and Jenn gave me throughout those weeks, staying late in the roastery each day and through weekends whilst we tasted coffee, worked on solutions to problems my ideas created, and filling all the little gaps in a routine like this that are less evident than the drinks or words but equally important to the final presentation. When you add up the cost of all the time and energy people have invested in me and this competition – recognising that time is money – we invested quite a bit. But in actual finance, we spent relatively little compared to rumours I’ve heard in the past of many thousands being spent on shipping teams, equipment, and coffees across the word: the table settings I had built were the one luxury in which I really invested. Almost everything else was low cost (table wares), sourced locally to the show (grinder, milk) or borrowed for this purpose (scales, etc). Most of the tools we used we either had already or we bought because they were things for which we could see a future use, though we gave many of these a deep clean and a fresh coat of paint! - Would you agree that such championships are “for elite”, not for everyone? - This is difficult question for me
to answer – on one level, I don’t regard myself as “elite”. I come from a working-class background and my success in coffee, not just in competition, has been the result of a long journey with slow and steady improvements. On the other hand, I’m privileged in living and working in the UK for a company like Hasbean – I’m aware of all of the resources I have available to me because of this and how it has impacted my opportunities. If barista competitions are not for everyone – and I do think they currently serve a particular part of the pecialty coffee industry in a particular way, right or wrong – it is not because they are explicitly or intentionally “for the elite”. There are decidedly more hurdles for those entering the competition from a less privileged position – this is something I’d like to see change – but we have seen in the past that those extra hurdles can and have been jumped by people with a strong message, great coffee, and solid technical skills. - What do these competitions and the title finally mean for you? How do they affect your professional life? - The goal of standing on the WBC stage has been a key motivator throughout my coffee career and to finally achieve that goal, to make it all the way through to finals, was incredible. The final result was unexpected and, if I’m honest, I don’t know how this will shape my future, but I’m excited about some of the opportunities it may allow. I hope to make the best use of them so that I keep learning and progressing within the industry and in coffee. - Let’s turn to your career a bit. What inspires you about coffee and working as a barista? Why did you choose this way? Do you see it as your job or your hobby? - I used to work in fashion retail and after changing from one brand to another, I realised that my skillset was not in sales but in communicating with people, particularly about things I enjoy! I was lucky enough that when that role ended, I was in a position that I could decide what to do next, and at that time, coffee and cafes seemed really attractive – a field with lots of different layers and stories that I could get lost in. Throughout my career, I’ve worked behind bar as well as in training and repairing equipment. Most recently, my role has been tied to looking after wholesale customers and talking about coffee a lot. All of these things I enjoy, and it would be hard to separate the hobby from the work.
I think I’m really lucky to have found my place in this industry. - Is it prestigious and profitable to be a barista in the UK? - Outside of the industry, most people in the UK either don’t know what a barista is or still consider it a part-time job regardless of the effort we continue to put into professionalising it. I believe it continues to be hard to make enough money to pay your rent as a barista and this will remain an issue until we work out how to add tangible value to the customer experience. - How high is the competition between barista now and how do you struggle with it? - There is a lot of competition between baristas for the next level of roles within the industry, be that moving into roasting, green sourcing, or other areas. This is a function of the way our industry has developed and the relative rarity of those jobs – I do think one of the positive aspects of barista competition is that it is not about beating other competitors, but more about improving your own performance. As a general rule, I believe if we all spend more of our time focusing on building our community rather than our personal brands or businesses, it benefits us all. There is still a wide coffee market that specialty hasn’t touched and room for many more of us to progress. - What do you do to be recognized? How do you promote yourself in your profession? - I’m in a very lucky position that Hasbean found me a long time ago and allowed me the opportunity to work with exceptional coffee and a team of exceptional people. As part of my day to day work, I try and be involved in community groups that are trying to build new things in coffee. In particular, I’m really proud of the work I did in the early days of the Barista Guild of Europe and of what it has since gone on to achieve after my time in the working group ended. I think organisations like this – as well as barista competition – are great ways to develop your professional skills and allow for interactions that lead to future opportunities. - What else do you do to improve your skills? - For me, the primary goal of barista competition has always been to force me to engage with new ideas and challenge the way that I make coffee – this has not always been easy. The more coffee you make, the more you get tied into a particular way of doing things. The biggest challenge is remaining open to those
new ideas, particularly when they come from people you either compete against or who work for other companies, but we learn and improve more quickly when we work with people rather than against them. - In which projects are you participating now and what are your future plans? - For the next few weeks, my primary focus will be catching up on my work at Hasbean and with our wholesale customers, who I’ve neglected for a little while. I’ve also set up playset.coffee as a place where Pete, Jenn, and I can engage with new projects that excite us – in particular, working a little more with Gloria and Ian at the University of Nottingham and raising attention to some of the work she’s been doing as a part of her PhD thesis. I’m also hoping that Pete and I will compete together at a forthcoming Barista League event. - You help people to enjoy coffee every day. What about you – how many cups a day do you drink? Do you always prepare it yourself? - I drink a lot more brewed coffee than espresso and I’m looking forward to a few weeks without any espresso! I’ve had more than my fair share recently… I normally start the day with a chemex or kalita and throughout the day, different members of the team are almost always making something tasty – be it coffee we’ve roasted or samples from another roaster that have magically appeared at our door. Arguably, my colleagues Chris and Katie take a lot more care over brewing than I do, and I’m usually happy to have a large mug of coffee brewed by anyone placed in my hand over a workday! - Could you share some lifehacks “from Dale Harris” with our readers? - I listen to a lot of spoken-word radio. I’m very lucky that in the UK, we have Radio4 and the World Service and that there’s always something interesting on. Many of the ideas that have fed into competition routines but also my thoughts on coffee have their basis in things I’ve learned about other industries, fields of study, or approaches to business on the radio. Whilst I think it’s important we all embrace the coffee community, it’s also important that we look outside our industry for guidance and inspiration because many of the problems we face are not our problems alone.
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Monitor
Denis Shumakov
Imagine a tea culture as a system consisting of many objects with certain properties describing both the objects themselves and the rules of their interaction. These objects are heterogeneous (specific teas, samples of utensils, tea consumers, production and logistics capacities), various (teas, people, tableware and capacities are very different), numerous and constantly changing — but all of them, certainly belong to the system called Tea culture.
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ithin the tea culture system, there are already organised structures that meet certain criteria. These are local tea and tableware traditions, tea businesses and associations, production standards, books about tea, etc. and each of these ordered structures consists of the elements belonging to the “tea culture” system, but only partially. This model (I hope, it does not cause fundamental objections-it is very generalised and therefore correct) immediately puts two practical questions. The first question is, how much does each specific orderly structure within the tea culture system relate to the whole system? Or, in other words, under what conditions such structure can be responsible for the whole system. The second question is, what is the mechanism for creating a new orderly structure within the tea culture system? For example, a new tea tradition to go to a new market segment? The answer to the first question is obvious – the structure is associated with the system as much as many elements it comprises. Broadly speaking, if the whole system consists of 25 objects, and the structure – of 16, the structure would be nearly identical to the system as a whole. Moreover, if in the frame of system of 25 elements several structures of 16 elements would be built, this structures would have a very close element composition and some elements would be common for all structures. As counterexample (which we will need further) let us consider the situation when the structure of 16 elements is built on the basis of a system consisting of 44 elements. Surely, on such an “elemental base“ it is possible to build an enormous amount of 16-element structures. But the main thing is not this, but the fact that none of these structures can be cor-
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related to the whole system: among the received structures there will be structures composed of completely different elements and none of the elements of the system will be common for all 16-elemental structures. And now let’s bring everything back from abstract reasoning with circles and squares into the practical tea field of use. If we want to create a structure that will be correlatable with the whole tea culture, then this structure should be comparable to the whole tea culture in scale (in which there are much more than 16 or 144 objects). And it means that a good book about tea should be huge, and the system of quality description of tea, “responsible” for all tea in the world, should be global, and the list of the best teas of the world should be very impressive. In such a scale there would not be anything terrible (especially as large-scale tasks are quite captivating), if not a single pitiful nuance. Any structure created within the tea culture should be consumed. And here the scale becomes rather a disadvantage, than dignity. A book of 200 pages is more consumed than a book of 20000 pages. The quality standard of 10 grades is more functional than the quality standard of 10000 grades. And the list of the best world tea varieties of 100 items is more attractive than the same list of 1000 names. This means that the correlation of the whole tea culture and structure within its framework is much closer to counterexample 144/16 than to example 25/16. Which, in turn, means that none of work-friendly structures composed of tea culture elements will be sufficiently correlated to the tea culture as a whole, and no structure, composed of elements of the tea culture and sufficiently related to the whole tea culture, will have practical meaning.
Simplifying everything even stronger, tasks such as the development of a universal system for tea quality description, writing “the most important and the most complete book about tea” or, for example, creation of Specialty tea segment, adequate to the entire tea market, have no solution. Here we could draw the curtain, however there is one “but”, for this time optimistic one. The fact of the matter is that in the above formulated and at the first sight absolutely upsetting conclusion, there is the answer to the question “What is to be done?” (the question “Why?” doesn’t cause any difficulties, I suppose – the scale is the reason). Or, if we use the earlier mentioned definitions, in this conclusion there is an answer to the question on the mechanism of creation of a new ordered structure with the given characteristics within the tea culture. To answer this question we don’t need to deeply contemplate on circles and squares. It is enough to refer to tea history. And to notice that any orderly and viable structure within the framework of tea culture was created under the conditions of categorical reduction of fields used to create the structure of objects. These restrictions have always had a natural character (tea import to a particular region, tea production of a particular region, information about tea available to a particular person, etc.) and have always been radical. Traditional consumer tea cultures (Chinese, Japanese, Russian, English, etc.) were created on the basis not of all possible objects constituting tea culture, but nly on a small part of them. The system of black tea standards with magic letters FOP, STGFOP, etc. was created on the basis of tea produced in the industrial way in only two countries. And even Pohlebkin1 wrote an excellent book for his time partly because he did not have access to all the tea information at that time. And after the formation of the structure within the reduced system, this structure receives a reserve of stability, allowing to a certain extent to handle not characteristic objects without changing the structure itself. For example, the Russian tea tradition without any damage to itself adjusted hibiscus, thermoses, electric kettles and many other things, which at the time of the formation of this tradition simply did not exist. In fact, in order to create a viable structure with the given characteristics within the tea culture, it is necessary to introduce restrictions on the objects used for the construction of structures immediately. For some structures this reduction is on the surface – it is clear that it is necessary to create a new consumer tea culture in a country on the material available in this country and habitual for it. For other structures this reduction seems to be flawed, but it’s just an appearance. Let’s consider the trendy topic of Specialty Tea. It is so trendy that no one can clearly formulate requirements for Specialty tea. It is not due to the lack of knowledge, but because it is extremely difficult to formulate the requirements in correlation to all the teas produced in the world (I believe that it is not possible at all, but let’s leave some space for miracles, coincidences and insights). Yet, if we talk about not about Specialty tea, but rather about China Specialty Tea, Ceylon Specialty Tea, Taiwan Specialty Tea, Japan Specialty Tea and so on,
the task is getting much more simple and partially completed. We can absolutely easily talk about Specialty tea segment within a product range of certain companies (Lipton Specialty Tea, for instance) or private Specialty tea collections - but country approach seems to me the most adequate and balanced. But reducing the substances is not the only way of liveable structure creation in the frame of tea culture. At the beginning I intentively defined the tea culture as a system, consisting of abundance of objects, possessing certain qualities and offered to consider tea traditions, businesses and other phenomena as orderly structures, composed of objects, which belong to the “tea culture” system. The thing is, that such approach allows to imply Ramsey theory, which is based on the Ramsey theorem, to tea culture. According to this theory a complete randomness is impossible and each large enough system of objects definitely comprises a highly ordered structure. So if a system called “tea culture” includes orderly structures not only because the English, the Russian, the Chinese or the Japanese have once decided that. But because it is mathematically inevitable. Unfortunately, the Ramsey theory, despite the rigour of the underlying theorem, is unconstructive. Proving the existence of some orderly structure within the system, this theory does not offer any way to construct such structure except for direct iteration of all possible variants. In addition, it is possible to build more or less complex ordered structures only within very large systems. And here the cornerstone of tea culture – its massive scale – is beneficial. On the one hand, it turns the tea culture into a system with a really large number of objects and, on the other hand, creates conditions for constant and repeated enumeration of these objects. The larger and more varied the tea culture will be, the more complex and diverse are the phenomena that arise within its framework. That is why all that amount of at the first sight dumb tea decisions, weird tea businesses, unnatural tea brewing techniques and other tea unfitness, works to our benefit by sorting, choosing and improving new tea phenomena. Some of which after a while may well become new drivers of tea market and tea culture in general. Therefore, our cumulative task is to multiply tea substances (for the development of the whole tea culture) and to reduce them (in order to create specific tea phenomena). Fortunately, both tasks rarely have to be solved by one person. So you shouldn’t be afraid of the specific tea schizophrenics yet. Although, according to the Ramsey theorem, their appearance is inevitable.
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Monitor
SHANGHAI COFFEE NOTES
Alina Firsova1 I’ve been staying in China for no more than two months, so I should make a remark: to experience the whole coffee side of this huge tea country, such a short time, of course, is not enough. Shanghai is a very progressive city in all senses, as for me it was interesting to understand what is the situation with coffee here at least at the first sight.
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irst thing that got my attention - many coffee shops are excellently equipped. Although this does not indicate that the barista and other participants of coffee chain have the appropriate knowledge of the product itself, even while having at their disposal modern devices. In Shanghai there are many famous coffee franchises such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee, and a lot of mini coffee shops, that is, local ones. Both find their consumers - the situation is very similar to Russia, isn’t it? Of course, we are not interested in franchise coffee shops - we are going for a walk past local ones and trying their coffee. Out of ten randomly selected coffee shops nine use really excellent coffee equipment, ten out of ten use devices for alternative brewing, in seven coffee shops we were met by baristas who can speak not only Chi-
nese, but only in three of them were baristas who can explain in English what kind of beans they use. I do not insist that from this observation, as well as from the first, one can make unambiguous conclusions about how deep they know coffee, because it is possible that in the native language - Chinese - any barista will be able to tell sensibly what mixture is used in their coffee shop. I will not assess coffee, what I should say is than only few coffee houses adjust to consumers - brew dark roasted beans, some brew Ethiopia “medium, and there are some who offer to choose, what will be your espresso: flowery with a slightly sour taste or with a flavour of bitter chocolate with nuts. In Shanghai, as it seemed to me, consumers do not want any extremes in terms of bitterness and acidity and, what is important for them, coffee also should be well combined with milk. Specialty coffee is widely available in Shanghai, however there is a large discrepancy between the cost and actual demand for the grain of this class. Coffee shops buy grain and bring it from everywhere. Surely many people know that the service “Tao Bao” is very actively developing, there you can also choose and buy green coffee beans for your coffee shop, and if you are proficient in Chinese you’ll be on the safe side when it comes to quality. The situation with the purchase of roasted coffee is also interesting. Green coffee beans are very easy to buy, but it is not so easy to find the suppliers of roasted coffee especially at the wholesale price. There are a lot of coffee shops, which have own roster and most of them install it directly in the coffee shop. Someone roast themselves, others roasts at trusted places of their friends-roasters. Do all these coffee shops have good roasting quality? Steve - certified by the SCAE system teacher of the local barista school Break Free Get Free - answered me that most of them are amateurs and roster most often is just an eye candy. In reality coffee shops are not created equal, so if you want to understand something about local roast and brewing quality, the best option is to go and try yourself. The only thing that you will not have to complain about is the freshness of the coffee beans. Let’s proceed with observation. At least two Cold Brew units are available in each coffee shop. By popularity this beverage stands on the third, and maybe even in the second place in Shanghai! Still, there is a question: does a guest ordering Cold Brew orders it because he re-
1 About the author (firsik@list.ru): lives in Irkutsk, works with coffee for about 6 years, has experience of barista, chief barista in Irkutsk and in Moscow, holds barista courses in Irkutsk, took part in regional and national barista Championships.
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ally understands, that this is a different coffee of craft brew, with a unique taste, which is better to enjoy when it is cold? Or maybe he simply wants a black and cold coffee in a cute bottle? Brian - the owner of Lanna Coffee chain - gave the following answer: “The young generation of Chinese are very clever. They learn quickly and are willing to learn. It is easier for them to accept changes because they have grown up in the era of the Internet. Add to this enthusiasm about everything new, popularity of the beverage around the world, the convenience of its consumption (Cold Brew most often sold in a comfortable bottle), in short, coffee is a product that they accept with ease. The older generation is more conservative in their views“. It is interesting that the espresso in its pure form is very seldomly ordered here. I mean not only Chinese-in Shanghai there are very many people of different nationalities. To drink espresso with sugar here is more preferred by the Chinese, the Russian, the French, and even the Italian. Looking at the existing offers of coffee beans, in China and in Shanghai, in most cases you will find coffee from Brazil, Kenya, Costa Rica, Ethiopia - here coffee sellers aspire to diversity. Sometimes you may find local coffee beans. Grab it and start exploring! The information on the packaging is almost impossible to understand without a translator and sometimes there is no info at all. It is just the beginning of the specialty coffee era in China, or in Yunnan province, to be precise. Here for several years complex efforts to improve the methods of growing and collecting, sorting and processing of coffee berries have being made. And this work brings its results – the last harvests have a richer bouquet. Given how quickly the country is developing in this and other industries, you can be sure that the progress in Chinese specialty coffee growing is just around the corner. In the meantime, this is only the beginning, and coffee harvest of this category are still not very high. So, let’s read what is written on my package of Chinese coffee: Chain Puer beans from Yunnan province. Height of growth - 1300 m, washed processing, middle roast. 2
Opening the package, I see 2 that it’s more like a City roast, perhaps it’s just a local feature of roasting. Taste: plum, tropical fruits, strong black tea, creamy chocolate and cocoa. No visible defects. In cupping the grain showed itself worse, than after brewing in a dripper. Cocoa and dark chocolate are vivid in the flavour of freshly grinned beans. Cupping was not successful, though: coffee was sour, weak body with a taste of watery cocoa, very indistinct sourness transforms into the aftertaste of crust of black bread. But in the dripper, despite the degree of roasting, the Chinese sample was sweet! The aroma of black tea slightly fried on a campfire, pleasant milk chocolate transforms into a pleasant sweetness of ripe orange. The body is velvety and dense. That was really amazing! The sample had a pleasant tea aftertaste with a hint of mango. I do not encourage everyone to pay attention to this particular coffee, but I will note it to myself. And in general I can say: for a coffee person there are a lot of beautiful places with tasty coffee in Shanghai, even if you do not have any friends in this city, you can find lots of coffee guides in Instagram, which will advise you worthy of visiting coffee shops and give information what kind of coffee you may count on.
The author means a slightly darker then medium roast, - City roast - editor’s note
33
Interview HoReCa
Aliona Velichko
Kevin is one of the World’s most famous tea experts. Most of his life has been infused with tea and tea business – he earns a living selecting, buying, selling, brewing and consulting tea while endlessly experimenting with taste. – Kevin, your company Camelia Sinensis – one of N. America’s best known speciality tea companies, is about to celebrate 20 years and it has been a great success, our congratulations! Based on your experience in the tea industry, could you give a brief overview of the trends in the North American specialty tea market. The term “specialty” is widely interpreted here in North America. It refers to teas that do not fall into the regular grocery store bracket, teas that are distinguished by the enhanced flavours of either additives or a more artisanal approach to manufacture. So in many cases it refers to collections of flavoured teas. A company like ours, specializing in rare and collectible “pure” teas from specific origins is less common. North America is in an advantageous position for the introduction of speciality teas for several reasons. Fistly the “traditional” tea market is less developed here than the European markets. Having a very saturated market of tea drinkers can be a disadvantage as vendors struggle with a reticence from the clients to try other types of tea experience that usually cost more. The general interest in all sorts of “origin specific” food products from exotic lands that we see with the “foodie” movement, creates another excellent precondition for development. Lastly, though Canada has a health care system, the USA does not. Many North Americans are obsessed with their health (being sick there is an expensive business down there). Canada shares so much culture and media with the USA that this concern naturally rubs off on Canadians too. As a result of these factors there are an increasing number of speciality tea companies in operation, as I mentioned most are focussed on flavoured teas but there are probably around 10 or so whose main focus is specific origin, unblended whole-leaf. – But, if the specialty tea has such bright prospects, how can one explain the closing of Teavana also at Canadian market? Aside from timing and other market conditions, I don’t think Teavana ever managed to develop a clear idea or plan for their tea offering. It never attracted a wide enough demographic. The tea company that managed to redefine tea for the North American market, in my opinion, is David’s Tea. They have over 300 stores in North Ameri-
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ca selling predominantly flavored tea. Their marketing attracts a young hip clientel. Though they have growing pains and interior struggles, the overall offer is impressive. – So the networks with flavored teas are not your competitors? – I like to see the tea market in general as a group of team players, each playing a different position in the same direction. Companies like David’s Tea or Teavana are teaching people to put loose leaves into water and to develop an interest in trying different flavours. I profit from this when a small percentage of these clients will follow the path of pure tea into my stores. Pure tea, takes a more research and effort, the qualities of single origin leaf attracts another kind of tea customer. In the case of flavoured teas, you order a raspberry tea and get that expected taste of raspberries. In our teas the flavour profile you enjoy is perhaps attatched to the name of a small Asian village and its flavour created by a combination of chance natural conditions and artisanal choices in reaction to them. – And how would you describe the tendencies of the specialty tea market in Canada at the moment? – Over the past two decades, I’ve seen regular ups and downs in the speciality tea market, times when tea is big news and others when some other drink is in the news and things look to be quiet again for tea. These are short dynamic cycles, when the market reacts sharply to some news or TV program. If we look at the big picture, we can definitely say that there is growth but it is a slower development cycle than the overnight changes that most people are looking for. In general, we can talk about the growth of the market of specialty tea in Canada of around 7—8 percent every year. While the industrial traditional market of tea has seen more of a downcurve. Thus all the larger traditional tea companies are adding a speciality range to their offering. Another important consideration is the “share of throat”. Tea used to compete with 2 or 3 other drinks, now there are 20—30 other beverages readily available all around us. – Well, if you have already touched on the topic of the mass tea market, then how does it interact with the tea market? – So in the world of tea, there are these short-term trends caused by the influence of the media. For example, now we have a boom in interest in Matcha as a consequence of universal enthusiasm for health.
From my experience as a consultant on tea plantations, I see many of the companies that produce traditional teas feeling pressure to improve the quality of their product. Specialty tea is definitely raising the bar for mass tea. Market awareness of different kinds of tea of different qualities in the shops and supermarkets naturally lead to comparison and the concept of quality and possibilities of taste. I know that many companies that work with mass tea and sell CTC tea are already beginning to purchase equipment for making orthodox tea. The governments of some countries, seeing this trend, are beginning to give subsidies for this. And the factories begin to experiment with making green, white and wulong teas. It is a long and difficult process that requires a big change in mind-set. – Kevin, you mentioned your tea project in Nilgiri – this is the Tea Studio Project, right? Tell us a little about it, because the project is really worth of mentioning. – This is one of my favourite projects, it began in 2013. With a group of partners we have built a small experimental factory in the Nilgiri Hills of Southern India. It is fully equiped with 28, state of the art, chinese machines that reproduce “hand made” orthodox leaf in 5 different styles. We are already producing tea and, once the Tea Studio’s manufacture stabilizes and the teas begin to sell, there are “Phase 2 and 3” plans to extend the use of the Tea Studio. Phase 2 will be to use the unit as a venue for experimental research. Friends from Tea Research Institutes and favourite tea producers from China, Taiwan, Japan, Nepal and other parts of India have already shown interest in future projects and the development of our production. Phase 3 will be to use the Tea Studio as an educational facility for other small-scale producers of India, and other growing regions around the World, to develop their own regionally specific teas for the boutique market. Unexpected interest from visiting tea tourism has also been expressed. Though we hadn’t put it in the plan originally it looks like a very real possibility down the line.
– I think that in the long run young people will also join your project. And by the way, what ways of bringing young people to the topic of tea, like, for example, it happened with coffee, you see? – Young people actively participate in tea, as they know that tea relaxes and helps to learn. Smart tea companies make tea in their shops and institutions as accessible to young people as possible through a convenient and easy-to-use interface. One of the biggest mistakes made by those who work with specialty tea is surrounding tea with some shroud of mystical complexity, complicating the approach to it and scaring of the clients. Tea shops are often opened by tea enthusiasts, enthusiasm is a great fuel to go forward, but there is a risk of raising the bar for entering the world of tea too high, instead of making tea accessible to everyone. For those who want to learn more we have published books and run two Tea Schools where you can really get deep into this fascinating world… We believe that everyone should drink tea. It tastes good however much you know about it. Simplicity and accessibility in the presentation of tea and the informatioin surrounding it will attract young people and give them the feeling of confidence to participate. We need to make it clear that the world of tea is a big and warm community.
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Interview HoReCa
No need to follow lots of complicated rules to get into it. This was one of the reasons for the creation of our new chai bar project Bristol Chai. It looks like a coffee shop but instead of coffee machines we have 4 huge kettles with masala tea, which is prepared in the traditional way with all high quality ingredients. We have 5 unique recipes and are hoping this concept really catches on. – You have already mentioned those who are opening now specialty tea shops. What are the main problems faced by their owners? – Many people are travelling to tea-producing countries, falling in love with tea and wanting to buy and sell their own tea. They go into business fuelled by a romantic notion that they will sit and drink tea all day and travel every year to buy their next order. But the tea business is mostly business. The biggest mistake many make is to start without a carefully developed business plan, without properly calculating the costs and not realising that it will be a massive investment of their time and money. For instance, for a small start up company it is more realistic to work with distributor of tea than to travel to buy the relatively tiny amounts of tea you need. Business is really hard work. If you accept this challenge and approach this realistically only then you can enjoy working with such a delicious product, and amazing people. I’m talking about this as a person who has been in business for more than 25 years and has consulted and observed many shops and other companies. – Kevin, in addition to consulting, your company has also been engaged in a variety of laboratory studies on tea – can you share some?
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– Over the past 12 years, we have spent over $ 200,000 on laboratory tea research, some with government subsidies. We have studied polyphenol content, caffeine, pesticides, antioxidants, heavy metals, micro-flora and much more. Much of this research has broken down long-accepted, entrenched myths surrounding tea’s chemical features. For example: The amount of caffeine and antioxidants varies depends more on the season than the style of tea. Or that caffeine is still being released into the water after 8 minutes of brewing, disproving the myth that washing away the first cup removes all the caffeine. Our data has often shocked the tea community. Sharing our findings in conferences around the World we have been referred to as troublemakers. – Kevin, and how do you call yourself? Now the tea master is a very popular name for those who are in the business of specialty tea. – To call oneself a tea master has become very fashionable. In fact so many people use the title that last year China discredited the term I think a true tea master would never call himself that. My work involves tasting and buying teas as a job so I call myself a tea taster. I see it is a practical working title. We all love tea, sharing tea is perhaps its greatest feature so I don’t think we need to add heirarchy or rank to the situation. Tea tastes different from one year to the next, one harvest to the next, one day to the next, one infusion to the next. So we are all on the same path learning every day. I feel we are all in it together, isn’t that the beauty of tea?
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Aliona Velichko
he life of Jeff Fuchs has been saturated with tea since childhood. After spending ten years in the mountains of northern Yunnan Province living in two Tibetan homes in ‘Shangri-la’, where tea, mountains, and snow were ever-present, he realized that tea was far more than a simple beverage. It was one of the vital panaceas in peoples’ day to day lives. For locals tea wasn’t something esoteric or something that was spoken of in long glowing descriptions. It was a vital fuel and luxury for which locals had a reverance for. Jeff was the first documented non-Asian who traced the two main strands of the Tea Horse Road, taking 7.5 months to do so, and writing a book about his time on the ancient trade route. It is the Himalayan trade routes that fascinate Fuchs and motivate his expeditions. Recently, a documentary film “The Tea Explorer”, was released, produced by Canada’s national television CBC along with 90th Parallel based on Fuchs’ journeys long the Tea Horse Road. The film is showing on Canadian and US television and recently premiered at the Hawaii International Film Festival. – Jeff, your tea training started in Taiwan, where you traditionally learned to hold ceremonies, studied the production of oolongs. What happened then? – One of my teachers and mentors, Mr. Wang, emphasized the need to “forget the technical parts of tea and its serving. Simplify everything”. He was encouraging a more flexible and open approach to enjoying tea, not simply worrying about formalities. He emphasized that the magic of tea wasn’t an exact time of brewing, or a precise amount of leaves, but in the visceral and tangible moment when one began to feel its effects. It is also about time. Every single palate is different so while opinions might be important about a specific tea, what is truly is vital in this mix is that one knows what one enjoys… as opposed to the very human habit of trying to “appear correct” or unanimous. Eventually Taiwan led me to Yunnan Province where the tea mountains and cultures within encouraged a tea-infused journey that was as much about time and community as it was about any terminology. It was here that the simplicity that my mentor had spoken of took hold in my day to day drinking and in my thinking. Here tea trees were worshipped as animistic deities and family members to the indigenous cultivators. It was here where a reverence for the soil, and respect for time was alive and well in practise. – Before we get to the book, tell us what tea taught you. – First of all, tea taught respect for the moment and for the efforts required to create a good tea by hand. Like so many commodoties that have become hyped and pro-
moted, tea is essentially something utterly simple at its core, to be taken with others, or in complete isolation from others. It isn’t about the name, the harvest season or the grand descriptions, though these details do matter. It is ultimately about a clarrifying moment with some leaves from a trusted source, and it is about being able to serve others. In the mountains, people do not care what leaves look like, whether there are stems or not but there is still reverence for someone who serves tea. The Tibetans have a beautiful expression: “If you were not offered a cup of tea, then you were not offered friendship.” These words best convey the importance of the leaves in their lives, and they have respect for the long journeys that tea took to get into their cups. Tea is a great editor of time and people and by its simple ritual of preparation it slows down the outer life. Tea and mountains for me reinforce one another in that they are great editors and guides. Since most of the year I am on the road my tea collection of a gaiwan and two cups always travel with me, as well as a small silicon kettle. These provide me with the tools by which to ritualize each and every morning. No matter how much or little I sleep, regardless of the weather or city, I always boil water and make Sheng Puerh from the leaves of old trees. After the Puerh if there is a local tea (like masala chai in the India or on expedition) I’ll happily induldge. – Now let’s talk about the book. How did it start? Day – with a tea prayer, and the book? – My book was born, thanks to a promise given to a Tibetan friend who introduced the back story of the great
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of the mountains – and it was fuelled by tea. When travelling upon the Tea Horse Road, my own view of tea only deepened, simply because the daunting journey forces one to see how vital and eternal the leaves must have been to the remote communities. Another aspect which moved me was how tea was as a binding tool for communities bringing people together. Tea was like a social adhesive to “route through the sky”. We decided together to walk this path on foot, and then it was my responsibility to write about it and try to give the route and its history some “oxygen” and expose it to a broader audience. I was worried that the last generation of traders, mule drivers, and their memories the tea route, were disappearing. I constantly wondered why this road, which was thousands of kilometers long and took months to travel, was so little studied and how it had remained undocumented? Why had no one interviewed and recorded the elders’ accounts and memories? For me it became a kind of joyful obsession – to understand this story. Often to understand something innately, one has to fully immerse oneself into every aspect of it and make it tangible. I think part of me will always be immersed in this journey. This route is often referred to by the Tibetans as the “Eternal Road”, and it was filled with moving life for Thirteen centuries without interuption and already in the 8th century tea from Yunnan was transported along trade routes wrapped in bamboo husks directly to the Tibetan Plateau. Tibetans revered Yunnan tea calling it “ja kabo” («bitter” or “strong tea»), and it remained a favorite, even when tea from Sichuan began to dominate the tea trade in Tibet during the Song Dynasty (XIII – XIII century). It’s amazing that nothing broke the flow of tea trade for all this time! Historically the Tea Horse Road preceded the Silk Road and when you think of the kind of geography (the Himalayas) that it travelled through, this adds a kind of narcotic appeal to the tale of tea itself. These were trade, pilgrimage and migration routes that formed and built the cultural layers of the Himalayas and tea was a huge part of both the route and history. This path is a tale of how the Himalayan peoples interacted with the ancient Han dynasties and the numerous ethnic strata of Asia and beyond. It is a rich tapestry weaving human endeavour and intrigue into the economic and spirit world
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communities and it continues to be. Of course, the journey also immersed me in the world of Puerh and in these amazing worlds where the forests of tea trees covered entire mountain sidess. When you think about how many dozens of ethnicities participated in the cultivation, production, processing, transportation and consumption of tea, without having met eachother… it stuns the mind. Each culture has their own tale of tea and its preparation but they all share a mutual adoration of the leaf. My own feeling is that it is like one of those immortal tales of love, albeit between plant matter and the mortal realm. The book was really born in the footsteps of travel and adventure. Many of the elders expressed the joy that finally someone wrote about the Tea Horse Road and paid tribute to the memories and the adventure of getting leaves into the Himalayan communities. So many oral histories were told to me by traders, mule drivers and accountants, and their stories remain in me still. The elders al-
ways spoke with such clarity and respect for the route. Our film “The Tea Explorer”, tries to pay tribute to this deep connection between tea and people, as well as my obsession with both. – Jeff, you’re lucky that your life is so full of tea, but how to attract new generations to this drink? – One vital element is that we all offer as much of our knowledge up to others and share with others. One of the beautiful elements of tea and its people is the generosity that one finds, and it is in this generosity and gratitude of spirit that tea (and its time) will continue to evolve. Tea has an incredible range of flavours and history, and it has an appeal beyond simply as a product or luxury. It is one of the eternal elixirs and stimulants so I’ve always had faith that it will prevail and spread. One of the beauties of the leaf is that there is enough variety in tea and methodology that there is a “way” for everyone and we need to encourage “ways” rather than one “way”. There doesn’t (and shouldn’t be) have to be a standardized system for drinking or referring to a teas’ qualities. One of the most striking examples for me lately of tea taking new avenues of expansion is the Tea Masters Cup. I was moved by the passion, uniqueness, and genuine interest that the participants brought to the realm of the tea leaf – also the sense of playful experimentation and the ability not to take things so seriously. It feels like the TMC is reviving and invigorating the tea leaf with some theater and a bit of alchemy. Once I was a purist in tea serving and more regimented, but now I am convinced that new directions will encourage new waves of drinkers and lovers of the leaf. One thing I’d like to see (and am seeing) is more travel to teas’ origins. So much informal knowledge is passed on when one is amidst the bushes, the leaves, and the people. So many use words that have simply been passed down to them by marketeers rather than actually discovering what a particular tea’s qualities are. Important too is the search for each and everyone’s “own way of tea.” There is much simple magic in the methods of producing tea, in the hands of a master who handles a tea leaf and this can inform as much as any book or course. – What other prospects for the development of tea in the future do you see? – In the world right now there is such a mass of “tea” that is either being hyped up and fraudulent or is just a mass of un-
amed green leaf. Somewhere in that mix are some excellent teas that often get lost in the average ones, because people simply don’t know. I very much hope that small tea plantations will decide to slow down the rate of production and harvesting, reduce the collection of leaves from depleted tea plants and begin to get back to producing teas by hand. These could then be marketed as speciality teas with tales and stories of the terroir and the people who creat the teas. The world yearns for these teas with stories and the stories of the people who create them, and I feel there is support for small initiatives that make processes more thoughtful. Would love to see intiatives that aid smallyield farmers with marketing and getting their products to wider spheres of drinkers. Inflation and rising costs greatly affect many tea producers in many tea-producing countries and it is hard toil for many. Prices for tea remain artificially low from producers, and the cost of basic living elements continuously rises leading many to the the conclusion that there is no future. As people evolve and develop more tea-knowledge and as they try more and more different varieties, they will (I hope) want to understand what makes each tea special and be prepared to purchase these teas. The trend now is that mass production/consumption of goods gradually supplants small sellers/specialty buyers. This isn’t just in the tea industry but agriculture generally. The teas that have most pleased my palate did not originate from mass-produced gardens, with well-known names or from famed villages. The best teas have always been unique specimens from tea gardens and manufacturers who struggle to make a living. Hand made, pan fried, small yield little masterpieces of delight. If only the small farmers had a little more support and infrastructure to sell their tea. I’m a believer in the mantra that “more isn’t necessarily more”. In Yunnan, where I lived for many years many tea gardens are switching to growing coffee. Higher demand, higher wages for pickers and growing demand for coffee in Asia have all contributed to a gradual shift. The gardens that are shifting have traditionally produced bulk teas of average quality but the classic tea villages producing high quality teas, I do not think will shift. They have buyers and they have the infrastructure set up and they know that consumers buy thei r teas not for the amount but for the quality. This, for me, is a healthy model that we should promote in the industry. I’m not sure tea was ever meant to be a business of a “few” big sellers. The smaller models seem philisophically and practically bound to tea’s spirit… though I’m perhaps an idealist on this point.
The photos were kindly given to the journal Coffee and Tea International by Jeff Fuchs from his personal archive.
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