IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT CUP OR BEHIND THE SCENES AT A TEA COMPETITION THE “RUSSIAN GERMAN” WOGAU FAMILY BUSINESS: FROM TEA TO BANKS AND FACTORIES MOBILE COFFEE, MOBILE TEA
15–16 SEPTEMBER 2014 — MOSCOW
№ 2(114)’2014
contents
№ 2’2014
6 Tea Board of India Fixes Norms to Cut Pesticide Use
12 World of Specialty: New arena for tea and coffee
26 EDITORIAL
22
La Roya — the sunset of Central America?
REVIEW&STATISTICS 26
HISTORY 14
The “Russian German” Wogau
28 32
ECONOMICS
32
Exporting countries: domestic consumption
Mobile Сoffee, mobile Tea
32
Per capita disappearance in importing countries
33 33
Who drinks the most tea? Coffee consumption around the world
INTERVIEW 34
Danny Johns Ultimate Barista Challenge: “This competition simply had to happen!”
36
In search of the perfect cup OR Behind the scenes at a tea competition.
Tea, Coffee and Health. Science news
banks and factories
Danny Johns, Ultimate Barista Challenge: “This Competition Simply Had to Happen!”
Certification in organic agriculture
SIENCE
family business: from tea to
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Coffee, Tea and Health - Science News
3 CALENDAR OF EVENTS 4 NEWS
La Roya – the Sunset of Central America?
28
Certification in Organic Agriculture
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22
Non-members net imports of all forms of coffee from all sources
40 ADVERTISER INDEX 1
EDITORIAL
Founder ZAO INTERNATIONAL TEA HOUSE
EDITORIAL
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he world is becoming obsessed with everything organic. Today, producers of the majority of food product categories have embraced organic; coffee and tea are no exception. More and more companies are coming on board, seeing, first and foremost, an economic opportunity: after all, consumers of organic products are willing to pay a “purity” premium. Here it is, this new idea that can rejuvenate the market… right? Unfortunately, things are not quite so simple. I began thinking about this topic after I heard a presentation at the annual meeting of the FAO’s Intergovernmental Group on Tea in May of this year (see pp. 26-27). In discussions after the meeting, I heard people say that switching to organic tea means much lower yields, and, consequently, lower production volume. Besides, entering and staying in the organic business requires services such as certification, which are still very expensive, meaning that access to the field is still difficult for small farmers. Thus, many obstacles remain on the road to organic, and the only thing that can make the entry into this lucrative business more affordable is an increased demand. But there is another side to this problem, the side that has to do exclusively with coffee and tea. These beverages are known all over the world as natural and healthy. It is these very properties that are the cornerstone of the millennia-long love affair between people and tea and coffee.But if we keep talking about “organic” with respect to these products, the consumer may get the idea that the other, “non-organic”, coffee and tea aren’t quite as “natural” and “healthy”. And if this “organic” sentiment takes hold of the consumers’ minds, the mass market for traditional coffee and tea may suddenly crash! I think this possibility deserves serious discussion among industry professionals; at the very least, major market players should consider various hypothetical scenarios involving this outcome. In this issue our readers will find information on many other topics of current interest – history, economics, new informational technologies in the field of coffee and tea, as well as about new ways of motivating consumers and professionals to deepen their knowledge of coffee and tea and of ways of preparing them.
№ 2‘2014 Publisher ZAO INTERNATIONAL TEA HOUSE Editor-in-Chief RAMAZ CHANTURIYA Deputy Editor-in-Chief SVETLANA BELIKOVA Computer-Aided Design VALENTINA GUSKOVA Advertising Director JULIA CHANTURIYA Advertising Manager YANA AFTANDILOVA Special Projects Manager ELENA TREGUB Promotion Managerr JULIA PRAVDOLYUBOVA
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Chairman of the Editorial Board R.O. CHANTURIYA, General Director, Rusteacoffee Association
Members of the Editorial Board S.G. BELIKOVA, Ph.D. Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Coffee&Tea in Russia Editorial Board Secretary
A.V. ELSON, General Director, KLD Coffee Importers
S.V. KASIANENKO, Chairman, Board of Directors, Orimi Trade
A. MALCHIC, Chief Executive Officer, Montana Kofe
R.D. PANZHAVA, Georgian Tea Producers Association
M. PEYRIS, 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
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 in APC Petrovsky Park LLC
Always Yours, Editor-in-Chief
Ramaz Chanturiya
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 in Russia» 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. Coffee & Tea International magazine has been included in the VINITI (All Russian Institute of Scientific and 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 to the Coffee & Tea in Russia magazine.
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– advertising materials
CALENDAR OF EVENTS August 2014 – February 2014
8–10 August 2014
15–16 September 2014
14–16 August 2014
HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL TEA FAIR
23–25 October 2014
TRIEST ESPRESSO EXPO
CAFE SHOW CHINA
Country: China City: Beijing Company Page: www.chinaexhibition.com
All materials are provided by support of WWW.COFFEETEA.RU
Country: Russia City: Moscow Company Page: www.unitedcoffeetea.ru
15–18 September 2014
WORLDFOOD MOSCOW
Country: China City: Hongkong Company Page: www.hktdc.com
Country: Italy City: Trieste Company Page: www.triestespresso.it
19–22 November 2014
THE 3rd WORLD COFFEE LEADERS FORUM
11–13 September 2014
WORLD TEA & COFFEE EXPO
Country: Russia City: Moscow Company Page: www.world-food.ru
24–26 September 2014
COTECA COFFEE TEA COCOA, GLOBAL INDUSTRY EXPO Country: India City: Mumbai Company Page: www.worldteacoffeeexpo.com
20–23 November 2014
SEOUL INT’L CAFE SHOW
13–14 September 2014 Country: Germany City: Hamburg Company Page: www.coteca-hamburg.com
17–19 October 2014
COFFEE FEST PORTLAND Country: Russia City: Moscow Company Page: www.coffeeteafest.ru
Country: South Korea City: Seoul Company Page: www.wclforum.com
Country: USA City: Portland Company Page: www.coffeefest.com
Country: South Korea City: Seoul Company Page: www.cafeshow.com
6–8 February 2014
COFFEE FEST ATLANT Country: USA City: Atlanta Company Page: www.coffeefest.com
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NEWS
coffeetea.ru
Tea & Coffee World Cup Europe ne of the largest industrial exhibitions, Tea & Coffee World Cup Europe, was held in Warsaw on February 11—13, 2013; as always, representatives from Coffee and Tea International were in attendance. There were more than 50 exponents, from industry associations to equipment manufacturers to providers of packaging solutions for the tea and coffee industry. The exhibition attracted producers not only from Poland, but also from other Eastern European countries. This year, the exhibition hosted various educational events, including seminars and coffee and tea cupping sessions. A three-day Cup of Excellence (CoE) event included tastings of the best coffee varieties from Brazil, as well as an auction of small batches of these varieties. The proceeds from the auction will go to support educational programs for coffee farmers sponsored by CoE. A separate event was dedicated to Mate tea. Professionals from Argentina introduced Mate and told visitors about ways of growing and consuming it. Among other exhibition highlights — master-classes on creating fruit tea infusions and on sensory analysis of black and oolong teas. The next Tea & Coffee World Cup exhibition will take place in Shanghai, China, in March of 2015.
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NEWS
Coffee and Tea will be subject to excise tax in Armenia panorama.am Starting April 1st, the government of Armenia started affixing excise stamps on certain goods, including soap, laundry detergent, sunflower oil, cosmetics, preservatives, ice cream, tea, coffee, etc. The government justifies this new initiative by appealing to the need to combat shadow economy. Manufacture and import of goods marked with excise stamps is easier to track, and thus easier to tax.
Belarus raises prices of excise stamps for coffee and tea belta.by he government of Belarus issued a decree on February 5, 2014, raising the prices of excise stamps for coffee, tea, beer, mineral water, vegetable oil, mobile phones, TVs, notebook computers, motor oil and several other food and non-food items. The price of an excise stamp for coffee and coffee substitutes, flavored and unflavored tea, sturgeon caviar and its roe-based substitutes, canned fish, mineral and carbonated water with sweeteners and flavorings, other non-alcoholic bever-
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ages in consumer packaging, beer, weak alcoholic beverages (with ethyl alcohol content under 7%) will be Br 500. A similar increase will affect excise stamps for analog and digital storage media (audiocassettes, videocassettes, compact disks, etc.) with stored content in consumer packaging. The decree came into effect upon its official publication. The price of excise stamps increases every year to keep up with the rising cost of their manufacture.
Tea Board of India fixes norms to cut pesticide use The Tea Board has introduced Plant Protection Code for implementing practices to minimise use of pesticides and improve quality of tea. PPC is a set of guidelines framed by a technical committee comprising members from the tea industry, Tea Research Institute of UPASI Tea Research Foundation, Tea Research Association, international certification bodies and the Trustea Advisory Committee. According to a Tea Board statement, these guidelines are aimed at ensuring best practices for crop protection across Indian tea plantations. Effective adoption of the PPC would enable the industry to safeguard the plantation environment, ensure welfare of workers and small farmers and long-term security of supply, Siddharth, Chairman of Tea Board, was quoted saying. versii.com
bnews.kz
Kazakhstan becomes one of the top five consumers of Indian Tea ccording to the press-center of the Tea Board of India, annual per capita Indian tea consumption in Kazakhstan is about 1,5 kg. Mr. Zakir Hussain, Director of Tea Promotion of the Tea Board of India, stated that Kazakhstan accounts for 5% of all Indian tea exports. This makes Kazakhstan fifth among Indian tea consumers, behind Russia, OAE, Great Britain and Iran. Total annual imports of Indian tea into Kazakhstan stand at 12,61 mln. kg. Given the very high popularity of tea in Kazakhstan, local tea lovers have their own website on Kaznet (the Kazakh internet space). The Tea Board of India was created in 1903, after the passage of the law “On Imposition of Taxes on
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Indian Tea� and the levying of export duties on tea. The revenues thus generated were used to promote Indian tea both in India and abroad. In its present form, the Tea Board of India was created on April 1st, 1953 as part of the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Among its primary functions are: financial and technical support of tea production and promotion, including exports; scientific research and production expansion; improvement of tea quality; support of plantation workers by creation of social welfare structure; financial and technical support of small private tea producers; gathering, analysis and publication of statistical data about the tea industry.
NEWS
COTECA
in Hamburg, Germany:
“Early booking by our exhibitors puts us in a very good position now, months ahead of the expo,” says Claudia Johannsen, Project Director COTECA. “That is a real success. We are delighted that COTECA has developed into a regular event for the international industry”. Exhibitors include many well-known international companies, such as Blaser Trading, Benecke Coffee GmbH & Co., the Coffee Board of India, the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute, Toper Roasters and Cocoa Panama, H@lssen & Lyon, Dethlefsen& Balk GmbH and the Sri Lanka Tea Board, Innovia Films, PHUC SINH Corporation, SSP India, CimbriaHeid GmbH, AIYA Europe and IMA INDUSTRIES. COTECA is an international networking platform, underscoring the advantage of Hamburg as its venue. The event provides a combination of international industry expo and conference, with experts from all stages of the value chain coming to exchange ideas on current trends and generate new business leads. At the previous event, COTECA 2012, some 3,000 participants from all over the world obtained information on new products and current developments in the coffee, tea and cocoa sectors. Major benefits at this event were the large proportion of international exhibitors and visitors, and the high quality of the trade information.
Global Industry Expo for Coffee, Tea and Cocoa is growing! A
he preparations for COTECA Coffee, Tea and Cocoa Global Industry Expo are running at full pace. More exhibition space has already been booked for September 2014 than for the whole of the previous COTECA. A total of over 120 exhibitors from 30 nations are expected from 24 to 26 September 2014, including many of the market leaders. They are using the expo to present their products and services, and for exchanges with trade visitors on key subjects.
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Fair Trade tea does not Mean Fair Pay for Indian Workers, says new research timesofindia.indiatimes.com ccording to Sarah Besky, a University of Michigan anthropologist, A “Darjeeling's tea industry is in the midst of what most connoisseurs and market watchers would consider to be a revival, driven in part by
fair trade. But ironically, fair trade and other programs that purport to provide justice to plantation workers in the age of global ‘ethical consumption’ are not having much effect in providing justice to the tea pluckers, who are mainly Indian Nepali, or Gorkha women.” In the US, the most-prized first-flush tea leaves—designated SFTGFOP, meaning “Super Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe”—sell for more than $60 for eight ounces. But the field workers who pick the delicate leaves earn just over a dollar for a full day’s work. “Women in Darjeeling are keenly aware of the irony that they produce some of the world's most expensive tea yet get paid a miniscule fraction of what this tea fetches abroad,” said Besky, who lived on the tea plantations talking with workers, plantation owners and area activists for months at a time from 2007 through 2010. Workers in Darjeeling's “tea gardens” live in houses provided by their employers and are given allowances for food and certain household necessities—all in partial payment of wages. “Fair-trade plantation may seem like an oxymoron,” Besky said. “Plantation workers are not small farmers. They are laborers who, like peasants, live and work on land they do not own.” According to Besky, “There is a deep disconnect between national, global and regional calls for justice, and the lives and work of the very people in whose names those calls have gone forth. The workers are keenly aware that in the market for justice, the tea plantation is not going anywhere.”
Ukraine adopts uniform code of conduct to govern coffee market competition inpress.ua he Code establishes general principles of professional ethics, ethical standards, rules and conventions, to govern all commercial activity of producers of sweets, food concentrates and coffee. In particular,
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the Code calls for: abstinence from any commercial activity that violates trade and other fair commercial practices, full disclosure of product quality and protection of consumer rights with respect to the proper
product quality; assistance in implementation of self-regulatory mechanisms and prevention of violations of laws governing economic competition and protection of consumer rights.
gizmag.com
Coffee machine first to use electromagnetic induction heating A team of young Italian coffee aficionados has come up with a new concept for a coffee machine, which they claim to be the world's first electromagnetic induction coffee maker. Dubbed "La Fenice," the fully functional prototype makes both traditional Italian espresso and American filter coffee and uses up to 80 percent less energy than most other coffee machines. Conceived by Stefano Polti, the design features a patented electromagnetic induction heater that instantly heats the water when the machine is turned on, allowing it to be turned off when not in use. Most other coffee machines on the market need a good five to fifteen minutes to heat up before brewing a perfect cup of coffee, while other models are designed to be kept on all day, thus consuming a lot more energy. "We decided to concentrate first on the energy saving theme, engineering a new heater system that could use less power and only when we need it," says the La Fenice team. "To make it possible we studied electromagnetic induction, the technology that revolutionized the hobs industry, improving energy efficiency by up to 95 percent."
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Furthermore, La Fenice also includes a specialized pressure flow rate and temperature control (PCP), which constantly evaluates the temperature of the water and allows for "higher precision" coffee making. A specially designed sensor directly measures the water temperature and keeps it at a constant 93° C (199° F). "Unlike most other coffee makers measuring temperature at the surface of the boiler, 'La Fenice' directly measures the temperature of the water itself thanks to an advanced [technology], resulting in higher precision," says the La Fenice team. The current design is inspired by traditional coffee machines from the early 1900's and features two separate coffee making nozzles, one for espresso and the other for filtered coffee. Unconventional as it stands, the prototype goes one step further and is compatible with both ground coffee and coffee capsules. The design team behind the La Fenice prototype is currently seeking startup funding on Kickstarter, with pledges from US$250 to reserve a unit – if all goes to plan.
NEWS
icocoffeeorg.tumblr.com
Mission Report: Participation in 2nd Forum on African Coffee Production and Consumption CO’s Chief Economist, Mr. Denis Seudieu, attended the 2nd Forum on African Coffee Production and Consumption (FESTICOFFEE) on 29—31 May 2014 in YaoundJ, Cameroon, jointly organized by the Coffee and Cocoa Inter-Professional Council (CICC), which coordinates private sector activities in Cameroon, and the African and Malagasy Robusta Coffee Agency (ACRAM). The Forum was preceded by a meeting of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) that also organized a series of training sessions on coffee tasting for women. The theme of the 2nd FESTICOFFEE was “Coffee: The Revival”, and it attracted over 300 visitors to the various stands of roasters, farmers’ associations, research institutes and
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coffee authorities. The event focused on sustainable coffee production and consumption and included a scientific symposium on Robusta coffee, a coffee tasting day, and a
coffee farmers’ forum on how to produce sustainable coffee. At the opening ceremony chaired by H.E. Mr Luc Magloire Mbarga Antangana, Minister of Trade, Mr. Seudieu invited coffee authorities from Cameroon and the rest of the African continent to promote sustainable coffee sector through improved productivity and strong domestic consumption to maintain remunerative prices for farmers. During his visit, Mr. Seudieu had a technical meeting with the members of COOPAFERLOS, a cooperative of women in coffee, to review a project proposal recently submitted to the Common Fund for Commodities for financing. The cooperative’s proposal seeks to improve the participation of women in the coffee value chain in Cameroon.
Visitors of the premium restaurant exhibition chose the best barista coffeetea.ru isitors of the premium restaurant exhibition Sirha Moscow, held in the Gostinyi Dvor on March 24—26, were presented to the new competition format — Barista Battle. This project of the magazine Coffee and Tea in Russia was organized jointly with the company DoubleB and supported by the Association Rusteacoffee within specialized platform World of Specialty. The competition was attended by the best professionals of Moscow coffeehouse
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Chocolate and DoubleB and in a tense battle Maria Kikinadze (DobleB) has won. All finalists received souvenirs , and the winner was paid the money prize from the Association Rusteacoffee . It is encouraging that the survey, conducted among the public during the competition, revealed a very high score for quality of coffee that was prepared by the participants. According to the organizers, this doubtless
merit is not only barista’s , but also coffee’s, which was prepared by the guys, and of course, upscale professional equipment - coffee machines Nuova Simonelli, provided by the sponsor, the company Business Russia. All these components were assembled together in the project not accidently, as the Sirha exhibition and World of Specialty platform were conceived as the exposition of the best achievements of coffee and tea industry.
Coffee flour may be your new favourite glutenfree flour Coffee flour, made from the fruit of the coffee plant, might just be the next big gluten-free baking necessity. Vancouver-based startup CF Global Holdings has discovered a way to turn a by-product of coffee manufacturing into a flour with sweet undertones of citrus and cooked fruit. While still in the manufacturing stage, this nutrient-dense flour is expected to hit store shelves sometime next year, adding to the already overwhelming market of gluten-free flours. ca.shine.yahoo.com
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NEWS
World of Coffee ends on a high
urope’s largest coffee industry event, SCAE World of Coffee, Rimini 2014, ended on a high note with the announcement of the winners of the three world coffee competitions, which took place at Rimini Fiera Business Space in Rimini, Italy. World Coffee Events (WCE), a sister company to SCAE, announced the winners: the 2014 World Barista Champion is Hidenori Izaki from Japan, the 2014 World Brewers Cup Champion is Stefanos Domatiotis from Greece, and the 2014 World Coffee Roasting Champion is Yu-Chuan Jacky from Taiwan. The World Cezve/Ibrik Champion is Stavros Lamprinidis from Greece. A total of 54 National Barista Champions, 27 National Brewers Cup Champions and 9 World Coffee Roasting Champions competed in the 15th World Barista Championship, 4th World Brewers Cup and 2nd World Coffee Roasting Championship. All three Championships took place over four competition days at the World of Coffee in Rimini, Italy, as part of the Speciality Coffee Association of Europe's, annual coffee event. Over 5,000 coffee fans from Europe and around the globe attended the event, and over 57,000 unique viewers streamed the competitions live online. The three-day event was packed with: workshops, competitions, the World Roasters Summit, forums and the trade fair also produced a number of other winners throughout the show including the New Product of the Show Awards, the SCAE Awards for Excellence and the SCAE Coffee Photography Competition. Mr David Veal, Executive Director of the SCAE announced at the show that SCAE World of Coffee 2015 will take place in the spectacular location of Gothenburg, Sweden. The WCE also announced that they will be bringing the World Brewers Cup Championship, the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship, The World Latte Art Championship and the World Coffee Roasting Championship to SCAE World of Coffee, Gothenburg, 1618 June 2015. These events are used by the WCE to engage the speciality coffee community and promote coffee excellence and quality worldwide.
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NO BETTER WAY FOR A HEALTHY TEA CUP
NEWS
WORLD OF SPECIALTY: New arena for tea and coffee
Sirha Moscow, the largest international premium hospitality and food service exhibition in Russia, took place at the Gostiny Dvor Exhibition Center in Moscow, Russia, on March 24-26, 2014. The exhibition launched a new and promising initiative: World of Specialty, a project aimed at promoting high coffee and tea culture in the HoReCa segment.
orld of Specialty has been conceived as a platform for developing premium tea and coffee products; the main idea is to accumulate the best industry experience and know-how and to make it available to professionals in the hotel and restaurant business. This year, the World of Specialty event included such seminars as “Tea: Styles and Specialties”, “Era of Pu-erh and other famous teas. A new generation of tea lovers, new tea occasions”, “Coffee: key trends of the new season”, “World trends overview: ideas for promoting your coffee-house, cafJ or restaurant”. For those who wanted to sample and rate specialty coffees, there were cupping sessions featuring unique varieties of coffee: every roaster had an opportunity to present its product for evaluation by the guests of Sirha Moscow. The only requirement: the coffee must be of exceptionally high quality and come with every bit of relevant information (variety, processing method, processing station, growing altitude, harvest year, roasting date). For restaurants that were interested in specialty teas, there were degustations of plantation Darjeelings (with some from Newby Tea) and hand-picked tippy tea from plantations in Georgia (which, by the way, got unexpectedly high marks from many degustation participants). But the main focus of World of Tea was competition, and justifiably so: a competition is the best format to showcase the most exquisite tea and coffee varieties as well as demonstrate various brewing methods and introduce the audiences to the true professionals who work with these beverages. The first two days were all about tea: World of Specialty hosted the qualifying round of the National Tea Championship for the Central Federal District.
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NEWS
On the third, and final, day of Sirha Moscow, the Tea and Coffee in Russia magazine introduced a new competitive format: Barista Battle, organized with support from Double B Coffe & Tea and the Rusteacoffee Association. The novelty of the format generated significant interest among exhibition attendees: the setting for competitors was maximally close to an actual barista workplace, and any spectator could become a judge. Pairs of baristas prepared beverages requested by the audience, and their performance was judged not only by the taste and aroma of the final product, but also by the appearance and presentation of the beverage, the friendliness of the barista and the speed of service — criteria important to any coffee drinker. Among the competitors were the most highly qualified professionals from Moscow cafJs. All finalists received souvenirs, and the winner received a cash prize from the Rusteacoffee Association. A poll of the audience revealed that beverages prepared by the competitors were rated excellent; this, certainly, is the direct result not just of the skill of the baristas, but also of the high quality of coffee itself and of the high-grade professional equipment: Nuova Simonelli coffee makers, provided by Business Russia, the sponsor of Barista Battle. Bringing all these events under one banner was obviously not an accident: World of Specialty at Sirha Moscow aimed at presenting the greatest achievements of the coffee and tea industry. The coffee competition proved so popular that the organizers of Barista Battle have promised to hold other such events this year at different venues: this competitive format is not only highly entertaining, but it also popularizes the barista profession, develops the professional skills of the competitors and improves the quality of service at establishments that focus on high quality coffee. The next Sirha Moscow exhibition will take place, as usual, in March of 2015 at the Gostiny Dvor in Moscow, and World of Specialty will be fun once again. The Coffee and Tea in Russia magazine has already started working on the next year’s schedule of events; we are inviting proposals from, and are ready to work with, all who are interested in promoting high tea and coffee culture. See you next time!
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HISTORY
THE “RUSSIAN GERMAN”
Wogau family business: from tea to banks and factories Sokolov Ivan, Historian, PhD
A LAND OF ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES
The Russian market has always been a world of unlimited opportunities for foreign businessmen. In Europe, profits were constrained because of fierce competition, and foreigners arriving to Russia were amazed at the opportunities available there. In Europe, it took generations to build a sizeable fortune, but in Russia this could happen within a lifetime. An unbounded Russian market and a wealth of natural resources lured Europeans eastward. Starting with the reign of Peter I the Great and Catherine II the Great, Russian imperial authorities actively recruited people of German origin to serve the Russian crown. We should not forget that Catherine the Great was herself an ethnic German, who so successfully integrated into the Russian society that she became the best female ruler in Russian history. Germans arriving in Russia could settle in communities and with their families, they were accepted to military service at their existing rank, they could speak their language and practice their religion. The transplants repaid Russia in kind: they became the fresh blood of the Russian economy, agriculture and public life. Among those German immigrants was the Wogau family. A detailed history of the family and its business has already been explored in several Russian-language publications by the author.
German colonists in the Saint-Petersburg region
The Wogau family business in Russia started with a trading company founded by Philipp Maximilian von Wogau (1807 – 1880). The family can trace its ancestry to the 16th century; in the 18th century, the family became landed gentry.
THE RUSSIAN BRANCH OF THE WOGAU FAMILY
One branch of the family fell on hard times; Philipp Maximilian had no savings and upon his arrival in Russia took a job as a courier in a small brokerage firm. Because of his hard work and a profitable marriage (he married the daughter of a dye factory owner Franz Rabeneck), Philipp Maximilian managed to establish good connections and build up enough capital to start his own business. Philipp Maximilian ran his trading business together with his brother, Friedrich von Wogau (1818 – 1848), selling dyes and tea. Using profits from the tea trade, the Wogau started buying and selling cotton. The Wogau actively intermarried with other “Russian German” families in Moscow, which led to the emergence of a huge Wogau-Mark-Banza-Schuma-cher-Ruperti
Philipp Maximilian von Wogau
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Tea crate, Wogau & Co. Trading Company, end of 19th century. From the exposition of the private Entrepreneurs and Philanthropists Museum, Moscow
A map showing main trade routes for importing tea into Russia, end of 19th century
clan (with the Wogau, Mark and Banza families as its core). In 1848 Philipp Maximilian became a subject of the Russian crown and joined the merchant guild. The Wogau & Co. Trading Company was founded by M.M. Wogau and a merchant from Revel named V.D. Luther. By 1914 the Company was owned by a group of relatives: a son of one of the founders, honorary citizen R.V. Hermann, Moscow 1st-guild merchants M.F. Mark and G.M. Mark and E. Schumacher, a British subject. The headquarters of the Company was located in the building belonging to the Anchor Insurance Company (Moscow, 26 Varvarka st.), of which the Wogau family later became part owners. The Anchor Insurance 1
Company achieved great success: it was one of the leaders of the Russian Empire’s insurance market.
A NEW PLAYER IN THE TEA MARKET
Soon the Wogau family’s attention was attracted by a highly profitable business: tea trade. The rapid growth of the Wogau tea business was made possible by the lifting of the import ban on the Chinese “Cantonese” tea in 1862. This type of tea was carried from Chinese port cities to Europe by European ships. It was inferior in quality to another type of tea, called “Kyakhta”1 tea, which was delivered to Russia and Europe by land; but because the “Cantonese” tea was cheaper, due to lower transporta-
The Wogau & Co. Trading Company trademark #2 – a lion resting its paw on a heraldic shield
Translator’s note: ‘Kyakhta’ is the name of a town in the Russian Far East, on the border between Russia and China, known throughout the 1800s for active Russian-Chinese trade. Caravans carrying loads of tea originated there; hence the type of tea delivered to mainland Russia this way was called ‘Kyakhta tea’.
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HISTORY
Caravan trade seal — front
Caravan trade seal - back
tion costs, there was sufficient demand for it. Starting in 1862, the Wogay & Co. Trading Company bought tea on foreign markets, using British companies as intermediaries, for subsequent resale in Moscow and Nizhni Novgorod. Some of the tea was purchased on the London Tea Exchange. The Wogau tea business thrived: cheap tea was attractive to consumers, and, although the markup was low, the Company made good profits because of the high volume of sales. The name of the Company – ‘Caravan’ – also contributed to its success: the word reminded consumers of the “caravan” tea, the tea that was brought to the European part of Russia by caravans via Mongolia and Siberia. This tea was of better quality than the “Cantonese” tea. The fact that consumers associated the name with an ancient method of transportation was also a factor in boosting the company’s sales.
THE ‘CARAVAN’ TRADE PARTNERSHIP In 1893 the Wogau & Co. Trading Company set up a trade partnership in Russia; the partnership was named ‘Caravan’, and the business was wholesale trade of bulk tea. Caravan imported tea not only from China, but also from India; the Indian tea was sold as ‘Number 105’. Caravan’s company logo underwent many changes. Aming the symbols used were the initials ‘TK’ (from the Russian name ‘Товарищество Караван’ = ‘Partnership Caravan’) and ‘TPK’ (from the Russian name ‘Русское Товарищество Караван’ = ‘Russian Partnership Caravan’), a lion with a shield (the symbol of the Wogau & Co. Trading Company) and a country cottage. The partnership enjoyed steady growth; its offices and warehouses appeared in Moscow, Odessa, Ufa, Samarkand.
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The Company sold its tea in paper packages as well as in luxury containers made of wood, glass, tin, porcelain and crystal. The Worgau even used advanced technology of the time in their packaging. For example, one type of tin containers had a built-in device for viewing stereographs (pictures that produced a 3-D image when viewed through a special lens), extremely popular at the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th century. The container bearing the firm’s logo continued to live its own life even after the tea was all gone; children who played with it learned the firm’s name from an early age, becoming future consumers. For customers who regularly bought sugar and tea, Caravan manufactured special tea ware with the company logo. Favorite clients got generous gifts: glasses and other tableware bearing Caravan’s advertising. A lot of tea was sold in teapots, sugar bowls, even kettles. The useful packaging from Worgau remained in the consumer’s home, while the packaging of other firms was simply discarded. In addition to tea containers, the Worgau ordered all kinds of other promotional materials
delivered its products to the farthest corners of the Russian Empire.
CARAVAN’S POSITION ON THE TEA MARKET By the beginning of the 20th century, Caravan was one of the leaders of the tea trade, being one of the top five companies in several categories. During 12 years since the founding date, the Caravan partnership, according to its own data, weighed out 117,547,673 pounds of tea into 643,381,059 packages. The state excises alone amounted to more than 70,000,000 rubles, and the cost of transporting the tea from production sites to consumers exceeded 20 million rubles. The annual volume of tea and sugar sales of the Caravan partnership (including commissioned sales of brick teas) was at least 35,000,000 rubles.
FROM TEA TRADE TO BANKING
In the 1860s the Wogau & Co. Trading Company expanded its business and started selling fine English cotton yarn and American cotton. Since the 1870s the company sold building materials, sugar (both loose and cubed), domestic and imported ferrous and nonferrous metals, pyrite and anthracite. Investments into these businesses were made possible, in part, by profits from the tea trade. In the 1890s — early A rare paper window sign with an advertisement for the Caravan partnership tea 1900s Wogau & Co. was a large barley trader on exchanges in the Volga region (Samara and Saratov exchanges) and Saint-Petersburg (Petersburg and Kalashnikov exchanges). The company had exclusive rights to sell the output of two large Russian sodium companies: Lyubimov, Solvay & Co. (founded in 1887 with part of the founding capital coming from Wogau & Co.; mines and factories in Perm’, Ekaterinoslav and A Caravan partnership store in Saratov (a pre-1917 postcard)
that consumers could see in places they least expected. For example, some stores had faience money bins with Caravan’s advertisements. There were even ashtrays with the company’s logo. Caravan’s stores were located in all major cities. They welcomed shoppers with beautiful tin signs featuring mountain eagles, the company logo and other themes. The walls inside the stores were hung with paper advertisements, and city streets were decorated with attractive posters. Even in places where there were no Caravan stores, the company had business partners who
COFFEE&TEA INTERNATIONAL # 2/2014
A Caravan partnership store in the Arbat Square, Moscow (part of a pre-1917 postcard)
HISTORY
Nominal share cost of various tea trading companies and the first year of share trading Rank (bysharecost)
Partnership
1 2-3 2-3 4 5-7 5-7 5-7 8
Gubkin, Kuznetsov& Co. S. Perlov The Popov brothers V. Perlov Peter Botkin Caravan Medvedev Wysotsky& Co.
Nominals First year harecost shares (in traded rubles)
1891 1912 1883 1894 1893 1893 1899 1898
10,000 5,000 5,000 3,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 500
Principal capital of the largest tea trading companies in the Russian Empire Rank (by the amount of capital)
1-2 1-2 3 4 5-6 5-6 7 8 9
Firm
Gubkin, Kuznetsov& Co. Wysotsky& Co. S. Perlov Peter Botkin Caravan The Popov brothers V. Perlov Medvedev Klimushin
Principal Capital (in rubles)
10,000,000 10,000,000 2,500,000 1,800,000 1,500,000 1,500,000 1,200,000 600,000 300,000
Ranking of the largest tea trading companies in the Russian Empire by return per share Rank (by returnpershare)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Firm
Peter Botkin Wysotsky& Co. Gubkin, Kuznetsov& Co. Caravan Klimushin Medvedev V. Perlov S. Perlov The Popov brothers
Principal Capital (in rubles)
1,800,000 10,000,000 10,000,000 1,500,000 300,000 600,000 1,200,000 2,500,000 1,500,000
Tomsk regions) and the “South Russia Society for Processing and Sale of Sodium and Other Chemical Products” (founded in 1897, sodium and chemical plants in Slavyansk, Khar’kov region). Wogau & Co. was also the sole authorized vendor for the Copper Syndicate (founded in 1908). Tea trade was highly speculative. Profits depended to a large extent on the vagaries of the market, but industrial production allowed the company to preserve its tea fortunes and to earn stable returns. In 1914, the trading branch of Wogau & Co. had six departments (industrial and household chemical products, building materials, tea, sugar, metals, cotton) and over 650 employees. The total sales volume was about 120 mln. rubles.
Up until the early 1900s Wogau & Co. ran a banking business and had a bank in Moscow; the company also was among the founders of the Moscow “Uchyotni” Bank (1869) and a partowner of the Russian Foreign Trade Bank and the Commerce Bank of Riga. Wogau & Co.’s entry into the banking business was not an accident: this allowed the company to issue credit to itself at low interest rates and on favorable terms. At the end of the 19th century, the tea trade required an enormous operating capital because of large-scale purchases of tea. It is commonly stated that the Wogau & Co. Trading Company existed from 1859 to 1917; but this is inaccurate. Recently found documents indicate that the company continued to exist (in some form or other) at least until March-April of 1918.
THE WOGAU CLAN: INVESTING IN REAL ESTATE Considerable profits from the tea trade allowed the family to invest its money into the most secure asset with a steady appreciation: real estate. Members of the Wogau-MarkBanza-Schumacher clan owned many buildings and much land in Moscow and in the surrounding regions. Every family owned several buildings in Moscow and a number of estates in the surrounding country, where they usually spent their summers. The Wogau clan owned six adjacent buildings on the Vorontsovo Polye street in Moscow, with several other buildings on nearby streets. At some point, the Wogau warehouses were also located there. One of those six buildings was destroyed by a mob in 1915, during anti-German riots caused by the hostilities between Russia and Germany during World War I. Before the war, the whole street was jokingly named ‘Wogau highway’ by the locals. But there was another major road and two minor streets in Moscow that actually bore the name ‘Wogau’. One of the railroad stations on the way out of Moscow is to this day named ‘Mark’, in honor of the Mark family (automobile and tea business), members of the Wogau-Mark-Banza clan. Many country estates belonging to the families of the Wogau clan were known for their large scale and beautifully decorated grounds. Unfortunately, most of them were damaged or destroyed during anti-German riots in 1915.
APPROACHING THE END By the beginning of the World War I, the Wogau family had built and controlled one of the most extensive trading and industrial conglomerates in the Russian Empire. When Germany declared war on Russia, it thereby threatened the positions of German-owned enterprises there. The longer the war dragged on, the harder life became for German businessmen in Russia. As part of the campaign against an “overrepresentation” of ethnic Germans among Russian business elites, in 1916 the Russian government seized control of the Wogau & Co. There was some talk about nationalization, but it never happened.
A Caravan partnership shop sign, from the collection of V. Yenin
In spite of the war with Germany, Russian authorities tried to protect the life and property of ethnic Germans in Russia. At the same time, however, large portions of the Russian society turned against German businesses, and this led to a series of anti-German riots. In addition to the anti-German backlash, the government’s takeover of the Wogau & Co. allowed its competitors to start pushing the company out of the Russian tea market. Under such circumstances, the Wogau and their relatives had no choice but to start winding down their operations, trying to save what they had, including their tea-trading fortunes. Although Wogau & Co. formally operated until March-April of 1918, most operations had been ceased by 1916. Many members of the Wogau clan managed to escape to Europe, taking some of their money with them. Others remained in what became Soviet Russia. One of the descendants of the Wogau family — a well-known Russian writer Boris Andreevich Wogau (known under the pseudonym ‘Pil’nyak’) – met a tragic end: he was executed in 1938 at the time of the infamous “purges”.
FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE The Wogau family has had a distinguished history in Russia. Arriving from Germany during the first half of the 19th century, the family started a trading business, selling paint, chemicals and metals; one of the branches of the family even went into agriculture. Eventually, the family business empire came to include industrial production, trade, insurance and banking businesses. In all, the Wogau family owned 24 enterprises with the total capital of 90 mln. rubles and sales volume of 120 mln. rubles. The Wogau were among the leaders of the tea market, earning enormous profits from tea trade. Some of us here in Russia still fondly remember the Wogau family and their Caravan partnership. Let us hope that the history of Wogau & Co., interrupted by the First World War and the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, will continue in the new Russia.
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ECONOMICS
MOBILE COFFEE, MOBILE TEA Denis Shumakov
Before we discuss available tea- and coffee-themed apps for mobile devices, let us articulate our (grossly unrealistic) expectations for these apps. Basically, letyour imagination run wild as you think about “how great it would be if my phone (or tablet) could…” sive marketing opportunities for its creators. In other words, everyone’s a winner. Finally, tea- and coffee-themed mobile apps can be pure entertainment. One named ‘Oracle’ can read the tea leaves (or coffee grounds) based on a photograph and give you detailed and thoughtful advice on what to munch on during your morning tea. Another one — ‘Tea dietologist’ — can gather information about your lifestyle and physical shape and give you recommendations on the amount and type of tea you need to consume. ‘Doctor Coffee’ can determine the optimal brewing strength and dosage of your coffee depending on the time of day, your pulse, blood pressure and plans for the day. And other pleasant silliness. All this is fantasy.
LET US BEGIN WITH PURE SCIENCE FICTION One very useful and interesting capability would be to express-analyze a beverage in order to determine its composition and (optionally) to identify it. Imagine for a moment that you dip (or drop, if you like a little more drama) your phone into a teacup, it chimes and informs you about the tea’s vitamin content, the amount of minerals, antioxidants and l-theanine; or it tells you the precise brewing recipe and the amount of this tea you need to consume to instantly attain fame and fortune.Impressed? So am I — but this is still little more than a silly fantasy. Except for one thing. A mobile app can be an interface to a knowledge base (local or remote, doesn’t matter). The question of identifying a beverage “cold” remains, it must be admitted, a weak spot in this whole schema — so let us not venture beyond the highest-level descriptions. Suppose that you have found yourself face-to-face with a cup of tea about which you have at least some minimal amount of information. Maybe a name. Maybe ‘Darjeeling’. You feed this name to the database and it asks you for all kinds of specific information (take a photograph of dry tea leaves and of the brewed beverage, choose the most suitable format for taste and aroma descriptions, specify the exact brand of tea and where it has been purchased, etc.). And then it gives you all the information it has on this tea. The most probable point of origin, harvesting season,
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a brief historical survey (or a not-so-brief one, if you prefer), brewing and drinking tips and gastronomical profile. Convenient? You bet! Impressive? Beyondwords! Useful? Enormously! And besides, fashionable, stylish and youthful. By the way, if anyone asks how much such a system would cost to develop and to keep up to date, look the other way and mumble incomprehensibly. A more down-to-earth version of such a system would bea simple interactive encyclopedia: beverage descriptions, pictures, recipes, tips, funny stories — all the usual bells and whistles. The quality of such an app will depend entirely on the quality of the source materials and the expertise of the developers. A tea- or coffee-themed app can be a part of a rating system for cafJs, restaurants and other establishments where you can kill an hour or two while sipping on something flavorful. Like this: you walk into a cafй and your phone cheerfully informs you that previous visitors rate the coffee here as tolerable, tea as mediocre, most often order espresso made from a house blend and something named “Golden Diamond Platinum Premium”. But, the phone hastes to add, this is the average rating, our experts have a slightly different opinion — and here follows a ten-page information explosion, preceded by a short summary. And at the very end — the name of the most attractive waitress. Such an app has every right to exist: it creates an illusion of convenience to the end-user and exten-
COFFEE&TEA INTERNATIONAL # 2/2014
AND NOW TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK A very cursory one reveals that two types of apps have dominated the field: informational apps and rating apps. This is to be expected: rating apps can be profitable, at least in theory, and informational apps are bound to emerge simply because all “legacy” sources — websites, books and reference materials — can easily be converted to the mobile format (entirely novel apps of this kind do appear from time to time, but they are always a minority). We need to mention right away that a large majority of tea/coffee apps that can be classified as informational are internet store portals. These apps frequently look quite impressive: they have detailed product descriptions, brewing recipes (often richly illustrated), scores of customer reviews — but the tone is too unflinchingly positive, the product lineup is limited and everything is for sale. Such apps are convenient, free of charge (the app, not tea and coffee) and often quite interesting. But the heart yearns for something different. Unfortunately, not much is on offer.
SOME NOTE WORTHY MOBILE APPS TRA Tocklai. The app, commissioned by the Tea Research Association of Assam, India, is an organized and more or less readable collection of materials from the Association (which, in addition to other things, is a leading tea research organization
ECONOMICS
in India). The functionality and the interface (let alone the appearance) of the app are quite below contemporary mobile standards. And the content itself is fairly idiosyncratic — but undoubtedly practically useful for specialists and a curiosity for tea aficionados. The URL for the app is too long to give here, easier to type the name into a search engine. For only around twenty dollars you can get the Tea app from the App Store (https://itunes.apple.com/ru/app/tea/id39 7979692); this one is at the same time a quite
extensive tea reference and a personal tea diary that allows storing and rating your private tea recipes. Among other general teareference apps (not tied to a specific locale or retailer), I liked this one the most. The majority of the rest of the pack take the traditional American approach to tea — lumping together pure and flavored teas. Unfortunately, studying the difference between osmanthusinfused tea and orange-flavored tea is not a very exciting pastime. There are many more reference apps for coffee (and just plain many more apps for
coffee — for obvious reasons), but I am unable to reliably judge their quality. The principal and nearly universal difference between reference apps for tea and coffee is that the latter do not place emphasis on terroir1,millJsime2 or the intricacies of the production process, but on the brewing method. Virtually every mobile app for coffee is to some extent a collection of brewing recipes. And almost invariably with an ability to store and analyze your own recipes and experience. Two examples are Coffee Pedia (https://itunes.apple.com/ru/app/ cof-
1 Тerroir (French) – the ability of a product to reflect in its taste and aroma the characteristics of the region where it was produced — D.S. 2
MillJsime (French) – the ability of a product to reflect in its taste and aroma the characteristics of a particular year’s harvest — D.S.
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ECONOMICS
fee-pedia/id703369089?mt=8) and «Coffee Mania» (https://play.google. com/store/apps/details?id=com. a4droid. coffeemania&hl=ru), although I could mention at least two dozen similar apps. A special category of mobile tea-coffee reference apps includes collections of complementary recipes in which a particular dish is tied to a particular beverage. As a rule, these apps are very attractive and convincing — because it is really hard to take a bad picture of a piece of pastry. Another category — mobile versions of coffee-themed publications (I couldn’t find any tea-themed ones) with all the usual features. Among rating apps the coffeethemed ones reign supreme. There are scores of them, all different kinds — but to get a good feel for this category, it is sufficient to take a look at Beanhunter. It is an interface to the eponymous site (http://www.beanhunter.com/) that stores cafJ ratings and reviews from all around the world, but with an obvious predominance of Australian venues. It is not essentially different from hundreds of others: a map, a website link, guest reviews, ability to rate the atmosphere, service and coffee quality plus running averages of these ratings. Such apps become useful and convenient after they accumulate a critical mass of ratings and reviews. Very well positioned are apps for collecting information about preferences of particular individuals (for example, https://itunes.apple.com/app/coffeeorder/id311879629). They collect data about coffee preferences of John and Mary, analyze them and can provide recommendations for Sue and Bill. Theoretically, this is useful. But in reality, it is hard to predict people’s preferences, and the inference from “Bill has ordered double espresso five times already” to “Bill probably likes double espresso” is one that any normal adult can make on his or her own. And, of course, there is a multitude of apps that are purely for entertainment, although sometimes they manage to create an illusion of usefulness. Tea timers, coffee compasses (directing you to the nearest cafJ), various beverage oracles and horoscopes, etc. These make great gag gifts — but little more.
A SAD CONCLUSION
And so it turns out that outof all the fantasies that we came up with at the very beginning, only rating and entertainment apps have something to do with reality. We can argue about tea or coffee reference apps. But one thing is clear: the number of revolutionary, breakthrough mobile apps that could influence the development of tea and coffee culture is zero.
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COFFEE&TEA INTERNATIONAL # 2/2014
Butat the same time, there are scores of apps. The consumer has an illusion of choice, spends time, and sometimes money, making that choice — and, for the most part, is happy to consume an informational product of mediocre quality, but with an attractive marketing design. In this aspect the tea and coffee mobile app market is the same as any other market. Including the tea and coffee market.
A HAPPY CONCLUSION On the other hand, if you have not been devastated by the disappointment in the functionality of existing tea and coffee mobile apps, you quickly realize that the shortcomings of the apps have little to do with the apps themselves. Any mobile app is first and foremost a tool for turning thematic informational resources into thematic informational products. And thematic informational resources (pardon the repetition) are formed out of a multiplicity of structurally similar pieces of information characterizing a particular product. And now let’s translate this gibberish into ordinary human language. Imagine for a second that some manufacturer puts a packaged tea on the market along with the most detailed description, including harvest date and location, variety of tea plant, quality of raw materials, amount of tea produced in the batch, climate conditions, soil chemistry, altitude above sea level, any technological procedures the tea has undergone, date of packaging and the whole logistical chain from plantation to consumer. Plus standardized description of the taste and aroma of the tea, biochemical data about the brew, brewing and drinking recommendations. Keep that picture in your mind and make one more assumption: not just a single tea, but thousands of teas with such descriptions appear on the market.Then the informational transparency of the product will instantly change from an indulgence of one seller into a real value for consumersand into an effective and, most importantly, highly sophisticated tool of added value creation for sellers. Informational transparency of a beverage — whether tea, coffee or wine — opens the field for collector-consumers, taking both the market and the consuming public to a qualitatively new level. This transparency becomes a link in the beverage’s technological chain and gives producers and sellers new abilities to manipulate the product’s characteristics. And the particular method and the particular type of device the consumer will use to get this information do not matter in the least. Make information available to him — and he will find a way to pay money for it and to enjoy the process.
ECONOMICS
La Roya –
the sunset of Central America?
Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. It’s only the second day, but my ears, used to hearing foreign speech after years of travels, begin to pick out a word from the leisurely conversations of local farmers: ‘la roya’. The contrast between the soft, melodic ‘l’ and the resounding ‘r’ is so prominent, that the mind unwillingly turns from peaceful contemplation of coffee plants to the processing of the tonal information: the music of the voices reveals confusion, disappointment and, deep down, some hope as well. Today the subject of la roya dominates everyday conversations, brings disputes to an end and comes up when there is nothing else to talk about. What exactly is la roya, what is the magnitude of its impact on Guatemalan coffee, is there light at the end of the tunnel – these are some of the questions I will attempt to answer in this article.
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY Roya, also known as ‘coffee rust’, is a name of the fungus hemileiavastatrix. The disease has been around for a long time: the first reported cases were in Kenya in 1861, and that moment marks the beginning of roya’s takeover of the modern world. It is because of roya that we have Sri Lankan teas and rubber plants in the Philippines and Java today. Roya is also one of the causes of the drop in coffee production in the 1970s Brazil and in the 21st century Colombia. The way the
disease spreads is simple: the spores of the fungus, only able to survive in a warm and humid climate, are carried along by the wind. After the fungus lands on a coffee plant, there is a germination period of 24—48 hours, after which one starts to see ocherorange spots on the leaves — the sign of infection. In 3 to 5 months, a single spore can multiply to about 400,000, a growth rate comparable only to the growth of cancerous tumors. The Guatemalans themselves say that once roya lands on a plant, it is impossi-
Guatemala, Coban. Roya in all its splendor
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COFFEE&TEA INTERNATIONAL # 2/2014
ble to stop its spread. The consequences of the infection are devastating for the plant: all its energy goes into fighting the fungus, the plant loses its leaves and may eventually die. The productivity of a diseased tree is inversely proportional to the scale of infection: the more orange spots on leaves, the fewer ripe red berries during harvest time. The first symptoms of the fungus’ uncontrollable spread were discovered in Guatemala as early as 2011. Farmers did not pay much attention to them: as long as coffee had been grown in Guatemala, people believed that a 2—3% infection rate at a plantation does not portend tragedy. Indeed, specially developed chemicals had allowed to contain the spread of the disease in the past. But 2011 became an exception: the combination of high humidity and subsequent unusually high temperatures produced a greenhouse effect so beloved by the roya fungus. What followed could as well have been taken from a doomsday thriller scenario. Outbreaks of the disease, at first confined to altitudes under 1 300 m, gradually began to climb higher, and roya advanced all the way up to altitudes of 1,700—1,750 m, an unprecedented event in Guatemalan history. The first victims of roya were large coffeegrowing regions: San Marcos and Oriente. The fact that both of these regions had plantations at all altitudes was likely the factor
ECONOMICS
Vladimir Savinov, SFT Trading
that precipitated the tragedy. After devastating these territories, roya marched on to plantations in Atitlan, Coban and Fraijanes. The last ones to fall were Antigua, Acatenango and Huehuetenango. The disease spread like lightning: by April of 2011 outbreaks were noted in all coffee-producing regions of the country; however, the scale of the damage varied by region.
determinants of roya’s spread. For example, comparing the Coban, Fraijanes, Atitlan, San Marcos and Huehuetenango regions, we saw completely different pictures. Relatively low altitudes in Coban, multiplied by the most humid microclimate in the country, led to the most serious crop damage from roya — up to 45—50% of the entire harvest. The same picture,albeit on a slightly smaller scale,was seen in Fraijanes and Atitlan. The mountainous San Marcos “got away” with 35—40%, while Huehuetenango, with altitudes up to 2,000 m, had a “modest” 20—25%. By the way, the damage in the most arid and cool region of Guatemala, Antigua, did not exceed 20-25%. We should also remember that Antigua and Huehuetenango are isolated, and this factor helped slow down roya’s spread in these regions. The scale of roya’s impact on the harvest also shows a different pattern: the most affected regions are those that produce mostly bourbon and maragogype coffees (the latter lost more than half of its harvest in 201314). At the same time, regions that bet on more disease-resistant Arabica varieties, such as Caturra and Catuai, suffered less damage.
FACTORS DETERMINING ROYA’S IMPACT ON GUATEMALA’S COFFEEPRODUCING REGIONS
Let us consider factors responsible for the differences in the spread of roya in different regions of Guatemala. We can identify three major groups of factors that affected the spread of the disease: geographical, agricultural and economic. Geographically, the coffee-growing map of Guatemala is quite diverse. Different regions have different altitudes and microclimates. Some coffee-growing regions are adjacent to each other, and othersare isolated by mountain ranges. The altitude and the microclimate in a particular region were probably the most important Guatemala, Atitlan. The farm is practically destroyed by roya
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ECONOMICS
Guatemala, Fraijanes. Bourbon and the more roya-resistant Catimore varieties
Another factor was the need to keep the plantations shaded by other plants. Gravilea and Inga trees, the primary shade trees in the region, have the capacity to retain moisture close to the ground, which created the most favorable conditions for the fungus. Finally, one of the major factors that facilitated the spread of roya in the country was the macroeconomic situation. During 20112013, Arabica prices had fallen to one-third of their previous levels, and incomes of the majority of Guatemalan farmers had alsofallen considerably. A simple lack of money was responsible for coffee trees not receiving sufficient amounts of fertilizer and antifungal chemicals for two years. For example, most Guatemalan coffee farmers believe that coffee trees should be sprayed with antifungal solution at least four times a year. In 2012-2013, there was enough money only for two, at most three, spray cycles; fertilizers were applied in insufficient quantities, if at all, and replacement of old trees by new ones and grafting was done sporadically. On the other hand, large producers from the aforementioned Antigua region, whose coffee has always been the most expensive of all Guatemalan varieties, managed to stop the spread of the disease by applying additional fungicides and were the first to start planting new, more roya-resistant Arabica varieties. In sum, the roya epidemic was the consequence of an unlucky confluence of environmental and climatic factors plus the macro-
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economic situation. Differences in the magnitude of roya’s impact on different regions in Guatemala suggest that these three factors will also be important in other places: roya has already spread to all Central American countries, Mexico, Peru and several others. Thus, we are faced with a pressing question: is there a future for Central American washed Arabica coffee? And if so, what will this future look like?
WHAT NEXT?
The situation with washed Arabica in the rest of the world is not much better: here is how the export volume of several Central, North and South American countries for 2013-2014 compares to the previous year’s volume: COUNTRY Costa-Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Peru Dominican Republic Colombia
EXPORT VOLUME % change, 2012 to 2013 -20% -57% -17% -18% -48% -47% -8% -31% +36%
Source: www.mildwashedcoffees.org
Now, with these numbers in hand, let us contemplate the future of Central American washed Arabica. The situation in El Salvador today is dire: the head of one of the major
COFFEE&TEA INTERNATIONAL # 2/2014
companies noted that in 2013/2014 the country is expecting its worst coffee harvest in 150 years, all because of roya. The only thing that can help save some of the harvest is strong and steady rain, forecast to hit the country in the near future. Coffee harvests in Mexico and Nicaragua have also suffered significantly, but the final extent of the damage caused by roya will not become clear until the end of June, when these two countries will have shipped most of its coffee. The fact that the harvest in Nicaragua has been delayed by 1 to 1.5 months is also a sign of hope. If we try to estimate the total impact of roya in Guatemala by March of 2013, the following picture emerges. Around 200,000 hectares of coffee plantations have been affected (about 80% of coffee-growing land in the country). Last year (2012—2013), the harvest was down by around 15%. At present, exports are down by a close 17%, but the bulk of the shipments of coffee occur from March till May, and already at the end of March many Guatemalan exporters are talking about empty warehouses and barely a trickle of new coffee coming in from plantations. Most likely, the total drop in exports in 2013—2014 will become even greater than it is now: it is estimated that around 30% of the harvest has been lost, the worst in 20 years. In February of 2013, Guatemalan authorities declared a state of emergency, and the government has been debating whether to provide special subsidies to farmers to combat
ECONOMICS
Guatemala, Antigua. The 2013-2014 harvest is in good shape
the spread of the disease. One question that remains is whether the funds allocated by the government of Guatemala will be sufficient to bring about a significant improvement. Planting of new trees will help, but not right away: an improvement is expected no sooner than 2015—2016, when the newly planted trees start producing berries. The picture is similar in Honduras. The only bright spots are Costa-Rica and Colombia. Costa-Rican export numbers suggest that the country has been successful in dealing with the adversity, and the production there will likely not suffer as much as in the neighboring countries. Finally, Colombia is the only source of good news in the overall gloom and destruction caused by roya. The country is at last returning to the export levels of recent past and, judging by the rate of growth of its coffee exports, has fully overcome the consequences of the roya epidemic of the first decade of the 21st century. Essentially, Colombia today is the sole exporter of washed Arabica, with other countries unable to make their shipments because of the spread of the disease. So — what does the future look like for Central American coffee in comparison with Colombian and other washed Arabicas? A short answer is: not very bright. Most likely, for the next two years, until the 2015—2016 harvest, we will see a significant reduction in exports of Central American washed Arabicas, caused by the spread of roya and the need to replace existing Arabica varieties
with new, more disease-resistant ones.Even ignoring any possible accompanying change in quality, we must admit that the battle for consumers will be lost by the Central American Arabicas for the next two years. With shrinking supply, the prices of these varieties will go up, and coffee roasters will start thinking about alternative sources of coffee: we are already seeing a gradual shift away from Nicaraguan and Honduran varieties toward the Colombian ones. The situation will most likely only get worse in the
foreseeable future: an oversupply of Colombian varieties, together with relatively low prices, will induce many roasters to adjust their recipes to favor Colombian coffee. Actually, the stability and prosperity for Colombian farmers will likely last more than two years. The resistance to change among large coffee producers is quite high: once a recipe has been established, it will stay unchanged for years, in absence of any catastrophic changes, such as those directly affecting the physical availability of raw ingredients. On the other hand, high prices of Arabica in general, and of washed Arabica in particular, will once more push roasters toward an unpleasant choice: either to search for more stable and reliable alternative sources of supply of washed Arabicas or to sacrifice quality by turning to unwashed Arabicas or Robustas. Here again, those who choose the first alternative will most likely turn to Colombian coffee. We also must not forget about the growth of washed Arabica production in Brazil, the largest coffee producer in the world. It is likely that the shortage of washed Arabica will become an additional incentive for Brazil to intensify its efforts in this direction. The consequence of this tectonic shift will be the fact that as early as 2015—2016, Central American coffee growers, having by then (we hope!) remedied the damage caused by roya, will face serious challenges moving their coffee reserves onto the market in the face of greatly increased competition. What are the Central American coffee producers to do in this situation? Count on their own resilience and relatively high prices to help them weather the storm caused by roya, and also hope for the loyalty of their customers; in two years, these factors will, possibly, give Central American coffee varieties a chance to recover and adapt to the changing market. And “la roya”? Unfortunately, it is here to stay.
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NEWS
Intergovernmental Group on Tea, Rome, 5–6 May 2014
CERTIFICATION IN ORGANIC AGRICULTURE Nadia El-Hage Scialabba Senior Officer, Climate, Energy and Tenure Division Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
This article is based on the presentation given by Nadia El-HageScialabba, Senior Officer, Climate, Energy and Tenure Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, at the FAO Intergovernmental Group on Tea session in Rome, Italy, May 5-6, 2014 ccording to the 2012 data, organic agriculture represents a significant and growing share of world agricultural production. 37.5mln hectares are certified organic agricultural land (0.9% of global agricultural lands); almost as much land (31 mln hectares) has been designated as organic wild collection areas (Finland/berries, Zambia/honey, India/medicinal plants).There are 1.9 million organic producersin 164 countries (e.g. India 600 000, Uganda 190 000, Mexico 170 000).Certified organic tea/mateis grown on 97,592 hectares in 21 countries. Certification helps achieve three main goals for the organic food industry:it protects scrupulous producers and processors, builds trust and avoids consumer confusion and, finally, facilitates trade via conformity assessment. But certification is only one element of a more complex organic guarantee mechanism that helps provide assurance
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that products labelled ‘organic’ really are so. Among other organic guarantee systems are such mechanisms as technical reference standards (IFOAM or Codex), legislation (mandatory or voluntary), inspection (internal or external) and certification, accreditation of certification bodies (public or private) and equivalence (or agreements) with export countries. Organic standards are one of the most important elements of the organic guarantee system. Standards serve as references for practices and allowed/prohibited substances, food/feed crops, livestock, processed products (food and beverages), fibers, wild-harvested products, aquaculture. Among the most widely recognized standards we can mention the IFOAM Basic Standards for Organic Production and Processing (in use since 1980 for foods, fibers, aquaculture and social justice), as well as the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius
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Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labelling and Marketing of Organically Produced Foods (in use since 1999 for crops, livestock, bees, processing and, since 2011 in the making, aquaculture/seaweeds). With the importance of the organic designation for economic and ethical reasons, a lot of effort has been going into ensuring conformity to the organic production standards. Methods such as inspection, certification and labelling seek to demonstrate that a product has followed specific production requirements, as described in the organic standard of specific markets.The IFOAM Criteria for Programmes Certifying Organic Agriculture and Processing follow ISO 65+ conditions specific to organics (e.g. factors determining frequency of inspection, inspection for GE products, chain of custody, inspection of grower groups). Accreditation of organic certifiers generally takes place according
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to specific organic standards and verification processes, such as International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS), conformity to European standards EN 45011 or ISO 65 and governments accreditation programmes (e.g. USDA). The certification process that focuses on exporting organic operators is organized in view of specific markets. Each operator decides which Certification Body (CB) to use; in addition, the operator must comply with domestic regulations (where applicable), with export market regulations (where applicable) and with its own CB’s and the buyer’s CB requirements. In order to facilitate the movement of organic products across borders, some kind of mutual recognition between CBs is necessary. This may take several forms: common accreditation standards (e.g. USDA, IFOAM), re-certification based on the other CB’s inspection report (document review), integrated inspection (one inspectionmultiple certifications) and joint inspection programmes. One problem for this mechanism is that this type of third-party certification is commonly too costly for smallholders; hence, a set of different mechanisms is used in this sector. For some smallholders, their production and processing are certified through Internal Control Systems (ICS) – recognized by EC and others. An ICS relies on internal inspectors for annual inspection and record keeping, while the external body becomes the auditor of the ICS. Another mechanism is group certification systems, which commonly gather about 50 producers under one organic certification “umbrella”. Currently, the “division of labor” in the organic food industry works as follows. Inspection and certification of organic products and producers is performed by government agencies (using government criteria) and/or private bodies (using IFOAM standards and other norms), following ISO 65. Accreditation is the job of national accreditors (governed by the IAF guide) and/or international accreditors (IOAS),following ISO 62. Finally, techni-
cal standardsare established and maintainedby international bodies such as IFOAM or Codex, through national legislation (mandatory or voluntary) and/or by private labels. With respect to organic certification, the state of the global market as of 2012 was follows. In 2012, 1.9 million farmers from 164 countries were certified organic, with a global sale of certified products of US$ 64 billion (44% in USA, 44% EU, 4% Canada, 2% Japan). The global turnover of organic certification might be in the range of 400 million Euros (based on estimated market value). Many organic farms are organized for group certification; for example in India, only 545 of the 733 172 farms are certified as individual farms.Besides third-party certification, participatory guarantee systems (PGS) are on the rise for domestic markets (e.g. India and Brazil recognize PGS). Organic guarantee systems today are as varied as the countries in which they operate. Today, 110 countries have organic regulations:69 countries have fully implemented such regulations, 19 have finalized regulations but have not yet fully implemented them, and 12 countries are in the process of drafting organic legislation. In addition, there are more than 121 private organic standards of CBs, with standards extended to social justice, restaurants, fisheries, ecotourism, cosmetics (e.g. Global Organic Textile Standard). There are a total of 549 organic certification bodies worldwide (in 85 countries), with a few operating in most continents. Certified operations are found in almost all countries of
international organizations: the International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalence (ITF) and its successor, Global Organic Market Access (GOMA). These organizations have focused on facilitating dialogue between private and public institutions involved in trade and regulatory activities to reduce organic trade barriers; developing opportunities for harmonization, recognition, equivalence and other forms of cooperation within and between government and private sector organic control systems; and facilitating international organic trade and access of developing countries to international organic markets. These organizations have developed two practical tools for achieving equivalence of organic standards. The ITF developed IROCB (the International Requirements for Organic Certification Bodies). This tool helps governments determine if foreign certification bodies comply with equivalent performance requirements. If a foreign CB operates according to IROCB requirements, it can be recognized (approved) based on equivalence. Another tool developed by the ITF is EquiTool (Guide for Assessing Equivalence of Organic Standards and Technical Regulations). EquiTool provides guidelines for assessing equivalence between two or more standards for organic production/processing, which include the following components: procedures to use for the assessment, criteria to use for deciding if differences in the standards can be rationalized and the Annex for determining common objectives.
the world; emerging markets (Argentina, China, India, Brazil and Korea) have, or are about to develop, organic import requirements. With such a wide array of certification mechanisms, some common ground is needed not only to ensure that country/regional standards are mutually recognized, but also to assure that small and medium producers in every country and region of the world have access to organic markets. During the last decade (2002-2012), these objectives have driven the work of two
Implementing EquiTool required expanding its Annex 2 into Common Organic Regulatory Objectives (COROS). This task was accomplished by GOMA: COROS was finalized in April 2011 in cooperation with IFOAM’s Organic Guarantee System.The COROS tool sets 10 objectives for systems management, soil fertility, synthetic inputs, pollution, harmful technologies, animal welfare+health, integrity, identity and fairness. COROS is currently being used for development of Asia Organic Standard (AROS), promoting recognition of existing organic standards, bilateral and multilateral comparisons of standards and self-evaluation for future bilateral equivalencies.
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TEA, COFFEE AND HEALTH Science News THE EFFECTS OF CAFFEINE INGESTION ON THE REACTION TIME AND SHORT-TERM MAXIMAL PERFORMANCE AFTER 36 HOURS OF SLEEP DEPRIVATION 1
Makram Souissi et al. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relative efficacy of caffeine ingestion for counteracting the negative effect of 36 hours of total sleep deprivation (TSD) on both physical and cognitive performances. Thirteen healthy male physical education students volunteered to participate in the study. Participants reported no sleep disorders, were non-smokers, and did not consume caffeine or alcoholic beverages. After four consecutive nights of sleep in the laboratory, participants performed four test sessions: after placebo or 5 mg/kg of caffeine ingestion during a baseline night (RN) or a night of 36
1 The effects of caffeine ingestion on the
reaction time and short-term maximal performance after 36 hours of sleep deprivation. Makram Souissi et al., University of Sfax, National Centre of Medicine and Sciences in Sport (CNMSS), University of Sousse, Tunisia. Published: Physiology & Behavior 131 (2014) 1–6. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.
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hours of TSD. During the RN, participants nocturnal sleep was synchronized to last from 22:30 to 07:00. During the TSD, they were not allowed to sleep at all and were kept awake by passive means such us watching TV. During each test session, participants ingested a caffeine or a placebo dose; after a 60 min rest, they performed the reaction time, the squat jump (SJ), and the Wingate tests with 15 min of recovery between the SJ and the Wingate test. Simple and choice reaction time. The reaction time was used as an index of individuals’ motor performance. The test consisted in answering rapidly to a visual stimulus on a computer screen by pushing a button on a keyboard. Squat jump test. The subjects were asked to perform a SJ without any load. In the SJ, the subjects lower themselves into a squat position and, after a brief pause, jump upward as quickly and as high as possible. Wingate test. The Wingate test consisted of a 30 sec maximal-effort sprint on a friction-loaded cycle ergometer against a constant resistance related to body mass. The highest power output over 1 sec (PP) and the mean power (MP), corresponding to the ratio between total work done and time to do it (i.e., 30 sec), were recorded. Profile of mood states (POMS). The POMS consists of 65 adjectival items (e.g., tense, scared) developed to measure 7 aspects of mood (anxiety/tension, depression/dejection, anger/hostility, confusion/bewilderment, vigor/activity, fatigue/inertia, and friendship). The responses to each item range from 0 to 4, with higher scores indicating more negative mood (0 indicates “not at all”, and 4 indicates “extremely”). POMS. The statistical analysis revealed that depression, confusion, fatigue, and anxiety increased and vigor decreased after the TSD in comparison with the RN. However, depression, confusion, fatigue, and anxiety decreased and vigor increased after the ingestion of caffeine in comparison with the placebo during TSD. Wingate Test — Peak Power. There was a significant effect for Sleep, indicating that PP was significantly lower during TSD in comparison with RN after the ingestion of placebo. Likewise, a significant effect for Caffeine and a significant interaction Sleep х Caffeine were observed, indicating that PP increased significantly during the TSD after caffeine in comparison with placebo ingestion. However, during RN, no
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significant difference was observed between placebo and caffeine ingestions. Wingate Test — Mean Power. There was a significant Sleep effect, indicating that MP was significantly lower during TSD in comparison with RN after placebo ingestion. Likewise, a significant Caffeine effect and a significant Sleep х Caffeine interaction were observed. During the TSD, a significant increase of MP was observed after caffeine ingestion in comparison with placebo ingestion. However, no significant difference was observed between placebo and caffeine ingestions during RN. Jump Performance (SJ). There was a significant Sleep effect, indicating that SJ was significantly lower during TSD in comparison with RN during the placebo condition. Likewise, a significant Caffeine effect and a significant interaction Sleep х Caffeine were observed. During the TSD, a significant increase in SJ performance was observed after caffeine in comparison with placebo. However, no significant difference was observed between placebo and caffeine ingestions during RN. Simple and choice reaction time tasks. There was a significant Sleep effect and Caffeine effect for the simple and the choice reaction time. Likewise, the Sleep х Caffeine interaction was significant for both the simple and the choice reaction time. The post hoc analysis revealed a significant increase for both simple and choice reaction time after TSD in comparison with RN during the placebo test session. Likewise, a significant decrease for both simple and choice reaction time was observed after caffeine ingestion in comparison with placebo during TSD test session. Our results showed that simple and choice reaction time, PP and MP during the Wingate test, and the SJ performance were adversely affected by 36 hours of TSD. However, caffeine ingestion may improve both cognitive and physical performances after TSD. Consistent with previous reports, our results showed a significant decrease in simple reaction time 60 min after caffeine ingestion. With respect to the short-term maximal performances during RN, the present study showed that PP and MP were unaffected by caffeine ingestion in the afternoon. These results are in agreement with previous works that showed no significant variation in physical performance after caffeine ingestion. The present study results showed that TSD affects the cognitive performance (i.e., an increase in the reaction time). It has been reported that both TSD and par-
tial sleep deprivation impair the ability to maintain wakefulness, increase the subjective sleepiness, reduce motivation, and, perhaps most critically, degrade cognitive performance. The present study’s results demonstrated that the ingestion of caffeine could improve cognitive and physical performances after a period of TSD.
BLACK TEA IMPROVES ATTENTION AND SELF-REPORTED ALERTNESS 2
E.A. De Bruin et al. Tea may be a likely candidate for improving attention in everyday life. In the two systematic studies described in the present paper we investigated the effects of two commercially available black tea blends on attention and selfreported alertness using a double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled, crossover design. In the first study, a relatively strong tea blend containing 2.6 g/L tea solids (PG Tips tea) was used; the study was repeated later with a slightly less strong tea (Lipton Yellow Label tea; 1.9 g/L tea solids) to find out whether the effects were dose-dependent. Twenty-six volunteers (20 females) aged on average 30.7 years took part in study 1, and 32 volunteers (15 females) aged on average 30.3 years participated in study 2. Participants were regular caffeine consumers (average caffeine intake 306.4 mg/day in study 1 mg/day and 280.1 mg/day in study 2). In study 1, participants received two servings of placebo tea in one condition and two servings of black tea in the other condition over the course of 60 min. In study 2, participants received three servings of placebo tea in one condition and three servings of black tea in the other condition over the course of 90 min. Visits were separated by at least 6 days and at most 14 days. Participants arrived at the laboratory at 12:00 midday having consumed only their normal breakfast and water, and having abstained from alcoholic beverages and caffeinated foods and medications from 9 pm the previous day. Participants were provided with a standardized lunch, and were required to consume an identical meal on each visit. Following lunch, participants completed a set of attention tests. After this first set of tests (baseline), they consumed the first drink during a 10-min break. They then completed the second set of tests (session 1), after which they consumed another drink during the second 10-min break. After that, another set of tests (session 2) followed. In study 1, the par-
ticipants received two drinks and completed three test sessions per condition in total. In study 2, the participants received three drinks and completed four test sessions per condition in total. The switch task measured the ability to shift attention between different task sets. During each trial, one letter and one number were displayed on the screen simultaneously for 1 s. The letters were randomly drawn from a set of four vowels (A, E, I, or U) and four consonants (G, K, M, or R) and the numbers from a set of four even (2, 4, 6, or 8) and four odd numbers (3, 5, 7, or 9). Participants were required to respond to even numbers, but only when the font color was purple, or to vowels, but only when the font color was red (instruction counterbalanced between sessions). The font color and therefore the task ‘switched’ every three trials in a predictable manner. Participants completed four 2.5-min blocks of 144 stimulus pairs during each session in both studies. This test has repeatedly been shown to be sensitive to the effect of caffeine and theanine on attention. The intersensory attention task measured the ability to selectively deploy attention to stimuli presented in the visual and auditory modalities. Each trial consisted of an auditory cue instructing participants to attend to either the auditory or visual modality followed by auditory stimuli or visual stimuli (unisensory), or both auditory and visual stimuli (intersensory) after 1200 ms. Participants were required to perform a discrimination task (same or different) in the cued modality. Participants completed six (study 1) or four (study 2) blocks of trials during each session, each containing a total of 100 cue–stimuli pairs and lasting approximately 5 min. This test has previously been shown to be sensitive to the effect of theanine on attention. Self-reported mental state was measured using the Bond-Lader visual analogue mood rating scales. Participants were asked to indicate how they felt at that moment on sixteen 100-mm visual analogue scales anchored at either end by an adjective pair (e.g., Tense/Relaxed). The individual scores were combined to form three factors: Alertness (alert, strong, clear-headed, coordinated, energetic, quick-witted, attentive, proficient, interested), Contentedness (contented, happy, amicable, gregarious, tranquil), and Calmness (calm, relaxed). The BondLader mood rating scales are frequently used in studies of pharmacological drugs and previously demonstrated increased self-reported alertness following caffeine with or without theanine.
2 Black tea improves attention and self-reported alertness. By E.A. De Bruin et al., Unilever Netherlands, Unilever United Kingdom, Institute of Neurology, London, United
Kingdom. Published: Appetite, Vol. 56 (2011), pp. 235-240. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd
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The order in which the tests were administered was fixed in each session in both studies in the following order: intersensory attention task, switch task, Bond-Lader mood rating scales.
TEA CONSUMPTION AND MENTAL HEALTH IN AGEING: FINDINGS FROM ETHNIC CHINESE POPULATIONS
Results Study 1 Intersensory attention Participants made more correct responses on the intersensory subtasks, and responded faster after tea compared to after placebo. There were no main effects of tea or tea-by-session interactions for correct responses or reaction times on the unisensory subtasks. Task switching Participants made more correct responses after black tea than after placebo tea. There was no main effect of tea on reaction times. Switch costs were present as expected but not influenced by tea. Mental state Participants felt significantly more alert and less calm after tea than after placebo. There was no difference in Contentedness between the conditions. Study 2 Intersensory attention There were no significant differences in the number of correct responses or reaction times between the tea and placebo conditions, but there was a trend for more correct responses in the visual unisensory subtask after tea. Task switching Participants made more correct responses after tea than after placebo. There was no difference in reaction times between the conditions. Switch costs were present as expected but not influenced by tea. Mental state Participants felt significantly more alert and there was a tendency towards greater feelings of contentedness after tea than after placebo. There was no difference in feelings of calmness between the condition. Both studies indicated that tea improved attention as demonstrated with improved performance on objective attention tests and as self-reported on a mental-state scale. Together, the findings on the switch task and intersensory attention task suggest that tea improves the ability to focus attention on the task at hand but does not influence switching between task rules. Alternatively, the finding that the effects of tea were strongest on the task performed towards the end of the test session could also indicate that tea may counteract effects of fatigue.
Lei Feng Using large data from communitybased cohort studies in ethnic Chinese populations in Singapore and China, my coworkers and I have systematically examined the role of tea drinking on mental health in aging in recent years. We are particularly interested in cognition and depression in the elderly. To examine the cross-sectional relationship between tea drinking and cognitive functioning, we analyzed neuropsychological data of 716 non-demented Chinese older adults from the Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Study (SLAS). The SLAS neuropsychological test battery assessed a wide range of cognitive domains. After adjusting for potential confounders, total tea consumption was independently associated with better performances on global cognition, executive function, and information processing speed. Both black/oolong tea and green tea consumption were associated with better cognitive performance To establish longitudinal association between tea consumption and future cognitive decline, we analyzed data from 1438 SLAS participants who had complete Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) data at baseline and a median of 16 months after baseline. Compared with subjects with rare or no tea intake, the odds of having cognitive decline for subjects with low, medium, and high levels of tea intake were 0.74, 0.78 and 0.57, respectively. We replicated the above findings on cognitive benefit of tea drinking using large population-based data from oldestold (80-115 years old) subjects in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) cohort. In this project, cognitive function was assessed by repeated measures (four times) of the verbal fluency test. Adjusting for age, gender, years of schooling, physical exercise and activities score, tea drinkers had higher verbal fluency scores throughout the follow-up period. This work supports the conclusion that the cognitive benefits of tea drinking is evident even in very late stage of life.
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Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that tea consumption is associated with less depressive symptoms in late life. The first study was based on longitudinal data of 1615 subjects from the SLAS cohort; tea consumption information was collected at baseline and depressive symptoms were assessed at follow-up visit. We found that higher levels of tea consumption were associated with lower risk of having depressive symptoms at follow-up visit. The proportion of participants with depression at follow-up decreased with increasing tea consumption (6.6%, 5.3%, 3.2% and 1.8% for none, low, medium and high tea intake respectively). Recently, we replicated the research findings on tea and late life depression with community based data from the Confucius Hometown Aging Project (CHAP). Among the 1368 CHAP participants that were included in the analysis, 165 (12. l %) were weekly and 489 (35.7%) were daily tea consumers. Compared with non/irregular tea consumption, the odds ratios of having elevated depressive symptoms were 0.86 for weekly and 0.59 for daily tea consumption; the linear trend of the association remained statistically significant when further controlling for history of stroke, transient ischemic attacks, and presence of carotid plaques. In summary, our findings from ethnic Chinese populations suggest that tea consumption is associated with better mental health in ageing. However, firm conclusion must be supported by more longitudinal studies and clinical trials. Since previous studies were all limited in using self-reported questionnaire data to assess tea intake, I propose that objective biomarkers of tea intake should be used in future studies. Clinical trials on tea extracts or bioactive compounds in tea must be conducted as only interventional studies will be able to provide the definite answer on whether tea or tea compounds really can promote mental health outcomes in ageing.
3 Tea consumption and mental health in ageing: Findings from ethnic Chinese popu-
lations. By Lei Feng, Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Published: International Journal of Tea Science, Vol. 9(2-3), 2013. © 2013 Tea Board of India and International Society for Tea Science.
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EXPORTING COUNTRIES: DOMESTIC CONSUMPTION
NON-MEMBERS NET IMPORTS OF ALL FORMS OF COFFEE FROM ALL SOURCES
Crop years commencing: 2008 to 2013 (000 bags)
Calendar years: 2007 to 2012 (000 bags)
Crop year
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2007
2013
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
FULL ARTICLE IS AVALUABLE FOR SUBSCRIBERS
Source: ICO
Source: ICO
PER CAPITA DISAPPEARANCE IN IMPORTING COUNTRIES Calendar years: 2007 to 2012 (kilogram) 2008
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2010
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2007
2011
2012
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Source: ICO
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Who drinks the most TEA? FULL ARTICLE IS AVALUABLE FOR SUBSCRIBERS
Average annual per capita tea consumption (pounds, decimal comma):
Source: greenrussia.ru/news/sreda/1385-potreblenie-kofe-v-mire.html
COFFEE consumption around the world
Per capita coffee consumption (cups per day, decimal comma):
Source: gizmodo.com/the-worlds-biggest-coffee-drinkers-visualized-1502533056
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INTERVIEW
DANNY JOHNS
Ultimate Barista Challenge:
“THIS COMPETITION SIMPLY HAD TO HAPPEN!” Aliona Velichko
Danny Johns — a former professional barista, author of many publications and widely popular books about coffee — was the invited Master of Ceremonies at World Barista Championships in 2001—2004. He has been certified as a judge in all categories for virtually every specialty coffee competition (WBC, Tea & Coffee World Cup Asia, European Barista, World Latte Art Championships (International) and the Ultimate Barista Challenge). This remarkable individual is currently the producer and global coordinator of the ULTIMATE Barista Challenge in five countries. We managed to catch up with him and ask him a few questions. — Danny, how did you come up with the idea of the Ultimate Barista Challenge? — I think the Challenge just had to happen. We have been very methodically, I would even say inevitably, moving toward it. First, we started barista competitions and regional events in the USA that were run by the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America); then we became co-organizers of the International barista competitions (run
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by SCAA and SCAE) in 2001-2005. The way barista competitions were becoming more and more popular meant that success was inevitable, both at the national and at the international levels. There were many of us: certified judges for national and international barista competitions, barista trainers, sales specialists and cuppers. Besides, we had years of experience in making and promoting specialty coffee, plus a real passion for competition.
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The goal of our company, Whole Cup Coffee Consulting, was to put the barista first in the world of specialty coffee. We were looking for alternatives to standard coffee competitions, and we came up with the idea of Ultimate Barista (or master barista, by analogy with top chefs in the world of cooking). Master baristas from different countries would travel the world competing with local baristas, or with other challengers during barista competitions, where winner takes all!
INTERVIEW
— Аnd what is the difference between Ultimate Barista Challenge and World Barista Championship? — If we look at the official scoring criteria used by judges for both of these specialty coffee competitions (WBC and USBC), we see that they are very similar, because they were developed by the same person: Sherri Johns, my wife. But UBC differs from WBC by its style, greater competitive spirit of its participants, the level of audience involvement and higher level of interaction between judges and baristas. During WBC competitions, only the barista is allowed to speak during his or her performance, and the judges must remain silent. As a former judge of these competitions, I must admit that it is very difficult to keep quiet, especially when you want to learn more about the beverage, the coffee and the barista’s personal story. During WBC competitions, barista perform by themselves, the format is quite rigid, moving around is not allowed. But during UBC, two baristas “duel” with each other, being on the stage simultaneously, making beverages and at the same time presenting them to the judges. At the end of a UBC performance, baristas and judges start a conversation, during which baristas tell judges and the audience about their coffee, their skills, experience and much else, showing the judges their knowledge and ability to engage an audience. This is something all baristas usually need to do for their customers in the workplace. Afterward, judges have an opportunity to ask questions and make comments on the beverages that have just been prepared for them. Thus, UBC has some new rules, for example, the requirement that the competing baristas discuss their beverages with the judges. The judges, in turn, give baristas advice about their beverages and brewing skills, as well as evaluate the performance as a whole.
Meanwhile, the audience is actively participating in the discussion. The whole preparation process looks the best when both baristas finish their beverages on time! — Which countries have already hosted the Ultimate Barista Challenge and how do you decide where the next competition will be held? — The UBC has been hosted by the USA (twice), South Korea, China, Indonesia and Russia. Usually we get invitations from prospective hosts during various cooking and equipment exhibitions and during tea and coffee expos. — What made you decide to organize UBC in Russia? —We have always had a very positive experience participating in various specialty coffee events in Russia. In 2006, we took part in the Russian Latte Art competition in Moscow, and decided then and there that we wanted to hold a UBC competition in Russia. And when, in 2010, a Russian company called Kafema, based in Vladivostok, approached us in China and offered to coordinate UBC events in Russia, we agreed. UBC is interested in promoting its competitions throughout this great country. — What, in your opinion, affects the development of UBC, and how will it fare in the future? — I think that one of the major factors impacting UBC throughout its history is the professionalism of its baristas and judges; I should also mention the trends in the specialty coffee, cocktail and culinary segments. Among other factors is our active participation in culinary and product exhibitions, where we showcase specialty coffee competitions. Among our judges are chefs, food industry journalists, liqueur and cocktail specialists;
these people make the competition more interesting by bringing their unique perspectives to it. — How do you handle the enormous amount of logistical challenges when preparing to hold the competition in a particular country? —Our rich experience organizing WBC, USBC and regional events, coordinating barista jams, cupping sessions and training seminars has helped us develop a “template” of sorts that makes the whole organizing process very flexible and allows us to handle challenges without getting stressed. Our competitions are always organized with utmost professionalism, because it matters for their success. We are very careful selecting our UBC partners in other countries, and we are constantly searching for new and innovative shows. — What are the requirements for securing an Ultimate Barista Challenge franchise? — UBC always strives to broaden its audience all over the world, so as we grow, the number of our organizers will grow as well. Interested parties can get in touch with us and get additional information by sending a request to danny@ultimatebaristachallenge.com. — Why should baristas participate in Ultimate Barista Challenge — how do they benefit from it professionally? — In addition to wonderful prizes from the sponsors, awards from UBC and travels to coffee-growing countries, the participants can perfect their coffee-brewing skills, make new friends and get an invaluable competition experience. They can travel with UBC to different countries and take part in the competition. Andon top of all that — it is great fun!
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INTERVIEW
In search of the
PERFECT CUP
Svetlana Belikova, Aliona Velichko
The coming of spring was marked in many Russian cities by qualifying rounds of the Tea Masters Cup, with the main competition taking place for the second time during the annual United Coffee & Tea Industry Event. The competition is the brainchild of two brothers, David and Ramaz Chanturiya; C&TI sat down with them to savor a cup of exquisite Darjeeling (purchased, by the way, at the last year’s charity tea auction in Moscow) and to get the story about how this competition was born. C&TI: So – how did it all begin? Ramaz: Speaking very generally, it started with thoughts about the future of the tea market, an analysis of various routes its development can take, a search for the best possibilities.
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Behind the scenes at
C&TI: Can you be a little more specific? What do shifts in the global tea market have to do with competitions? It doesn’t seem that there would be any connection at all… Ramaz: Let us attempt to retrace our thought process; I hope it will help us see the connection. OK, imagine today’s tea market, the consumption of tea in the world, where and how tea is sold, when and how it is consumed. In many countries – including economically developed ones – tea, one of the most popular beverages in the world, with a thousandyear history, has become nothing more than a routine element of the food consumption process. Consequently, the main goal of the tea industry, including those who grow tea, is the most effective satisfaction of the mass consumer demand for this beverage. And because there are billions of tea consumers in the world, technology reigns supreme, perfecting the methods of production, processing, packaging and distribution.
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With this approach, whether we want it or not, the tea itself – its essence, its power – gets lost. And this is not someone’s malicious intent; no, it just seems that this is a particular stage in the development of our civilization today: with growing population and consumption, the primary focus is on meeting this colossal demand, on preventing hunger and its inseparable companion – tension and instability in the world. David: I would like to add to this that practically in every tea-producing country the business is highly concentrated; this is the consequence of the realities just now mentioned by Ramaz. In order to survive, businesses have to increase production and cut costs. The number of companies in the tea industry is decreasing, as is the interest in the business of tea – and there is a risk that people will lose interest in the tea itself. The task before those who have devoted their lives to tea is to help preserve this beverage for future generations in its original form, as it has been created and perfected by nature; preserve its character and the unique properties that moved people to bestow on it the title “Queen of the Camelias”. And the time to act is right now.
channels that are fine-tuned to handle products of different quality: specialty stores, clubs, the internet, multi-level marketing. Ramaz: Just to make clear: when we are talking about “quality”, we do not mean high or low quality, but simply a certain set of characteristics of a product. David: Mass production will continue meeting basic demand for tea. These two segments must exist together, in harmony – they need each other to survive.
C&TI: But it is not clear how this situation can be remedied… Ramaz: Let’s continue. Analysis of the market data from the last 20-25 years shows that the bulk of the tea business is concentrated in the mass segment, with its own laws and logic. And despite frequent criticism of this industry, I must emphasize that it has an important function: mass consumption is the reason why tea has remained one of the world’s leading beverages. Today this segment is going through difficult times almost everywhere: competition for the mass consumer is so fierce that many companies are faced with falling profits (although few would openly admit it). Add to this the reaching of a “technological plateau”, with no new breakthrough solutions in sight – and it becomes clear why many in the tea business are feeling like they have reached a dead end. David: Of course, some people have been trying to put something new on the market – ice tea, pyramid bags, new flavors… But none of this can take the place of tea as such. After all, tea is a classic, conservative beverage, albeit with some liberal tendencies, and this is what has kept it at the center of attention for five thousand years. Ramaz: And so, this explosive growth of the mass market has preserved the high popularity of tea. But at the same time, because tea has become one of the most accessible and “democratic” beverages in the world, the concept of tea as such has lost its focus, has become washed out. In many countries today the word ‘tea’ brings to mind not a plant, a botanical species, but a brewing method. And this can be detrimental to tea in the long run. That is why I think the time has come for tea to start gradually regaining its lost position in order to balance the situation somehow, to reassure consumers and fans of the beverage, to restore the confidence of the tea business and to attract new players to the market. David: But we need to do this by using new methods, by creating a relatively new market segment – a segment for tea with unique flavor characteristics. That is, with characteristics that not only give tea a unique taste and aroma, but elevate it to a new status and give it some extra added value. C&TI: In other words, you are saying that we need to reverse the process of market concentration? Ramaz: No, no, not quite. We are saying that we need a new segment in the tea market, a segment that will sell extraordinary tea, with a large number of small enterprises. David: Think of the markets for wine, coffee, tobacco products and many others: they have a mass segment and a specialty segment. The mass market has its function – to meet basic demand, and it has its dedicated distribution mechanism – supermarkets. But things are different with specialty products. They get sold through dedicated
Ramaz: I must also emphasize that many large and responsible companies understand the significance of this balance in the tea market and try their hardest to maintain it. C&TI: You speak of the specialty tea segment as if it were a new thing; but doesn’t it already exist? For instance, in Russia there are tea clubs selling specialty tea, and this tea has a special status. These establishments are quite popular. And in the USA there is an explosion of specialty tea stores, and even the famous coffee chain Starbucks has been paying attention: it has recently acquired Teavana, a large chain of tea shops.
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Ramaz: Of course, of course… You are right. We are not talking about creating a wholly new segment from scratch. The foundation is already there; but the different components are isolated, and the way it is now, it will be a long time before it can become a business-model for thousands of new enterprises. In its current form, the segment lacks economic power, has insufficient “customer pull”. David: Absolutely true! Obviously, there are specialists and entrepreneurs who love and value tea – but there are too few of them. The segment lacks the critical mass it needs to function properly… Each of those individuals is dealing with the uninformed consumer one-on-one. And the specialists lose because they cannot communicate with each other. Not only that: they actively interfere with each other by offering contradictory information and advice. There are no schools, no systematic approach, no fundamental knowledge that would allow consistent perception and understanding of tea. It is as if everyone had the same 5 letters and tried to make a different word out of them: it confuses consumers. No business can grow until the players agree on the fundamentals. And the disoriented consumer for the most part simply refuses to pay the price that specialty tea truly deserves. C&TI: OK, we think we understand now: you are trying to use competition as a tool to create some kind of order, to create conditions for the “tea people” to come together and start cooperating with each other? Ramaz: In some way, yes. The main idea is that the new segment needs constant and efficient communication, a platform for putting into practice a common framework for understanding the unique characteristics of tea – a “methodological” component, if you will. We also need to stimulate the creation of powerful distribution channels. Let me be a little more specific. The rating methodology should be uniform and clear to buyers and sellers alike. For this reason, tea education is important for all segment participants, on both sides of the barricades (laughter). This, by the way, also affects the capacity of the distribution channels for specialty tea. But the driving force of the new segment, in my opinion, should be tea masters, people who not only know how to make tea, but who are also familiar with production and processing technology, who have encyclopedic knowledge of the tea industry and the ability to communicate this knowledge to the masses. Tea Masters Cup is a competition that can bring such people together. We call them ‘masters’; others may use the word ‘sommelier’ or some other label for these professionals… but the word doesn’t matter: what matters is a powerful community of people who love tea. David: We need to be clear: this is not a competition among varieties of tea – there are scores of them in virtually all tea-producing countries – but among people who bring this beverage to consumers. The goal is not just to see who has the best skill and knowledge, who is the closest to the top; it is also to share expertise, to get familiar with new trends that can subsequently be implemented back at one’s home establishment. This competition is a platform for people who know tea, who can help consumers with
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Tea Masters Cup is a competition aimed at establishing the high culture of tea, developing skills and exchanging knowledge among professionals of the food service industry, raising the quality of tea and the level of service in tea-serving establishments, as well as promoting tea culture among consumers. The competition is comprised of three Categories: 1. The Tea Brewing Category: the tea master must demonstrate his/her skill at brewing tea by preparing and presenting three beverages: • a dark tea (fermented or partially fermented); • a light tea (weakly fermented or partially fermented); • a “Master’s tea” (a unique recipe beverage based on any type of tea, pure or flavored). 2. The Tea Set Category: the tea master must demonstrate the skill of creating a tea composition (a tea paired with a lightfood item). 3. The Tea Tasting Category: the tea master must demonstrate the tea tasting skill (the ability to precisely identify the tea samples presented for degustation) ‘Tea Masters Cup’ is a trademark of the ‘Coffee and Tea in Russia’ and ‘Coffee and Tea International’ magazines
selecting and preparing tea. This competitive format involves presenting different types of tea, methods of preparing and serving them, taste and flavor combinations, as well as professional skills in identifying different varieties of tea. In addition – and I think this is very important – the competition provides an original format for presenting tea cultures of different countries and people. Ramaz: In essence, the Tea Masters Cup is a place for a “live” exchange of knowledge about tea. The competition format allows us to bring together in different countries and regions people who wish to be identified as tea experts. This is a platform for specialists who want to share their methods and approaches to brewing tea, to show off their skills, to learn a thing or two from others, to try something new, to experiment. And a large community of tea masters sharing their knowledge with each other, developing common approaches, interacting with consumers will lead to the emergence of the demand for specialty tea and to the formation of a new market segment. David: On top of everything, this competition is a social “elevator” of sorts for the young men and women who have decided to make tea a big part of their lives. They can also become the driving force of this new segment, since specialty tea cannot have “traditional” distribution channels. In order for such tea to have its own audience and followers, different promotional mechanisms must be devised. And tea masters are the people who can do this. Ramaz: So, we see our task as making tea master into a popular profession. I will emphasize again: a tea master is a person who knows how to select tea, how to prepare and serve it, who is familiar with various production technologies, who knows everything about tea. C&TI: How ambitious are your goals? Are you looking beyond Russia and the Tea Masters Cup? Ramaz: Right now, we are at the very beginning of our journey. Our goal is to help create specialty tea markets not only in Russia, but in all countries that are ready for it. And I must say that quite a few countries look ready. We are currently working on scheduling national competitions in interested countries and hope to hold the first World Cup in 2015. We have already determined the host city: Istanbul, Turkey. David: I must add that the new segment will be viable only if it is truly global. We need to create an international movement of tea masters; exchanges between them will lay the foundation for the new segment in individual countries. Ramaz: One more detail is important here: the whole tea community needs to work together to create a uniform methodology of rating the knowledge and skills of tea masters. We need to educate and train judges extensively, to ensure that judges and tea masters – and, eventually, advanced consumers – speak the same language, the language of tea. This is a very important task that can only be accomplished through a collective effort, and I am happy to report that we have already received a general commitment of support from tea communities in Great Britain, India, Canada, China, Turkey, South Korea and other countries. Another task is coming up with a universally accepted definition of specialty tea. Among other things, we need to think about how to label the new segment that will be promoting specialty tea. We will bring this question up for discussion for the first time during the Moscow International Tea Symposium that will be held in September as part of the United Coffee and Tea Industry Event (UCTIE). C&TI: Given the envisioned scale of the project, one has to ask: is the whole thing going to be fueled exclusively by enthusiasm? Ramaz: Of course, the idea will not become reality without the enthusiasm of devoted tea lovers; but the competition format will attract sponsors as well. Any competition is a venue for people who are interested in a certain product, and this target audience is invaluable for many companies working in the tea industry. This means that these companies will have an incentive to support this audience. And we hope that the combination of personal enthusiasm and sponsorship will get the project going much faster! David: In general, any tea-themed event is a good opportunity to showcase one’s company or brand. Tea is an all-around wholesome product, so being associated with tea is an asset for any business, even if it is not directly involved with tea. We wish you good luck and success in your endeavors! The tea community is sure to keep a close eye on this project.
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