CONTENTS
J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 | v o l . 2 9 . n o. 1 | F R E S H C U P M A G A Z I N E
10
14
18
CAFÉ SAFETY & SECURITY
OBUBU JAPANESE TEA MASTER COURSE
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA
In House By Caitlin Peterkin
The Whole Leaf By Fallon Keplinger
Café Crawl By Kristine Hansen
48 BUILDING A MISSIONFOCUSED TEAM The Last Plastic Straw By Robin Roenker
22
28
The Not-So-New Wave of Barista-Led Activism
What’s New with Cascara?
Understanding why 2019 was dominated by barista activism—and what’s next. By Mark Van Streefkerk
From Starbucks to Shake Shack, cascara has been popping up on menus everywhere, including at specialty coffee shops and teahouses. By Janae Easlon
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38
Georgian Tea Revival
Business Directory
The Caucasus region does not typically come to mind when thinking of tea origin, but the country of Georgia has been producing tea since the early 19th century. By Sarah May Grunwald
Your source for affiliated companies in the specialty coffee and tea industry in one easy-to-navigate guide. By Fresh Cup Staff
Editor’s letter, PAGE 7 | Contributors, PAGE 8 Counter Intelligence, PAGE 44 | Calendar, PAGE 46 | Ad index, PAGE 50 ON THE COVER: Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto, Japan. Photo by Fallon Keplinger
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Fresh Cup Magazine FRESH CUP PUBLISHING Publisher and President JAN WEIGEL jan@freshcup.com
EDITOR’S Letter
EDITORIAL Editor CAITLIN PETERKIN editor@freshcup.com Associate Editor JANAE EASLON janae@freshcup.com ART Art Director CYNTHIA MEADORS cynthia@freshcup.com ADVERTISING Sales Account Director CORINNE HINDES corinne@freshcup.com Ad Coordinator DIANE HOWARD adtraffic@freshcup.com ACCOUNTING Accounting Manager DIANE HOWARD diane@freshcup.com FRESH CUP FOUNDER WARD BARBEE 1938-2006 EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD DAVID GRISWOLD Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers
CHUCK JONES Jones Coffee Roasters
PHILLIP DI BELLA Di Bella Group
BRUCE MILLETTO Bellissimo Coffee Advisors
ANUPA MUELLER Eco-Prima
BRAD PRICE Phillips Syrups & Sauces
BRUCE RICHARDSON Elmwood Inn Fine Teas
MANISH SHAH Maya Tea Co.
LARRY WINKLER Torani
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Copyright ©2020 by Fresh Cup Publishing Company Inc. Contents may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. ISSN: 1094-8228 SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS? EMAIL: freshcup@pfsmag.com CALL: 888-881-5861 PO Box 92735, Long Beach, CA 90809-9639
I
It’s become a running gag in the office about what will be the piece that finally dethrones “What is Cascara?” as our most-viewed article on the Fresh Cup website. For six years it has reigned supreme, and while one piece came close to overthrowing, it was, alas, an unsuccessful coup. It’s not hard to recognize why the article continues to perform well. Since 2014, when the original “What is Cascara?” piece was published, we’ve seen more and more producers implementing low-waste practices, companies experimenting with all parts of the coffee bean, and consumers expressing more interest in specialty coffee. Six years later, though, it’s finally time to refresh our cascara coverage, which is why I’m thrilled to kick off another decade of Fresh Cup with a forward-looking feature about where cascara has been, and where it’s heading, on p. 28. Our first issue of 2020 also brings to you an exploration of the history and culture of a reemerging tea-producing country (p. 32), tips for protecting your business and employees (p. 10), and an inspirational, in-depth analysis on the rise of barista-led activism, which truly revolutionized our industry last year (p. 22). And don’t miss our annual Business Directory, an easy-to-navigate guide to the commercial world of specialty coffee and tea, on p. 38. We have an exciting year planned ahead, filled with thorough coverage on the latest in coffee and tea and important topics for enterprising specialty beverage professionals. As always, I encourage you to reach out with your own news, comments, questions, and feedback. And who knows? Maybe this is the year that “What is Cascara?” finally gets dethroned. Wishing you all a wonderful 2020,
FRESH CUP OFFICES 5520 SW Macadam Ave., Suite 220, Portland, OR 97239 PHONE: 503/236-2587 | FAX: 503/236-3165 FRESH CUP PROUDLY SPONSORS NONPROFITS
CAITLIN PETERKIN, EDITOR
editor@freshcup.com
FRE SH CUP.COM
CASCARA PHOTO COURTESY OF HELSAR DE ZARCERO
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Contributors
SARAH MAY GRUNWALD is a permaculturist living and working in the Lazio countryside. She leads wine tours and tastings in Rome, Lazio, and throughout Italy. A certified sommelier and current WSET Diploma student, she is the owner of the Tbilisi, Georgia-based wine and food tour company Taste Georgia. She’s written extensively about Lazio and Georgia for a variety of publications, and makes her Fresh Cup debut writing about the Georgian tea market on p. 32. She lives in the Castelli Romani with 6 rescue dogs and 7 rescue cats, and tends to an olive grove on her land. Find her on Instagram: @tastegeorgia and @sarah_may_g_. Based in Milwaukee, KRISTINE HANSEN has covered coffee for the past 15 years for Fresh Cup as well as national lifestyle magazines. In this issue, she highlights several noteworthy Scottsdale, Arizonabased cafés in our Café Crawl on p. 18. Last year, she published Wisconsin Cheese Cookbook: Creamy, Cheesy, Sweet, and Savory Recipes from the State’s Best Creameries (Globe Pequot Press), and, in 2006, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Coffee & Tea. FALLON KEPLINGER is the founder of Rose Glow Tea Room, a CBD-infused tea company that has been featured in Merry Jane Magazine. In October of 2018, Keplinger became a certified tea sommelier through the International Tea Masters Association, and in July of 2019, she completed the Japanese
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Tea Master Course through the Global Tea Masters Association in Wazuka, Japan (read more about her experience on p. 14). She has an MA in special education and has been teaching for 11 years, and is currently studying for a certification in Herbal Studies through the Maryland University of Integrative Health. In her spare time, you can find her drinking tea and cuddling with her dogs. She lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband, two dogs, and pet lizard.
Lexington, Kentucky-based freelance writer ROBIN ROENKER has extensive experience reporting on business trends, from cybersecurity to real estate, personal finance, and green living. For Fresh Cup, she covers sustainable and eco-friendly trends in cafĂŠs and the coffee industry in her regular column, The Last Plastic Straw, on p. 48.
MARK VAN STREEFKERK is a Seattle-based freelance writer and social media manager. He often writes about coffee and LGBTQ issues; this month for Fresh Cup, he tackles the rise of barista-led activism (p. 22). When he's not writing, he's probably biking to the nearest vegan restaurant. Find out more about him at markvanstreefkerk.com.
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In House
CAFÉ SAFETY & SECURITY By Caitlin Peterkin
B
ack in November, popular tea chain Boba Guys faced another break-in at one of their San Francisco cafés, the third that year. “For a lot of café owners,” says cofounder Andrew Chau, “it’s very personal because we put our lives into it…. When someone breaks in, you feel like you’re violated.” Along with the outpouring of sympathy after posting news of the breakin on Instagram came a discussion on social media about gentrification, income disparity, and law enforcement, among other topics surrounding crime, particularly in larger cities. While data from the FBI shows that property crime has steadily declined
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over the years, cafés all over the country continue to struggle with breakins, theft, and other security risks. “There are large systemic issues at play,” says Chau, “but there are measures that you can do that I think are completely normal for anyone who wants to protect their business….Every business owner has the right to protect themselves, especially when their livelihood is their café.” Read on for some of Fresh Cup’s best practices when it comes to safely and securely running your business.
CASH IS KING The main target of a break-in is money; this means that securing your cash is of utmost priority.
Chau recommends emptying your registers and leaving them open at closing as an easy way to signal that there is no money left in the drawers. When it comes to safes for storing cash and other high-value items, make sure to choose one that can be bolted down, and that only top management can access.
(ANTI-) THIEVERY CORPORATION While some larger chains may have the resources to hire security guards, most independent cafés aren’t as lucky. Therefore, smaller-ticket anti-theft measures can include shatterproof glass or shatter-resistant glass film, quality locks, motion-activated lights,
PHOTO BY MILOSZ KLINOWSKI
and a simple alarm system (be sure to change codes periodically). Heightened security means higher expenses, but those wanting even more protection can consider cameras and even gates; check with your landlord/property manager and city codes before installing equipment.
CASH VS. CASHLESSNESS With every Instagram post about a break-in comes the suggestion to stop accepting cash, with the logic that removing the primary cause for theft mitigates further crime from happening. While some cafés have found success with this practice, others argue that it is exclusionary. According to a 2017 survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 8.4 million U.S. households are unbanked, meaning they do not have a checking or savings account, and approximately two-thirds of those households predominantly paid bills using cash in 2017. “If you’re cashless, you’re basically saying there’s a whole bunch of the community that you’re not going to welcome,” says Bill Maurer, director of the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion at the University of California, Irvine. Whether you go cashless to ease your peace of mind when it comes to security, or continue to accept a variety of payment methods, it is ultimately you, as the owner, who knows what’s best for your business and customers.
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In House: Café Security
TIPS FOR TIPS When it comes to the tip jar, you want it to be easy for customers to drop in a token of appreciation—but not so easily accessible for petty thieves. Here are some ideas to protect your hard-working employees’ tips: • Keep a second jar wellhidden behind the counter to regularly drop tips, especially after busy rushes. • Remove the bottom of your jar so if someone tries to lift it, money will scatter. • Choose a jar or container that is heavy and can’t easily be carried off. • Secure your jar to the countertop with Velcro or double-sided tape. • Select a container with a wide enough mouth for coins and bills, but small enough so hands can’t easily fit inside to grab money. • Consider embedding your tip jar underneath the counter, with a tube or hole where customers can place money. • Have a camera obviously pointed at the register to deter potential robbers. • At the end of the shift, count and divide tips out of sight of public areas so people can’t see how much cash employees will be carrying.
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ON THE CLOCK Follow these guidelines and protocols to create a safe environment for employees and customers alike. • Request employees to provide emergency contact information. • Maintain a properly stocked first aid kit. • Ensure your fire extinguisher, carbon monoxide detector, and smoke detector are all in working order.
• Educate yourself, your management, and your staff on basic labor laws. • Create emergency procedural guidelines for natural disasters, medical emergencies, mental health crises, and non-emergency criminal disruptions. • Post emergency exits in visible places for both customers and staff. • Regularly perform electrical, ventilation, and sanitation checks. • Implement a strong harassment policy that outlines how to address and report harassment not just from customers, but also coworkers and managers. • Create a service policy that outlines your café’s service style and what good service looks like in your shop. • Continuously review, discuss, and update policies as necessary, making sure to have input from your staff. FC
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The Whole Leaf
A First-hand Look at the Obubu Japanese Tea Master Course Story and photos by Fallon Keplinger
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T
he Obubu Japanese Tea Master Course is a twoweek-long tea education program in Wazuka, located in Sōraku District of Japan’s Kyoto Prefecture. The aim of the course is to build a deeper understanding of Japanese tea through hands-on experience, from tea tasting and participating in tea ceremonies to visiting tea farms and processing facilities, along with indepth explorations into topics including Japanese tea history, traditions, cultivation, and processing. In July of 2019, I joined eight other participants, representing the United States, Indonesia, Italy, Russia, Singapore, and Spain, for two weeks in Wazuka. Leading the program were Yasuharu “Matsu” Matsumoto, co-executive officer of the Global Japanese Tea Association and vice president of Obubu Tea, and Simona Zavadckyte, president of the Global Japanese Tea Association.
WEEK ONE The highlight of the first day, besides meeting everyone in the course with me, was a thrilling game of chakabuki, a blind taste test of a variety of tea. Throughout
the program, the majority of our tea tasting took place during class time, with the “Tea-J” explaining the variety of tea and brewing instructions. The excursions during this course were also educational and immersive. At the start of the week, what the teachers referred to as “exercise day” involved the class going to the Obubu
Throughout the program, the majority of our tea tasting took place during class time, with the “Tea-J” explaining the variety of tea and brewing instructions.
tea fields and learning how to use machinery to harvest tea. Akihiro “Akky” Kita, president of Obubu Tea, Certified Japanese Tea Instructor, and lead farmer, taught each of us how to use the tea leaf trimmer; we also helped the Obubu employees with other activities on the farm. From the tea field, we went to the Obubu processing center and watched the tea get processed, with detailed explanations. We also learned how to process tea the traditional way of pan firing and hand rolling. This part of class was led by Hirokazu “Hiro” Matsumoto, operations manager, Certified Japanese Tea Instructor, and lead tea processor. Our next visit was to the Nakai Tea Farm and organic tea factory, where we got to observe the tea process on the tour and have a question-and-answer session with Toshitaka Nakai, Japanese tea expert and president of Nakai Tea. At the week’s end, we learned about the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, an intricate ritual with a multitude of steps that must be delivered with the utmost precision and grace. We were invited to a tea ceremony performed by Ikeda Sensei, a certified teacher of the
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The Whole Leaf: Obubu Japanese Tea Master Course
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Urasenke school of Japanese tea who taught us the etiquette protocols to follow. It was a beautiful experience and the perfect end to the first week.
WEEK TWO The weekend was meant to explore nearby cities such as Nara, Uji, Kyoto. Many students in the program chose to visit Uji for tea on their way to downtown Kyoto, where there are many famous tea shops to visit. During the second week, we continued to study and taste tea during class, and gained more hands-on learning opportunities in the tea community. We took an excursion to the Kyoto Tea Research Center, whose aim is to improve Uji tea for farmers and consumers. This includes working on research and development focusing on cultivating varieties, environmental conservation, labor saving, and product development. In the afternoon we were able to meet with some tea farmers to discuss the type of tea they grow and what tea farming in Japan is like. Continuing to learn about processing and the science of tea, we took a trip
Very few farms still pick tea by hand; it is mostly done for special occasions, and is reflected in the price. to one of the largest matcha processing factories, where Tomoyuki Nishimura, Japanese tea expert and owner of the factory, explained how matcha is processed and shared information on tea evaluating and blending. The last portion of the outing was to a tea auction, which is the traditional method of selling tea in Japan. We had another exercise where we got to experience the traditional handpicking method. Very few farms still pick tea by hand; it is mostly done for special occasions, and is reflected in the price.
Once an ample amount of tea was collected, we returned to the Obubu processing factory to learn how to hand roll the leaves. This portion of the course was led by Kenta Hosoi, president of his family tea farm and leader of the Wazuka Tea Hand-Rolling Preservation Association. Our last day was spent tasting rare Japanese tea in the morning; in the afternoon we were invited to a Senchado, a tea ceremony using high-grade sencha, performed by Nakai Sensei, a certified teacher of the Urasenke tea ceremony, Furyu Sencha ceremony, and Ckikusenryu floral arrangement. That evening was our closing session, with a graduation ceremony followed by a farewell party. The Japanese Tea Master Course was an ideal combination of hands-on experience and education on Japanese tea. I recommend that every tea lover visit Wazuka to see why it is referred to as a “teatopia.� FC The Obubu Japanese Tea Master Course offers four workshops in 2020. Visit www.obubutea.com/services/japanesetea-master-course to learn more.
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Café Crawl
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA By Kristine Hansen
T
he Arizona desert—especially the chic resort town of Scottsdale—has long brought to mind spas, pools, and golf courses, plus a place to score fine art or a pair of cowboy boots. In recent years, this stylish city east of Phoenix has morphed into an unlikely destination for cool cafés and cutting-edge coffee roasters. In addition to coffee shops opening throughout Old Town Scottsdale, the waterfront, and shopping centers, the city of 250,000 residents has continued
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to welcome restaurants, winery tasting rooms, and boutiques selling apparel and other lifestyle goods. Fortunately, that mid-century modern design everyone who travels to Scottsdale falls in love with hasn’t been compromised by the new crop of cafés; several iconic resorts have implemented specialty coffee programs to appeal to visitors and locals alike. Last year, Hotel Valley Ho—a reimagined 1956 property that once welcomed stars like Zsa Zsa Gabor and Janet Leigh—opened a new café concept:
ZuZu serves bottomless cups of coffee, donut sundaes, and breakfast burritos against a backdrop of smooth rock walls and turquoise Danish-style dining chairs. And at Mountain Shadows, in Scottsdale’s Paradise Valley, they craft coffee and espresso drinks from Press Coffee Roasters’ beans, along with serving nitro cold-brew on tap, which helps guests contend with the desert heat. Apart from the boutique mid-century resorts, here are several noteworthy cafés putting Scottsdale’s coffee scene on the map.
PHOTO BY CODY DOHERTY
CARTEL COFFEE LAB Snug on East 5th Avenue in Old Town Scottsdale, this is one of the coffee roaster’s eight locations. The storefront is marked by tomato-red paint trim, while its hand-painted lettering is in a soft gold. With communal-style seating born out of welded pipes and long wooden boards, the vibe is grungymeets-glam at this café. The beer-on-tap menu is written in chalk on a chalkboard, while ceiling fans whiz beneath the rough-hewn wood ceiling. Given the desert climate, iced drinks are a popular order here. In fact, Cartel’s Black Market cold-brew coffee is now available in cans, as of last summer. Since 2008, when Amy and Jason Silberschlag opened their first café in Tempe, with a focus on single-origin coffee, they’ve expanded to locations in Phoenix, Tucson, Palm Springs, and Austin, along with Scottsdale. Three years ago, they rolled out an online subscription for their roasted coffee beans, called Cartel Edition. To further help spread the word about the brand, Cartel Coffee Lab also hires brand advocates, rewarding them with free coffee and merchandise, plus a first look at new products, in exchange for promoting on social media accounts.
PHOTOS: FACEBOOK @CARTELCOFFEELAB
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Café Crawl: Scottsdale, Arizona
BERDENA'S This cute and sunny—not to mention tiny—café in Old Town Scottsdale gets raves for its Instagrammable blue Synesso espresso machine, floral patterned wallpaper, and funky black-and-white tile beneath the bar, above which black pendant lights help cultivate a Parisian feel. Owner Jonathan Madrigal, a native of Costa Rica, opened Berdena’s in 2017 to be a destination of “fine coffee and food.” With specialty lattes like cardamom rose and honey lavender providing nice detours from traditional flavors, Berdena’s also elevates classic breakfast and brunch food: its smashed avocado toast was voted by Phoenix New Times as the region’s best in 2017 (no small feat, as health-conscious dining is the norm here), and the signature Berdena’s Breakfast Sandwich piles hand-carved ham, a fried egg, cheddar, arugula, tomato, house-made chipotle aioli, and avocado on a brioche bun.
SCHMOOZE WORKSPACE AND CAFE This café with a snarky name feeds right into the current trend of coworking spaces. Those who are selfemployed or work remotely frequent the space for either meetings or solo work time. It’s open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekends. Owner Steve Simonelli, who debuted Schmooze in 2018, wanted to create a place with not only communal opportunities but also grab-and-go drinks and food. Located in Old Town Scottsdale, it plays off of the neighborhood’s growing energy that includes Art Walks on Thursday evenings. Beverage options include a wet or dry cappuccino, Ethiopian espresso (with strawberry and chocolate flavor notes), or specialty coffee brewed on the Alpha Dominche Steampunk. A simple cup of coffee can be prepared drip, cold-brewed, or nitro. The food menus provide a wide array of options, including croque madame and croque monsieur sandwiches or the quirky named “divorced eggs” (flour tortilla with eggs, black beans, pico de gallo, and red and green chili sauce) for breakfast, and salads, burgers, tacos, or a plethora of sandwiches, like the “Bodacious BLT” or Reuben, for lunch. 20 ] JANUARY 2020 » freshcup.com
PHOTOS: FACEBOOK @BERDENAS (LEFT), FACEBOOK @SCHMOOZESCOTTSDALE (RIGHT)
PRESS COFFEE ROASTERS A favorite coffee for restaurant wholesale accounts in the greater Phoenix area, Press Coffee Roasters’s eight café locations include two in Scottsdale: on the waterfront and within Scottsdale Quarter, an outdoor shopping mall. With a continued focus on educating customers, Press offers “Coffee 101” classes at both Scottsdale locations. These one-hour classes ($20, advance registration encouraged) provide an interactive way for customers to learn more about coffee regions and flavors as they cup a variety of coffees. This past summer, the company opened The Roastery, a two-story, 5,600-square-foot flagship roastery café in northeast Phoenix, to fulfill roasting orders of 250,000 pounds of coffee each year. At the old production facility, ready-to-drink cans of their cold-brewed coffee are packaged, a clear sign that cold brew is hot in Arizona. Press Coffee Roasters has also found success operating cafés inside modernized, new-construction apartment buildings, including the Nexa Apartments and SkyWater Apartments in Tempe, and Muse Apartments in Phoenix. FC
PHOTOS COURTESY OF PRESS COFFEE ROASTERS
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N
othing quite dominated coffee news in 2019 like barista-led activism. Three café walkouts happened in Seattle alone. Instagram activism and wage transparency surveys connected baristas across the nation. Camila Coddou launched her project, Barista Behind the Bar. Umeko Motoyoshi, creator of the Rainbow Cupping Spoon Project, dropped their influential book, The @wastingcoffee Guide To Not Wasting Coffee, and facilitated events that challenged the oft-prioritized voices in the industry. Around the country, coffee workers were communicating, organizing, educating themselves, and addressing issues about discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Coffee culture had reached a tipping point. A galvanizing moment was when five employees walked out of Slate Coffee Roasters in Seattle on June 22, 2019, citing, among other things, missing wages and a toxic work environment. They regrouped at a nearby café and launched the Instagram account @ coffeeatlarge (CAL). One of the founders, Felix Tran, remembers saying, “‘If the Instagram page got maybe 100 followers, I’ll commit to growing the organization.’ Rather, we received 5k followers within a day!” CAL was overwhelmed with support and solidarity, and many followers shared stories of workplace injustices similar to their own. “Our following in social media is only a reflection of how prolific the problems in this industry are,” says CAL’s Rachel Hopke. 2019 may have been the year barista activism broke major headlines, but it certainly didn’t just appear overnight. Barista-led activism happens when baristas (or former baristas, roasters, or other coffee workers) raise awareness, organize, fundraise, or have an action or demonstration on behalf of worker issues. Worker-activists also host classes, network, or even form nonprofits or unions. Q grader, writer, educator, and entrepreneur Motoyoshi says, “This move-
ment has been a long time coming, and it built on itself through the individual and collective efforts of many people all paving the way for each other through interrelated works.”
A HISTORY OF RECENT BARISTA ACTIVISM The groundwork for recent events can be traced back to a few years ago. In 2016 and 2017, coffee professional Michelle Johnson and coffee writer Ashley Rodriguez started writing about race and gender in the coffee industry. Johnson’s blog, The Chocolate Barista, and event series, Black Coffee, facilitate dialogue around race and draw on
"For the first time, the coffee community began to admit that we have problems, that our spaces are unsafe for many people. Previously these conversations were extremely taboo in the industry.” her own experiences as a Black woman in specialty coffee. In 2017, Rodriguez and Jasper Wilde founded Boss Barista, an award-winning intersectional feminist podcast. Motoyoshi notes that Johnson’s and Rodriguez’s work “radically shifted the coffee landscape in an extremely short time, creating conversations about identity, power, and marginalization. For the first time, the coffee community began to admit that we have problems, that our spaces are unsafe for many people. Previously these conversations were extremely taboo in the industry.”
One of those taboo topics was speaking out against workplace harassment, a subject tackled by #coffeetoo. Having worked in coffee for more than 14 years, Molly Flynn laid the groundwork for the grassroots organization #coffeetoo on October 14, 2017, “the day before the #MeToo movement shifted from Tarana Burke’s much-needed usage of the hashtag to the present-day postWeinstein usage of it,” she notes. #coffeetoo focused on three questions: What are our rights as employees? What can we do if our rights have been violated? How can we take care of ourselves if we’ve been put through an unwanted situation? They provided answers to those questions through their booklet, A Pocket Guide To Your Rights. “For about a year or so we printed copies of these for free and shipped them all over the United States—and even the world!” says Flynn. The booklet has been widely distributed and is digitally available for free at CoffeeTooProject.com. A Boss Barista podcast with Molly Flynn about #coffeetoo partly inspired Demelza Jones’ SAME CUP organization in Australia, which launched in the fall of 2018. SAME CUP provides education and networking opportunities to women, queer people, and other minorities in Australia’s specialty coffee scene, and has enabled more women to participate in coffee competitions, raised funds for women in Rwanda, and provided coffee outreach to rural communities. Taking a stand against workplace harassment, former employees of Bay Area’s Four Barrel Coffee, including Motoyoshi, filed a lawsuit in January 2018 against the company for sexual assault and harassment. The lawsuit was settled, with founder Jeremy Tooker resigning, and remaining partners promising to divest from the company and turn it into an employeeowned business. “[The lawsuit] helped many baristas in similar situations identify that they too could band together and stand up against workplace injustices,” says Motoyoshi.
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The Not-So-New Wave of Barista-Led Activism
UMEKO MOTOYOSHI at recent tasting event “Subjective Objectivity” in Los Angeles.
ADAM JACKSONBEY has worked with DMV Coffee for over five years, promoting safer spaces in specialty coffee through DMV’s Code of Conduct.
Other groups, like DMV Coffee, have affected positive change on coffee culture. Though not a new organization, DMV serves coffee workers in the greater D.C. area, Southern Maryland, and Northern Virginia. They just passed their 11th year hosting the nation’s longest-running Thursday Night Throwdowns (TNTs). DMV also puts together networking events like happy hours and multi-roaster cuppings.
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Coffee professional Adam JacksonBey, who has been involved with DMV for over five years, credits their code of conduct as one tool that makes events welcome to everyone. The code ensures DMV events will be free of harassment, including unwanted verbal comments relating to race, gender, body size, and sexual orientation, and unwanted sexual attention. DMV’s leadership, which has grown from five
to seven board members, centers nonwhite and other coffee workers from marginalized identities. A newer organization, the Kore Directive, launched in November 2018. Founded by Sierra Burgess-Yeo, Kore hosts panels, workshops, networking events, and other happenings designed to empower women in London’s coffee community. Burgess-Yeo spent much of her barista career frustrated by the inaccessibility of furthering her coffee education and consistently seeing positions of power given to men, which no one else seemed to question. “It is literally a non-issue and that’s the dangerous bit,” she tells Fresh Cup. The emergence of two coffee worker unions also made big strides for barista activism: Ithaca-based Gimme! Coffee’s barista union and the Washtenaw Area Coffee Workers’ Association (WACWA) both formed in 2018. “For every visible group like ours that formally organizes and takes public action, there are probably nine or ten that are out there meeting privately at the moment, planning and building solidarity one barista at a time in the shops where they work,” says Alec Hershman, WACWA’s lead organizer. “I think there’s a groundswell owing to the systematicity of the problems (low wages, harassment, discrimination) that baristas across the world face on a daily basis, and the accelerating degree to which we baristas are professionalizing ourselves and talking about the skill involved in the labor we perform.”
LAST YEAR’S ACTIVISM This year not only saw the continuation of labor organizing and group and individual activism, but also café walkouts and protests. Early in the year, current and former employees of Portland’s Ristretto Roasters, including Camila Coddou, signed an open letter in protest of their employer’s YouTube video channel questioning victims of rape and challenging other prominent #MeToo figureheads. Coddou went on to launch Barista Behind the Bar, traveling around the
TOP PHOTO BY VALORIE CLARK, BOTTOM PHOTO COURTESY OF ADAM JACKSONBEY
country in a converted Sprinter van interviewing baristas. She now speaks about equitable café practices. Motoyoshi hosted events “Changing Structures” and “Subjective Objectivity.” The former was a panel discussion with industry professionals who are challenging conventions in the coffee world, while “Subjective Objectivity” was “equal parts sensory training and social power dynamics,” explains Motoyoshi. “Many people of color grow up eating foods specific to our cultures, and our sense memory banks are informed by that. But in majority white coffee settings, our tasting notes sometimes fall outside of what others recognize and end up ignored or invalidated.” After the Slate Coffee Roasters walkout, CAL had three events, including “Get To Know Coffee At Large,” and co-facilitating the “Badass Barista Throwdown,” with proceeds going to Glitter Cat Barista Bootcamps. They also endorsed a second CAL chapter in Cincinnati, @bitchy.baristas. “We want to elevate and support anyone standing up to discrimination or unfair treatment in their locale,” says Hopke. “That usually looks like an individual or group keeping in touch via email, we repost their initiatives, or sending a small group who’s experiencing a bad work culture steps to organize, or becoming a more formal ‘chapter of CAL’ if they desire.” On October 2, former employees and community members protested at Seattle’s iconic Caffe Vita. The demonstration was in response to the firing of three employees for allegedly giving day-old pastries to the homeless; at least seven other workers quit in solidarity. The protest included distributing hundreds of flyers that decried Vita’s firings, which were without warning, disciplinary action, or constructive dialogue, and demanded accountability. @stl.dial.in is another activist-oriented Instagram profile, this time for the St. Louis coffee community to address issues in the workplace. To quote a caption from their first Instagram post: “Our desire is not to tear down
PHOTO BY ALLEGRA RITCHIE
MEMBERS OF COFFEE AT LARGE from left to right: Emily Harman, Felix Tran, and Rachel Hopke.
Inspired by museum employees who started similar wage surveys in May, a Philadelphia-based barista started a local wage survey, collecting data about wages and benefits for coffee workers.
organizations that people rely on for income and community. Rather it is to systematically dismantle the culture of misogyny, homophobia, sexism, racism, xenophobia and disparities that finds its way into the industry all too often.” Wage transparency surveys, publicly shared via Google Docs, cropped up in barista communities nationwide in October. Inspired by museum employees who started similar wage surveys in May, a Philadelphia-based barista started a local wage survey, collecting data about wages and benefits for coffee workers. Other cities soon followed suit. In the third Seattle café walkout of the year, employees of indi Chocolate in Seattle’s Pike Place Market staged a walkout on November 4, taping a letter, signed by nine employees, on the doors of the company. Some of the reasons
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The Not-So-New Wave of Barista-Led Activism
WACWA is in the early stages of creating a pop-up workers’ center to educate workers about organizing and building bargaining power.
MOLLY FLYNN with a copy of #coffeetoo’s A Pocket Guide To Your Rights. While #coffeetoo is on hiatus, the pocket guide is a barista-activist’s staple.
for the walkout cited in the letter include lack of transparency with wage information, discriminatory treatment toward employees due to race and gender, and employees being overworked and expected to forgo breaks. The walkout happened after, according to the letter, “many avenues of communication were exhausted before we realized that a collective action would be the only way to insure our concerns were heard.”
WHAT’S NEXT The events of last year, and others in the years before, are, in the words of JacksonBey, only “the tip of the spear. I think that baristas knowing and recognizing their power are an
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important first step in making true change in this industry.” “The future of barista-led activism is more of it!” exclaims Hershman. “As customer-facing service employees and stewards of our towns’ third places, we’re in a particularly good position to raise labor literacy in the communities we serve.” For WACWA and the Gimme Baristas’ Union, that means showing up in solidarity for other labor and union events. WACWA is in the early stages of designing a pop-up workers’ center in Washtenaw County to educate workers about building solidarity in the workplace, and have just applied for a community building grant. If approved, they hope to host quarterly speaker and workshop series in 2020.
CAL is currently pending nonprofit status. They have expanded their volunteer team to keep up with their ambitious future projects, including a podcast, zine, and the newly created Free School, a collaborative effort with Seattle coffee professionals and cafés to host free coffee education classes. Flynn put #coffeetoo on indefinite hiatus. She admits her volunteer work on the project depleted her of time, money, and mental and physical health. Flynn is the first to say “Take. Care. Of. Your. SELF!” when it comes to activist work. She says one encouraging thing about the hiatus is watching other groups take on the mantle in different ways. “When #coffeetoo went on break, I wasn’t sure anything more would happen,” says Flynn. “It honestly felt a little futile. It’s pretty awe-inspiring to see the brave and determined people who have come forward in the past year to face head-on the challenges that we as a community need to overcome.” The hospitality industry in general has its share of poor working conditions, which leads to high turnover rates. In specialty coffee however, that’s slowly changing as baristas recognize that issues of harassment, lack of wage transparency, and race and gender inequalities aren’t relegated to one café. Baristas are more willing than ever to organize, network, and take action. It’s safe to say that barista activism is here to stay. FC
PHOTO COURTESY OF MOLLY FLYNN, LOGO FROM WACWA BARISTAS
SLINGHSOT COFFEE CO. teams up with fifth-generation coffee farmer, Aida Batlle, in El Salvador for cascara.
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F
rom Starbucks to Shake Shack, cascara has been popping up on menus everywhere, including at specialty coffee shops and teahouses. When Fresh Cup wrote about cascara back in 2014, no one here predicted it would still be our most-read article as we started 2020. But what is new with it six years later? Fresh Cup spoke with several coffee and tea professionals about what cascara has been up to the last few years, and where it’s headed.
CASCARA 101 Coffee beans are the pit of the coffee fruit, while cascara, or coffee cherry, is the fruit or husk surrounding the pit. Cascara takes several months to mature and appears dark red when it is ready. Just like coffee beans, the taste of the cascara is based on where it is grown. When tasted, cascara is described to taste like rose, mango, and hibiscus. For generations, cascara has been traditionally discarded by farmers for compost or dumped in waterways after a collection process called strip picking, when coffee cherries—ripe, overripe, and underripe—are taken off all at once. While some farms have equipment to selectively pick (meaning only taking the cherries ready to go), that can be pricey. After the picking process, cascara is dried before being packed up and shipped to other countries, where it transforms into the various products currently available on the market.
THE BEGINNING OF THE GROUNDSWELL Businesses have begun to see cascara as not only a way to reduce waste, but as a way to bring this plentiful product to the consumer’s eyeline. And on the way, companies are finding they need to introduce what cascara is first. The Coffee Cherry Co. is known for its coffee flour, created by taking the coffee fruit and making it into a powder ideal for baking or stirring into beverages.
The company’s founder, Dan Belliveau, who served as former director of engineering for Starbucks, started the company after he visited a mill on a work trip. “There, [Belliveau] saw large massive piles of fruit rotting,” says Carole Widmayer, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Coffee Cherry Co. “He spoke to the owners and found out that it was in fact, a byproduct of the bean. It is just what happens with green coffee production. He thought there had to be a better way. The owner of the mill said if he’d figure something out, he would be a genius. Lucky for us, he is. He took this on, and ultimately came up with something very functional, and that required minimal capital investment for mills and farms.” After two years of creating a hydration process that allowed the product to be food-safe, and later creating a partnership with supply partners, the flour became readily available. “People thought it might be a substitution for all-purpose flour when that is not the case,” says Widmayer. “It is more like a cocoa powder consistency. It adds color, flavor, and nutrition. Our first step was to help people understand how to use the product.” The Coffee Cherry Co.’s cascara is sourced from multiple countries, including Vietnam and Papua New Guinea, which allows the company to not depend on one source in case of variable growing seasons. “We are really trying to gear up and see [cascara] taking off. We are speaking to many companies evaluating this a lot in beverages, but also in chocolate, baking, and snacks. This is the beginning of the groundswell...not quite mainstream yet, but still cutting-edge and leading,” says Widmayer. “People are beginning to learn and understand what coffee cherries are and their benefits. If it didn’t taste great, frankly, none of this would matter either....Going forward, if we can continue to support the industry, and supply enough product for the demand, it will begin its way to becoming mainstream.”
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SLINGSHOT COFFEE CO. (OPPOSITE PAGE), COURTESY OF CASKAI (ABOVE)
CASKAI FOUNDERS Joel Jelderks and Uschi Zimmermann.
A POWERHOUSE Caskai, known for its sparkling cascara drink, is the brainchild of husband-and-wife team Joel Jelderks and Uschi Zimmermann. Zimmermann founded Panama Varietals Coffee, a green coffee importer of Panamanian specialty coffee, and began noticing her European clients asking for cascara back in 2013. Two years later, her husband joined her team and they began imagining a line of cascara products. They began sourcing their cascara from Panama Varietals Coffee, which uses a sun-drying method it calls its “Premium Sun-Dried Cascara.” Since the beginning of their brand, upcycling has been at the forefront of deciding why to work with cascara in the first place. Caskai’s focus on upcycling and research sets it apart from other brands, says Jelderks. “As the founder, there are three things that resonate with me personally,” he says. “[Cascara] may be used as compost at farms, but a big majority of it is still being thrown away. There is no commercial value, making this a true upcycled product. Two, I like the flavor. Three, the nutritional qualities of cascara are quite interesting. Of course, it has some caffeine in it, but it is high in potassium,
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What’s New with Cascara? fatty acids, and certain polyphenols. It is quite a little powerhouse.” It crowdfunded its first drink, the Sparkling Cascara Infusion, which went on to win awards at two Coffee Fests in 2018. Moving into 2020, Caskai is looking to be produced in the United States, after being originally bottled in Austria, where Zimmermann and Jelderks live. The company also has two new products, including a cold brew, lined up. The future of product development is an exciting part of being involved in cascara, says Jelderks, and watching himself and others working with it is just the beginning.
SLINGSHOT COFFEE'S bottled cascara tea comes in three flavors.
“There is a lot of education that needs to happen still, all the way from the farmers to the consumers,” he says. “It’ll take time, and people sharing their knowledge.”
BUILDING DIRECT RELATIONSHIPS Sourcing cascara is one question mark for those hopping on the train, and a few companies are already taking the initiative to working directly with single farms.
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Slingshot Coffee Co. began bottling cascara tea in 2013, before many companies even knew what the coffee cherry could do. Award-winning barista Jenny Bonchak started the North Carolina-based company to sell single-origin cold brew, but soon branched out into cascara. Now, Slingshot’s single-origin cascara comes in three ways: Classic Cascara Tea, Blueberry and Jasmine Cascara Tea, and Cascarnold, an Arnold Palmer-style cascara tea. “As we have scaled production, we have stayed true to what we set out to do,” says Bonchak. “Since day one, we have worked exclusively with one coffee farmer.” Slingshot Coffee works with Aida Batlle, a fifth-generation coffee farmer in Santa Ana, El Salvador, nicknamed the “godmother of Cascara in the Western Hemisphere.” “[Batlle] really was the one to dub cascara in the third-wave movement about 15 years ago,” says Bonchak. “It has been amazing to work with her who has been at the forefront of cascara production since day one. It’s been a real privilege... We want to celebrate the fact that she has so much knowledge and so much interest in how she does her process. It aligns with our mission to use the best ingredients and the highest quality.” Slingshot chooses to directly source because it wants to remain transparent and bring the best product to consumers as possible. “We know that our cascara is coming from Aida’s farm. That is a huge differentiator right there,” says Bonchak. “Both I and my husband are also award-winning baristas so we have developed palates, which allows you to make a better product. We take what makes us excited about coffee and apply it to cascara as well. We feel cascara is taking food waste, and try to do our part in a coffeegrowing country to take away that waste and provide a secondary source of revenue for our coffee-growing partner.” Ontario-based Detour Coffee Roasting currently sells its Coffee Cherry Tea online and at its flagship café. Like Slingshot, Detour partners with one
COFFEE CHERRY TEA from Detour Coffee Roasters.
farm, returning to the same micro mill in Costa Rica because of its drying technique, says Ryan McCabe, Detour’s co-director. “We are lucky to work with Helsar de Zarcero as a micro mill for one of our favorite West Valley Costa Rican coffees, Finca Santa Lucia,” he says. “We return to them for coffee year after year based upon cup quality, and as a result are able to import their cascara directly alongside our coffee shipments.” Ricardo Perez Barrantes, who co-runs the micro mill, now owns an entire facility dedicated to producing cascara. “Costa Rican coffee producers are known for their expertise at the micromill level, and this mill in particular has developed an extremely clean, safe drying technique for cascara,” says McCabe. “This allows them to produce food-grade, exportable cascara out of what is often an overlooked byproduct of coffee production. It's also extremely clean, sweet, and has a fruity clarity that's so tasty. When brewing cascara to drink at the mill, they grind it to a medium-coarse size before brewing, and the resulting cup is absolutely delicious.”
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SLINGSHOT COFFEE CO. (LEFT), PHOTO COURTESY OF HELSAR DE ZARCERO (RIGHT)
A SUPER BOOST Cascara products are tapping into what brewed coffee can do: provide caffeine needed to start the day. While cascara has significantly less caffeine than the coffee bean, companies like Lotus Energy in Los Angeles and Nomad Trading Co. in Brooklyn are noticing consumers are drawn to the coffee cherry that delivers an energy boost. Nomad Trading Co. began importing thousands of pounds of cascara in bulk when it launched its operation in 2016, but after realizing that was too much to start out with, decided to bottle the cascara instead. After sampling the drinks at local Whole Foods stores, business partners Max Keilson and Jon Epstein noticed when customers tried their product, the promised energy boost was a quick draw.
NOMAD TRADING CO. makes a sparkling cascara energy drink.
“What we kept hearing was people were into the caffeine,” says Keilson. “People wanted the feel of coffee but not the taste, or wanted something different, or have tried energy drinks and felt it was bad for them. Through this feedback process, we developed a cascara-based energy drink where it is cold-brewed cascara, with lemon juice, maple syrup, and a little salt. We’ve been selling that ever since.”
Nomad Energy will be launching four new flavors this year and will expand its stock list toward the Midwest. “We are excited to get this out there,” says Keilson. “We are playing with the tastes of different fruits that will complement cascara so you get a different palate, not just the taste of cascara.” Cascara is not just a fruit in Lotus Energy’s eyes—it is a “superfruit.” Lotus Energy’s cascara has gone through a patented extraction and stabilization process, according to owner Scott Strader; by doing so, the nutritional value of the fruit stays as high as possible. Cascara is cited to be rich in antioxidants, such as polyphenols found in plant-based ingredients, and has less than half the caffeine of coffee. “If you don’t stabilize it, it would be like taking a cherry and letting it rot. It doesn’t work. You have to do this immediately. Just like coffee, when you get to different altitudes, the cascara will taste different,” says Strader. “Cascara might be one of the most nutritious superfruits there is on earth, and with Lotus, we look for energizing superfruits because everything that is in our drinks has a unique efficacy that moves our product forward. This was the missing link to our story and it has been unique for us.” Lotus Energy, operating since 2015, produces a cascara concentrate, which can be added to smoothies and spritzers, among other recipes. Not only does it contain cascara, but it also lists green coffee beans for extra caffeine. Its product lineup, found in coffee shops across the country, will continue to expand in the coming years. Cascara’s nutritional properties are a draw to Lotus in its product line and a large reason customers add it to their drink order, says Strader. “It is off the charts on what it can do for the human body,” he says. “I also love it for its amazing flavor, it almost has a raisin-like, raspberry flavor to it. When people look back on this, I think they will be going ‘The only superstar in the coffee plant is not only the bean, it is the fruit.’”
PHOTOS: COURTESY OF NOMAD TRADING CO. (LEFT), COURTESY OF LOTUS ENERGY (RIGHT)
LOTUS ENERGY makes a cascara concentrate that mixes well with other flavors to make many drinks.
A GLOBAL TOPIC Our 2014 article “What is Cascara?” closed with, “The dried cherries serve as a tool to teach people about where coffee comes from and how it’s made. The result is win-win: Cafés have the opportunity to educate and expand their audience, while consumers learn more about the coffee industry and try something new.” This holds true today. While cascara is still young on the specialty coffee scene, it does not appear to be going anywhere. Companies are seeing it not only as a way to educate the public on coffee as a fruit, but as a means to accelerate the future of the industry as it moves into the next decade, which will assuredly be focused on sustainability. “This is on-trend for sustainability and upcycling movement toward food,” sums up Caskai’s Joel Jelderks. “Cascara fits right into nutritional and health benefits. The research supporting more and more that it is healthy. I think as people move toward plantbased energy drinks, plant-based functional foods, cascara is going to be a part of that...it’s really becoming a global topic.” FC
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GIA DOLIDZE processes tea at the Tenieshvili farm in the Guria region of Georgia.
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FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 33
Georgian Tea Revival
T
he Caucasus region does not typically come to mind when thinking of tea origin, but the country of Georgia has been producing tea since the early 19th century. A small country in Eurasia, nestled between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and situated within the Caucasus Mountains, Georgia is a country of alpine peaks, fertile river valleys, and subtropical areas ideally located for tea production. It shares borders with Turkey and Armenia to the south and Azerbaijan to the east, but its northern border with Russia is where Georgia’s tea history really began.
Georgia was fully integrated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century. Russians’ desire for tea dates back even further, to the 17th century, when four pounds of Chinese green tea were gifted to the czar. From there, the aristocracy took to tea very quickly, and tea became an essential and expensive habit for the upper class. During the late 17th and 18th centuries, the caravans that brought tea to Russia took 18 months to bring the tea from its source; but once Georgia was fully integrated into the Russian Empire, it was easier for the Russians to exploit Georgia’s natural gifts and access their essential beverage. The Georgian Prince Miha Eristavi first encountered tea during his travels to China in the 1830s. At the time, taking seeds out of China was forbidden, but the prince managed to smuggle them in bamboo, and went on to create Georgia’s first tea plantations in the region of Guria in 1947. But despite the Prince's efforts, which included taking his tea to an agricultural exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1864, Georgian tea initially did not take off. It was not until 1892, when Russian tea merchant Konstantin Popov set up 300 hectares plantations in neighboring Adjara, that things began to turn. After his tea-producing endeavor proved a failure, Popov invited Liu Juzhhou, a Chinese tea expert from
34 ] JANUARY 2020 » freshcup.com
TEA FIELDS at the Tenieshvili family plantation near Ozurgeti, Georgia.
Guangdong, who brought 1,000 tea seeds and tea saplings and helped the Russian producer win an international award for best tea in 1900. From this moment, Georgia was recognized as a tea-making country, even taking their tea to the World Expo in Paris and winning a gold medal. Georgian tea was finally on the world stage. Sadly, the focus on quality production ended when the Red Army invaded in 1919, and Georgia found itself behind the Iron Curtain. Production continued, but now with a focus on numbers, mechanizations, and chemical fertilizers. By the 1930s, the USSR collectivized 91% of all agricultural land. Rural households were required to enter their property, livestock, and assets into collective farms. Tea production grew in quantity, and by the 1980s, Georgia was the fourth-largest exporter of tea in the world. Soviet tea production was highly mechanized; hybrids were developed for
high yields, rather than taste. Limitations were put on farmers and what they were permitted to produce, and quantities were monitored continuously. Tea had become a state matter, but when the Soviet Union finally collapsed, the Georgian tea industry collapsed along with it. During the post-Soviet period, when Georgia descended into an economic crisis, the tea plantations were largely forgotten, except for a few families.
I was interested in Georgian tea production because while tea is so integral to daily life in Georgia, most of the tea available at the markets was a low-quality leaf. After reading about the Tenieshvili family while drinking a tea packaged under the local Koni label, I decided to visit the family’s plantation in Guria, a region known through Georgia for acacia, tangerine production, hazelnuts, and tea. While they
FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 35
Georgian Tea Revival
GABRIEL TENIESHVILI with new saplings.
belong to Georgia, Gurians are apart culturally; they have a dialect, polyphony, khachapuri (the national cheese bread), way of cultivating grapes, and even a kind of football all their own. On a bright, sunny day in late spring, we drove on winding roads through acacia forests that perfumed the air. After the drive through the mountains, we finally came into a valley and drove into Ozurgeti, the capital of Guria and home to the Tenieshvili farm. Pulling off a dirt road, we arrived at the farm, where we were greeted by the entire family and welcomed into their home. Family-run by the elder Davit with his son, Gabriel, at the helm of production, the Tenieshvili farm is 100% organic and entirely self-sufficient, producing their own food and energy. It remains crucial for them to create a product that is pure and clean. While walking on the grounds, we met hens, pigs, and a variety of other animals, while Gabriel's dogs happily followed us the entire time. In the family’s extensive garden grows corn,
36 ] JANUARY 2020 Âť freshcup.com
different fruit trees that produce at different times of the year, grape vines climbing up trees, and, of course, the two-hectare plot of tea bushes. They manage the entire production from harvest to packaging, but do not have
Over the last few years, there has been renewed interest in Georgian tea, and with that interest comes
their own label at this time. Though they've acquired modern machinery with investments since 2012, Davit still prefers the hand-rigged tools he relied on in the 1990s. After Gabriel concluded his farm tour, including fermentation, drying racks, packaging, and sorting, we went back to the family home to taste tea— but as this is Georgia, there is no such thing as a small tasting. While we were on our tour of the grounds, Gabriel's wife had been busy setting up the table with snacks of their homemade cheese, eggs, dried fruit, fruit leather, and chocolates. Davit met us in the home, and I finally had the opportunity to talk with him about his long history with tea and his vision for the future. While tasting the white, green, and black tea, Davit told me his story.
investments both foreign and local.
Davit Tenieshvili and his family have been involved in the tea industry since before he was born. When he was a child in the 1980s, his family worked
on a tea plantation and lived on a collective farm. Families were allowed to dedicate a small portion of their land to their own production, and Davit's family not only grew food, but they also produced small quantities of highquality tea for their personal use. He told me the Soviet model depended on mechanization and chemical fertilizers to increase production at the expense of quality. After the fall of the USSR, the tea industry collapsed, most of the machinery was sold abroad, tea plantations were abandoned, and farmers could not afford the chemicals they thought they needed to survive. The post-Soviet economy was turbulent. In the 1990s, the family supported themselves with subsistence farming. Over the last few years, there has been renewed interest in Georgian tea, and with that interest comes investments both foreign and local. Davit and Gabriel have spent this time recovering lost and abandoned tea bushes that their family has always worked. They've revived 80-year-old bushes that are now producing high-quality leaves 10 months a year. They tell me that when the plantations were abandoned, the land quickly went back to nature, so they have had to find a balance in reviving the bushes while respecting the environment. Davit feels the earth is a gift. They decided not to rip out the various walnut and fruit trees that had taken over, but instead left them to provide shade and homes for birds that in turn act as natural pest control. When we finally got to taste the tea, the method of pouring stood out. Davit was very precise with temperatures for each type of tea, which was brewed in a small glass decanter pot for five minutes. When poured into delicate porcelain teacups, the tea is poured only halfway, and then plain hot water is poured on top of that. Georgian tea culture has always been linked to the Russians, but they do not brew theirs strong like the Russians do— they want to enjoy the flavor of the tea rather than the strength. Gabriel poured in order of flavor profile: first
DAVIT TENIESHVILI with dried tangerine peels (above, left). Gabriel makes tea to enjoy with snacks of eggs and homemade cheese (below).
white, green, and then black tea, all with different heat levels. The quality of the tea speaks for itself; very subtle flavors, vegetal, herbal aromas and a refreshing taste, in which tannin did not overwhelm—no honey, sugar, or milk necessary. I asked both Gabriel and Davit why most of the tea in the market wasn’t so great. They explained that it was made up of lower quality leaves from Georgia, and up to 80% of the leaves could come
from low-quality production in other countries; as it had 20% Georgian tea, it was labeled Georgian. I hope that as these small family producers expand, high-quality teas will become available to Georgians as well as the foreign markets that make up the bulk of their sales. The Georgian tea industry is heading into a renaissance, and this is due to people like David and Gabriel Tenieshvili, family producers who have the vision to produce a high-quality product. FC
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FC
Fresh Cup’s BUSINESS DIRECTORY
Our 2020 Business Directory provides quick access to the commercial world of specialty coffee and tea. Categorized by business focus, these companies offer exceptional equipment, services, education, and products. Listings are also available online at FreshCup.com under the Business Directory tab. 39) BEVERAGES, MIXES & MILKS
42) GREEN COFFEE
39) BUSINESS SERVICES
42) NONPROFITS & NGOS
40) CAFÉ EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES
42) POS & LOYALTY PROGRAMS
41) COFFEE ROASTERS
42) ROASTERY EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES
41) EDUCATION & TRAINING
42) SYRUPS, CHOCOLATES & SWEETENERS
42) FOOD
43) TEA, TISANES & CHAI
38 ] JANUARY 2020 » freshcup.com
PHOTO BY NATHAN DUMLAO
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Fresh Cup’s BUSINESS DIRECTORY
<—BUSINESS SERVICES WATERWISE 865.724.1200 waterwise.pro
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EIGHT OUNCE COFFEE SUPPLY
STIXTOGO
403.457.9844
800.435.6789
eightouncecoffee.com
stixtogo.com
FETCO 800.FETCO.99 (800.338.2699) fetco.com GRANDSTAND 785.312.5091 egrandstand.com HOTSHOT COFFEE SLEEVES 800.991.3702 hotshotsleeves.com JAVA JACKET 800.208.4128 javajacket.com KEEPCUP 310.957.2070 keepcup.com
TODDY 888.863.3974 toddycafe.com USONIAN hello@weareusonian.com weareusonian.com WILBUR CURTIS COMPANY 800.421.6150 wilburcurtis.com YOUR BRAND CAFE 866.566.0390 yourbrandcafe.com ZOJIRUSHI AMERICA CORPORATION 800.264.6270 zojirushi.com
COFFEE ROASTERS
EDUCATION & TRAINING
ABBOTSFORD ROAD COFFEE SPECIALISTS
I HAVE A BEAN
347.384.2862
630.384.9657
ACADEMY OF COFFEE EXCELLENCE
ihaveabean.com
757.565.1400
abbotsfordroad.com CAFÉ LA SEMEUSE USA 941.830.8818 cafelasemeuse.com CAFFÉ D’ARTE 800.999.5334 caffedarte.com CARAVAN COFFEE 800.875.5282 caravancoffee.com CHOCOLATE FISH COFFEE ROASTERS 916.416.3268 chocolatefishcoffee.com DILLANOS 253.826.1807 dillanos.com DR. BEAN'S COFFEE ROASTERS info@drbeanscoffee.com instagram.com/ drbeanscoffeeandtea E'S WORLD COFFEE 907.444.9175 esworldcoffee.com GAVIÑA COFFEE SOLUTIONS 800.428.4627 gavinacoffeesolutions.com
JBC COFFEE ROASTERS 608.256.5282 jbccoffeeroasters.com
academyofcoffee.com AMERICAN BARISTA & COFFEE WORKSHOPS 800.655.3955
LONE OAK COFFEE
coffeebusiness.com
540.667.2600 loneoakcoffee.com
BARISTA PRO SHOP 866.776.5288
MANZANITA ROASTING CO
baristaproshop.com
858.376.7335 manzanitaroasting.com
BELLISSIMO COFFEE ADVISORS 800.655.3955
MALABAR GOLD ESPRESSO / JOSUMA COFFEE CO.
coffeebusiness.com
650.366.5453
FRESH CUP MAGAZINE
malabargoldespresso.com
503.236.2587
OMAROO COFFEE
freshcup.com
info@omaroocoffee.com
THE LEASE COACH
omaroocoffee.com
1.800.738.9202
PEERLESS COFFEE & TEA
theleasecoach.com
510.763.1763
SEATTLE BARISTA ACADEMY
peerlesscoffee.com
206.612.8030
REVE COFFEE ROASTERS
seattlebaristaacademy.org
337.534.8336
THE TEA HOUSE TIMES
revecoffeeroasters.com
973.551.9161
ROAST
theteahousetimes.com
roastpdx@yahoo.com
TEA TRADE MART
instagram.com/roastpdx
360.433.9454
URTH CAFFE
teatrademart.com
213.628.8616
WORKBENCH COFFEE LABS
urthcaffe.com
816.419.1904 workbenchcoffeelabs.com
FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 41
FC
Fresh Cup’s BUSINESS DIRECTORY <—GREEN COFFEE
<—POS & LOYALTY PROGRAMS
855.524.7876
THETA RIDGE COFFEE
SELBYSOFT
bistrogourmetbakery.com
574.233.2436
800.454.4434
thetaridgecoffee.com
selbysoft.com
FOOD GOURMET STUFFED MUFFINS
HERSHEY FOODSERVICE 866.821.6312 hersheyfoodservice.com MODERN OATS
NONPROFITS & NGOS
888.662.2334
CAFE FEMENINO FOUNDATION
modernoats.com
360.901.8322 cffoundation.org
801.953.1370
COFFEE KIDS
nushfoods.com
joanna@coffeekids.org coffeekids.org
512.400.8906
GROUNDS FOR HEALTH
stroopclub.com
802.876.7835 groundsforhealth.org
womenincoffee.org
SONOFRESCO
coffeeholding.com
oregoncoffeeboard.org
888.881.4433 optco.com SUSTAINABLE HARVEST COFFEE IMPORTERS 503.235.1119 sustainableharvest.com
SUSTAINABLE GROWERS 503-235-1119 sustainablegrowers.org
POS & LOYALTY PROGRAMS—> JOE - MOBILE ORDERING 206.669.8972 joe.coffee MY COFFEE HELPER 541.914.2703 mycoffeehelper.com
42 ] JANUARY 2020 » freshcup.com
ROAST instagram.com/roastpdx
OREGON COFFEE BOARD
ORGANIC PRODUCTS TRADING COMPANY
johnlarkinandcompany.com
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S COFFEE ALLIANCE
800.458.2233
descamex.com.mx
JOHN LARKIN AND CO
roastpdx@yahoo.com
COFFEE HOLDING COMPANY
844.472.8429
eightouncecoffee.com
973.627.7779
STROOP CLUB
DESCAMEX
EIGHT OUNCE COFFEE SUPPLY 403.457.9844
NUSH FOODS
GREEN COFFEE—>
ROASTERY EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES
866.271.7666 sonofresco.com USONIAN hello@weareusonian.com weareusonian.com
SYRUPS, SAUCES & SWEETENERS—> 1883 MAISON ROUTIN 800.367.1883 1883.com
<—SYRUPS, SAUCES & SWEETENERS
TEA, TISANES & CHAI BUILD A BLEND/INGREDIENT HUB
MAYA TEA CO.
725.222.9218
520.918.9811
buildablend.com
mayatea.com
THE CHAI COMPANY
PEERLESS COFFEE & TEA
888.922.2424
510.763.1763
chaico.com
peerlesscoffee.com
THE COFFEE CHERRY CO
SAKU TEA
425.894.8864
360.820.3995
coffeecherryco.com
sakutea.com
DIVINITEA
SERENDIPITEA
518.347.0689
888.832.5433
GHIRARDELLI CHOCOLATE COMPANY
divinitea.com
serendipitea.com
800.877.9338
DOMINION TEA
THE TEA HOUSE TIMES
ghirardelli.com/professional
540.999.TEAS (999.8327
973.551.9161
wholesale.dominiontea.com
theteahousetimes.com
866.821.6312
DR SMOOTHIE
TEA TRADE MART
hersheyfoodservice.com
888.466.9941
360.433.9454
drsmoothie.com
teatrademart.com
800.966.5225
ECO-PRIMA TEA
TEASOURCE
monin.com
877.ECO-TEAS (326.8327)
651.788.9971
ecoprimatea.com
teasource.com
800.350.8443
THE G.S. HALY COMPANY
THAIWALA
phillipssyrup.com
650.367.7601
503.735.5163
gshaly.com
thaiwala.com
BARISTA 22 info@barista22.com barista22.com THE BEER SYRUP CO 502.384.4009 thebeersyrupcompany.com COSTELLINI’S 877.889.1866 costellinis.com
HERSHEY FOODSERVICE
MONIN
PHILLIPS SYRUPS & SAUCES
STROOP CLUB 512.400.8906
GAVIÑA COFFEE SOLUTIONS
stroopclub.com
800.428.4627 gavinacoffeesolutions.com
TORANI 800.775.1925
HÄLSSEN & LYON
torani.com/foodservice
212.480.5721 haelssen-lyon.com
FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 43
Counter Intelligence
FRESH BUSINESSES & PRODUCTS
Protect Your Hands—And the Ocean
Comfort in a Cup
Slippy
Lavender Fog
Freaker USA
Tanglewood Beverage Company
FreakerUSA.com
TanglewoodBevCo.com
Putting the “fun” in function, Freaker USA’s Slippy reusable
Warm up this winter with a cozy
drink cozies are not only vibrantly designed, they’re good for the planet: each Slippy is knit from yarn made of 100%
mug of Tanglewood’s latest concoction: the Lavender Fog, the
recycled coastal plastic. More comfortable and eco-friendly
Portland-based company’s take on a London Fog. Blending
than traditional single-use cardboard sleeves, Slippies can be
black tea with Oregon lavender, Calabrian bergamot, vanilla,
custom-designed to help your company promote its message
and cane sugar, the aromatic, all-organic concentrate is lightly
of sustainability and encourage customers to practice the Four
sweetened and pairs well with a variety of milks, using a 1:1 ra-
Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, rot) every day. Join the cause at
tio. Find more Tanglewood flavors, including Hot Buttered Yam
www.freakerusa.com.
and Ginger Spiced Chai, at www.tanglewoodbevco.com.
Let it Sparkle A Sensory Revolution PROPEL Espresso Glass Kruve KruveInc.com
Caskai Sparkling Cascara Infusion BaristaProShop.com Caskai Sparkling Cascara Infusion is a refreshing beverage made from a light infusion of fresh-brewed premium sun-
Kruve expands its award-winning EQ glassware line with the
dried cascara grown in the highlands of Panama and Nicara-
brand-new PROPEL espresso glass. Double-to-single-wall
gua, spring water from the Austrian Alps, a touch of organic
construction ensures the beverage stays hot, while the hand-
cane sugar, a shot of carbonation, tartaric acid…and nothing
blown borosilicate glass is cool to the touch. Leveraging sensory
else. Caskai contains the natural and balanced power of cas-
science and key design features—increased nose and headspace
cara, a secret that has been silent for over 1,000 years. Now,
that captures and circulates aroma, internal fins and a convex
the secret is out, and you can experience and enjoy cascara’s
bottom to help destratify the espresso layers, and a comfort-
unique flavor, characteristics, and benefits in a refreshing,
able shape that encourages the drinker to cup the glass—the
sparkling beverage called Caskai. Order Caskai Sparkling Cas-
PROPEL glass elevates every espresso experience. Learn more
cara at Barista Pro Shop today, and make your menu stand out
and order yours today at www.kruveinc.com.
among the rest!
44 ] JANUARY 2020 » freshcup.com
Trade Show & Events CALENDAR JANUARY 9-11
JANUARY 30- FEB. 1
FEBRUARY 12-14
FEBRUARY 20-22
CAFE MALAYSIA
SENSORY SUMMIT
CAFE ASIA & ICT EXPO
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
UC Davis, CA
AFRICAN FINE COFFEE CONFERENCE
sensorysummit.org
Momasa, Kenya
cafe-malaysia.com
Marina Bay, Singapore
afca.coffee/ conference
cafeasia.com.sg
FEBRUARY 21-23
MARCH 5-7
MARCH 8-10
MARCH 8-10
US COFFEE CHAMPIONSHIPS
NCA ANNUAL CONVENTION
COFFEE FEST
Orange County, CA
Austin, TX
New York City, NY
INTL. RESTAURANT & FOODSERVICE SHOW
uscoffee championships.org
ncausa.org
coffeefest.com
New York City, NY
MARCH 12-14
MARCH 13-15
MARCH 21-22
MARCH 21-22
COFFEE & TEA RUSSIAN EXPO
AMSTERDAM COFFEE FESTIVAL
COFFEE & TEA FESTIVAL NYC
Moscow, Russia
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Brooklyn, NY
SOUTHWEST COFFEE & CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL
coffeetea rusexpo.ru/en
46 ] JANUARY 2020 » freshcup.com
international restaurantny.com
amsterdam coffeefestival.com
coffeeandtea festival.com
Albuquerque, NM chocolateand coffeefest.com
MARCH 28-29
APRIL 2-5
APRIL 19-20
APRIL 23-26
COFFEE & CHOCOLATE EXPO
LONDON COFFEE FESTIVAL
NW FOOD SHOW
SPECIALTY COFFEE EXPO
San Juan, Puerto Rico
London, United Kingdom
Portland, OR
Portland, OR
nwfoodshow.com
coffeeexpo.org
coffeeand chocolateexpo.com
london coffeefestival.com
APRIL 24-26
MAY 4-7
MAY 4-7
MAY 4-7
US COFFEE CHAMPIONSHIPS
MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE EXPO
WORLD BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIP
WORLD BREWERS CUP
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
uscoffee championships.org
Melbourne, Australia
worldcoffeeevents.org
worldcoffeeevents.org
MAY 16-19
JUNE 8-11
JUNE 17
JUNE 18-20
NRA Show
WORLD TEA EXPO
WORLD OF COFFEE
Chicago, IL
Denver, CO
4C GLOBAL SUSTAINABILTY CONFERENCE
Warsaw, Poland
worldteaexpo.com
Warsaw, Poland
worldofcoffee.org
Portland, OR
show.restaurant.org
internationalcoffee expo.com.au
4c-services.org
FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 47
The Last Plastic Straw Then, promising candidates move on to in-person interviews with Miré Regulus, the company’s director of drinkable hospitality, and her team. Significantly, Junkert and Regulus look for skills and interests outside of simply coffee shop or barista experience when determining a “culture fit.” AT HIGHWIRE COFFEE ROASTERS' Flowerland location, situated in the garden center's patio, customers are greeted with a friendly face.
BUILDING A MISSION-FOCUSED TEAM By Robin Roenker
T
o build a sustainably-focused business—in terms of environmental practices, community engagement, ethical sourcing, and more—you need a team that believes in those overarching values. But how can you find employees whose passions align with those of your café or roastery? It all starts with knowing your mission and being able to articulate it to others, says Joe Kennedy, roaster and cofounder of the new King’s Gambit Coffee Co. in Belvidere, New Jersey, which he launched in December with his wife, Laura. “The best message to give anybody starting out is, number one, know who you are and where you want to be,” says Joe Kennedy. “Once you know that,
48 ] JANUARY 2020 » freshcup.com
then it’s your job to sell that to the different people you come across. And the ones that are on board with that, they’ll naturally cling on.”
IDENTIFYING CANDIDATES Like many businesses, Minneapolisbased Peace Coffee adopts a multi-stage approach for screening and interviewing new prospective hires. When openings are available, candidates are invited to submit an initial application with “three screener questions, including, ‘Why do you want to work at Peace Coffee?’ This lets us see if they have any awareness of us and if they’re going to be a good culture fit,” explains SueLynn Junkert, Peace Coffee’s human resources manager.
“We’re looking for a variety of things. Most of what we’re really interested in when we’re looking for [new] people are candidates who are interested in building community—both with the customer and also with each other,” says Regulus. “We believe we can teach anyone the mechanics of how to be a strong barista if they care. You can’t teach people how to want to make that community connection.” Highwire Coffee Roasters, which operates in multiple locations in the San Francisco Bay Area, conducts informal, panel-style conversational interviews between staff leadership and prospective new employees as a way of identifying a good fit. “We want them to feel like they’re choosing us and we’re choosing them rather than them just being interrogated,” says Highwire CEO Robert Myers. Many times, candidates come to Highwire already very aware of its mission-oriented approach and share that the company’s “passion for values and sustainability” is one of the main reasons they want to work there, says Myers. “We have a fair number of candidates who come to us saying they’re applying because they want to work for someone who is values-driven,” he says. “Often, candidates will do their homework and read about us on social media. They’ll pop into our store and read our Yelp reviews. Sometimes they’ll even surprise us and mention something from our blog that I’d written about a few years ago.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF HIGHWIRE COFFEE ROASTERS
PEACE COFFEE adopts a multi-stage approach for interviewing new prospective hires.
KING'S GAMBIT focuses on transparency and seeks employees who are passionate about the coffee-growing process.
FINDING THE RIGHT FIT When you find a candidate who’s on board with your mission, you’ll often see it in their body language during the interview. When Joe and Laura Kennedy were working to build a 10-person staff to launch King’s Gambit, they brought candidates in and described their future vision for the business, which includes plans to source milk from local dairy farmers, the ability to tip coffee growers via blockchain, and even an eventual greenhouse education center to showcase the coffee-growing process. “Once you understand your vision and communicate it, it really is just about reading candidates’ body language,” says Joe Kennedy. “The ones that light up are the ones who are really interested in making a difference.” “One woman in our group interview, when we described the milk we were going to bring in and how we were going to be helping farmers,
literally almost started crying,” adds Laura Kennedy. “It was clear, she was on board.” To ensure the candidates most likely to mesh with their vision made it to the interview stage, Laura Kennedy screened online applications for keywords that offered insights into applicants’ passions, hobbies, and community volunteerism. Like the staff at Peace Coffee, the Kennedys agree that these insights were often more valuable than a candidate’s prior experience with coffee culture. “Candidates’ volunteer work and specific hobbies tell you about where they are in their lives and where they’re headed,” says Laura Kennedy. “Often from their résumé and from their past experience, you can get a sense of whether they’re going to buy in [to your company values] or not.” When a new employee onboards at Highwire, a daylong “foundation” meeting with at least two of the company’s
PHOTO COURTESY OF PEACE COFFEE (LEFT) AND KING'S GAMBIT (RIGHT)
founders provides an in-depth orientation to the company’s mission-oriented approach to doing business. “It’s an introduction of our values and the how and why of Highwire. More than just how to work the register, it’s the guts behind what we’re doing,” says Myers. “We do it to ask them to buy in.” Dedicating time to help new staff feel on the same page with a company’s mission sets a tone that there’s real commitment there—in essence, that the business walks the walk. “I’ve worked for companies where you hear a mission statement once and then never again,” says Myers. The foundational onboarding process “[lets us] make an out-loud promise to every Highwire employee that these values are what we’re using to make every decision. It’s also their invitation to have a conversation with us at any time about our mission—or to suggest ideas for how to improve.” FC
FRESH CUP MAGAZINE [ 49
Advertiser Index
To view our advertiser list and visit the websites listed below, go to freshcup.com/resources/fresh-cup-advertisers
ADVERTISER
CONTACT ONLINE
Barista Pro Shop
866.776.5288
baristaproshop.com/ad/fresh
9
The Cold Pro
888.538.8683
thecoldpro.com
9
Divinitea
518.347.0689 divinitea.com
46
Elmhurst
888.356.1925 elmhurstmilked.com
51
Fresh Cup Magazine
503.236.2587
freshcup.com
45
Ghirardelli Chocolate
800.877.9338
ghirardelli.com/professional
Gosh That's Good! Brand
888.848.GOSH (4674)
goshthatsgood.com
52
Java Jacket
800.208.4128
javajacket.com
35
Lotus Energy Drinks
888.702.5584
lotusenergydrinks.com
27
Malabar Gold Espresso
650.366.5453
malabargoldespresso.com
11
Milkadamia
630.861.2102
milkadamia.com
4
Monin
800.966.5225
monin.com
3
Northwest Food Show
503.567.6240
nwfoodshow.com
8
Pacific Foods of Oregon
503.692.9666
pacificfoods.com/foodservice
2
SerendipiTea
888.TEA.LIFE (832.5433) serendipitea.com
47
Stroop Club
512.400.8906
stroopclub.com
47
Tea Trade Show
973.551.9161
teatradeshow.com
46
TeaSource
855.320.4832 teasource.com
35
Toddy
970.493.0788
coldbrewcupping.com
13
Your Brand Cafe
866.566.0390
yourbrandcafe.com
12
Zojirushi America
800.264.6270
zojirushi.com
13
50 ] JANUARY 2020 Âť freshcup.com
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