SPRING 2020 | Vol. XXXIII No.3 www.coffeetalk.com
S N O I T U L O S E V PAGE 6 R E S L E-
NTH O M S I H T
SING ative Power of a Single Cup
form The Trans
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Cupping in Uncertain Times 10 AN IMPORTANT LESSON "Son, you aren’t powerful enough to control the global economy….” 12 COFFEE SERVICE CORNER An Interview With OCS Veteran 14
SS E C C U S E OF L A T A : A MBI
ffee e with Co c a e P g in Cultivat
ROASTERS ROCK
Perret Delapouyade
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Contents
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THE VIEW
The Transformative Power of a Single Cup
Coffee Brewing Technology and Single-Serve Solutions
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WHO WE ARE Phone: 206.686.7378, see extensions below
Colombia: A Tale of Success
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Cultivating Peace with Coffee
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Roasters Rock
Cupping in Uncertain Times
Publisher Kerri Goodman, ext 1 kerri@coffeetalk.com Administrative Director Laurie Veatch, ext 4 laurie@coffeetalk.com Web Design Justin Goodman, ext 6 justin@coffeetalk.com
“Son, you aren’t powerful enough to control the global economy….” An Important Lesson from Prior Struggles
Coffee Service Corner
14
An Interview With OCS Veteran, Perret Delapouyade
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Newsbites
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AD INDEX
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The Transformative Power of a Single Cup
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THE VIEW Kerri Goodman
T
he pain of losing a father while still in the innocence of youth is bewildering and painful. I remember like it was yesterday learning of my father’s sudden death and having no comprehension of what that meant. The first week or two was full of family and friends and the house was full of love and concern. What came after was the pain of watching my mother suffer loneliness and the financial burden of raising us on her own. Kent’s sudden passing brought those memories flooding back and this is why I would like to join his friends in helping Michele and their children through the challenging days to come.
Kent Holloway Family Fund
The Coffee Community has always been about strong personal connections, crossing from business to more of “family” like relationships. I have witnessed many acts of sharing and kindness. Kent was an early pioneer in the Seattle coffee scene, founding Austin Chase Coffee in 1989, I got to know Kent in my early coffee days as a passionate instructor for Coffee Fest seminars and only recently reconnected with him on Vashon where his family still resides. Kent’s passion for coffee couldn’t be contained and often I would awake to freshly roasted beans left outside my front door. I called him my “Coffee Fairy” and loved gifts that regularly appeared. We would visit for hours talking about the industry past, present and future. When the COVID Crisis was starting to unfold I decided to make a mad dash to New Zealand to weather the storm with my family there. I was shocked to hear of his passing and will treasure those final coffee talks we shared last winter. I hope you, our coffee family, will join David Morris and myself in helping to ease the burden of his family by contributing to the GoFundMe campaign. https://www.gofundme.com/f/kenthollowayfamilyfund
4 Spring 2020
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The Transformative Power of a Single Cup by Jennifer Stone, Licensed Q Grader / Coffee Specialist Consultant
Coffee Brewing Technology and Single-Serve Solutions
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o stay up to date, it’s relevant to explore options for making a single, satisfying cup of coffee. The “golden cup rules” serve as a foundation of guidelines and standards.
Roasters work diligently to educate customers’ palates on the nuanced flavors revealed with the variety of pour-over methods (Chemex, Hario, AeroPress), grind settings, water temperature, and on and on. Yet now, the offering also encompasses an enjoyable cup of coffee via methods that are incredibly convenient, too.
The NEW Instants, Individual Packs • Convenient! • Roasters are utilizing high quality, flavorful coffees which results in a much better cup • Very little waste • Hot & Iced • Easy for travel • It’s INSTANTANEOUS Brand Example: Viola – works only with specialty grade coffee
Until recently, single-serve was largely defined by Keurig K Cups utilizing the proprietary Keurig Coffee maker, quickly followed by Nespresso and capsules – also proprietary. Many specialty roasters of this found this method somewhat unsatisfactory as there was little control over extraction or freshness. In general, customers still love the convenience that the cups offer, so now roasters can make their cups (via iFill, for example) and control the distribution. Admittedly, there are levels of taste and quality. So many roasters have access to presenting their coffees to customers in new ways that work well for each scenario, in the wholesale, commercial, or home setting. Advances in technology and packaging make it impossible to ignore that we can present coffee in new ways. Now, one can make a single cup with very little mess, waste, or implements in a method that allows for conveniently tasting one coffee next to another to discern differences, preferences, and experiences. In this new era, single-serve has taken on a new context. This article reviews the high points of readily available methods to get a gratifying cup at home, in a café or business setting including: Instant Coffee, Single Sachet Style, Portable Pour over and On-Demand Bean to Cup.
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Single Cup Single Serve Bag (in an enclosed sachet/tea bag) • Nitrogen flushed • Difficult to mess up brewing; hot water from any in-room coffee maker seems to result in a drinkable cup • Made for travel; extremely portable • Highly certified – name one, they cover it from B Corp to Compostable packaging Brand Example: NuZee has done an approachable job to co-packing most any roaster’s coffee – many popular brands available www.pourovercopacking.com Single Serve Pour Over • Engaging – from aligning the pouch on your cup to systematically pouring the water • Yields a flavorful cup due to controlled extraction • Still easy – no grinder, scale or tools needed • Works well with in-room coffee makers • Roasters can experiment with “functional” additives Brand Example: Coffee Blenders has made it simple to test your product in its packaging
Bean to Cup Brewing • Fresher – can be “direct from the roaster” fresh • A commercial solution for numerous away-from-home channels • Specialized equipment • Completely self-contained, on-demand, ground, brewed and poured in seconds • Excellent extraction on any coffee utilizing a low-pressure chamber (not high pressure used in espresso) • Minimal cleanup, zero consumables • Offers multiple coffees with no change out • Variety of cup sizes + carafe • Hot & Iced
• Great for side by side comparisons • Water is always ready at the perfect temperature Brand Example: Ascent Touch from Concordia Coffee works with clients to provide custom options from a single location to multiple venues. It is exciting to continue to experiment with different ways to efficiently procure and drink amazing coffees, not including the cold brew ready-todrink arena. In a time when most are drinking coffee alone instead of with colleagues, it’s an excellent time to be gentle while still seeking the best cup for the application. There could be a renaissance, as people create new drinking habits and indulge in one of life’s most accessible pleasures – a great cup of coffee.
Diedrich Roasters Expands Capabilities with New Corporate Facility Diedrich Roasters is proud to announce a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Ponderay, ID, along with significantly expanded facilities process design and consulting services. “Expanding our footprint into our state-ofthe-art facility represents not only Diedrich Roaster’s growth, but also our commitment to the coffee roasting community,” CEO Karl Schmidt released in a statement today. “We’re proud to be in a position to invest back into the business to secure our leadership position and help ensure future growth as the leading manufacturer of US-built roasting machines.” Already Diedrich manufactures approx. 40% of the global supply of the Specialty roasting equipment and by consolidating three different locations into one streamlined, modern plant, Diedrich has taken quality manufacturing to the next level. We will continue to hand-craft exceptional roasting equipment and expand our extensive on-site Factory Acceptance Test testing capabilities. The expanded, modern facility also adds a Professional Educational Center and Roasting Lab reflecting Diedrich’s strong commitment in our customer educational & coffee training techniques. “Our comprehensive and extensive process engineering and project development capabilities incorporates the full spectrum of services including packaging, equipment specification, procurement, process controls, installation, start up and commissioning states Schmidt. “At Diedrich we realize your success is our success,” Schmidt states. “We don’t just manufacture equipment; we provide specific business planning, manufacturing analysis and facility evaluation to facilitate our customers required growth strategies. We use our expansive
industry knowledge and experience to identify, analyze and evaluate the customer market needs in order to provide appropriate capacity goals. Then our expert team partners with you to design the precise roasting system and business strategies for success.” Our future is committed to the advancement of roasting technology and original product development. To learn more or build your own Diedrich roaster, please visit diedrichroasters.com, call 877.263.1276 or e- mail info@diedrichroasters.com.
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Colombia: A Tale of Success by Diana Pardo, President, Pardo Consulting
Cultivating Peace with Coffee
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hree years ago, Mario Rodríguez changed weapons for coffee beans. He was part of a group of 13,202 ex-combatants of the FARC guerrilla, the Marxist armed organization that fought against the Colombian State for more than five decades. In 2016, after giving away arms as a result of a Peace Agreement with the government, Mario had to find a job that would allow him to go back to civilian life. He was 18 years old when he entered the FARC. At 31, and after 13 years in the mountains, Mario decided to start over and engage in the coffee business. He liked the countryside and thought that coffee would be an excellent way to make a living. Also, he started to study accounting as he thought it would be a useful tool for his new endeavors. Now living with his partner in Cauca, one of the most war-torn regions of Colombia, he is expecting a baby girl soon. “Coffee is the only product in Colombia that will always have a guaranteed market,” says Mario. He refers to the fact that the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC, by its Spanish initials) guarantees coffee growers in the country the purchase of all the coffee they produce, at the best base market price, which constitutes fundamental support for new coffee producers. “We also wanted to concentrate on the quality segment, so we knew there was a lot to learn,” he explains. Most FARC ex-combatants recognize themselves as peasants; coffee was a natural way to reinvent themselves. “Many ex-guerrilla members were raised amid coffee crops before they joined the guerrillas. Some of them spent between 20 and 30 years with FARC without communicating with their
families. Cultivating coffee is a way to returning to their roots, recalling the memories of their parents and grandparents,” says Antonio Pardo, president of the National Coffee Growers Roundtable. This recently created entity runs 35 coffee cooperatives bringing together approximately 2,000 ex-combatants throughout 12 departments of Colombia. Planting the seeds for a better future Mario explains that launching a start-up without the knowledge of the whole coffee business and its operation was a significant challenge. They started training in special zones granted by the Colombian government to ex-combatants, to assist them during the process of reincorporation to civil society. Gerardo Montenegro, from FNC, started advising ex-combatants in coffee production and post-harvesting. Together with Carlos López, of ASCAFE (Colombian Small Coffee Growers Association), they guided them in the design of a business strategy. Ex-guerrilla members spent three months in an immersive program to learn the necessary skills of the coffee growing process. “Everyone wanted to contribute to the construction of a prosperous and sustainable community for former guerrilla combatants,” says Carlos. Resilience pays off In May 2018, with the belief that supporting ex-combatants would help achieve peace in the historically violent Cauca department, Carlos López arranged a meeting between them and Illycaffè, one of his clients. The meeting resulted in a 5-year commercial agreement where the company
8 Spring 2020
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Colombia
would assist them in increasing coffee productivity while purchasing lots of produced high-quality Arabica. The first year 300 kilos of green coffee were sold; in 2019, they sold 600,000 kilos, and by 2020 they expect to sell 1 million. This agreement represents illycaffè’s wish to give a chance to the rural Colombian community of coffee to become the engine of a more significant transformation through the economic reintegration of the ex-combatants and their victims in the Cauca region. In parallel, ex-guerrilla members decided to launch their brands for several local markets within Colombia. Café Marú, Tercer Acuerdo, Café Paramillo, and Café La Esperanza, among others, are some of the trade names they’re selling in some local gourmet restaurants and other points of sale. In October 2019, Café la Esperanza was awarded the Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award in New York on its excellent quality, among more than 5,000 coffee samples from other producing countries in the world. For Antonio Pardo, “Receiving this recognition and realizing that the quality of our coffee is one of the best in the world was very satisfying. “They couldn’t travel to New York to receive the award due to lack of US visas. “This prize helped them realize that their main differentiator in the business is the quality of their coffee, not the fact of being ex-guerrilla combatants,” says Montenegro. In only three years, the results have been very satisfactory. However, there are still many difficulties to overcome, including the lack of guarantees by the Colombian government regarding safety for former FARC militants, which may increase the risk of violence relapse. “For me, the main obstacle is the lack of security. There have been around 200 ex-FARC members assassinated since the signing of the Peace Agreement”, says Mario. As the coffee industry is in a desperate search for the next generation of resilient, quality-focused coffee growers, Colombian ex-combatants have demonstrated in a short period that they are up for the challenge. Their commitment has already shown that coffee can provide opportunities in the most complex of situations. For their project to succeed, however, they need to keep forging strategic alliances to ensure a sustainable production chain.
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Roasters Rock
by Rocky Rhodes
Cupping in Uncertain Times
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very roaster must cup coffee. We do it for various reasons. However, with the appearance of the COVID 19 virus, it is proper to take a pause and think about how we execute this necessary task of coffee evaluation. This virus is new on the scene and appears to be highly contagious. It is also scary as we watch the news and learn about things like quarantines, mortality rates, and ‘community spread.’ It would be foolish to be nonchalant about this topic, but hysteria doesn’t help either. To understand the concerns of cupping during these times, we should cover the current cupping protocols. These protocols are used worldwide and were developed by The SCAA and CQI. With the current SCA education as well as the CQI Q Grader system, these protocols are understood and used by thousands of coffee professionals around the globe. The protocols are in place to create a common experience of a coffee that might be being tested at origin as well as in a consuming country. There is a roast protocol that specifies a time to a color. There are a water quality and temperature specifications. And finally, there are the protocols of evaluating the sample that involves 5 cups, a spoon, and a form. It is essential that a sample be consistent (Uniform) over 5 cups so it can be trusted as a sample that won’t have defects or deviations from cup to cup. To do this, a spoon is used to slurp coffee from each of the cups while rinsing the spoon in between cups to eliminate cup to cup contamination. If you are cupping by yourself, you don’t need to change anything! If you are cupping with others, there are several places where cuppers ‘interact’ and could exchange something like the COVID 19 virus. If you have a spoon, it touches your mouth. It goes from your mouth to a common rinse cup (Interaction 1) and then goes to one of the five coffee cups (Interaction 2). In addition, the cups might be handled by many cuppers (Interaction 3) as well as using the same kettles and touching the handle (Interaction 4). These are all on top of the significant interaction: Being in close proximity in a closed room (Interaction 5). There are many others, but let’s just deal with these.
acceptance decisions of green coffee. It is relatively essential to keep to the existing protocols as much as possible because the entire supply chain needs to be on the same page. If, however, you are evaluating roast profiles, lot replacements, or sampling finished product consistency, for instance, there are other options available. Many companies already use different, faster, company-focused protocols. For the non-green-buyer decisions, it might be just as useful to batch brew samples, and everyone gets their own cup to evaluate. Drink, fill out the form, and then compile results. It does not need to be the same cup as long as it was from the same brewed batch. No shared anything except possibly the room. One could also do triangulations and set enough sets out where each evaluator is evaluating enough sets to validate the exercise. Now let’s see if there are some things that we can change to the SCA / CQI protocols that make it less interactive but still a legitimate evaluation. The goal is to create a ‘contact gap’ between cuppers. One way is to 1) have your own rinse cup. Another is to transfer coffee from a sample cup with a spoon that does not touch anyone’s mouth. The spoon of liquid is then transferred to a cupper’s personal evaluation cup from which it is slurped. At the end of an evaluation of 5 cups, the ‘slurp cup’ should get rinsed before moving to the next sample. Also, cuppers should not handle sample cups or kettles as an assistant will do it. This eliminates interactions 1-4 above. There are drawbacks to this system. For this reason, the protocols could (arguably should) be in place until we know more about COVID 19 but not as some set of permanent replacement protocols. The most significant drawbacks are defect cross-contamination in the slurp cup, temperature differences on samples being evaluated, and the number of additionally needed cups for every sample and every cupper. Rocky Rhodes is an 18 year coffee veteran, roaster, and Q-Grader Instructor, and his mission now is to transform the coffee supply chain and make sweeping differences in the lives of those that produce the green coffee. Rocky can be reached at rocky@INTLcoffeeConsulting.com
Before deciding ways to solve the problem, it is essential to identify the purpose of your cupping. The strict protocols above are to make buying and
10 Spring 2020
Photo by Trish Rothgeb
I stayed at home. I’m ready to work. Coffee will fuel the recovery! Love each other and we will all win!
rocky@INTLcoffeeConsulting.com +1 818-347-1378
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Innovations for a better world.
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“Son, you aren’t powerful enough to control the global economy….” by David Isett
An Important Lesson from Prior Struggles
I
have been a business owner four times in my life, and I can tell you I didn’t learn much from the successes. The instrumental and lasting lessons came from tough times and struggles. Of which there have been many! As many of us are at home right now maintaining the necessary “Social Distancing,” I recalled one of the great lessons I learned about dealing with a significant economic slowdown. Here is that story…. I became the president of a $20M vertically integrated manufacturing company at a very young age, certainly before I was fully prepared. I had to learn on the job how to lead 120 employees in a 40,000 square foot factory with a big payroll, significant lease, bank lines, and covenants, and venture investors with high expectations. It was going pretty well, I thought. Until it wasn’t…… It was the late 1990’s and the lead up to the Dot-com bubble burst. I, however, was an optimist with significant confidence in my ability to control our company’s destiny. And so, one Friday morning, I presented the next year’s business plan to my Board of Directors. I outlined an impressive growth trajectory, the exciting new people we would hire, the expanded development programs with key customers, and some excellent new products we would release - all with resultant higher sales and earnings. My Board listened attentively, asking only a few questions, and I was nailing it! And then one Director, a very successful and seasoned entrepreneur, asked to speak with me privately. Here is what he said: ”Son, that was fun to listen to. I did enjoy that. Unfortunately, you are NOT more powerful than a global economy, and what you have laid out is NOT going to happen. At least not right now…. So I’d like to give you some advice on what you DO have control over - everything inside these walls. I want you to think of all the things in the past you have said you would like to do but are just too busy to get to. Training. Facility maintenance. Machine upgrades. Staff upgrades. Improved marketing materials and documentation. Painting. R&D on new products. Quality improvements. Personal skills development for all of your people.” And then, as I listened like the attentive schoolboy, he said the following: “I can promise you that right now nearly all of your competitors are cloistered in conference rooms perseverating over how bad things are and trying to figure out what they can do to change their external environment. The truth is, they can’t. However, if you focus ALL of your energy on development inside this building, you will emerge from this impending recession leaner, stronger, and much better prepared when things turn around. And they always turnaround.” Well, things did turnaround, of course, and we were ready. I have tried to follow that guidance whenever things have gotten tough: The aftermath of 9-11, the financial crisis of 2008, and other significant external events. And so today, for those of us hunkered down, what can we do besides watch the news and perseverate over things we cannot control? The lessons do not merely
apply to our professional lives by the way but carry over to our personal and family roles. We can set up video conferences with our friends and colleagues; we can learn a new computer program, read an inspiring and educational book, write music, work on exercise and personal fitness, rearrange the furniture, take on that home repair project we keep putting off and get our employees set up for online training and development courses. We can also use this time to assess where we are in our career and life development paths and if/how we would like to change the trajectory. We are in control of everything inside our walls – and you can take advantage of this opportunity. And so here is how it might begin: Make a list, right now, of at least three exciting things you can do personally and professionally that you want to explore but don’t usually have the time and opportunity to consider: 1. ________________________________ 2. ________________________________ 3. ________________________________ And now… There are thousands of people NOT hunkered down in their homes: Healthcare workers, first responders, military personnel, those working in grocery stores, utility companies, pharmacies, and employees in factories working overtime to produce the mission-critical goods and services to confront the coronavirus. Let us all do whatever we can do to support them, help them stay safe, and let them know we truly appreciate their efforts. “Thank you for your service” is just as meaningful to these dedicated individuals as to those in uniform. And finally, a personal editorial: Like many of you, I am disappointed and frustrated by the profound partisanship that divides much of our country. It benefits no one. COVID-19, for all its potential for sickness and disruption to our daily lives, does offer us an opportunity. We have the opportunity to simply say “no” to the harsh rhetoric of division. We have the opportunity to come together, work together, and seek common purpose as a member of a global community. That is something that we can ALL practice while hunkered down. Stay safe. David Isett is a veteran of more than 20 years in the specialty coffee industry, having served as the president and CEO of Concordia Beverage Systems. Today he is Managing Director of First Hill Partners, a Mergers and Acquisitions advisory firm, as well as an industry consultant, speaker, and author. david@firsthillpartners.com
12 Spring 2020
Coffee Service Corner
AN INTERVIEW WITH OCS VETERAN, PERRET DELAPOUYADE by Ken Shea
Perret DeLapouyade is a 33-year veteran of the OCS and Water industries having spent his time in various leadership positions as an operator. Beginning his career with Standard Coffee Service in 1987, Perret gained experience through a variety of departments before settling into key operations roles, ultimately being promoted to V.P. of Operations supporting Procurement, Asset Management, Route Management, Warehousing, and a National Service Network. He played a crucial role in Standard’s evolution from a 22-state regional operation to a national market share leader, ultimately acquired by D.S. Services. In November of 2019, Perret left his operator role to explore expanding opportunities, which will be announced later this spring.
A
rticle development for a column typically runs one week. As I began preparing for this article, the impact of the COVID – 19 virus has been rapidly expanding throughout the world, affecting almost every aspect of daily life, including the Coffee Service industry. While health concerns remain most important, I felt it would be time to reach out to an experienced industry veteran and friend to explore his thoughts on how operators can adjust and adapt both to mitigate potential downsides as well as positioning their companies for even greater success when we emerge from this catastrophic event. KS: Perret, social distancing is decimating office populations and transient traffic. What impact do you see from a consumption perspective? PDL: For the right reasons, office populations began to lean out over the past few weeks, and now we see an even more dramatic drop off as employers fully understand the importance of social distancing to help ensure the health of their associates, much of this being mandated. While this has dramatically impacted near term sales for OCS operators with whom I engage, I also have heard that customers are expressing a high level of gratitude that is reinforcing the value of OCS providers in providing the wide variety of break room supplies and services so that the office staff can focus on the issues they are facing. Unfortunately, some operators might not be able to withstand the corresponding revenue drop-off, and I fear that we will witness a measurable number of businesses closing and/or selling.
KS: Having been a part of a conglomerate with several thousands of water routes, could the coronavirus outbreak stimulate bottled and POU water opportunities? PDL: Absolutely. We have all heard of retail locations running out of bottled water during spikes in demand. And customers, both commercial and residential, have far fewer concerns with these types of issues when working with a provider that has a well-rounded product portfolio along with the supply chain expertise to work through any supply issues that have arisen in a variety of product categories. When we emerge from this crisis, it will be an excellent time for operators to expand their efforts in the water category, and in particular, point of use water and filtration systems. KS: You had responsibility for managing a portfolio of several thousand SKUs. Should the current environment suggest that operators expand their menus within any specific categories? PDL: Ken, that’s a great question. My personal opinion is that having a wellrounded portfolio for your target customer type is the best strategy. For a typical office environment, I believe that in addition to providing coffee and coffee-related items that one would typically carry, items for the entire
KS: Some operators are suggesting that offices might move to e-commerce and eliminate direct service. What message would you give to office decision-makers regarding this? PDL: While we have seen more online activity in recent years. I don’t see companies abandoning the ‘service’ element of OCS any time soon. While product delivery via parcel carrier should be an option in the portfolio, we all are aware that product delivery is only one of the functions of a high-quality OCS operator. Besides, parcel deliveries have to be delivered by a person. A key aspect of DSD delivery that is gaining a lot of attention currently is the cleaning and sanitization of the break area and serving vessels by the route operator.
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Coffee Service Corner breakroom such as San-Jan items that are currently in the spotlight are critical to avoid the need for office staff shopping around for these items from other sources. This is also an opportunity for office managers to consider consolidating services and reducing traffic. And if you, the operator, has a great service track record, your request for service consolidation should be well received. KS: Can OCS operators play a role in fulfilling demand from a labor force that might increasingly work from home? PDL: I was discussing this with an operator group recently and did believe that we see a long-term transformation in associates working remotely. That said, exploring the value that can be added for service and delivery for operators that are currently commercial only is an exercise that I’d recommend exploring. While selling products via e-commerce is one way to do this, I believe there is an opportunity to incorporate the service element to homebrewers, along with bottled and POU units in a residential environment. One big unknown at this point is whether this might migrate to an expense that would be subsidized by employers as an additional benefit to those associates working from home. KS: Ours is an international supply chain. Our primary commodities, coffee, and tea are almost exclusively grown outside of the continental U.S. Other necessities including brewers, water appliances, parts, and more come from a variety of sources. Do you foresee measurable sourcing changes in the long term? PDL: I do not foresee long term issues with supplies, particularly with commodities. As we speak, green coffee is trading near 10-year lows, and although we have seen some cost increases this week that is being attributed to the swings, we see in the exchange rate more than any supply disruption issue. Many companies, suppliers, as well as operators began supply chain diversification last year for the appliances that were sourced in China simply because of the unknown of the tariff implications long term. Consequently, many operators are well underway towards resolving the potential of any
further disruption that might occur in particular regions. Of course, since the pandemic is impacting manufacturing around the world, it is certainly possible to have some short term supply issues on some items. Still, I don’t foresee this becoming a long term issue. KS: May I ask what the future holds for you? Selfishly, there are many of us hope that you will remain a fixture in the Coffee Service Industry. PDL: Thank you, Ken. I’ve been working recently with several equipment and parts suppliers and assisting with supply chain continuity opportunities. A lot of progress is being made that could impact this industry and others. I am currently enjoying newfound personal time to concentrate on various projects. I do anticipate remaining within the industry in some capacity and am evaluating several opportunities. KS: I appreciate the time that you set aside to develop this article. Your insights are valued and appreciated. I also appreciate having worked with you during my two tours of duty at Standard Coffee. You were the student that rapidly became the teacher! FINAL THOUGHTS: As I put the finishing touches on this article, it is now Friday afternoon, March 20th, and Coronavirus cases are exceeding 250,000 worldwide. The stock market is hovering around 19,500, and many workers throughout the country are being directed to remain home at varying levels of quarantine and sheltering in place. It is impossible to predict how things will look by the time this article is published....and beyond. We are a resilient people and passionate industry. We will emerge from this dire situation. Many sectors will possibly look different to varying degrees when we do emerge. My prayers are Ken is President of Ken Shea with all of you and hope that you remain safe. and Associates, providing specialized solutions to operators and suppliers in the Coffee, Tea and Water Industries.
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NewsBites Portland Coffee Roasters Raises Record Amount For the past 12 years, Portland Coffee Roasters has sponsored a fundraising campaign featuring its annual Holiday Roast, donating a percentage from the sales to a select non-profit organization. The 2019 campaign, which concluded on Dec. 31, raised more than $10,000 –– $2,000 above its goal –– for Escuela de Caficultura, a school of agriculture in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, that teaches the essential knowledge and skills needed for coffee production. The beans for the Holiday Roast blend came from 15 smallholder cooperatives in Huehuetenango. Portland Coffee Roasters purchased the beans from these smallholders at well above market prices. The coffee was sourced through Shared Source, USA. The funds raised through the campaign will help impact the coffee industry in Guatemala by providing students with multi-course educational programs about environmentally responsible agricultural practices. For more information, visit PortlandCoffeeRoasters.com. Colombian Based Coffee Exporter Those Coffee People Announces Online Platform for Direct Trade Green Coffee Exports Those Coffee People have announced the launch of its new online matching and ordering platform for Colombian direct trade specialty green coffee. The platform is designed to both showcases the wide variety of specialty coffee origins that are available from small independent growers in Colombia, as well as make the bulk ordering of green coffee as seamless an experience as possible for international buyers. Partnerships have been formed with independent specialty coffee growers throughout
Colombia, in order to connect them to global buyers via their online matching and ordering platform. The intention is to showcase the extraordinary range of varieties that the country has to offer and to make transactions as easy as possible for international buyers. It will do this using an online matching quiz, which pairs available coffee origins with customers’ tastes. Find out more at https://thosecoffeepeople.com/ “I’m Not A Barista” #Brewathome Campaign I’M NOT A BARISTA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting coffee professionals, has launched the #brewathome social media campaign to connect coffee roasters and baristas to consumers at this challenging time. By encouraging coffee lovers to brew safely at home through the #brewathome campaign, I’M NOT A BARISTA is helping people find the connection to others while staying safe. The #brewathome campaign helps roasters bring their expertise to coffee lovers worldwide by encouraging them to share video tutorials about home brewing, coffee science, introduction to coffee tasting, and different coffee origins on their Instagram accounts. Coffee lovers can check notabarista.org/ brewathome for a list of dozens of participating roasters (and growing) in the UK, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas who are sharing their coffee brewing knowledge. Many are also offering discounts and giveaways on their products to help people #brewathome safely around the world.
As a way to build future value in the midst of this unprecedented global pause, we are offering Roasters and Service Companies the use of CYA Basic Software at no charge to clean up your list of capital assets, survey your deployment and plan for greater efficiency when your business ramps up. We’ll help you clean up and load your assets, provide barcode tags for scanning, and video training. You’ll start to build searchable and verified data about your assets, a large source of company value, and the engine of coffee sales. Free through June 30th. After that, we hope you’ll stay with us. Either way, we’ll provide you with your asset list. First come, first served. Let’s talk! TEXT or Call us: 224 600 3264 https://www.cya.coffee/ Kilimanjaro Coffee now Available in the US Dr. Frank Bald, founder of World’s Greatest Coffees With a Purpose, discovered Kilimanjaro Coffee on one of his Tanzanian trips. Being amazed at the quality and uniqueness of this coffee, he believed US coffee drinkers would love this premium coffee. He launched his website: https://worldsgreatestcoffees.com/ in April 2020 to sell Kilimanjaro Coffee. Dr. Bald, an Oral Surgeon from North Carolina, travels to Tanzania to perform Oral Surgery and to help teach sedation techniques to Dentists and Oral Surgeons to make their patients more comfortable. On his past trips, he has brought and donated medical equipment, supplies,
Special Offer of Support for Roasters Special Offer of Support for Roasters. CYA is Asset Tracking and Service Management Software is designed for Coffee People by Coffee People.
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and medications. While there he works on cases with the Tanzania Oral Surgery Group. Tanzania has 15 Oral Surgeons for a population of 55 million. Dr. Bald decided that to continue to help, he would donate 20% of the proceeds from World’s Greatest Coffees With a Purpose to the Tanzania Oral Surgery Group. NuZee Responds To Covid-19 NuZee, Inc. (OTCQB: NUZE) announced that it is offering 100 independent roasters affected by COVID-19 up to 500 Coffee Blenders’ t-bag style, single-serve pour-over coffee pouches, free of charge. The offer is open to the first 100 roasters to contact NuZee, complete the necessary fields found in the link below. This service is being offered by NuZee at absolutely no charge including shipping and with no obligation. Details and the form can be found: https:// pourovercopacking.com/corona-freesamples-offer/. “We are committed to supporting our industry colleagues at this difficult time,” said Travis Gorney, President & COO. “These pouches will be manufactured at our production facility in Vista, California which operates with Level 2 SQF Certification by the Safe Quality Food Institute, assuring that our products are produced, processed, and handled according to the highest standards. On behalf of everyone at NuZee, stay safe and stay healthy.”
Advertisers Index Company...............................................................................Phone...................................Website........................................................................Page Add A Scoop / Juice Bar Solutions Inc............................................................................. (415) 382-6535.......................................... addascoop.com..........................................................................................................16 Bühler Inc.......................................................................................................................... (763) 847-9900........................................ buhlergroup.com........................................................................................................11 Cablevey Conveyors.......................................................................................................... (641) 673-8451.......................................... cablevey.com............................................................................................................... 9 Costellini’s.......................................................................................................................... (877) 889-1866......................................... costellinis.com............................................................................................................16 Don Pablo Coffee Roasting Company............................................................................. (305) 249-5628........................................ donpablocoffee.com...................................................................................................11 Fres-co System USA Inc.................................................................................................... (215) 721-4600......................................... fresco.com.....................................................................................................................2 Grounds for Health........................................................................................................... (802) 876-7835......................................... groundsforhealth.org................................................................................................ 13 Huhtamaki......................................................................................................................... see web.................................................... us.huhtamaki.com/comfortcup................................................................................ 18 International Coffee Consulting....................................................................................... (818) 347-1378........................................... intlcoffeeconsulting.com............................................................................................11 Java Jacket........................................................................................................................ (800) 208-4128........................................ javajacket.com........................................................................................................... 15 NuZee Inc DBA Coffee Blenders....................................................................................... (760) 2168-464........................................ pourovercopacking.com.............................................................................................11 Primera Technology Inc.................................................................................................... (800) 797-2772......................................... primeralabel.com.......................................................................................................16 Ska Fabricating.................................................................................................................. (970) 403-8562........................................ skafabricating.com.................................................................................................... 17 Texpak Inc | Scolari Engineering...................................................................................... (856) 988-5533........................................ scolarieng.net.............................................................................................................19
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