Global Coffee Report May 2023

May/June 2023

CREATING

Coffee Island CEO Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos on what it means to democratise greatness and lead by example

Law and Order

US bill set to spearhead coffee disease research in Congress

Moving pieces

ICO forecasts the year ahead in an economy fighting for stability

Manufacturing Guide 2023

Makers at the heart of the industry

India’s untapped potential

Eversys capitalises on a new era of educated consumers looking for quality

www.gcrmag.com

COVER STORY

Coffee Island CEO Konstantinos

Konstantinopoulos on leading by example, democratising greatness, and why he feels a deep sense of responsibility to make a difference across the coffee value chain.

IN THIS ISSUE

FEATURES

10 CREATING IMPACT

Coffee Island CEO

Konstantinos

Konstantinopoulos on his journey of discovery to put people over profit

15 MOVING PIECES

The ICO provides an analysis of coffee year 2021/22 and forecasts the year ahead as past global events and new challenges make their presence known

18 L AW AND ORDER

A new United States bill set to spearhead research into coffee diseases is up for consideration in Congress

22 MEMORABLE MOMENTS

Let’s Talk Coffee 2023 celebrated its 19th edition with a curated program honouring culture, coffee and Copán Ruinas

48 2023 MANUFACTURING GUIDE

A comprehensive listing of businesses committed to supporting the global industry with equipment across the supply chain

TECHNOLOGY PROFILES

26 PRIMED FOR GROWTH

Eversys makes its debut in the Indian coffee market where new customers,

clientele,

espresso NEXT semiautomatic coffee machine

42 THE NEED FOR SPEED

IMA Coffee releases

Synkro, the company’s new high-speed capsule filler machine

44 ON THE US PULSE

Gruppo Cimbali sets its sights on the American coffee scene with the launch of a new headquarters

46 ZERO ROOM FOR ERROR

Schaerer releases a new technology that removes direct interaction between the operator and cleaning agent, making handling errors a thing of the past

LAST WORD

62 IN IT TO WIN IT MICE2023 to host the Richest Barista competition, challenging international baristas to show off their skills and battle it out over three action-packed days

REGULARS

04 EDITOR’S NOTE

06 NEWS DRIP BY DRIP

58 DIARY DASHBOARD

61 MARKETPLACE

“THERE ARE MANY DISTRACTIONS THAT CAN STEER YOU AWAY FROM A FOCUS ON SPECIALTY AND QUALITY, AND THE ETHICS AND VALUES YOU HAVE. [THERE ARE] MANY EXCUSES TO QUIT.”

A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

When people return from overseas travel, the most common question asked is: “What was your favourite part?”

After attending the 19th edition of Let’s Talk Coffee in Copán Ruinas, Honduras, sure enough, I was asked the very same thing. I could have said the convention, seeing scarlet macaws flying in the wild, or simply getting on a plane after three years thanks to international travel restrictions. But for me, it was the chance to immerse myself in a culture I had never experienced.

I don’t speak Spanish. I don’t own a coffee farm, and I have no idea what it’s like to grow up with farming heritage, but in listening to the presentations of many Honduran natives who shared their challenges and triumphs, it was clear that coffee was part of their DNA.

What was also clear, was how challenging it is to engage the next generation of farmers. Many youth are leaving in droves to pursue other opportunities and migrating to the United States. Coffee farming is a tough profession, and will only get tougher.

The stories I heard were real and raw. I felt concern in some voices, and passion in others. I later approached one of the farmers who shared their story, and thanked them for their efforts. I told them how respected their work was back in my home country of Australia. There wasn’t a single word of English reciprocated, but after a hug and coffee shared, I knew they understood.

Coffee Island CEO Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos tries to convey this value each time he travels to origin, noting in our cover story interview his deep sense of responsibility to explain to producers and pickers how important their work is to consuming countries. To Konstantinopoulos,

farmers are “an external partner” but also an extension of his business.

On my last day in Honduras, I visited Finca Santa Isabel, run by third-generation farmer Juan Angel Welchez. I walked down the mountain trail, through lush, pure forest that covers around 120 acres of land, and observed the 200 acres covered in coffee trees. I inhaled the perfume of the flowering coffee that dusted tree branches like snow. I picked a ripe cherry and tasted its sweetness straight from the branch, and I ran my hands through freshly washed coffee that was only processed the morning before, noting its unique colour and slippery wet texture.

I also observed farm workers carrying 60-kilogram bags of green coffee over their shoulders, and the sheer strength needed to empty its contents into the large mechanical drier. If only they realised how much their actions contribute to thousands of joyful morning routines throughout the world.

It’s easy to disconnect from the reality of origin the minute you return home to a largely consuming country, but what this trip taught me, is an even deeper sense of gratitude and understanding of the farming profession.

For countries like Honduras, coffee is more than just a livelihood, it’s part of its history and cultural identity, and it was beautiful to see.

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Christine Clancy christine.clancy@primecreative.com.au

EDITOR

Sarah Baker sarah.baker@primecreative.com.au

JOURNALIST

Hayley Ralph hayley.ralph@primecreative.com.au

ART DIRECTOR/DESIGN

Daz Woolley

HEAD OF DESIGN Blake Storey blake.storey@primecreative.com.au

DESIGN PRODUCTION MANAGER

Michelle Weston michelle.weston@primecreative.com.au

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING ACCOUNT MANAGER

Adele Haywood adele.haywood@primecreative.com.au

CLIENT SUCCESS

Ben Griffiths ben.griffiths@primecreative.com.au

PHOTOGRAPHY

Nikos Psathoyiannakis, Let’s Talk Coffee

CONTRIBUTORS

Dock No, Georgina Jerums

HEAD OFFICE

Prime Creative Pty Ltd 379 Docklands Drive, Docklands, Victoria 3008 p: +61 3 9690 8766 f: +61 3 9682 0044 enquiries@primecreative.com.au www.gcrmag.com

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Global Coffee Report Magazine is available by subscription from the publisher. The rights of refusal are reserved by the publisher.

ARTICLES

All articles submitted for publication become the property of the publisher. The Editor reserves the right to adjust any article to conform with the magazine format.

COPYRIGHT

Sarah Baker Editor, Global Coffee Report

Global Coffee Report is owned and published by Prime Creative Media. All material in Global Coffee Report Magazine is copyright and no part may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means (graphic, electronic or mechanical including information and retrieval systems) without written permission of the publisher. The Editor welcomes contributions but reserves the right to accept or reject any material. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information Prime Creative Media will not accept responsibility for errors or omissions or for any consequences arising from reliance on information published. The opinions expressed in Global Coffee Report are not necessarily the opinions of, or endorsed by the publisher unless otherwise stated.

The new Mytico line brings excellence to life in every detail. Gamechanging coffee solutions that deliver impeccable Italian design on the outside and Franke’s Swiss quality on the inside. Go BeyondTraditional and unlock more potential for your coffee business with Mytico. Stand out from competition and convince customers to come back for more.

spearhead research into coffee diseases is up for consideration in Congress. Called the Coffee Plant Health Initiative Amendments Act (CPHIAA), the bill updates an existing law introduced back in 2014 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is designed to speed up research into crop disease threats such as coffee leaf rust and coffee berry borer. The CPHIAA is intended to help maintain supply routes for the US$225 billion United States coffee sector that 1.6 million US jobs rely on.

See page 18.

Let’s Talk Coffee 2023 celebrated its 19th edition with a curated program honouring culture, coffee and Copán Ruinas. The Sustainable Harvest event was represented by 350 people and more than 25 countries that came together to discuss the latest challenges, opportunities and innovations in the global coffee market, including climate action plans, producer living income, and the great farming migration. More than 1200 cups of coffee were served throughout Let’s Talk Coffee.

See page 22.

International Coffee Expo is hosting the Richest Barista competition, challenging baristas from around the world to show off their skills and battle it out over three action-packed days. The winner will receive AU$25,000 (about US$16,740), runner-up will take home AU$10,000 (about US$6696), and third place will win AU$5000 (about US$3348).

See page 62.

EUROPE

Coffee Island CEO Konstantinos

Konstantinopoulos has led the Patrasbased roastery through Greece’s recession, economic downturn, and global pandemic. It is now the seventh largest coffee chain network in Europe with nearly 4000 staff, around 500 stores and approximately 320 from franchise partners. Its future growth plans include the Middle East, North America, North Africa, Europe, and Canada.

See page 10.

The International Coffee Organziation says coffee consumption in coffee year

2021/22 grew at the sharpest rate since coffee year 2000/01. The confluence of these events led to the world coffee industry falling into a deficit of 7.1 million bags in coffee year 2021/22 as production fell by 1.7 per cent to 168.5 million bags, and consumption increased by 4.2 per cent to 175.6 million bags.

See page 15.

Eversys is making its debut in the Indian coffee market where new customers, new clientele, and a new era of educated consumers are looking for quality coffee options from a new wave of specialty chain operators. With a population of 1.4 billion people, which is already greater than Europe’s 746.4 million and soon to surpass China’s according to the United Nations, Eversys believes the millennial generation presents a huge potential for the growing Indian coffee market.

See page 26.

Over the past 18 months, Caffitaly, which produces 1.6 billion capsules annually, has teamed up with high-tech robotised packaging experts Cama Group and capsule provider Opem to install a new patented recyclable capsule line. Since Caffitaly was founded in 2004, it’s made inroads

178.5 million

The volume of coffee bags world consumption is expected to hit in coffee year 2022/23.

The Eagle Tempo is committed to sustainability, providing bespoke technology, and design.

The Tango XP Duo launch presentation with VR goggles.

FOCUS ON THE DETAILS

Our unique RFB roasters are equipped with the newest and most innovative roasting technologies. With our exible roasting pro les we give our clients the possibility to optimize every detail of the roasting process for a perfect result.

NEWS DRIP BY DRIP

into 70 countries, supplying to the likes of Lavazza, Tchibo and 3 Corações. It continues to extend its brand presence around the world in the capsule market, accounting for three-quarters of its business internationally, and onequarter domestically.

See page 28.

Simonelli Group’s new Victoria Arduino Eagle Tempo fully automatic coffee machine group is designed to help businesses save energy and reduce waste. It includes an Autopurge feature and New Engine Optimization technology that uses up to 29 per cent less energy than the previous White Eagle model by employing multi-boiler technology, an instant heating system, and a unique insulation mechanism.

See page 30.

The latest generation roaster in Neuhaus Neotec’s NEOROAST series, the NEOROAST 60, is capable of roasting batches of 20 to 60 kilograms with a capacity of up to 500 kilograms per hour. The NEOROAST series also includes two other sizes: the NEOROAST 15, with a batch size of five to 15 kilograms and a capacity of up to 120 kilograms per hour; and the NEOROAST 30, with a batch size of 10 to 30 kilograms and a capacity of up to 240 kilograms per hour.

See page 32.

Franke Coffee Systems has released a new product category, BeyondTraditional, and unveiled a new Mytico range that celebrates the modern needs of today’s coffee shop operators. Its Mytico Due machine has a daily capacity output of 300 cups, while Mytico Vario contains a higher daily capacity output of 360 cups. The Mytico product line is currently available in Europe and the Middle East and will be launched in Asia-Pacific in

Q3 of 2023. It is planned to launch in China, Japan, and the Americas in 2024.

See page 34.

Unic’s new Tango XP Duo super automatic espresso machine is an evolution of the original Tango machine that first launched to market in 2000 as an alternative to the common traditional two-group machine. The machine makes up to 440 espressos, 300 lungos, 240 cappuccinos, and 180 lattes or 100 latte macchiatos per hour.

See page 36.

The Luna professional grinder marks the beginning of Anfim’s new portfolio that caters to commercial coffee professionals looking for best value performance in espresso grinding. Hemro Group’s Luna can produce 1800 revolutions per minute and as much as 3.6 grams of ground coffee per second, or about one single espresso every 2.5 seconds.

See page 38.

The WMF espresso NEXT semiautomatic coffee machine combines the benefits and emotionality of a traditional portafilter with the advantages of a fully automatic coffee machine. It is recommended for venues with an average daily requirement of 300 cups.

See page 40.

IMA Coffee Packaging’s new highspeed automated capsule filling and sealing machine, Synkro, can be arranged between aluminium, plastic, and compostable capsules in different flavour intensities, giving customers the chance to configure different capsule production from one hour to the next, and produce 800 to 1200 capsules per minute of consistent quality.

See page 42.

Effective 1 June, Gruppo Cimbali is integrating its US offices and

operational activities in a single location in Seattle to create a more effective presence. Along with its new American subsidiary, Gruppo Cimbali has also moved the Slayer Espresso factory to a larger facility, increasing its production capacity. Prior to the move, Slayer Espresso was manufacturing about 1800 machines annually. Now with the new facility, the machine manufacturer has a production capacity of 5000 units a year, almost tripling its annual output.

See page 44.

Schaerer’s ProCare cleaning system removes direct interaction between the operator and cleaning agent. The compact, add-on module automatically feeds highly concentrated alkaline and acidic cleaning agent to the machine and supplies it for up to 100 fully automatic cleaning cycles.

The powder mixture in the ProCare bag means Schaerer can produce a large amount of cleaning agent with relatively low weight. It also saves space during storage and transport, and saves on logistics costs and environmental footprint.

See page 46.

6490 litres

The number of brewed coffee served during the 19th edition of Lets Talk Coffee in Copán Ruinas, Honduras

Thanks to a magnetic shuttle concept, Synkro can fill 800 to 1200-plus capsules per minute.

CREATING

Image: Nikos Psathoyiannakis

COFFEE ISLAND CEO KONSTANTINOS KONSTANTINOPOULOS ON LEADING BY EXAMPLE, DEMOCRATISING GREATNESS, AND WHY HE FEELS A DEEP SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE ACROSS THE COFFEE VALUE CHAIN.

By Sarah Baker

hen Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos first offered to work with Greece-based Coffee Island as an external consultant, he had two aims. The first, was to improve the company’s supply chain processes and procedures. The second, was to get involved in the roastery.

“Everything I did and everything I changed, was an absolute failure,” Konstantinopoulos tells Global Coffee Report.

“I couldn’t understand the difference between producing materials and producing food. I couldn’t comprehend how and why each batch of coffee was different in terms of taste. You can have different roast profiles and roast times, but the only way to understand what truly happens to the coffee, and the quality of what you produce, is to cup and taste the coffee. For an engineer who is very focused and dedicated to systems, this was difficult to accept when I’d rather use a machine test and assess the quality. Instead, in coffee, everything has to do with sense and feeling.”

Konstantinopoulos faced the obstacle head-on and decided to change his attitude and approach. He identified a lack of industry knowledge and says he was grateful the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) appeared in his life, as did this publication, one of the few industry literatures in 2011.

“I did everything I could to learn and improve. I completely transformed my mind and understanding. It was a long journey of discovery,” Konstantinopoulos says, even working part-time in a dairy factory to learn how milk is produced and handled, then best combined with coffee.

“I discovered that there are many parameters that can change the end product, but the only way to minimise risk, was to build a totally vertical integrated business,” Konstantinopoulos says. This is the message he told Coffee Island then-owner Evangelos Liolios.

“We needed to look at every single aspect of our business, from the farmer to the final cup. We never had in our mind concepts of direct trade, Fairtrade, third or fourth wave coffee,” he says. “We were receiving coffees from traders but there was limited information available. Instead, we grabbed a backpack and went to meet the producers, talk with them, and discuss the difficulties they faced. We didn’t do it to build marketing material. We did it because we realised the huge effect all these things had on our business.”

The intention to “promote the truth” and “minimise risk”, paid off. Business improved, it created strong

foundations and infrastructure, and Coffee Island built connections and partnerships the world over. But what was most impressive, Konstantinopoulos says, was the company’s motivation.

“We became inspired to keep working and trying to improve. Coffee Island was established in 1999, but the best part is that we’re just at the beginning of our journey,” he says.

NO STRAIGHT ROAD

A mechanical and aeronautic engineer by trade with a masters degree in manufacturing, Konstantinopoulos worked in the industry until 2008 when the European debt crisis began. A friend advised Konstantinopoulos that if he wanted to continue working as a freelancer consultant in manufacturing, and remain in Europe or Greece, he would need to work in the food industry, for which there would always be demand.

“I followed his advice and started work in Coffee Island in 2009. The founder was a very good friend who owned a small roastery. I told him I’d only stay a couple of months to help him, but at the same time I wanted the opportunity to understand how everything worked,” he says.

Fourteen years later, Konstantinopoulos is still working at the Patras-based roastery, but is now company CEO of what has become the seventh largest coffee chain network in Europe, and has led the business through Greece’s recession, economic downturn, and global pandemic.

“What’s normal anyway?” he says. “There was no normality to begin with, just an industry with volatile circumstances in which we always had to adapt to.

“We developed our business during the recession in Greece. We could have kept crying and asking for financial injections from the government, or we could try to grow our business. We decided we needed to be adaptable and flexible and create a system that was relevant to the financial environment and market needs. In order to be successful and differentiate our model,

Coffee Island supports 25 producers on a regular basis, some of whom have been long-standing partners since 2012.

we needed to democratise greatness. Greatness is not about having our product in the hands of a specific number of consumers in terms of pricing and geographical location. We wanted to create a long and diverse network of stores with a good diversity of products, but always totally focused on quality.”

As such, Coffee Island created a franchise system that was profitable and offered strong differentiation of products. And in Konstantinopoulos’s analysis, “it worked”.

He used the recession as an opportunity to change consumer’s perception about coffee quality. At the time, he says coffee in Greece was likely the lowest possible quality one could find. His job was to have customers be proud of the coffee they consumed.

“Walking around with a Coffee Island coffee became a status of quality,” he says.

“At the time, we were the only one who managed to create a large volume of stores, proving that specialty coffee can scale. It’s a huge investment from our side, and it’s hard to maintain the quality output of the nearly 4000 people that make coffee in our store, but we did it.”

The next step was to “perfectly engineer a cup of coffee”. Coffee Island created all the necessary systems to uphold consistency through the coffee value chain, along with holistic training and education through its own Coffee Campus.

Coffee Island now has around 500 stores, approximately 320 from franchise partners, and is a four-time recipient of the Best Coffee Chain – Southern Europe Allegra Coffee Award.

“We are very satisfied and happy about what we have done, and we have exceeded our initial targets and the dreams we had,” Konstantinopoulos says. “But what we realise, is that if we grow our business, create more Coffee Islands and more profitable businesses, we can increase the impact we have to society by buying more coffee, and helping more people and more farmers improve their lives. The impact we can have in people’s lives is enormous and significant, and it’s what inspires me.”

Konstantinopoulos says travelling to origin is a reminder of this impact, and the severity of what the end market can control.

“It’s my responsibility to explain to producers and pickers how important their work is to the [consuming market] and to keep motivating them to continue,” he says.

Coffee Island works with 25 producers on a regular basis, some of whom have been long-

standing partners since 2012. It also works with micro-farmers who produce less than 80 bags, in order to give them market access.

“We try to build long-term contracts and partnerships to ensure our partners feel safe if they have a bad year of production, and that we feel safe in case we have a bad year of consumption. If you are aligned, you are better together. I use the phrase ‘our suppliers are an extension of our enterprise’, and it’s exactly what we believe. Our farmers are an external partner but an extension of our business,” Konstantinopoulos says.

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

Coffee Island has experienced significant growth in Greece and Cyprus, and since 2017 when it started international expansion. It opened its first store in London, followed by Toronto a year later, then Dubai, Germany, Geneva, Bucharest, and Egypt. Konstantinopoulos says Coffee Island’s future growth in the Middle East, North America, North Africa, Europe, and Canada will be determined by attracting the right partners, not by specific markets.

“IN ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL AND DIFFERENTIATE OUR MODEL, WE NEEDED TO DEMOCRATISE GREATNESS.”

Konstantinos Konstantinopoulos CEO, Coffee Island

Image: Nikos Psathoyiannakis

“We try to understand the relevance of our products to the local market and modify accordingly, but if you are focused on quality, you only need to adjust. At the same time, we want to test our products and service because we still want to build an international brand, and we need to convince our audience and potential customers that we deserve [their business],” he says.

“[Coffee is] a very competitive market. It’s a dynamic market. It’s also a challenging market in terms of price and currency exchange, and there’s volatility. There are many distractions that can steer you away from a focus on specialty and quality, and the ethics and values you have. [There are] many excuses to quit,” Konstantinopoulos says.

But he hasn’t. Instead, he’s dived headfirst the entire way, even taking on a role on the SCA Board of Directors.

“When I became a Board Director at Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE) in 2015, I realised it was a very good way to really have access and the power to change things,” Konstantinopoulos says. “After the merge and

unification [between SCAE and SCAA] in 2017, what we created was one international association that’s become very special. You have close access to prestigious people from different backgrounds, and it’s a role and responsibility I take pride in.”

Konstantinopoulos truly believes the SCA has the power to improve the coffee industry for the better, citing the most recent example of its new coffee value assessment system.

“It is something that will revolutionise the future. After 20 years, we’ve tried to widen and further the definition of quality. After many years of very long discussions, we learned that the best way to serve and contribute to sustainability is to define the definition of quality in a better and more holistic way, because quality is always equivalent to pricing. This is a very big change [for the industry], from a one-dimension to a multi-dimension system that will benefit producers as well as roasters,” he says.

“In my company, we have nine Q graders. That doesn’t mean anything because at the end of the day. You need to understand how the consumer perceives quality. It’s not only about a score, or the extrinsic beauty of coffee. It’s about what the market needs, and all this together gives you a system to help improve it. We know it will be tough. It will dramatically change everything, but change is not meant to be easy.”

In the meantime, Konstantinopoulos is committed to travelling, roasting at the factory, connecting with Coffee Island stores, identifying new opportunities for growth, and finding ways to constantly improve.

“I enjoy everything in my coffee life. I still have plenty of energy and a huge motivation to do great things,” he says.

“I’ll be a tourist guide for a few weeks after World of Coffee in Athens (22 to 24 June), then I plan to visit origin including Ethiopia and maybe Peru. I love Ethiopia. We partner with Water to Thrive, a fantastic project creating wells for small villages. It amazes me that despite the lack of vital infrastructure, people there are friendly, peaceful, polite, and express their inner kindness with a big smile. This is what inspires me – I get to see the importance of coffee in people’s lives, and it reminds me how blessed I am to work in an industry that gives me an opportunity to help people.” GCR

Introducing the ultimate solution for restaurants, roasteries and bars that simply want to deliver quality coffee with speed and consistency. And as with all of Victoria Arduino’s creations, the Eagle Tempo is commi ed to sustainability, providing technology and innovative features.

With our WMF CoffeeConnect team, we take your coffee machines to the next level through connectivity. It allows problem-free communication between your coffee machines and other systems or devices, enabling you to improve the customer experience. Our wide portfolio of digital solutions gives you insight into machine data, allowing you to optimise processes, boost the performance of your fleet and find completely new business models.

Moving pieces

THE ICO PROVIDES AN ANALYSIS OF COFFEE YEAR 2021/22 AND FORECASTS

THE YEAR AHEAD AS PAST GLOBAL EVENTS AND NEW CHALLENGES MAKE THEIR PRESENCE KNOWN IN AN ECONOMY FIGHTING FOR STABILITY.

OVID-19, the global recession, rising cost of living, war in Europe, logistics disruptions, frosts in the coffee heartland of Brazil, and recovery of coffee prices are just some of the issues the global coffee industry had dealt with in the past three years.

Some of the listed events have now been resolved, some are still ongoing, while new events are continually being added; bank collapses in Europe and Americas, looming trade war between the two biggest economies in world, and high and rising interest rates. On top of these, in more recent time, the global coffee industry has been confronted with short-term adverse weather conditions that have had sharp impact on coffee supplies from origins in Africa and Americas. They are symptomatic of the long-term trend of worsening climatic changes that are forecast to have a profound impact on the coffee industry.

At times like this, insight into the major drivers that have been pushing, and will push the world coffee industry, is required.

WHAT IS CYCLICAL, COMES AROUND MORE FREQUENTLY

Two major events informed world coffee output in coffee year 2021/22. One was an established cyclical event with a localised impact, and the other was an increasingly more frequent event with global impact.

Brazil’s coffee industry was on its ‘off biennial production’ in coffee year 2021/22, with output decreasing

by 7.7 per cent to 60.4 million bags, the severest downturn since coffee year 2003/04, when output fell by 21.7 per cent, the cyclical. For coffee year 2021/22, the biennial event was augmented by a freakish weather event, frost hitting Minas Gerais, in early July 2021.

Colombia in South America, Honduras in Central America, India in South Asia, Indonesia in Southeast Asia, and Uganda in Africa, were all subject to unfavourable meteorological events that adversely impacted their coffee production more frequently. There was too much rain in Colombia, India and Indonesia, while it was a combination of events in Honduras, including lower rainfall and high incidence of rust disease, that resulted in the lower-than-expected outputs in these four major origins. In Uganda, there was not enough

SUMMARY OF THE WORLD COFFEE MARKET – ‘000 60-KG BAGS

had built as a result of global economic and social disruptions caused by the fallout from COVID-19. It needed to be released. It blewup. The near complete removal of all social restrictions around the world and the sharp economic bounce back released the valve thanks to International Monetary Fund confirming that the world economy had expanded by 6.0 per cent in 2021 and had forecast a 3.2 per cent increase for 2022 following the global recession in 2020. Coffee consumption in coffee year 2021/22 grew at the sharpest rate since coffee year 2000/01.

The confluence of these events led to the world coffee industry falling into a deficit of 7.1 million bags in coffee year 2021/22 as production fell by 1.7 per cent to 168.5 million bags and consumption increased by 4.2 per cent to 175.6 million bags.

rain, while oddly enough in Vietnam, there was the perfect amount of rain. A recent study published from PLOS Climate on 8 March 2023 titled, ‘Synchronous climate hazards pose an increasing challenge to global coffee production’ concluded that spatially compounding climate hazards have increased in frequency since 1980s, becoming acute over the past decade that are adversely affecting production globally. World coffee consumption, on the other hand, was confronted with a large pent-up demand that

THE BIG BANG

Ascertaining what may happen is a coming together of many different forces, forged under a tremendous pressure producing a result that contains all the little bits of all different forces.

On one side is the array of factors that will influence production. Some of these factors are established and do not alter readily or radically like the biennial production of coffee, farming practices, and yield. Some are new and volatile like international and local green beans prices (levels of which will influence the decisions of farmers and seasonal labourers at harvest times on whether to pick coffee cherries or not), increased global fertiliser costs and adverse weather conditions, noted in coffee year 2021/22 and continuing into coffee year 2022/23.

The impact of these factors will be positive and/or negative, the size of which will depend upon the assumptions made and endogenous elements. If all producers were to experience increased productivity, and the amount of coffee produced per hectare of land with all other elements/factors was kept constant, it would have a positive impact on coffee production.

There is also a range of factors affecting consumption. In the recent past, COVID-19 has been the single largest variable impacting consumption through social and economic influences. Social isolations, global recession and changes to consumption patterns were all due to, and as a result of, efforts to combat COVID-19. The economic aspect of the COVID-19 is now largely in the past, especially in its negative impact, but it continues to have an influence on social elements, with many parts of the world still in a hybrid-working environment. In its stead, the global economy is now influenced by rising interest rates and the war in Ukraine.

In October 2022, the World Economic Outlook and International Monetary Fund lowered its global economic outlook for 2022 and 2023 as compared with its January 2022 release.

There are other factors that will have an impact on coffee consumption in coffee year 2022/23. Some are specific, such as the war Ukraine and earthquake in Türkiye. Some are general, like the release of the pent-up demand in coffee year 2021/22; while others are long-established but sporadic in their appearance, such as high cost of living.

The results of all these factors and assumptions are that world coffee production is expected to bounce back by 1.7 per cent to 171.3 million bags, while world coffee consumption is expected to grow at a decelerating rate of 1.7 per cent to 178.5 million bags in coffee year 2022/23. As a result, the world coffee market is expected to run another year of deficit, a shortfall of 7.3 million bags. GCR

ABOUT US

This article was prepared by Dock No, International Coffee Organization (ICO) Statistics Section, the Statistical Coordinator of the Statistics Section of the ICO, a commodity industry expert with more than 20 years of experience. This outlook is shared in the ICO’s newest publication of the Statistics Section of the Secretariat of the ICO, the Coffee Report and Outlook (CRO).

The CRO can be downloaded from the ICO website: www.icocoffee.org.

LAW AND ORDER

A NEW UNITED STATES BILL SET TO SPEARHEAD RESEARCH INTO COFFEE DISEASES IS UP FOR CONSIDERATION IN CONGRESS. GLOBAL COFFEE REPORT EXPLAINS.

ig moves are afoot for the coffee industry in Washington’s corridors of power.

If campaigning goes to plan, this year or next, lawmakers on Capitol Hill will vote on a proposed coffee bill in Congress.

Called the Coffee Plant Health Initiative Amendments Act (CPHIAA), the bill updates an existing law introduced back in 2014 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and is designed to speed up research into crop disease threats such as coffee leaf rust (CLR) and coffee berry borer (CBB). It broadly expands the Initiative’s original scope to include all pests, disease and noxious weeds plus research ranging from phenology, to pest management development to genomics.

While the CPHIAA didn’t pass last year, Representative Jill Tokuda of Hawaii has re-introduced it for consideration this year with bipartisan co-sponsors. The goal is to insert it as an amendment to the 2023 Farm Bill which gets reviewed and renewed every five years. The 2018 bill expires in September.

“Congress was focused on elections last year so we were not surprised that the bill stalled out,” says Suzanne Shriner, a second-generation smallholder coffee farmer in South Kona, Hawaii who directs the Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council (SHAC), which has been leading the push for CPHIAA. “This is a ‘Farm Bill’ year and the timing’s better.”

Dr Jennifer “Vern” Long, CEO at World Coffee Research (WCR) agrees and is hopeful that given this timing, the CPHIAA will be seen as “a no-brainer” to include.

“However, there are a lot of people competing for Congress’ attention right now, so we can’t take for granted that they’re hearing us. That’s why we’ve mobilised so many WCR member companies to reach out to their legislators to let them know about this bill and our hopes for it to pass,” Long tells Global CoffeeReport. “We’re grateful for Representative Tokuda’s leadership on the CPHIAA given her strategic role on the House Agriculture Committee, one of the two committees responsible for the new Farm Bill; that increases the chances of it being considered and included. Ideally, the CPHIAA would pass this year and we could move on to working with USDA to fund coffee agriculture in line with the new language. If it doesn’t pass, we’ll be back at it next year. This issue isn’t going away.”

Long points out that it’s also part of a larger advocacy agenda. “CPHIAA is only one small brick in the fortress we need to build to protect coffee. It’s a really important piece of legislation and we will work tirelessly to help get it passed, but it’s just one small part of a bigger and more urgent commitment the industry and the public sector need to make to secure the future of coffee,” she says.

There’s a lot riding on that future. The CPHIAA – designed to help maintain supply routes for the US$225 billion United States coffee sector that 1.6 million US jobs rely on – is tailored as a safety net for growers in Hawaii and Puerto Rico who supply the lucrative specialty coffee market in the US, as well as growers in low-income countries who are particularly vulnerable to pests and disease.

Beyond the benefit to Hawaiian growers and all who purchase their coffees, is a wider gain, according to Long, as the research that flows from CPHIAA will be relevant to growers in many parts of the world. For example, she says pretty much all US coffee businesses – coffee roasters, importers, retailers, and restaurants – rely on coffee grown outside the US, and the same is true of many other consuming countries. As well, she notes solutions for coffee leaf rust in Hawaii, including when and how to best apply

Looking to create market-Leading COFFee?

Dr Jennifer “Vern” Long is CEO at World Coffee Research.

fungicides and fertilisers, can help address similar challenges coffee farmers in Latin America are facing, reducing supply risk to any coffee business that buys coffee from the region.

It’s not only coffee businesses that will profit, either. Last year, US sugar growers and the dairy industry joined in supporting CPHIAA. After all, when coffee does well and grows, so do the folks who supply and sell milk and sweeteners.

Although not yet enacted as a bill, the Initiative must pass both houses of Congress before it goes to the President for consideration. According to William Murray, President and CEO of the National Coffee Association (NCA), the fact that the bill is set to go before Congress in 2023 reaffirms the industry’s contribution to national wealth.

“More Americans (66 per cent of adults) drink coffee each day than any other beverage. As agricultural research and development plays a key role in the future of America’s favourite beverage, NCA urges Congress to advance legislation that prioritises coffee as a key contributor to Americans’ daily lives, farmers’ livelihoods, and

THE ALOHA STATE

Despite Hawaii being a “very expensive” place to grow coffee due to US labour laws and high land use costs, SHAC’s Shriner says the Kona brand has thrived because of the reputation of the Typica variety with its mild acidity, chocolate notes and sweet aftertaste.

Unfortunately, pesky coffee leaf rust also has a preference for Typica. The region was ravaged by yield loss in 2022. As the industry moves towards replacing crops with resistant varieties, Shriner says growers and consumers must partner with plant breeders to ensure flavour profiles are acceptable, cup quality is high, and yields are economically sustainable.

“Variety development thus far has largely prioritised yields or resilience challenges such as drought,” says Shriner, “however, we know the market demands flavour and quality prioritisation as well, regardless of where the coffee is grown. CPHIAA would create an opportunity for more innovative research in variety development and breeding. This is crucial, as Hawaii’s 1500 farmers only survive if they can sell at the specialty coffee price level.”

For the 2021-2022 crop season, USDA valued Hawaii’s green coffee at US$113 million, and the roasted equivalent at more than US$161.45 million, not accounting for upstream and downstream revenues from increased tourism and ancillary businesses in the coffee belt.

While Shriner says most people are familiar with the iconic Kona region, the regions of Maui, Ka’u and Kauai also hold sway, with more than 1500 farmers across the islands.

“They mirror the global economic reality where farmers carry the risks, yet receive the lowest rewards in the supply chain. Data shows that average Hawaii farm income is below the poverty line, so when a new pest or disease shows up, it can have devastating economic effects,” she says.

WINDS OF CHANGE

Andrew Miller, Founder and Partner of Café Imports in Minneapolis, says he is pleasantly surprised to see the work WCR was doing in the legislative arena, especially after witnessing how pests like CBB make coffee nearly unmarketable. “It has been tragic,” Miller says, who through Café Imports, has been importing specialty green coffee from 26 countries since 1993.

He recalls how the 2008-2013 coffee rust outbreak devastated the coffee world, Colombia in particular, adding that it was only plant science that saved farmers.

“If universities in wealthier countries can develop solutions, those can be shared with [financiallydisadvantaged] farmers in the rest of the world. This bill is extremely important. That’s why I, and some of my clients, wrote to our Representatives about it. We’re pleased to be a part of this project,” he says.

Although disease is always a threat on the horizon, WCR’s Long remains optimistic.

The Kona coffee belt on the Island of Hawaiʻi was ravaged by coffee leaf rust in 2022.

Andrew Miller is the Founder and Partner of Café Imports.

“We’re currently working on an analysis of the gap of investment in research and how much the global coffee industry needs to secure the future of coffee. The main takeaway for now is that everyone has a role to play – it’ll require investment from both the public and private sectors across multiple countries, not just the US,” she says.

“Lack of investment, which has led to a crisis of innovation in coffee agriculture, is one of the biggest threats to the coffee industry. Without it, we can’t address challenges like climate change, pests, and disease at the scale and speed needed to overcome them. We’ve already seen how diseases like coffee rust – much like human epidemics – spread rapidly around the world, putting growers out of business and causing supply shocks that affect the global coffee industry. While the US is our biggest case study so far on the power of advocacy for coffee agriculture, we’re looking to expand this to other countries including in Europe. I’m excited for what the future holds given our collective and individual voices on these matters are already making a difference – and what’s possible when even more countries and their coffee industries get involved.”

Shriner shares that excitement, adding that Hawaii coffee is in the midst of an existential change, brought about by CLR.

“The stakes are high, the investment gap is real. On my family’s farm, we’ve been discussing baseline soil and fertiliser research needs for over 30 years. Those foundational issues seem almost quaint now in light of our changing climate and rapidly-spreading disease cycles. But they still exist,” Shriner says. “And while it may seem that Hawaii brands subsist in the rarefied air of specialty coffee, our growers have much more in common with the 12.5 million smallholder farms around the world. But farmers are an inherently optimistic bunch: the rains will come soon, yields will be up next year, and a paragraph of legislation will enact big change. I believe all those things are in coffee’s future.” GCR

Suzanne Shriner is an administrator at the Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council.

Memorable moments

LET’S TALK COFFEE 2023 CELEBRATED ITS 19TH EDITION WITH A CURATED PROGRAM HONOURING CULTURE, COFFEE AND THE HONDURAN CITY OF COPÁ N RUINAS. NEW IDEAS AND INNOVATION WERE SHARED, BUT IT WAS THE PASSION OF THE HOST COUNTRY THAT STOLE THE SHOW.

By Sarah Baker

hen I first heard Let’s Talk Coffee was taking place in Copán Ruinas, I Googled the town. When I first spoke to event Founder David Griswold about attending the 19th edition of the event as a panel moderator, I was captivated by the opportunity. And when I finally told people I was going to Honduras, they asked if it was safe to visit.

But after travelling a good 36 hours from Melbourne to San Pedro Sula and a further five hours via bus into Copán Ruinas – safely escorted with the support of the Honduran government and policy municipality – I can confidently say any doubts or fears quickly eroded. For this event was an impeccably well-orchestrated ensemble from start to finish with plenty of accents, emotions, and movement from the 65 presenters who shared their expertise over 18 sessions and three days of informative panel discussions from 20 to 25 February.

Three-hundred-and-fifty people representing more than 25 countries didn’t come to just “talk coffee”. We discussed it, analysed it, tasted it, and celebrated it with old and new coffee friends. Sustainable Harvest celebrates relationship coffee, and at this event, it was on full display in every sense of the word.

DAY ONE: A FEAST FOR THE SENSES

Attending the first day of Let’s Talk Coffee felt like the first day of school. I was ready and eager to listen and absorb all the information that came my way at Marina Copán Convention Center. After an opening address from Sustainable Harvest Founder David Griswold, Chief Coffee Officer Jorge Cuevas and new Managing Director Katherine Nolte on their vision and commitment to transparency and community under the new guidance of Sucafina, it was time to get down to business.

Session after session, I was hooked on content from knowledgeable industry insiders such as Albert Scalla, Senior Futures and Commodity Trader at StoneX, talking about the future of the coffee market.

He addressed the impact of climate change, market volatility, the lack of transparent and reliable supply and demand data, and rising global inflation as a result of the war in Ukraine.

“If the war stops, several commodity prices will be highly volatile, energies will drop suddenly

Traditional Honduran dancers at the Harvee Awards gala event.

Images: Let’s Talk Coffee

from the desperate need from Russia to generate dollar revenues to rebuild the country,” Salla said.

He also noted that Brazil’s 2023-2024 crop cycle will be critical in determining price trends.

“We cannot afford to have further weather problems,” Scalla said. “We need to start preparing for the future and considering how to protect ourselves in order to be competitive.”

Andrea and Jon Allen spoke about their Onyx Coffee Lab model and how they used values to create their brand. Rachel Peterson of Hacienda La Esmeralda, Fátima Ismael at UCA Soppexca and Lucy Ward of St Ali Coffee Roasters talked about innovation at farm level and balancing consumer needs. Cosimo Libardo of Nomad Coffee Consulting covered marketing innovation and how to bring a brand to life.

Mario Fernández of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) had the crowd hanging on his every word when he discussed the new coffee value assessment system.

“The system we are proposing at SCA is to look at the value of coffee based on all the attributes that make it valuable in one’s own supply chain, such as its taste, size of the bean, the roast, the type of process, variety, farm etc,” Fernández said. “For me as a producer, this new process is important because as a measure, evaluation systems must be complete. What’s in the cup matters. What we expect matters, and what we know maters.”

With guests curious about the changes and its impact on value discovery, a cupping session to follow was an opportunity to test one of the assessment forms in the new system.

In the afternoon it was Martin Löfberg of Swedish roaster Löfbergs who talked about the company’s commitment in the Era of We platform and how climate change is the industry’s biggest long-term challenge in addition to attracting the next generation of consumers.

“What we need, is trust, which is built over time, and the use of traceability for active development and change,” he said.

That night at Sevan’s BBQ grill dinner, guests discussed the day’s events, connected with new faces, and in true tradition, the roasters prepared and served the producers in a role-reversal show of appreciation.

DAY TWO: PERSPECTIVE

Waking to the sound of flying macaws overhead and the ferrying of tuk-tuks was the perfect way to calm the nerves for the first speaker to present on day two – yours truly. I was honoured to moderate

the featured country presentation on Australia, with guest speakers Lucy Ward of St Ali and Debra Knight of Knight Mattingly Coffee Roasters, sharing market insights, challenges, and opportunities in the Australian landscape.

Other engaging talks filtered throughout the day, including the market potential for regenerative organic coffee and ethical coffee consumers, but it was the host country panel on Honduras that left the audience wiser on the realities of the coffee land on which we were visiting.

Napoleon Matute, Technical Manager at Instituto Hondureño del Café (IHCAFE) spoke about a recent study on coffee producing families in Honduras that found at least 90 per cent of each family had one household member move to the United States in search of more opportunities.

“Young people are leaving the coffee growing regions, which is extremely frustrating,” he said. “The position of Honduran coffee is important and our producers have done impressive work to stand out in the market. Fifty-five countries purchase our coffee. Europe is our most important market, but we have to maintain our place in our own market.”

Katia Duke of Finca San Isidro turned the conversation from challenges to action. What Honduran producers need, she said, was equal footing with commercial partners.

“We need to make sure our strategies are aligned, not just regarding sales but strategies around the problems we are facing, such as financing and education. We need the next generation to be motivated

Mario Fernández participates in a cupping to demonstrate one of the SCA’s new assessment forms.

From left: Sustainable Harvest Chief Coffee Officer Jorge Cuevas, new Managing Director Katherine Nolte, and Founder David Griswold.

to continue what we’re giving them as an inheritance. We want them to have a piece of the pie. We need to co-create better conditions for women. We don’t want anyone to be left behind,” Duke said.

“Twenty per cent of coffee producers in Honduras are women. Women make up the bulk of the labour but at the same time, our access to land titles and other resources are limited. If we can’t get finance, we can’t improve. We need access to technology, access to credit to improve our quality, and access to information. Honduran coffee is a top-shelf contender with amazing coffee, we just need more support.”

That afternoon, a panel on ‘Living income from the producers’ perspective’ continued to shine a spotlight on the needs of farmers, as did a discussion on biological solutions for the future of coffee agriculture.

Carla Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Senior Advisor Sustainable Livelihoods of Fairtrade International spoke about the price coffee farmers need to be able to make a living income, asking the crowd:

“How can we make sure a farmer takes leave? How does a farmer working for 50 years get to retire?

Felix Camposeco of La Asociación de Cooperación al Desarrollo Integral de Huehuetenango (ACODIHUE) in Guatemala amplified the need to have coffee be a more sustainable commodity.

“It is necessary to make a constant analysis of the cost of production (annually) to take into account when proposing a living income. A living income means that families have money to eat, for health, for education and, if possible, for entertainment,” Camposeco says.

“In order for a family to live off coffee, they need to have at least one hectare of coffee production and sell it at a living income. Fifty per cent of women producers have much less than the necessary production area, so we need to have projects to provide food and health support.”

That evening, with plenty of thoughts to digest, guests gathered in the town square where coffee was once again celebrated as part of the town’s identity. I watched a lady roast coffee over coals while her young child looked on with a huge smile. He’s the next generation we’re talking about.

DAY THREE: NEXTGEN

More than 1200 cups of coffee were served throughout Let’s Talk Coffee. The last day of the event boosted this number to a total 6490 litres when water qualities were compared and the impact on taste profiles assessed.

Great panel discussions highlighted the need to build more data-driven supply chains, and the impact of electric roaster technology, but it was the ‘NextGen of climate pioneers’ that had the crowd in rapturous applause.

power 50 per cent of the farm’s energy supply.

Pablo Ruiz of the Hanns R. Neumann Foundation spoke about the importance of youth in coffee; and while it’s been known, it’s never been fully understood. He shared a photo of a couple on a farm, and said “what’s missing from the image, is the entire family”.

“We need to transform the reality of coffee farming to the next generation. Eight per cent of coffee producers in Honduras are aged between 18 to 30 years of age,” he said.

“We did a survey of 1000 youth coffee farmers in more than 98 municipalities, and only 32 per cent of young people were found to own their land. Only 12 per cent have access to finance and those that do, have high interest rates. Only 31 per cent receive technical assistance. Most say they are missing financial opportunities, and only 10 per cent belong to coffee farmer organisations. Ninety-five per cent of them said they were feeling the effects of climate change, and more than 51 per cent said they are thinking of migrating

Let’s Talk Coffee hosted an Australian coffee panel with Sarah Baker of GCR , Debra Knight of Knight Mattingly Coffee Roasters and Lucy Ward of St Ali.

from outside their communities. That should give us goose bumps.”

As such, Ruiz said the concept of ‘climate pioneers’ has been an initiative of the past two years where 50 graduates had been invited to

be part of the solution. Youth are taught soft skills, and how to follow smart climate practices, develop business models, and how to become leaders.

“We don’t just want to train them to become better coffee growers, but better entrepreneurs. Some of the best-run farms in Honduras are those run by the next generation because they are wanting to try new things in the midst of a traditional culture,” he said.

“The answer to getting the youth involved in all levels of the supply chain, is to work with the private and public entities, sector by sector with a young person’s lens on. Ask yourself: ‘what’s my business doing to support young people?’ I can tell you, it’s worth it.”

The event concluded with the Harvees Awards gala event. Before the crowd danced the night away in traditional Honduran song and dance, Torrey Lee from Cafe Moto and Fatima Ismael from UCA Soppexca were awarded Harvees. David Griswold received special recognition from producer leaders for his commitment to supporting smallholder farmers.

WHERE DIAMONDS ARE MADE

All good things must come to an end, although I was just getting used to Honduran Lempira, and a touch of Spanish. On our final day in Copán Ruinas, guests were invited to visit to the Macaw Mountain Bird Park and Nature Reserve; the Mayan Ruins, one of the most important sites of the Mayan civilisation, or Finca Santa Isabel. When any Aussie has the chance to be at origin, we take it.

After a tour of Juan Welchez’s family farm, I asked third-generation farmer Juan Angel Welchez what it was that makes Honduran coffee so special.

“I believe that Honduras is a rough gem. We have a lot to offer, not only in volume and quantity of coffee, being the six largest producer in the world,” he said. “The world might not know that we have great coffee, but we have great people, great land, and coffee that’s rich in history and social integration. We just need to polish it so that the world knows that we do have great specialty coffee.” GCR

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Guests to Let’s Talk Coffee had the opportunity to visit the Welchez’s Finca Santa Isabel.

Primed for growth

EVERSYS MAKES ITS DEBUT IN THE INDIAN COFFEE MARKET WHERE NEW CUSTOMERS, NEW CLIENTELE, AND A NEW ERA OF EDUCATED CONSUMERS ARE LOOKING FOR QUALITY COFFEE OPTIONS FROM A NEW WAVE OF SPECIALTY CHAIN OPERATORS.

rior to 2022, espresso machine manufacturer Eversys considered India to be a “virtual market”. Tea remained the number one consumed beverage – besides whiskey and beer –with coffee not even on the radar, but all that is changing.

“Every time I go to a coffee shop in India, you can see that the young generation is not drinking tea anymore. It’s a coffee generation. Everyone below 30 years old has the laptop open, they’re working, they’re studying, and they’re sipping on a coffee,” says Jack Mhanna, Eversys Regional Operations Director of the Middle East.

With a population of 1.4 billion people, which is already greater than Europe’s 746.4 million and soon to surpass China’s according to the United Nations, Mhanna says the millennial generation presents a huge potential for the growing Indian coffee market.

“In the past few years, we’ve really started to see its development – starting with the quality of coffee beans it produces. Specialty coffee chains that we partner with, like Third Wave Coffee, Blue Tokai Coffee and Tim Hortons, use locally-grown coffee, which means the quality has come a long way,” Mhanna says.

Prior to starting partnerships with these three chains last year, Eversys had no presence in the Indian market. Now, Mhanna says it’s become one of the biggest markets for Eversys’ Middle East office, and one with the most potential.

“In the beginning we thought that establishing partnerships in India would be challenging due to high import taxes and the fact that the industry is in a very early stage of development. The capacity to use high-end machines was not evident. That has changed with people looking for high-quality technology, and with that comes opportunity for growth,” Mhanna says.

“When brands see the quality of beverage and the consistency that comes from Eversys, they fall in

love with our machine’s technology. This is the beginning for Eversys in India. The potential for growth is big, and it’s snowballing.”

The two largest growth markets for Eversys are the country’s capital, New Delhi, and Bangalore, the largest city of the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

Overall, the Cameo is the most dominant Eversys machine in the Indian market, capable of making two espressos at once or 175 espressos per hour. However, Eversys has recently shipped its first Shotmaster machine, the largest and most powerful in its range, to Bangalore airport for a Third Wave Coffee outlet producing around 1500 cups of coffee per day.

“You can have a high, medium, and low foot traffic coffee shop and have three different Eversys machines that produce exactly the same ratio of espresso. The only difference is their capacity output,” Mhanna says.

It’s for this reason that Ayush Bathwal, Co-

Third Wave Coffee uses Eversys Cameo machines to boost production output across India.

Founder of Third Wave Coffee Roasters, decided to partner with Eversys.

“When we hit 20 to 25 cafés doing anywhere between 180 to 250 cups a day, it was very clear to us that we could not use traditional machines [any longer]. We know that being a barista is a specialised job, and there’s great pride in the job, but we also knew hiring staff would be a challenge and that there would be constant turnover. We had a clear indication that we would have to move to something more automatic. We were looking for a machine that would do as good a cup as [our traditional machines did],” Bathwal says.

“One of our suppliers showed us videos of the Eversys machines and the technology in them. We had a chat to Federico Ortile [Eversys MEIA Team] and Jack, and we put a machine on the bar to try. We were really impressed with the consistency it delivered.”

A month later, Third Wave Coffee put an order in. To date, 60 Eversys Cameo machines have been installed across Third Wave Coffee outlets.

“We have been able to optimise the amount of space we require on the coffee bar thanks to the machine’s small footprint,” Bathwal says.

“We’ve also come to realise that the customer just wants a good cup of coffee, and whether it’s done by a robot or human really does not matter.

“We’ve been able to show people that we can have consistency, and even internally, people have come to appreciate the Eversys machine. Our staff can optimise the time spent making coffee. Previously, it may have taken about 25 to 30 minutes to have the machine set up and ready for the day. Now it takes about three to four minutes.”

Third Wave Coffee operates 97 coffee shops across six cities in India. It aims to open about 70 this financial year, and about 80 to 100 next year, with the goal to achieve 1500 to 2000 stores over the next four to five years.

“We see a massive opportunity in India. I think there’s a very brief moment in a company’s history where you can capture the market and achieve very fast growth, and that’s what we’re trying to do now, at a steady rate – be an everyday coffee brand,” Bathwal says.

He says one of the most encouraging developments in the past seven years has been customer’s understanding of what makes a good coffee versus a bad one.

“That education is due to the sheer number of specialty coffee roasters and coffee shops available, which means chains like Third Wave Coffee have to be focused on quality: ensuring milk is textured

at the right temperature, and that our coffee is sourced well, roasted fresh, and consistent. People do notice the difference,” Bathwal says.

“Previously, the biggest headache used to be staff learning how to correctly steam milk and mastering that before they went into a store. Now we don’t have to worry. We can teach someone how to make a good cappuccino in 15 minutes, and it means our baristas can focus on other interesting things around coffee and talk about those things in detail to customers.”

Beyond the machine’s operational capabilities, Bathwal says Eversys machines are “futuristic”. He can access telemetry data remotely, roll out new recipes, and make software upgrades without physically being present in the café or relying on staff to act correctly.

Mhanna mentions that just yesterday, he connected to an Eversys machine in India while working from Dubai.

“The telemetry system is a huge advantage because of India’s large geography,” he says. “Ayush is an IT engineer, so he was very impressed to know how telemetry works and the data we receive from the machine. I’m confident to say that customers [in the Indian market] haven’t seen it on any other machine because they typically use manual or entry-level machines, so it’s an impressive new feature for them.”

The system also collects sensor data, which is monitored remotely to identify additional issues, such as water pressure or power supply problems, so that Eversys can support their customers in managing operational changes.

It’s this level of support that Bathwal values just as much as his cafés’ technical needs.

“[The Eversys team are] focused on ensuring that you succeed as a business. We met them in the Dubai office, they’ve come down to meet us [in India], and it’s always a very warm experience that feels more like a partnership than a regular client relationship,” Bathwal says.

It’s partnerships like these that Eversys hopes to continue as more Indian customers discover the capabilities of Eversys, and its 14 years of industry experience.

“The transformation the Indian market is going through is exciting. Big change is happening due to new entrants with a higher quality and productivity focus Third Wave Coffee, or Tim Hortons who only entered the market last year. What we are really aiming for, right now, is establishing Eversys as the equipment of choice for this new breed, this new generation of coffee shops in India,” says Eversys Commercial and Marketing Director, Christian Haueter.

“I don’t feel we need to set a target of mass. Rather, I believe we should focus on the new generation of coffee brands that benefit from our technology, and grow with them over the next couple of years. We have a really great feeling for the upcoming development in the Indian market with Eversys.” GCR

For more information, visit www.eversys.com/en/

Third Wave Coffee aims to open 1500 to 2000 stores over the next four to five years.

The Power of Three

CAFFITALY’S NEW PACKAGING LINE COLLABORATION WITH CAMA GROUP AND OPEM IS ALL ABOUT QUALITY CONTROL THROUGHOUT THE PRODUCTION CYCLE AND FINDING SOLUTIONS TO MEET EVOLVING CUSTOMER NEEDS.

o stand out in the increasingly crowded single-serve capsule space, roasters need to consistently source quality ingredients to make an outstanding cup of coffee. They also need to build a close partnership with those responsible for packaging their product in order to have control over the quality of product at each stage of production.

One company that intimately knows and lives this truism is single-serve coffee giant and single-service machine manufacturer Caffitaly, which produces 1.6 billion capsules annually. Over the past 18 months, it has teamed up with high-tech robotised packaging experts Cama Group in Lecco and capsule provider Opem in Parma to install a patented new recyclable capsule line at its plant in Bologna, Italy.

Federico Oneto, Caffitaly’s Executive Vice President of Product Supply says the company was on the hunt for packaging partners who could consistently deliver on two touch points: flexibility and speed. Flexibility was a prerequisite in terms of delivering small, medium and large packaging for different configurations of capsules. Speed was critical in relation to having a swift feeding line changeover

from one product to the next, and faster overall packaging production for a 24/7 production cycle with minimal bottlenecks.

“We may be producing packaging for 10 capsules in a tube, or 50 capsules in a box, for example,” Oneto says. “Alternatively, we may be producing a square or rectangular box, with matt or gloss paper, with fold-out parts, or with a handle. We need to customise the packaging to make it stand out on the shelves from the competition. Also, our packaging needs can vary from one day to the next, so we need a sophisticated machine that can respond quickly to our needs. It needs to be a fast changeover, sometimes in the space of hours.”

The three-way collaboration between Caffitaly, Cama Group and Opem to create a new packaging line, which is set for production in May 2023, involves customising a scalable, fully recyclable and compostable capsule range. It even looks after the packaging and delivery of product, taking into account quality and supply reliability, in what has ultimately evolved into a one-stop-shop.

The new production line, which can produce 560 to 600 capsules per minute, is part of Caffitaly’s heavy investment in ongoing innovation to grow the brand, which now employs 450 staff at three factories in Italy, and one in southeastern Brazil.

Since Caffitaly was founded in 2004, it’s made inroads into 70 countries, supplying to the likes

The multi-line packaging machine for Caffitaly® Proprietary system capsules.

Opem’s Pegaso CR-8+8P Linear capsule filling machine.

of Lavazza, Tchibo and 3 Corações. It continues to extend its brand presence around the world in the capsule market, accounting for threequarters of its business internationally, and onequarter domestically. Becoming an increasingly important part of its brand is Caffitaly’s ability to offer state-of-the-art technology packaging solutions on-site when requested by customers. As such, Caffitaly now commits to an annual investment of approximately €2.5 million (about US$28 million) in research and development.

To help Caffitaly evolve as a leader in the packaging marketplace, leading packaging company Cama Group supplies the company with robotics.

“We have a true partnership with Caffitaly, it’s a mutual exchange of information and a relationship built on previous experience as we’ve been partnering with them for over 20 years,” says Renato Dell’Oro, Global Account Manager, Coffee Industry, Cama Group.

“We use robotics that have machine-learning maintenance, and we give support training to Caffitaly to help prevent a bottleneck and ensure all the machinery is kept in good shape. We have a huge array of packaging styles across food, beverage, home, health, and pet food sectors: all shapes, all sizes, all counts, all flavours and all volumes.”

Dell’Oro says being agile is also key to maintaining market leadership, and this is where Cama shines in its offering.

“You need to act fast on delivering what the customer wants. Before the pandemic, customers would often book an order two or three months in advance. Whereas now, demand is picking up for

packaging. Customers may book an order just two or three weeks in advance so there is a need for a much faster turnaround. We need to be more agile in when we get the product to customers,” Dell’Oro says.

He adds that Cama and Opem have been involved in many projects together, and over time, have become an extended family, offering complementary technologies, and seamless up- and down-stream integration with each other.

Mauro Martinengo, Commercial Director at Opem agrees, adding that its recent collaboration with Cama and Caffitaly on the new recyclable capsule production line has been “a wonderful opportunity” it is “proud and excited” to be part of.

“The market wants capsules that guarantee quality: that are properly sealed and therefore protected against heat and humidity to maintain aroma and freshness. We’ve been step-by-step testing the development of a recyclable capsule and trying out different materials. There is a patent on this machine. We need to maximise the efficiency of the line so the machine can run 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he says.

The challenge in producing the new line, Martinengo says, has been to work with a new capsule configuration and create capsules that are 100 per cent recyclable.

“The main goal of this project is to have less environmental impact by reducing the production of plastics. For Caffitaly, we must guarantee a certain number and quality. To have 24-hour efficiency of the line, we are at around 97 per cent efficiency. This is one of the main characteristics of this machine. This is a new product for Caffitaly and a very big opportunity,” Martinengo says.

Martinengo adds that recyclable capsules are a burgeoning market due to increased consumer demand, which rose during the global pandemic and has continued post-pandemic on the back of cost-of-living pressures.

“Interestingly, the trend for capsules is growing even more post pandemic because people are wanting cost savings by making single-serve coffee at home or in the office,” Martinengo says. “Also, capsules are very simple to use and people like the time-saving element – just switch on the machine and in 30 to 40 seconds, your coffee is ready. The capsule market has a growing product selection and the quality is improving, whether you want 100 per cent Arabica or decaffeinated and so on. Younger generations are now drinking more coffee, too, so that’s adding to the capsule trend.”

Cama Group’s Renato Dell’Oro adds that whatever the next stage in the development of recyclable capsule lines is, Cama will be ready to adapt.

Federico Oneto, Executive Vice President Product Supply, Caffitaly.

Renato Dell’Oro, Global Account Manager, Coffee Industry, Cama Group.

Mauro Martinengo, Commercial Director at Opem.

Pick up the Tempo

SIMONELLI GROUP EXPLAINS HOW THE VICTORIA ARDUINO EAGLE TEMPO ENHANCES ITS RANGE OF COFFEE MACHINES WITH EFFICIENT PERFORMANCE AND TECHNICAL FUNCTIONALITY.

ictoria Arduino, owned by parent company Simonelli Group, has 118 years history of creating high-end traditional machines for professional baristas and coffee enthusiasts, including the Black Eagle Maverick, White Eagle, Eagle One, and E1 Prima.

Its new Eagle Tempo, however, is a versatile machine that’s designed with one clear goal and purpose: to make any barista feel confident and empowered to make a quality espresso.

“Eagle Tempo is the machine people need when they want to simplify the coffee making process. It’s a sophisticated solution for those who have limited time for staff training, are educating people who are not familiar with coffee making, or are at the beginning of their barista journey,” says Marco Feliziani, Simonelli Group Vice President.

The coffee machine is specially designed for all abilities and venues that want to deliver high-quality coffee and plant-based drinks consistently, such as restaurants, roasteries, chains, bakeries, patisseries, hotels, and specialty coffee shops.

“The Victoria Arduino Eagle Tempo is a product that has recognisable design and high productivity capacity and incorporates technology that enables a business to be managed while saving energy and reducing waste,” says Feliziani.

“It’s compact enough to fit into the modest of spaces. Whether you’re serving one or a dozen customers, a handful of patented technologies guarantee that every single beverage is as good as the last.”

The group head features five pre-programmed buttons and a simple interface between the user and the automation of the software. It facilitates fast training of personnel to prepare milk-based drinks or plant-based alternatives.

“Using the touchscreen display, you can set the temperature of every group for the production of different drinks to respond quickly to the needs of varied clientele during peak times,” Feliziani says.

To further increase workplace efficiency, the Eagle Tempo includes an Autopurge feature that automatically cleans the group head when a barista unhooks the portafilter.

The Eagle Tempo is committed to sustainability, providing bespoke technology, and design.

The touchscreen display allows users to set the temperature of each group head.

“Having to stop and clean the group head slows things down and takes up valuable moments of a barista’s time when they could be completing other tasks like conversing with customers,” says Feliziani.

“The automatic cleaning of the group after detaching the portafilter makes for quicker drink preparation and guarantees the cleanliness of the components over a longer period, along with reduced maintenance.

“Picture this: the café is full, orders are flying in thick and fast, meanwhile, Victoria Arduino’s Eagle Tempo is proficiently taking care of business. With portafilters fresh for the next basket, three different-sized cups brewing simultaneously, one order is finished in a rich foam before moving on to the next.”

Feliziani adds that the machine’s Steam by Wire feature generates a “perfect vortex of milk” in the milk pitcher. It optimises the micronisation of the dairy or plant-based drink to guarantee a smooth, silky texture.

“With two controls, purge and steam, the barista can serve exceptional coffee, delivered via the innovative steam wand that features a tangential perforated nozzle. Simply push the electronically controlled steam lever, moulded in aluminium, and ergonomically designed for easy activation,” he says.

“The electronic system also ensures the quality of dry steam remains consistent, thanks to Eagle Tempo’s high-volume stainless-steel boilers that can maintain a constant pressure of 2.1 bar.”

This is paired with the Eagle Tempo’s Easycream technology, allowing users to simply press the new steam lever to get the desired milk cream.

“You’ve got perfect dry steam, but ensuring it’s used correctly to dress your coffee is an art in itself. Easycream quickly takes all the drama out of creating the perfect foam for your brew. Whether you’re using dairy milk or a plantbased alternative, our wand features automatic steaming for a fast, consistent foam that’s rapidly delivered at the optimum temperature to ensure your milk is always pillow soft,” Feliziani says.

Feliziani says the Eagle Tempo, as with all Victoria Arduino’s coffee equipment produced in Italy, is committed to sustainability.

“Victoria Arduino’s exclusive New Engine Optimization (NEO) technology offers high productivity by using up to 29 per cent less energy than the previous White Eagle model by employing multi-boiler technology, an instant

heating system and a unique insulation mechanism that reduces both heat dispersion and energy consumption,” he says.

“It is simple to use and enables the barista to set the temperature on the display. The Eagle Tempo maintains the same temperature during the whole dispensing phase for the production of consistently high-quality beverages. The installation of an eight-litre capacity steam boiler also allows for the preparation of lots of milk-based drinks.”

The NEO motor is equipped with Thermal Energy Recovery System, a patented technical solution that can recover the heat of outgoing water to preheat incoming water, saving a further 8 per cent of energy, reducing costs, and keeping ecological credentials in check.

Feliziani explains that the functional characteristics of the Eagle Tempo are linked to the new design details that make it a present-day product with strong recognisability. The Eagle Tempo was created from a restyling of the White Eagle with updated and minimalistic lines and details.

“The group, for example, recalls the lines of the coffee machine profile and features backlit soft-touch buttons to accelerate machine operation. A new design has been given to the drip tray, which facilitates cleaning, along with the steam wand purge. The headlights, which are led installed below the group, provide uniform illumination during extraction, while the new steam wand is longer for the use of larger capacity jugs. It also has cool touch to avoid burns during operation,” he says.

The new Victoria Arduino coffee machine is available in four colour versions: matte black, matte white, steel, and a special heritage version in steel with brass details.

Feliziani says the Eagle Tempo has welcomed positive feedback among consumers, due to its high-end qualities and affordable price-point.

“When you bring together our commitment and passion for making quality coffee, you can see we are making something for our people, our customers. When a product is well-received that means we understand the customer’s needs and shows them that we are taking care of them,” he says.

“We wanted to create a coffee machine for the younger generation of baristas starting off with highhanded technology. We want baristas to know that our passion for them and simplifying their work in the best way possible, are the driving values that underpin our brand philosophy.” GCR

For more information, visit www.victoriaarduino.com

The Autopurge feature automatically cleans the group head when a barista unhooks the portafilter.

Closing the gap

ccording to German roasting equipment manufacturer Neuhaus Neotec, the market demand for small- to medium-sized roasting equipment is prevalent in the specialty coffee scene.

To cater to this need, Neuhaus Neotec has developed the newest member of its NEOROAST series, the NEOROAST 60. It is an upsized roaster capable of roasting batches of 20 to 60 kilograms with a capacity of up to 500 kilograms per hour.

“The NEOROAST 60 is designed for specialty roasters and smaller batch production and has a unique design for optimal flavour and aroma development. It is also equipped with a hot air recirculation system in order to save energy,” says Neuhaus Neotec Head of Marketing Lars Henkel.

“An ideal customer would include a start-up specialty coffee roaster that is looking to expand specialty coffee production after a successful market launch and has some experience in coffee roasting.”

Henkel says roasting cycles can be complete in just four minutes, or up to 20 minutes if the customer desires, offering production flexibility.

“The NEOROAST 60 roasting chamber completely differs from conventional designs. It operates without any bean agitators or mechanical parts, only using air to move the coffee rotationally and heat the beans homogeneously, without breakage, abrasion, or hot spots,” says Henkel.

“The green bean [holding] bin holds one batch and is equipped with an automatically controlled slide. The solid slide provides thermal separation of the preloaded bin with green coffee from the running cycle. As soon as the operator starts roasting, the slide releases the green coffee into the chamber.”

A gas burner heats the air flow and a pipe and perforated plate in the bottom of the roasting chamber feds it into the roasting chamber.

To Neuhaus Neotec, the greatest limitation in roast profiling is the thermal inertia of the system, which

becomes more restricted the larger the volume of coffee has to be temperature-controlled. The German manufacturer recognised this problem early on and developed a hot-air roasting system called Rotating Flexible Batch, a technology that Henkel says is more energy efficient and dynamic than typical roasting systems available on the market.

“Due to the significantly lower thermal inertia of the roasting system, roasting profiles can be run that are not possible in the traditional roasting process due to physical restrictions. The precise recording of the product temperature in the coffee bean bed, as well as the short response time of the hot air as heat is transferred to new temperature pre-set values, enables the roaster to make short-term changes in the profile, even during the ongoing roasting process,” Henkel says.

Once the roasting cycle is finished according to pre-set parameters, coffee is discharged and cooled by a traditional circular cooler. A fan sucks

A complete boutique roastery with the NEOROAST 60.

NEUHAUS NEOTEC TELLS GLOBAL COFFEE REPORT ABOUT THE LATEST GENERATION ROASTER IN ITS NEOROAST SERIES, THE NEOROAST 60, AND HOW ITS PATENTED TECHNOLOGY ENABLES GREATER ROASTING FLEXIBILITY.

air from the environment through the coffee bean bed, supporting the cooling. Operators can even add a destoner on demand, ridding the roasted coffee beans of any stones or foreign material.

The NEOROAST series includes two other sizes: the NEOROAST 15, with a batch size of five to 15 kilograms and a capacity of up to 120 kilograms per hour; and the NEOROAST 30, with a batch size of 10 to 30 kilograms and a capacity of up to 240 kilograms per hour. Roasting cycles can take place between five to 20 minutes. The hot air recirculation system is also available in the NEOROAST 30.

“The new NEOROAST machine brings this technology to smaller specialty roasters and allows a precise roasting curve design over a wide temperature range,” Henkel says.

Due to its many advantages, Henkel says this ergonomic process is widely accepted in the industrial sector worldwide.

“Our RFB technology makes our roasters the most energy-efficient roasting machines of their class and impress with their unique range of roasting profile options. Today, they are part of the standard equipment in many large roasting plants for various coffee products from specialty roasting to instant coffee production. We have already sold the first NEOROAST 60 roaster to a German company in the events sector,” says Henkel.

well as globally operating companies with regionally-adapted roasting recipes, have relied on RFB technology for many years.

“Coffee roasters handling extremely rare or premium coffee want to get the best out of the beans. That is why we offer maximum flexibility during the roasting process. For example, German roaster Supremo Coffee manages very high-quality coffees, which is why he switched to using Neuhaus Neotec RFB technology. That was a clear decision to change from conventional roasting to allow more flexibility,” Henkel says.

To pair with Neuhaus Neotec roasters, Henkel says the control cabinet is the brain of the system. He says users can decide to roast manually, or automatically with the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) control.

“All input and output signals are processed in the PLC with a touchscreen panel. The touchscreen panel on the cabinet is a backup option. Users can easily operate the system via a tablet or PC where the complete surface is mirrored. The cabinet is also equipped with a remote access device in order to provide faster service,” he says.

“The software includes all information and options needed to run a roastery successfully. You can pre-set curves, change your roast during operation, and rate data to continue to improve recipes.”

Henkel says the newest model in the NEOROAST series will be attractive to consumers due to its reasonable price range of less than EU$300,000 (about US$323,100) and the ability to roast small batches precisely.

The company presented the NEOROAST 60 at Interpack, a processing and packaging fair which took place from 4 to 10 May in Düsseldorf, Germany.

“Between the NEOROAST 30 and the next largest Neuhaus Neotec roaster series, the RG 100 from our RG series, we feel that the NEOROAST 60 closes the gap between all Neuhaus Neotec roasting batch sizes. The RG roaster series has also been developed with the successful RFB technology and has been designed for roasting of specialties in medium-sized capacity ranges of up to 1500 kilograms per

“With the [addition of the] NEOROAST 60, we now offer a full range of roasters from five kilogram

The NEOROAST 60 fitted with an airlift destoner and thermal catalyser.

The fusion of two worlds

FRANKE COFFEE SYSTEMS INTRODUCES THE BEYONDTRADITIONAL PRODUCT CATEGORY AND UNVEILS

A NEW RANGE THAT CELEBRATES THE MODERN NEEDS OF TODAY’S COFFEE SHOP OPERATORS.

o cater to the global increase of coffee consumption and high-end demands of customers, international coffee machine manufacturer, Franke Coffee Systems, has introduced a product category that embraces Italian design and enhances Swiss quality.

“Today’s consumers expect excellent coffee, as if prepared by a barista. Drinking a cup of coffee out-of-home is meant to be a memorable and enjoyable experience, yet the shortage of skilled staff in the industry has become a concern on a worldwide scale. Thus, it is a challenge for owners of coffee businesses to consistently satisfy their customers’ demand for high-quality coffee experiences every single day, cup after cup,” says Franke Coffee Systems CEO Marco Zancolò.

“Franke’s new product category in professional coffee making, BeyondTraditional, is the perfect response to such challenges. It combines existing concepts and technologies with new trends and demands and brings to life solutions that go beyond industry standards. The first result of this new approach is a ground-breaking product line called Mytico.”

Franke Coffee Systems unveiled Mytico Due and Mytico Vario, the first two models within the Mytico

line, at Internorga, which took place from 10 to 14 March in Hamburg, Germany.

“As a globally active brand, we’re in constant communication with our customers and receive a lot of feedback. We noticed that while customers appreciated the consistency of our products, some were looking for a different style of coffee preparation and machine design. We took this opportunity to give customers exactly what they were asking for: the best of both worlds. With sleek design and state-of-the-art technology, you can enjoy a perfectly brewed cup of coffee every time,” says Zancolò.

Franke Coffee Systems’ Mytico Due is one of the first two models in the new Mytico line.

“At Franke, we always strive to apply our expertise and know-how to the smallest detail when it comes to the development of new products and technologies. Combining heritage and innovation, our research and development team worked hard to unlock even more potential in our professional coffee machines.”

Both the Mytico Due and Mytico Vario include a large variability of beverage options on two eight-inch touchscreens.

“Each machine has two coffee modules, allowing two operators to run the machine at once. With minimal effort and training required and a compact design that fits easily on your countertop at an ideal height for better customer interaction, Mytico maximises efficiency and effectiveness for a more streamlined service,” Zancolò says.

“The machines also have Barista Modules with a traditional Franke S1 steam wand and a Autosteam Pro S3 steam wand that automatically froths milk to the ideal consistency, ensuring barista-made quality with every coffee.”

The two models are Internet of Things ready and can be fully integrated into Franke’s existing technologies, making it possible to monitor and manage an individual machine or a fleet remotely.

“Franke Digital Services provide end-to-end solutions, with dashboards and application programming interface points to monitor and manage your fleet’s commercial and operational performance. You can not only change drinks menus and recipes remotely, but you also get an overview of the health status of your machine. The remote monitoring and virtual support reduce

“We connect you across multiple sites and regions to give you control with all that data in one central place.”

Franke Coffee Systems Vice President of Technology Christof Hurni says while the machine models look similar, the two possess distinct qualities.

“Mytico Due prioritises barista-quality service with a two-step preparation using fully automated or traditional steam wands and a modern design. Its automated operation and intuitive design, coupled with a low machine height, enable baristas to easily engage with customers,” says Hurni.

The automatic machine has a daily capacity output of 300 cups. The Franke automatic cleaning system supports this volume by maintaining hygiene standards.

The patented Franke iQFlow intelligent coffee extraction technology also ensures a consistent, highquality coffee in each cup.

“iQFlow allows the user to personalise multiple flavour profiles and efficiently extracts the full aroma, flavour, and body from every roasted coffee bean, revolutionising the traditional extraction concept. This intelligent technology distils more flavour under constant, uniform pressure throughout the entire extraction time, thus enabling consistent, individual taste profiles,” Hurni says.

Mytico Vario, on the other hand, contains a higher daily capacity output of 360 cups. Hurni says it features a simple configuration, automated operation, and an integrated milk system. Different milk and milk alternatives can be prepared at the same time on both the left and right coffee module.

“The integrated milk system helps reduce milk waste and opens up an additional beverage range, while the steam wand allows more variety with milk or plant-based alternatives” Hurni says. “Franke’s FoamMaster technology provides the unique ability to pre-set a custom foam profile for each beverage and milk selection, allowing your customers to enjoy barista-style coffee at the touch of a button. Whether they choose hot coffee with milk or a milk alternative, light foam or more, every cup can be consistently executed to suit their preferences.”

The machines come in six different Franke colours: Onyx, Cotton, Sand, Burgundy, Blueberry, and Basil. The range is intended to suit any environment, from a classic style restaurant to a modern coffee bar.

The Mytico product line is currently available in Europe and the Middle East and will be launched in Asia-Pacific in Q3 of 2023. It is planned to launch in China, Japan, and the Americas in 2024.

“The new BeyondTraditional product category perfectly complements Franke Coffee Systems’ broad product portfolio of fully automatic coffee machines, while the new Mytico line unlocks even more potential for today’s owners of coffee businesses,” says Franke Coffee Systems CEO Zancolò.

“Different demands and segments require a flexible, modular system. This new product category shows our ability to constantly improve and adapt technologies and offer new products that meet the ever-changing needs of consumers.” GCR

For more information, visit mytico.franke.coffee

The iQFlow coffee extraction technology ensures a consistent, high-quality coffee.

Both Mytico models include a Autosteam Pro S3 for automatic steaming and traditional S1 steam wand.

verything that Unic does, is about creating an experience. It’s resembled in customer interactions, its range of traditional and super automatic machines, the name of its products, and the quality of coffee it delivers.

“What I really love about coffee, is that it creates a different experience for everyone,” says Tommaso Fontana Rava, General Manager VP at Unic.

“When I was a kid growing up in Milan, my father would take me to little coffee bars where the coffee was served in different ways. At one bar, the espresso was served with a spoon of ice cream on the side, and another with a dollop of cream on top. Even at home, my mother would make a huge moka pot for the family, and it was a moment we shared together. Every time, coffee is a different experience, and it’s the same touchpoint at Unic we want to transmit to our customers – that coffee is about creating your own experience.”

When it came time to unveil Unic’s new brand identity to select customers earlier this year, the Frenchbased manufacturer created its own unique experience. It provided guests with virtual reality goggles to take an immersive view of Unic’s production facility, values, mission, and vision.

Part of the company’s brand transformation, now under the banner of the Electrolux Professional Group as of April 2019, has been the identity of the company logo to evoke a more contemporary feel.

“We wanted to give more credibility to the brand, respect the heritage of the brand, but also allow our customers to experience Unic in a new, modern way,” Fontana Rava says.

“The logo hadn’t been touched for a long time. It was heavy and bold, reminiscent of both the brand’s traditional and fully automatic machines back then, which were solid and reliable. But now, the logo has evolved to be lighter, smaller, slim, elegant and contemporary, which is reflected in the evolution of our machines.”

The new-look branding is evident across the company’s website and social media channels. Underneath

Time to Tango

UNIC UNVEILS A NEW BRAND IDENTITY AND SUPER AUTOMATIC COFFEE MACHINE, DEMONSTRATING

THE COMPANY’S PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE COMMITMENT TO

CREATING UNIQUE COFFEE EXPERIENCES.

it all, is a commitment to showcasing a range of machines that embrace Unic’s values of quality, precision, passion, and elegance.

This includes Unic’s new Tango XP Duo super automatic espresso machine, an evolution of the original Tango machine that first launched in 2000 as an alternative to the common traditional two-group machine.

Before redesigning the new model, Unic undertook a market study and interviewed baristas, roasters, distributors, and other industry experts about their wants and needs from a new machine.

Reoccurring take-outs included a desire for easy access to internal components, consistent and quality output, easy cleaning, and environmental footprint consideration.

Based on the feedback, Unic designed the Tango XP Duo with intentional updates while retaining original features that celebrate the essence of the brand.

Maintained in the machine is the Tango brew group, which Fontana Rava says is the “heart

The Tango XP Duo is an evolution of the original Tango machine, built in 2000.

of the machine” and one of the key reasons for temperature stability and quality output thanks to its metal material. This stability enables the machine to make up to 440 espressos, 300 lungos, 240 cappuccinos, and 180 lattes or 100 latte macchiatos per hour. Unic has also kept the internal operations of the machine, including heavy-duty components such as its 83-millimetre flat burr grinders.

What is different, however, is the weight of the machine thanks to the use of lighter materials, the width of the machine at 500 millimetres, and a user interface that is much easier to navigate.

“All of these changes tie back to the experience we want our customers to have, but also for the technicians who service the machine,” Fontana Rava says.

As such, the dual output machine was built from the ground-up with easy access to the electronics, located on one side of the machine, and the hydraulics, on the other. A pivoting front screen also gives technicians full access to the brew group.

“The experience is therefore 360 degrees for everyone that interacts with the product. It’s about the product taste and result in the cup for the end user. It is about the accessibility for technicians, and the user interface for the people who are in front of the machine,” Fontana Rava says.

Regular software updates are continuously made and communicated, just like a mobile phone software notification.

Instructions for daily cleaning are intuitive with step-by-step illustrations to make the task

To put the Tango XP Duo to the test, select customers visited the Electrolux Professional headquarters in Pordenone, Italy, to share any early viewing of the machine and its revised features.

Unlike a typical product launch, Unic sat down with each of its guests to assess their thoughts on the best features, and overall impressions.

“People were really astonished by the work we managed to do. Some of our customers had been interviewed in the initial market study, so they had a good understanding of what we were trying to achieve. I think many were positively surprised when they saw the outcome,” Fontana Rava says.

“It was well accepted by everyone, and we look forward to presenting the machine to customers in other small events in Asia and the United States throughout the year.”

The Tango XP Duo is the first release in a new product series, and the first fully automatic machine co-developed by Unic and the Electrolux Professional Group. This model is suited to specialty coffee shops, chains, and quick service restaurant (QSR) outlets. Additional models in the Tango line-up are in the works, with the full range to be presented at Host Milan in October.

For more than 100 years, Unic has identified with the tag line of being ‘Unique in coffee’. It has a proud history producing traditional and super automatic machines. In 1919, engineer Mario Levi invented his first coffee machine, the Idrotermica, in Turin.

“The Idrotermica was definitely a pioneer in fully automatic coffee machines. It was a machine that roasted, ground and brewed coffee. But the first official fully automatic coffee machine for Unic was the Contact CT, released in 1968, followed by the two-group Tango in 2000,” Fontana Rava says.

He adds that while the company sees a strong place in the market for traditional machines, which it will continue to support and evolve, Unic recognises the importance of producing fully automatic machines to respond to current market needs.

“We believe the market is growing quite fast in this direction. In the last few years there has been a democratisation of specialty coffee. You can find very good coffee in most places, even from a petrol station, QSR or convenience store. As such, customers have become acquainted to drinking a betterquality coffee, and they are willing to pay a higher price for it,” Fontana Rava says.

“Looking into the future, we believe coffee will become a more premium item – in price, and therefore the expectation for high quality – and that’s why we believe fully automatic machines will receive greater attention from the market.”

With Unic’s combined support from Electrolux Professional, Fontana Rava says a new era of customers now gets to experience the qualities Unic has always embraced.

“Unic had and still does have a strong presence in the French market. Now, thanks to the collaboration with Electrolux Professional Group, we are supported by a big international and industrial group that has strong competencies in manufacturing professional equipment. It also means being discovered by more people and more customers in different parts of the world,” Fontana Rava says.

“It’s an exciting time. The market is buzzing.” GCR

For more information, visit www.unic-espresso.com/en/

UNIC General Manager Tommaso Fontana Rava.

The Tango XP Duo launch presentation with VR goggles.

The year of Anfim

ANFIM, A MAINSTAY IN TRADITIONAL ITALIAN GRINDERS SINCE 1981, DISCUSSES

THE LAUNCH OF THE LUNA PROFESSIONAL GRINDER, ITS ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT, AND THE COMPANY’S FIRST REBRAND IN DECADES.

ospitality businesses have no shortage of coffee grinder manufacturers to partner with, but when it comes to combining the best of traditional Italian equipment, design, and culture with modern grinding technology, Hemro Group Chief Sales Officer Ziya Boro says Anfim is the brand to consider.

“We’re driven by evolution, and our latest product release — the Anfim Luna — reflects that our products and technologies have reached the next level and continue shaping the future,” Boro says.

The Luna grinder marks the beginning of Anfim’s new product portfolio that caters to commercial coffee professionals looking for best value performance in espresso grinding.

Traditionally, Boro says Hemro Group’s brand portfolio, including Mahlkönig, Ditting, and HeyCafé represent strong and powerful coffee grinders that lead market trends with cutting-edge technology. Anfim draws from its Italian origins to create commercial and reliable espresso grinders.

Designed and manufactured in Milan, Boro says Luna promises impressive speed and quality from its newly developed 65-millimetre premium hardened steel flat burrs, made in Germany. The grinder also includes a stepless and single-handed grind-size adjustment for fine-tuning dial-ins, making it an intuitive grinding experience for baristas.

“An innovative 3.5-inch touchscreen display with open interface for third-party content seamlessly guides the user through three programmable recipes and one manual mode. A ‘basic mode’ allows coffee shop owners, for example, to lock dosing settings via an owner control password,” he says.

“The basic mode only allows those with password access to change the grind settings, and a professional mode permits experienced baristas to set up the best recipe for different types of coffees. The basic mode takes the complexity out of grinding the beans when staff are less experienced and provides a consistent cup of coffee no matter who is using the machine.”

In combination with a modernised design and clever user-centric features, Boro says Luna brings a value proposition that is tough to beat.

“Luna can produce 1800 revolutions per minute and as much as 3.6 grams of ground coffee per second, or about one single espresso every 2.5 seconds and a double shot in five seconds,” he says.

The spout is also removable, allowing for easy cleaning and adjusting to ensure a centred dosing into the portafilter.

Boro says Anfim’s newest grinder is more than just “flashy tech”. It has the user in mind, specifically one running a high-volume café.

The Luna also incorporates “simple service access” to all frequently serviced parts that can be repaired or replaced without a complete grinder disassembly.

Luna is the first of Hemro Group’s grinders to be released below EUR$1000 (about US$1083). Boro says this is “quite an attractive price” for an ondemand grinder with a high level of innovation.

“We at Hemro Group have divided the market into three segments: premium, commercial, and entry-level. Being a market leader in the development of grinders, it’s our responsibility to provide innovation to all three segments. We feel that we have contributed significantly to the premium sector with novelties such as our grindby-weight technology and are now focused on bringing innovation to the commercial and entrylevel segments,” Boro says.

Anfim’s Luna grinder is the first product in its new portfolio.

“Luna is a great starting point for boutique cafés with smaller equipment budgets that also require high-quality and consistent coffee.”

Boro says Hemro Group trialled the Luna grinder among 120 distributors in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific region in January 2023, receiving positive feedback for its “competitive price and advanced technology”.

“We have had a long list of orders for Luna, which is really encouraging and validates that we’re listening to customer feedback when developing products,” he says.

The Anfim product portfolio features espresso grinders for a variety of performance requirements, from modest to fast-paced daily workloads and everything in between. The range of espresso grinders delivers the classic Italian experience for espresso service and enjoyment to baristas and coffee shops worldwide.

“Whether you’re on the hunt for a grinder with uncomplicated functionality and aroma-saving features that deliver the best flavours, or you’re looking for increased control with stepless grind adjustments and active cooling, our products are designed to empower baristas with tools they love to use,” Boro says.

Anfim’s grinders are also designed to meet consumer demands for more environmentally friendly packaging materials, in an effort to reduce environmental impact.

“We will no longer be using any Styrofoam in the inner tray of the Luna packaging. Instead, we have opted for an eco-friendlier alternative: recycled paper moulded pulp. This material is biodegradable, so it can be recycled at the end of its life. We believe that this change will have a positive impact on the environment, and we are proud to be taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint,” Boro says.

Hemro Group and Anfim integrate sustainability values through the entire grinder design journey.

“From selecting the right materials to minimising energy requirements, and maintaining a high standard of quality that prioritises longterm use, Hemro Group products are made to have as little impact on our planet as possible,” Boro says.

“We follow lean manufacturing principles, which is a production process that maximises productivity while simultaneously minimising waste. We also purchase locally made materials

to shorten transportation routes, appropriately dispose of waste materials, and are actively converting product packaging to recycled materials.”

Boro adds that all Hemro Group employees are encouraged to consider how their roles impact the environment as well.

“From applying modern technologies to expediting tasks to opting for video conferences over travel, our employees play an active role in our sustainability efforts,” he says.

To complement the next era of the Anfim brand and product line, Anfim has released a new brand identity characterised by its Italian heritage, warmth, and optimism.

“Anfim is evolving and becoming an important brand internationally when looking for trusted espresso grinders. We feel the new logo and brand identity is modern, strong, and memorable. It lives up to the hospitality and culture of the traditional cafés and baristas that surround our offices in Milan, truly representing the evolution of the brand,” Boro says.

Last year, Hemro Group expanded its production site to a new state-of-the-art Anfim factory, located 10 kilometres from the centre of Milan.

“The new production facility now houses our offices, factory floor and a beautiful showroom to showcase all Hemro brands,” Boro says.

The 2400-square-metre facility marks an important milestone for Hemro Group as it reacts to increased global demand for Anfim.

“This space will be a huge leap forwards for Anfim and will unlock exciting possibilities for the company and the team moving forwards,” says Boro.

“We are very excited about the new look, representing Anfim’s transformation from a local brand born in Milan into a global brand recognised by passionate baristas in over 60 countries. The new logo and brand identity speaks for future innovations to come.” GCR

For more information, visit www.anfim-milano.com or www.hemrogroup.com

The Luna grinder includes stepless adjustment for fine-tuning dial-ins and an intuitive grinding experience.

What’s NEXT?

WMF PROFESSIONAL COFFEE MACHINES DEBUTS THE WMF ESPRESSO NEXT SEMI-AUTOMATIC COFFEE MACHINE, DESIGNED TO TAKE AUTOMATED OPERATIONS TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

or some years now, high rates of staff turnover and shortages have been an issue in the hospitality sector, one COVID-19 has exacerbated.

Geoffroy Rupprecht, Vice President of Strategic Marketing at GBU Professional Coffee Machines, says the new WMF espresso NEXT coffee machine has been designed to cater to such staffing challenges, while meeting demand for coffee quality and beverage variety.

“Nowadays, machines must guarantee high process reliability and be as easy to operate as possible. This applies to self-service concepts as well as to machines operated by service staff. The WMF espresso NEXT helps to ensure high coffee quality despite changing staff,” Rupprecht says.

To WMF Professional Coffee Machines, its portafilter design has always guaranteed high-quality coffee with maximum process reliability, while the machines themselves underscore the traditional flair of Italian coffee culture. Its new semi-automatic coffee machine delivers on this promise.

“Bridging the gap between two different worlds, the WMF espresso NEXT combines the benefits and emotionality of a traditional portafilter with the advantages of a fully automatic coffee machine. It looks and sounds like a classic portafilter machine, but the trickier parts of the process are fully automated,” Rupprecht says.

“Recommended for venues with an average daily requirement of 300 cups, it lets you prepare genuine espresso coffee and froth milk in just a few simple moves.”

Rupprecht says thanks to the portafilter’s new, lean, handle shape, it can be inserted even more easily into the group head at the beginning of the brewing process.

“When the desired beverage has been selected, the machine locks the portafilter until the finished product is in the cup. A complementary communication LED strip on the edge of the machine display also indicates that the machine is in production mode,” he says.

“[The machine has] automatic portafilter recognition.Depending on the use of the respective portafilter (single or double spout), the corresponding beverages are shown on the display.”

The operating concept of the WMF espresso NEXT has also been redesigned. Each brewing

The WMF espresso NEXT combines a traditional portafilter with a fully automatic coffee machine.

group now has a separate display screen, with distinctive areas for coffee and milk preparation.

According to Rupprecht, the inner workings of the WMF espresso NEXT allows timeconsuming and error-prone tasks to be performed automatically, such as the grinding and tamping of beans or foaming of milk.

“The two integrated grinders of WMF espresso NEXT are equipped with precision-honed grinder disks to allow very fine grinding, ensuring a quality espresso. Coffee grounds are delivered directly into the brewer via a closed internal channel, eliminating any waste,” he says.

He adds that the WMF Auto Steam provides an additional performance boost.

“This advanced procedure allows simultaneous use of the two configurable, automatic steam lances on the two sides of the machine. In this way, baristas can process two [pitchers] with different milk types or milk alternatives at the same time – doubling machine output,” Rupprecht says.

“What’s more, is that each steam lance can access up to six stored foam profiles, allowing milk foam and plant-based offerings to be foamed and prepared to the desired consistency. The operator can also choose to foam milk manually with the second basic steam wand, allowing an experienced operator to create latte art in traditional barista style.”

To ensure cleaning of the equipment is done routinely, the WMF espresso NEXT is equipped with an efficient cleaning system, eliminating the need for manual cleaning of the coffee system.

The new machine is also equipped with the digital solution platform WMF CoffeeConnect to analyse and process data about the machine, enabling the user to optimise processes, reduce service costs, and boost sales.

“WMF CoffeeConnect provides you with the option to collect valuable machine data. Wherever you are, you can obtain an overview of your sales figures and current service information at any time. You will receive warnings which will let you know if you are running low on beans or if maintenance is required,” says Rupprecht.

“Thanks to the system’s bidirectional design, you can also send tailored promotional offers from your desk directly to the display of a selected machine. The basic functions are available to you free of charge.”

To compliment the machine’s bidirectional design, the modern design of the WMF espresso NEXT unites conventional features with lightweight surfaces and shapes.

“The unusual position of the machine feet lends the portafilter a floating effect, while the brewing groups set special design accents with their eye-catching style. Subtle lighting elements on the rear side of the machine create a sophisticated ambience,” Rupprecht says.

“Functional aspects also play a key role in the design concept of the machine. Stainless steel elements in the working area mean easy, hygienic cleaning, while the lighting behind the brewing groups ensure a clear view of the working area.”

“The machine automatically doses the correct amount of coffee directly into the portafilter. The coffee is then tamped automatically with the ideal pressure and 100 per cent consistency, so quality does not depend on the skill of the user.”

Fitted as standard, the WMF espresso NEXT also includes the intelligent Dynamic Coffee Assist technology that continuously monitors ground coffee quantity and grinding degree, automatically adjusting to the ideal extraction time for quality espresso.

“Manual fine-tuning is no longer necessary. This streamlines the entire coffee preparation process, permitting time for other tasks such as customer contact,” says Rupprecht.

The machine includes new functions such as Auto Milk Dispensing, which provides increased milk texturing technology from previous models.

“At the touch of a button, the system draws just the right quantity of milk and foams it to the desired consistency. This avoids extra milk and waste, since only the exact amount is dispensed that is actually needed. An americano function as also been added, allowing preparation of the popular beverage to accelerate workflow,” Rupprecht says.

Rupprecht says as a market leader with the responsibility to drive the coffee machine business, WMF has one mission: reacting to the market changes and seeing what the future brings.

“As always, any future features or machines will be guided by listening to what our customers have to say,” he says. GCR

For more information, visit www.wmf.com

Geoffroy Rupprecht is the Vice President of Strategic Marketing at GBU Professional Coffee Machines.

The new machine is recommended for venues with a daily output of 300 cups.

The need for speed

IMA COFFEE PRODUCT MANAGEMENT LEAD ALESSANDRO NOBILI UNVEILS SYNKRO, THE COMPANY’S NEW HIGHSPEED CAPSULE FILLER MACHINE THAT’S FLEXIBLE AND CONSISTENT, TIME AND TIME AGAIN.

magine a compact, automated capsule filling and sealing machine that can be arranged between aluminium, plastic and compostable capsules in different flavour intensities, giving customers the chance to configure different capsule production from one hour to the next, and produce 800 to 1200 capsules per minute of consistent quality.

Then go one step further in terms of flexibility and imagine this new machine replacing a traditional mechanical system with independent magnetic shuttles to shift a capsule through the production line, allowing different dwell times at different operating stations based on the capsule requirements. And while you’re at it, add on digital algorithms compatible with all data collection systems, such as Mes, 4.0, and IMA Sentinel, so the machine can record efficiencies and potential issues every hour that customers can access off-site 24/7.

This is all possible, with Synkro. It’s the brainchild of IMA – Industria Macchine Automatiche – an Italian multinational headquartered in the Bologna outskirts that, since 1961, has been designing and manufacturing machines to process and pack not just coffee, but pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food, tobacco, and tea.

Synkro was officially launched at the triennial Interpack trade and packaging fair in Düsseldorf, Germany in May using aluminium capsules, and so far, is ticking all the right boxes, says IMA Coffee’s Head of Product and Project Management, Alessandro Nobili.

“It is the first IMA Coffee machine based on an innovative concept using magnetic shuttles for capsule

The IMA Synkro is a new high-speed capsule filling and sealing machine.

Alessandro Nobili is Head of Product and Project Management at IMA Coffee.

transfer,” Nobili says. “It has been in development at our research and development department for more or less three years. We created a pilot machine on which we perform all the trials to understand the operation of each unit with a capsule. Synkro can handle all types of capsules on the market.”

Thanks to its innovative magnetic shuttle concept, Nobili explains that the same speeds of 800 to 1200-plus capsules per minute can be guaranteed regardless of capsule case type used.

“The ability to produce so many capsules so quickly is possible because of an extremely compact layout and a cantilever design that allows easy access and ease of cleaning. And the fact that the machine is modular means that modules can be added depending on the needs and the type of capsule to be produced,” he says.

Synkro is a fully automated unit. Capsules are fed through the use of a collaborative robot, the

rapidly to diverse market requirements. We can also add the operational unit required for the customer’s requests, such as insertion of plastic filters or for the cutting and sealing of paper/aluminium filters on the bottom or outside of the capsule.

“All of our customers are asking to have this kind of flexibility, succeeding in feeding and handling all compostable capsules currently available on the market. At the moment, there are not a lot of compostable solutions in the marketplace. Some, but not a lot. But increasingly, the customer wants the option to quickly and easily swap in different capsules. For example, to replace the production of an espresso aluminium capsule with a compostable one.”

Nobili says this choice of capsule with an environmental angle is becoming increasingly valued by customers and the public.

Sustainability is very much built into the design too, seen in reduced energy consumption as magnetic shuttles consume less, reduced packaging waste, maximum productivity as the machine can handle all capsules, and in 50 per cent reduced nitrogen consumption, meaning less air pollution.

“To maintain aroma and freshness of the coffees we need to reduce the oxygen and introduce nitrogen inside the capsule to avoid product oxidation. We try to reduce as much as possible the consumption of nitrogen,” Nobili says.

The quality of the final product is improved via a time-saving dosing unit that compacts the coffee before it’s inserted into the capsule.

newest type of robot designed to interact with people in a shared work environment.

“We also have an automatic system that puts the capsules directly inside the operating area for all capsule positions. If one capsule is missed, we have an automatic system to replace it,” Nobili says.

He adds that flexible customisation was always front of mind when Synkro was being developed. That’s what sets it a part.

“How the machine works depends on the capsule configuration from customer requests,” says Nobili. “With its high degree of automation and compact design, Synkro can handle all types of capsule, including soft or hard capsules, whatever their material. This ensures precision and flexibility, thus enabling customers to respond

“By compacting the coffee, we can add 15 per cent more coffee inside the capsule if it’s required. Otherwise, we can have the standard dosing of the capsule as well,” Nobili says.

“This is something very new for the market. This new step makes the coffee more consistent and, if requested by a customer, a larger coffee amount can be dosed with the same volume. A higher quality of the final product is also guaranteed by the improved sealing system, in which time, temperature, and pressure are adapted to the material to be sealed.”

Given the rapidly-evolving market of capsule production and consumption, Nobili says Synkro is setting the pace for faster production with servicing efficiency and precision when it comes to dosing, filling, and sealing different materials of capsules, including sustainable ones, for which he predicts demand will keep getting stronger.

“There’s a huge request for machine flexibility in terms of prearrangement for handling different capsule materials,” Nobili says. “This is mainly because more customers are thinking about moving to compostable solutions in the near future, and also because of potential new regulations in terms of single-serve disposal. The single-serve market has been in continuous growth, and there’s now a growing interest in environmentally friendly solutions.” GCR

For more information, visit www.ima.it/coffee

Thanks to a magnetic shuttle concept, Synkro can fill 800 to 1200-plus capsules per minute.

The dosing unit compacts the coffee before it’s inserted into the capsule, enabling 15 per cent more coffee inside the capsule if required.

offee may be one of the most consumed beverages in the United States, but for coffee machine manufacturer Gruppo Cimbali, it’s a market with incredible potential.

With 85 per cent of Gruppo Cimbali’s revenue made outside of Italy, Niklas Ivarsson, Gruppo Cimbali Chief Commercial Officer of North America, is keen to strengthen its market position in the United States with international expansion as one of the key pillars.

“The market share in Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and the rest of the world is so strong. We believe there’s tremendous potential to reach the same growth in North America,” Ivarsson says.

“North America is an incredibly valuable market that we, as a group, feel we haven’t yet explored to the extent we are now. Moving forward with an increased presence in North America will allow us to attain our full potential in one of the largest coffee markets in the world.”

Effective from 1 June, Gruppo Cimbali will integrate its offices and operational activities in a single location in Seattle, Washington to create a more efficient and effective presence. All activities of the previous office in Connecticut, including accounting, customer logistics, and the spare part warehouse, will be moved to the new United States headquarters.

“We are thrilled to unveil this new strategic plan for the United States market,” says Ivarsson. “It’s a great opportunity to consolidate production, our functions, and have the organisation under one roof.”

The company, which includes the La Cimbali, Faema, Slayer and Casadio brands, operates through three production plants in Italy and one in Seattle, where machines are produced under the Slayer brand. Ivarsson joined Gruppo Cimbali in July 2022 to help coordinate the business strategy of the company’s four brands.

“When I came on board, we assessed the entire business and how we could build a future. It was reiterated that each investment should demonstrate our commitment to coffee, technology, and customer-

centric solutions and will allow us to provide unparalleled service to our valued partners in every region,” says Ivarsson.

He says this approach and “being at the pulse of coffee culture” in Seattle is underpinned by a commitment to staff retention and providing an ideal environment for its employees.

“Within the last 12 months we’ve seen significant employee growth, bringing new competence and insights to the company. Every individual brings their own set of distinct and unique sales skills to the operation,” Ivarsson says.

“We have acquired staff that have remarkable coffee knowledge, competed in worldwide competitions, owned and operated their own coffee shops, and employees that have up to 40 years of experience in and deep passion for machinery and technology.”

The strategic plan will focus on the dedicated  integration of teams across sectors and  functioning competencies in the United States

Gruppo Cimbali will relocate its US offices and operational activities to Seattle, Washington from 1 June.

and enhance the quality of its operations, logistics, and customer service.

Along with its new American subsidiary, Gruppo Cimbali has also moved the Slayer factory to a larger facility to increase production capacity.

“The purpose of upgrading the facility is to support projected growth on a worldwide scale. Having a state-of-the-art facility is critical to support all of the brands that we represent, and Slayer must be in line with that,” Ivarsson says.

Prior to the move, the Slayer manufacturing facility had an installed production capacity of up to 2000 machines annually. With this new facility, the volume has increased to about 5000 machines annually, almost tripling capacity.

“We try to keep each of our brands as authentic as possible and honour the core principles of why we bring new machines to the global market. For Slayer Espresso specifically, it was born and raised as a handcrafted piece of art designed with one purpose only: to make coffee better,” Ivarsson says.

“We strongly believe in the importance of keeping Slayer designed and crafted in the United States. In the coming years, Gruppo Cimbali foresees significant, exponential growth in the manufacturing of our machines, thanks to the new plant dedicated to expediting the production of our equipment.”

With a broad range of coverage worldwide, Ivarsson says each market has its own requirements but the one commonality, is the need for choice and quality at a consistent level.

“The market is demanding skill base, consistency, and reliability. With the current labour shortage, where people want to grow their brand overseas in a reliable and repeatable way, the answer should be reliable machines,” Ivarsson says.

“The name of the game is defending our high market share. We’re already big in Europe, but at the same time, we recognise there’s much more room for growth for our brands internationally in key areas.”

Ivarsson says the integration of Gruppo Cimbali’s brand portfolio, together with consolidated production facilities in Seattle, will allow the company to uphold a leading role in the competitive North America arena.

“The new headquarters solidifies our steadfast investment in the United States market, emphasises our famously thriving operational and logistical team values, and showcases our legendary, worldclass position in the coffee industry,” he says.

Gruppo Cimbali is present in 130 countries and has subsidiaries across China, Middle East, United

Where it does not have a direct presence, it seals exclusive agreements with strong international partners that represent and distribute its brands. Currently, Gruppo Cimbali has more than 700 distributor

“We have an invaluable selection of partners that already had a market presence in North America before we established our own subsidiary here, but we also have smaller, niche partners that will benefit greatly from our support in this region. Together, we can collectively continue the legacy of Gruppo Cimbali,” Ivarsson says.

He says its these client relationships that dictate the company’s overall success and creates a seamless experience for the end-user.

“What it comes down to, is that we are here to service our partners. By continuing to strengthen our relationship with our associates, we are developing clear expectations of the innovation, transparency, and holistic services they can expect from Gruppo Cimbali,” Ivarsson says.

“We recognise the high potential of the market and want to keep close and connected so we can best understand cultural trends and integrate them into our product development. We are committed to collaborating with North American partners to achieve mutual success.”

Gruppo Cimbali is eager to continue this success and cement its position as a leading espresso machine manufacturer that prioritises quality in its technology, production, after sales support, and partner relationships.

“We live in a constantly changing global environment. Where our partners want us to go, we will go. Ultimately, Gruppo Cimbali looks forward to achieving organic and strategic growth. There’s no set plan for the future, other than to listen to the market and our partners,” Ivarsson says. GCR

For more information, visit www.gruppocimbali.com

Gruppo Cimbali’s new facility has increased production capacity to 5000 machines annually.

Zero room for error

SCHAERER HAS COMPLETELY REVISED THE CLEANING SYSTEM IN ITS PROFESSIONAL COFFEE MACHINES AND RELEASED A NEW TECHNOLOGY THAT REMOVES DIRECT INTERACTION BETWEEN THE OPERATOR AND CLEANING AGENT, MAKING HANDLING ERRORS A THING OF THE PAST.

do 100 cleaning cycles, and 100 is always better than 90,” Häfliger says.

“The whole idea behind ProCare was to minimise the number of interactions between the operator and the coffee machine that have nothing to do with drinks preparation.”

For each cleaning cycle, the optimal amount of powder solution needed is dissolved in water. Häfliger says this was one of the greatest challenges in developing this new system. As such, Schaerer involved a renowned supplier, which makes the cleaning tablets for Schaerer coffee machines.

While Schaerer could have opted to store cleaning tablets in a magazine and have them dispensed automatically, the manufacturer opted not to, citing that it would still demand human intervention to refill the magazine with new tablets, or to completely replace the empty magazine with a full one, thereby creating wastage from the disposed plastic magazine.

he cleaning of professional coffee machines can be messy, inconvenient, ineffective, and even forgotten, largely impacting on the flavour and quality output of coffee. While many brands have established internal and automated cleaning systems over the years to curb such obstacles and store cleaning agents for a certain period of time, Schaerer decided it was time to rethink everything it knew about the cleaning process.

Since 2019, Schaerer and its development team of 15 people have worked hard to change its cleaning process by automating it to the extent that no staff involvement is required for up to three months. This is achieved with just one cycle of the ProCare cleaning system each day.

“System cleaning is basically no longer an issue for our customers,” says Laurent Häfliger, Project and Life Cycle Manager at Schaerer and part of the Schaerer ProCare development team.

“One of the main goals is that staff will get more time to do the important work such as taking care of their customers. Thanks to the automatic function, which can also be programmed, cleaning can also be conducted outside of operating hours and annoying down times during the peaks can be avoided.”

The compact, add-on module, available for the Schaerer Coffee Soul, and Soul 10 and 12 machines, automatically feeds highly concentrated alkaline and acidic cleaning agent to the machine, and supplies it for up to 100 fully automatic cleaning cycles.

“We set ourselves a target of 90 days or cleaning cycles based on rough calculations of how much cleaning powder can be stocked in the space provided, [but] during our tests, we found that we could

“Anyone who has ever done this knows how tedious it can be,” Häfliger says.

Rather, he says the powder mixture in the ProCare bag means Schaerer can produce a large amount of cleaning agent with relatively low weight. It also saves space during storage and transport, and saves on logistics costs and

The ProCare cleaning system supplies up to 100 fully automatic cleaning cycles.

Felipe Quintans is the Schaerer Product Manager.

environmental footprint. In liquid form, it would be the equivalent of two, six-litre canisters next to the machine, instead of the two, 600-gram bags now used in the Schaerer ProCare system.

Once the cleaning agent is dissolved, the highly concentrated solution created at the top is suctioned off, diluted with water, and fed into the machine. A sensor continuously checks the dosage and water is added in a controlled manner to make sure that the optimum concentration is achieved.

“Employees no longer have to spend time filling dosing systems with tablets. When the powder is

Schaerer Product Manager Felipe Quintans adds that although cleaning systems already installed in Schaerer coffee machines work very reliably, such as the UpTime! decalcification cartridge, the system doesn’t enable the longevity of continuous, automated cleaning as the Schaerer ProCare does. With this new module, it also eliminates the risk of users manually adding too much or too little cleaning agent which can shorten the service life of the machine.

used up, the empty bag is simply removed and a new one is put in. This makes handling really easy for staff,” Häfliger says.

A warning on the machine screen indicates when the cleaning agents are running low, and a second warning alerts when Schaerer’s ProCare Pouches are empty. In the future, this information will be transmitted via Schaerer’s Coffee Link digital platform.

Häfliger says the Pouches are at the heart of the whole system and are used in multiple functions, acting as a container for transportation and space for dissolving cleaning powders.

“We worked quite some time on this process, and we are proud that we were able to place this patent for registration,” he says.

The only other time staff need to physically intervene with the cleaning system is in the “last mile”, by manually connecting the hose between the machine and the milk container to the Schaerer ProCare module. The hose is then cleaned automatically.

Mid-year, Schaerer plans to expand the Schaerer ProCare for machine descaling.

“We have already created the foundation here by stocking the acidic cleaning solution, because acid dissolves all mineral deposits, so limescale as well as milk stone or magnesium,” Häfliger says.

“Customers have informed us of these challenges and their feedback has confirmed that our decision to push ahead with the development of the Schaerer ProCare was the right one, especially considering that the industry is increasingly facing staff shortages or high staff turnover,” Quintans says. “This means that ensuring that new staff are adequately trained or that a small number of employees carefully carry out all the work steps under time constraints is getting harder and harder. With the Schaerer ProCare, our customers have at least one less worry, since the cleaning process is completely taken out of the hands of employees.”

The desired time for system cleaning can be programmed individually. The entire process takes just under 15 minutes.

Quintans says another incentive driven from market demand, was to help reduce the service requirements of self-service coffee machines used in offices or public areas, such as airports.

“The goal here is to reduce service work on the machines done by staff, thereby saving on staff deployment and travel costs,” Quintans says.

Especially in times of increasing staff shortages and high fluctuation, Quintans says it is getting harder to make sure that employees carefully carry out all work steps under time constraints or that new staff are adequately trained. This is where the Schaerer ProCare comes in and creates a high level of reliability.

The Schaerer ProCare cleaning system was first presented to the public at the Internorga 2022 expo in Hamburg as a “showcase”. Quintans says it was a great opportunity to gather market feedback. Additional feedback was established from Schaerer’s housekeeping staff at its Zuchwil offices in Switzerland when the system was connected to Schaerer’s office coffee machines. The result, as the company had hoped, was entirely positive. To attest the effectiveness and quality, further tests conducted with independent laboratories were carried out.

The Schaerer ProCare cleaning system will launch to market in Q2 2023. Häfliger expects it to appeal to convenience outlets that frequently change operators or operators not on site. He hopes users of the ProCare system will see just how simplified the cleaning process can really be.

“As our slogan says: “Worries down. Added values up,” Häfliger notes, which in this case embraces increased hygiene, comfort and savings in time and cost.

“At Schaerer, we want to guarantee quality not only on the first day, but for as long as possible. This refers on the one hand to the best quality in the cup, but also to the longevity of the hardware components. And with the ProCare we can help our customers to keep this quality up with less effort,” he says. GCR

For more information, visit www.schaerer.com/en/coffee-machines/procare/

Laurent Häfliger is the Project and Life Cycle Manager at Schaerer and part of the Schaerer ProCare development team.

The ProCare automatic module feeds highly concentrated alkaline and acidic cleaning agent to the machine.

AY/JUNE 2023

Equipment 2023 MANUFACTURING GUIDE

Global Coffee Report’s third edition of the Equipment Manufacturing Guide is a comprehensive listing of the many businesses committed to supporting the global industry with products and equipment that care for coffee across the supply chain, from processing equipment and packaging, to coffee machines and coffee operations.

Brought to you by

GCR Equipment Manufacturing Guide 2023 PACKAGING

Apulia Vending www.morola.it

Barista Pro - Coffee Plus baristapro.com.gr

Bayiner Electronik www.bayiner.com.tr

Behmor www.behmor.com

Bellwether Coffee www.bellwethercoffee.com

Biowin Agro Research biowinkerala.com

Blaser Trading AG www.blasertrading.ch

Boema Coffee Machines www.boema.com.au

Brambati S.p.A www.brambati.it

BrewBar Equipment www.thebrewbar.com.au

BRITA brita.net

Buhler www.buhlergroup.com

BURNS Roasters www.burnsroasters.com

Cafe Cortado cafe-cortado.tem.li

Caffitaly www.caffitaly.com

Cah.fi Cah.fi

Ceado www.ceado.com

Chain-Vey chainvey.com

Chinook Coffee Roasting Systems chinook.coffee

Cia Lilla www.lilla.com.br

Citaly www.citaly.eu

Coffee Roasters Australia www.coffeeroasters.com.au

Cropster www.cropster.com

Cross service www.cross-service.tw ✓✓

Dario Scolari www.scolarieng.com ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓

DEVEX Verfahrenstechnik GmbH www.devex-gmbh.de ✓✓✓✓✓✓✓

Diedrich Roasters LLC www.diedrichroasters.com ✓✓✓✓✓

Diehl www.diehl.com/controls ✓

Ditting dittingswiss.ch ✓

DVG De Vecchi www.dvg.coffee

ELCAFÉ CA www.cafeelcafe.com

Euro-Caps www.euro-caps.nl

Flavourtech www.flavourtech.com

Flexicon Corporation www.flexicon.com

Flow Coffee www.flowcoffee.co.nz

Frank Buna frank-buna.com

Garanti Roaster www.garantiroaster.com

Giesen Coffee Roasters www.giesencoffeeroasters.eu

Gruppo Cimbali S.p.A. www.gruppocimbali.com ✓

H.U.T. Heuwieser Umwelttechnik GmbHwww.hut-heuwieser.de

Loring Smart Roast

McKinnon India

MPE mpechicago.com

Neuhaus Neotec www.neuhaus-neotec.com

Nuova Ricambi www.nuovaricambi.net

Nupac Industries www.nupac.com.au

Optimus Coffee & Vending Serviceswww.optimus-associates.com

Penagos www.penagos.com

Pennine Tea and Coffee topercoffeeroasters.co.uk

Primo Roasting Equipment www.primoroasting.com

PROBAT www.probat.com

Roastmax Roasters www.roastmaxroasters.com.au

Roastquip www.roastquip.com.au

Rubasse rubasseroasters.com

Rubia Coffee Traders www.rubiacoffeetraders.com.au ✓

Rychiger AG www.rychiger.com

Sovda sovdacoffee.com

Stronghold Technology www.stronghold-technology.com

Syncfo syncfo.com

The Coffee Brewmasters www.thecoffeebrewmasters.com

The Coffee Roasting Company TCRC.coffee

The San Franciscan Roaster Co www.sanfranroaster.com ✓

Thermoplan www.thermoplan.ch

TOMRA www.tomra.com/food

TONE Europe GmbH www.tone-swiss.com

Toper Roasters www.toper.com

UCC Coffee ucc-america.com

Usonian Systems usoniansystems.com

Viroj Soontornvivat aromathailand.com

Voga Coffee (Ground Control) www.groundcontrol.coffee

VortX KleanAir Systems www.vortxkleanair.com

Wistron Corporation www.fredda-europe.com/index.html

GCR Equipment Manufacturing Guide 2023 COFFEE MACHINES

GCR Equipment Manufacturing Guide 2023 COFFEE MACHINES

GCR Equipment Manufacturing Guide 2023 COFFEE MACHINES

Technology

Synesso synesso.com

Tech-Bar tech-bar.com.au

Technivorm technivorm.com

Thermoplan

Toddy toddycafe.com

TONE Europe GmbH www.tone-swiss.com

Toper Roasters www.toper.com

Tricolate www.tricolate.com

GCR Equipment Manufacturing Guide 2023 OPERATION

GCR Equipment Manufacturing Guide 2023 OPERATION

GCR Equipment Manufacturing Guide 2023

Global coffee:

International Coffee & Tea Expo

SINGAPORE, ASIA

25 – 27 May

The International Coffee & Tea Asia series is Southeast Asia’s largest trade and consumer exhibition that caters to the needs of the café, coffee, and tea communities in the region. Visitors to the 10th instalment of the event will find an expansive showcase of raw materials ranging from specialty coffee beans, premium tea leaves, roasting and grinding machines, top-of-the-range barista equipment, bakery supplies, premium ingredients, and more.

intlcoffeetea-asia.com

International Café and Beverage Show

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

25 – 27 May

After its debut in 2022, the International Café and Beverage Show offers the trade a unique opportunity to interact and network with more than 200 top quality brands from all over the world, some of whom will be new to market. Underpinning the high-end trade show will be the Malaysian National Coffee Championships, giving the community the chance to see the best of Malaysian baristas competing for a place in the World Championships. This expo is a national meeting place for the café community.

intl-cbs.com

Educator Summit

BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA

31 May – 1 June

The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Educator Summit is a two-day conference dedicated to equipping coffee trainers with the latest in emerging coffee knowledge and training techniques. Educators are a vitally important part of the specialty coffee community educating people throughout the entire coffee value chain. The event is designed to enrich coffee educators’ knowledge with new research, advanced insights in SCA’s new Coffee Value Assessment, and the most current and effective teaching techniques.

education.sca.coffee/

World of Coffee

ATHENS, GREECE

22 – 24 June

World of Coffee is an essential event for coffee professionals – drawing a loyal audience from the global specialty coffee community. Organised by the Specialty Coffee Association, World of Coffee has more than tripled in size over the past nine years, reaching audiences of 11,000 visitors, and more than 250 exhibitors. The 2023 will features four World Coffee Championships, lecture and workshop series, the Green Coffee Buyers and Sellers Program, two tasting rooms, the Roaster Village, and Best New Product and Coffee Design Awards.

worldofcoffee.org

events around the globe

Coffee Fest Orlando

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

10 – 11 November

Coffee Fest is a specialty coffee B2B event that attracts owners, operators, and anyone interested in growing a specialty coffee and tea business career. Many attend Coffee Fest to get the start-up education, resources and access to companies they need for a smooth café or restaurant opening. For more seasoned coffee professionals, Coffee Fest is a source for networking, deepening existing supplier relations, finding new products, services, and education to build on what they already know. Coffee Fest and its network of resources brings expert advice to help evolve businesses, and discover what is trending and relevant.

www.coffeefest.com/orlando

Melbourne International Coffee Expo 2023

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

17 – 19 August

MICE is known throughout the Southern Hemisphere as the largest dedicated coffee event. A record crowd of 15,056 attendees visited MICE2022 with 15 per cent of attendees international visitors from 71 countries. Established in 2012, MICE has become a mustattend event to connect buyers and sellers, featuring café owners, roasters, equipment manufacturers, service suppliers, and more.

internationalcoffeeexpo.com

Coffee Shop Innovation Expo

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

10 – 11 October

The Coffee Shop Innovation Expo will become Europe’s central hub for café business owners looking to capitalise on the growing market. Gain insights into the industry and speak with other like-minded entrepreneurs. The Coffee Shop Innovation Expo will provide the latest updates within the sector, including hundreds of suppliers with tools to enhance businesses. Filled with educational and exciting features, discover new trends guaranteed to give business, and its target audience, the coffee hit it needs.

www.coffeeshopexpo.co.uk

HostMilano

MILAN, ITALY

13 – 17 October

Now in its 43rd edition, HostMilano is the world’s leading platform for professional hospitality and out-of-home technologies, products, formats and services. It is held biennially at the FieraMilano district in Rho. The expo offers everything needed to build a successful business, from raw materials to semi-finished products, machinery to equipment, with one eye firmly focused on trends, technologies and innovation. Selected roasters, importers, producers and industry players come to HostMilano to do business. More than 1200 companies from 44 countries have already registered for this year’s event.

host.fieramilano.it

The Luna grinder marks the beginning of Anfim’s new portfolio that caters to commercial coffee professionals looking for best value performance in espresso grinding.

Designed and made in Milan, Italy, Luna promises impressive speed and quality from its newly developed 65-millimetre flat burrs, as well as an intuitive grinding experience for baristas. An innovative 3.5-inch touchscreen display guides the user through three programmable recipes and one manual mode that can be locked for different user groups. It’s also where baristas can track and explore a breadth of statistical usage metrics for the grinder. In combination with a modernised design and clever user-centric features, Luna brings a value proposition that is tough to beat.

For more information, visit www.anfim-milano.com

Natural Aroma Concentration Technology

Flavourtech has recently partnered with Aquaporin to deliver a new solution for the concentration of high-quality, natural coffee aromas. Aquaporin’s Inside Natural Concentration Technology is a revolutionary method of concentrating natural aromas without traditional heat or pressure processes. The technology lends itself to the concentration of aroma captured from coffee slurry using Flavourtech’s Spinning Cone Column. It may also be used to concentrate other sources of aroma, such as evaporator condensates. The result is highly concentrated, natural aromas bursting with original flavours and characteristics which can then be used in new ranges of novel, high quality coffee products.

For more information, visit www.flavourtech.com

Neuhaus Neotec NEOROAST 60

Neuhaus Neotec is extending the range of roaster sizes within the NEOROAST series and has developed the new 60-kilogram batch size to integrate new energy supply technologies into the roaster design. The standard energy supply is all types of gas, from natural gas to LPG, which are widely used and available worldwide. However, focusing on the environmental footprint of roasting, Neuhaus Neotec strongly focuses its research on new energy sources, which are free of carbon compounds.

“In cooperation with an industrial partner we are already working on the next step of using green energy in the industrial scale,” says Neuhaus Neotec Marketing Director Lars Henkel. Neuhaus Neotec is one of the leading suppliers of roasting technology and from this role, also sees itself in a moral obligation to positively shape the future of roasting for the next generation.

For more information, visit www.neuhaus-neotec.com

Victoria Arduino Eagle Tempo

Eagle Tempo is a professional espresso coffee machine specially designed for cafés, restaurants, roasteries, chains, pastry shops and bakeries. Victoria Arduino strengthens its range with a product that has recognisable design and high productive capacity, incorporating technology that enables the business to be managed while saving energy and reducing waste. The NEO (New Engine Optimization) technology guarantees not only temperature stability and consistency with the instant heating system and boiler insulation, but also greater productivity. The patented Victoria Arduino system also offers up to 29 per cent energy saving compared to the previous model.

For more information, visit www.victoriaarduino.com/eagletempo/

In it to win it

MICE2023 IS HOSTING THE RICHEST BARISTA COMPETITION, CHALLENGING BARISTAS FROM AROUND THE WORLD TO SHOW OFF THEIR SKILLS AND BATTLE IT OUT OVER THREE ACTION-PACKED DAYS.

long with hosting an array of workshops, activities, a symposium and the global coffee community, the 10th edition of the Melbourne International Coffee Expo (MICE) is giving barista’s a chance to earn more than just some street cred.

MICE2023 will see the Richest Barista competition take place from 17 to 19 August at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Baristas will have the chance to win a share of AU$40,000 (about US$26,784) prize pool, which is the richest cash prize on offer for the final of a barista competition anywhere in the world.

“Richest Barista a great opportunity for international baristas to join a world-class competition and prove their ability. Australia has some of the best baristas in the world, evident by Anthony Douglas’ recent World Barista Championship win,” says MICE Show Director Lauren Winterbottom.

“We want to offer an exciting competition format, while giving baristas a chance to walk away with a significant amount of money that will make a difference in their lives.”

The competition is designed as a fast-paced, knock-out style event that tests each barista’s sensory and practical skills.

“Day one will see baristas compete two at a time for 10-minute periods, preparing espresso, lattes, and alternative milk drinks. Each barista group will be judged by a group of judges using a scoring system that allows a winner to be immediately declared from each round,” says Winterbottom.

Half of these baristas will progress onto round two: the latte art smackdown. On this day, each barista pair will compete across three rounds, displaying a mix of traditional latte art and their own creations. The coffee will be judged blindly, and the best winner in two out of three rounds will proceed to the finals. The final day will be a three-round cup tasting competition. Competitors will have to accurately and quickly identify which coffee out of the three groups, is the odd one out. The winner will be the last barista

standing who has achieved excellence in all rounds of coffee preparation and tasting.

The winner will receive AU$25,000 (about US$16,740), runner-up will take home AU$10,000 (about US$6696), and third place will win AU$5000 (about US$3348).

“The competition is a way for MICE to support these incredible baristas and the coffee industry,” says Winterbottom.

Full rules and registration details are available on the MICE website. See the website for regular updates.

“This competition is designed to reflect the current requirements and skillset baristas demand in today’s competitive café market where standards are high, as is the expectation from customers,” Winterbottom says. “We think it’s a fun and creative competition that will grow a global reputation in the years to come. You’ve got to be in it to win it.” GCR

For more information, visit www.internationalcoffeeexpo.com

Richest Barista will test competitors’ sensory and practical skills.