Coffee prices rise, as FCStone sees drop in Brazil's output-------Οι τιμές του καφέ αυξάνεται, καθώς FCStone βλέπει πτώση της παραγωγής της Βραζιλίας

Coffee prices rose as INTL FCStone entered the debate over the Brazilian coffee harvest, the world's biggest, by foreseeing a drop in production this year.

The US-based group pegged Brazil's overall coffee output this year at 44m-45.5m bags.

The figure is a little more generous than that implied by an outline forecast in October, when FCStone's CoffeeNetwork coffee analysis arm foresaw a drop of some 15% in production this year, equivalent to roughly 7m bags.

However, it does lave FCStone among the commentators forecasting a drop in Brazilian coffee output, from a 2014 level it pegs at 48m-49m bags.

Tricky forecast

Potential for Brazil's coffee harvest this year remains shrouded in doubt, thanks to the prolonged 2014 drought which hurt potential not only for that year's harvest but the 2015 crop too.

The coffee bean growth cycle is a complex one, starting with the growth of vegetation the previous year that will bear the cherries, and going through the weather-sensitive blossoming and flower-setting processes, before reaching the grain-fill stage.

Rains this year have eased concerns somewhat over the extent of damage, prompting a rising tide of production estimates which fuelled a slump of nearly one-quarter in arabica coffee futures in 2015 up to March 3, when the front contract hit a one-year low.

Volcafe in mid-February forecast a Brazilian harvest this year of 49.5m bags, up 2.5m bags on its estimates, while crop trader Olam International pegged the crop at about 50m bags.

However, some more recent estimates have been more downbeat, with analysis group Procafé two weeks ago pegging Brazil's production this year at 40.3m-43.25m bags, while coffee trader Neumann last week estimated the harvest at 45.3m bags, a drop of 2.6m bags year on year on its estimates.

"Trade has now seen Brazil production estimates that range from about 40m-50m bags, and no-one knows what to expect once the harvest gets underway in a month or two," said Jack Scoville at broker Price Futures on Wednesday.

Arabica vs robusta

FCStone in fact highlighted the prospect of a "larger-than-expected" drop in Brazilian production of robusta beans this year, after recent dryness in Espirito Santo, the top growing state for the variety, which was relatively untouched by last year's drought.

Robusta output was seen dropping to 11.5m-12m bags.

The arabica crop was seen at 32.5m-33.5m bags.

However, FCStone acknowledged the uncertainty over this year's prospects, flagging a "need for further analysis of field assessments in the weeks to come in order to provide better quantification of the expected volumes to be produced".

Arabica coffee futures for May stood 2.2% higher at 140.25 cents a pound in morning deals in New York.

Robusta coffee for May was up 0.1% at $1,820 a tonne in London.

Οι τιμές του καφέ αυξήθηκε ως INTL FCStone άρχισε η συζήτηση επί της Βραζιλίας συγκομιδή του καφέ, του παγκοσμίως μεγαλύτερους, προβλέποντας μείωση της παραγωγής αυτό το έτος.

Η ομάδα που εδρεύει στις ΗΠΑ καθηλωθεί συνολική παραγωγή καφέ Βραζιλίας φέτος σε σακούλες 44m-45.5m.

Το ποσοστό αυτό είναι λίγο πιο γενναιόδωρο από αυτό που διαφαίνεται από τις προβλέψεις περίγραμμα, τον Οκτώβριο, όταν ο βραχίονας ανάλυση CoffeeNetwork καφέ FCStone που προέβλεπε μείωση της τάξης του 15% στην παραγωγή του τρέχοντος έτους, που ισοδυναμεί με περίπου 7 εκατ σακούλες.

Ωστόσο, αυτό δεν λαβέ FCStone τους σχολιαστές πρόβλεψη πτώση στη βραζιλιάνικη παραγωγή του καφέ, από ένα επίπεδο 2014 μανταλάκια σε σακούλες 48m-49m.

Tricky πρόβλεψη

Δυναμικό για την συγκομιδή του καφέ Βραζιλίας φέτος παραμένει τυλιγμένη σε αμφιβολία, χάρη στην παρατεταμένη ξηρασία του 2014, που βλάπτει δυνατότητα όχι μόνο για την συγκομιδή του ιδίου έτους, αλλά το 2015 καλλιεργειών πάρα πολύ.

Ο κύκλος ανάπτυξης κόκκος του καφέ είναι ένα πολύπλοκο, αρχίζοντας με την ανάπτυξη της βλάστησης το προηγούμενο έτος που θα φέρει τα κεράσια, και να περάσει από την άνθηση και λουλούδι διαδικασίες καθορισμού των καιρικών ευαίσθητο, πριν φτάσει στο στάδιο των σιτηρών πλήρωσης.

Βρέχει φέτος έχουν χαλαρώσει κάπως τις ανησυχίες για την έκταση των ζημιών, με αποτέλεσμα ένα αυξανόμενο κύμα των εκτιμήσεων παραγωγής που τροφοδότησε μια πτώση σχεδόν το ένα τέταρτο των συμβολαίων μελλοντικής εκπλήρωσης του καφέ arabica το 2015 έως 3 Μαρτίου, όταν το μπροστινό σύμβαση χτύπησε ενός έτους χαμηλή .

Volcafe στα μέσα Φεβρουαρίου προέβλεπε Βραζιλίας συγκομιδή του τρέχοντος έτους των 49.5m τσάντες, μέχρι 2.5m σακούλες για τις εκτιμήσεις της, ενώ η καλλιέργεια έμπορος Olam Διεθνές συνδέσει το καλλιεργειών σε περίπου 50 σακούλες.

Ωστόσο, κάποιες πιο πρόσφατες εκτιμήσεις ήταν πιο υποτονική, με την ομάδα ανάλυσης Procafé πριν από δύο εβδομάδες πρόσδεση της παραγωγής στη Βραζιλία φέτος σε σακούλες 40.3m-43.25m, ενώ έμπορος καφέ Neumann την περασμένη εβδομάδα εκτίμησε την συγκομιδή σε 45.3m τσάντες, μια σταγόνα 2,6 τσάντες από έτος σε έτος σε εκτιμήσεις του.

«Το εμπόριο έχει πλέον δει Βραζιλία εκτιμήσεις παραγωγής που κυμαίνονται από περίπου σακούλες 40μ-50μ, και κανείς δεν ξέρει τι να περιμένει τη στιγμή που η συγκομιδή ξεκινάει σε ένα μήνα ή δύο," είπε ο Τζακ Scoville στο μεσίτη προθεσμιακή τιμή την Τετάρτη.

Arabica vs robusta

FCStone στην πραγματικότητα υπογράμμισε την προοπτική μιας «μεγαλύτερης από το αναμενόμενο" πτώση της παραγωγής της Βραζιλίας φασόλια robusta φέτος, μετά την πρόσφατη ξηρότητα στο Espirito Santo, στην κορυφή αναπτυσσόμενη κατάσταση για την ποικιλία, το οποίο ήταν σχετικά ανέγγιχτη από την ξηρασία του περασμένου έτους.

Εξόδου Robusta παρατηρήθηκε πτώση σε σακούλες 11,5-12m.

Η καλλιέργεια Arabica παρατηρήθηκε σε σακούλες 32,5-33.5m.

Ωστόσο, FCStone αναγνώρισε την αβεβαιότητα για τις προοπτικές της φετινής χρονιάς, εξασθένηση μια «ανάγκη για περαιτέρω ανάλυση των επιτόπιων αξιολογήσεων στις προσεχείς εβδομάδες προκειμένου να παρέχουν καλύτερη ποσοτικοποίηση των αναμενόμενων όγκων που παράγονται".

Συμβολαίων μελλοντικής εκπλήρωσης καφές Arabica, για το μήνα Μάιο διαμορφώθηκε 2,2% υψηλότερα στις 140,25 σεντς ανά λίβρα το πρωί προσφορές σε Νέα Υόρκη.

Καφέ Robusta για το μήνα Μάιο ήταν 0,1% στα 1.820 δολάρια ανά τόνο στο Λονδίνο.

Εκκίνηση Καφές Αλεύρι επιθυμεί να μετατρέψει τα μεταποιημένα κεράσια προς τις μεγάλες επιχειρήσεις ( Startup Coffee Flour Hopes to Turn Processed Cherries Into Big Business

 

Coffee Flour is made from processed coffee cherries.

A Seattle startup working with a pair of the world’s largest coffee companies is hoping to turn a product called Coffee Flour — milled from coffee cherry pulp — into big money.
Led by entrepreneur and former Starbucks technical services director Dan Belliveau, CF Global Holdings, Inc. has been backed by Intellectual Ventures, a Bellevue, Wash.-based invention incubator and patent security firm that has helped develop the supply contracts for the new product.
(more: Toms Shoes Founder Blake Mycoskie Goes Big with New Coffee Venture)
The companies describe Coffee Flour as an ingredient for use in the food and beverage industries, claiming nutritional benefits such as high levels of protein, potassium and iron. Coffee Flour also contains caffeine, although the CF Global says the content is less per serving than what is found in a brewed cup of coffee. The product rollout is scheduled for 2015.
With a huge marketing launch today, CF Global is putting emphasis on the potential benefits of Coffee Flour to the environment, by diverting waste from coffee production, and to smallholder farmers, by returning a small portion of proceeds from retail sales to the farms.
(more: Former British Politician Leads $4 Million Investment in Cuban Coffee)
“Central to our business model is having the farmers and the mills share in the economics of this product,” says CF Global Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Andy Fedak. “So for every pound of flour sold a few cents is going to go to the mill, and a few cents is going to go to the farmer. We have that enshrined as part of the charter of this organization.”
The company is working with a couple of the world’s largest commodity coffee suppliers, including Ecom Coffee and Mercon, with operations currently underway in Hawaii, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Vietnam. CF Global hopes to eventually extend its source operations to virtually every coffee growing region in the world.
“Until today, coffee cherry pulp has been an unvalued byproduct resulting from the 17 billion pounds of coffee beans harvested around the world each year,” CF Global announced today. “Coffee Flour is produced by drying and milling the previously unvalued coffee cherry pulp, thereby creating a new and sustainable source of revenue for small-scale coffee farmers worldwide.”

Καφές Αλεύρι γίνεται από τα μεταποιημένα κεράσια καφέ.

 

Η εκκίνηση Σιάτλ εργάζονται με ένα ζευγάρι από τις μεγαλύτερες εταιρείες καφέ στον κόσμο ελπίζει να μετατρέψει ένα προϊόν που ονομάζεται Καφές Αλεύρι - λευκασμένο πολτό από κεράσι καφέ - σε πολλά λεφτά.
Με επικεφαλής τον επιχειρηματία και πρώην τεχνικές υπηρεσίες Starbucks διευθυντής Νταν Belliveau, CF Global Holdings, Inc έχει υποστηρίζεται από την πνευματική Ventures , μια Bellevue, Wash. με βάση εφεύρεση θερμοκοιτίδα και το δίπλωμα ευρεσιτεχνίας εταιρεία ασφαλείας που βοήθησε στην ανάπτυξη της συμβάσεις προμηθειών για το νέο προϊόν.
(Περισσότερα: Toms Παπούτσια Ιδρυτής Blake Mycoskie πηγαίνει μεγάλο με τη Νέα Καφές Venture )
Οι εταιρείες περιγράφουν Καφές Αλεύρι ως συστατικό για χρήση στις βιομηχανίες τροφίμων και ποτών, υποστηρίζοντας διατροφικά οφέλη, όπως τα υψηλά επίπεδα της πρωτεΐνης, κάλιο και σίδηρο. Καφές Αλεύρι περιέχει επίσης καφεΐνη, αν και το ΤΣ Παγκόσμια λέει η περιεκτικότητα είναι μικρότερη ανά μερίδα ό, τι βρίσκεται σε ένα αρωματικό φλιτζάνι καφέ. Η παρουσίαση των προϊόντων έχει προγραμματιστεί για το 2015.
Με μια τεράστια εκτόξευση μάρκετινγκ σήμερα, CF Παγκόσμια βάζει έμφαση στα πιθανά οφέλη του καφέ Αλεύρι για το περιβάλλον, με την εκτροπή των αποβλήτων από την παραγωγή του καφέ, καθώς και για τους μικροκαλλιεργητές, επιστρέφοντας ένα μικρό μέρος από τα έσοδα από τις λιανικές πωλήσεις στις γεωργικές εκμεταλλεύσεις.
(Περισσότερα: Ο πρώην Βρετανός πολιτικός οδηγεί $ 4 εκατομμύρια Επενδύσεις σε καφέ Κούβας )
"Κεντρικό επιχειρηματικό μας μοντέλο έχει τους αγρότες και τα ελαιοτριβεία μοιράζονται στην οικονομία αυτού του προϊόντος», λέει CF Global Co-Ιδρυτής και Διευθύνων Σύμβουλος Στρατηγικής Andy Fedak. "Έτσι, για κάθε κιλό αλεύρι που πωλούνται λίγα λεπτά πρόκειται να πάει στο μύλο, και λίγα λεπτά πρόκειται να πάει στον γεωργό. Έχουμε ότι κατοχυρώνεται ως μέρος του χάρτη αυτού του οργανισμού ".
Η εταιρεία συνεργάζεται με ένα ζευγάρι από τους μεγαλύτερους προμηθευτές καφέ αγαθό στον κόσμο, συμπεριλαμβανομένης της Ecom καφέ και Mercon , με δραστηριότητες που βρίσκονται σε εξέλιξη στη Χαβάη, το Μεξικό, Γουατεμάλα, Νικαράγουα και το Βιετνάμ. CF Παγκόσμια ελπίζει να επεκτείνει τελικά πράξεις πηγή της σχεδόν σε κάθε περιοχή καλλιέργειας καφέ στον κόσμο.
"Μέχρι σήμερα, πολτός κεράσι καφέ έχει μια χωρίς αξία παραπροϊόν που προκύπτει από τις £ 17 δισεκατομμύρια από κόκκους καφέ που συλλέγονται σε όλο τον κόσμο κάθε χρόνο," CF Παγκόσμια ανακοίνωσε σήμερα. "Καφές αλεύρι παράγεται με ξήρανση και άλεση του προηγουμένως χωρίς αξία πολτό κεράσι καφέ, δημιουργώντας έτσι μια νέα και βιώσιμη πηγή εισοδήματος για τους αγρότες καφέ μικρής κλίμακας σε όλο τον κόσμο."

What Is Craft Coffee?Τι είναι Τέχνη καφέ;

2014 Creative Commons photo by AJ Leon of a Kalita brew at Fuglen Tokyo.

Terminology integrity issues abound in the coffee world. Consider generic, hollow quality differentiators like “premium” or “gourmet.” Or the fuzziness associated with “direct trade.” Or the very phrase “specialty coffee,” which, despite having some grounding through accepted standards for green coffee as developed by the Specialty Coffee Association of America, becomes much more ambiguous when roasting and brewing get involved. Or, finally, the contemporary star of compromised coffee descriptors, the murky and oft-suspiciously-marketed “third wave.”
The one I’d like to focus on today is “craft coffee.”
First, a caveat: Craft coffee is not a real thing — no more so than craft doughnuts, craft beer or craft cocktails. Coffee, doughnuts, beer and cocktails have been made by hand with various degrees of care and ingenuity for decades, or centuries, and only in the past 10 years have we been bastardizing the noun craft and affixing it to them as an adjective. But all these things do have one critical production-related element in common, an element I believe gives the phrase “craft coffee” some legitimacy.
That element is, of course, attention to manual skill. The major dictionary publishers are in alignment on this: Craft is an art, trade or occupation requiring special skills, especially manual skills.
In coffee, opportunities for craftsmanship — the application of professional skill and manual precision — are apparent at almost all stages of production from farm to cup. But does a coffee have to have proven craftsmanship at all those levels to be labeled “craft?” If nowhere else, the term certainly can apply to the brewing stage, where opportunities range from inserting a pod and pressing a single button to manual control over every parameter and function.
What sparked my obsessing over this phrase recently was a press release from home appliance manufacturing giant KitchenAid. The company now has an official Craft Coffee Team of product developers, and it recently introduced three new products to its Craft Coffee line, including a siphon brewer, a French press and a manual grinder. They are soon to join the already available KitchenAid Pour Over Coffee Brewer, an automatic filter brewer that strives to replicate manual pourover action and results.
KitchenAid’s attempts to capitalized on the unprecedented and growing popularity of “craft coffee” among home brewers is understandable. In the release, KitchenAid Product Design Manager John McConnell says:

The brand’s craft coffee design team focused their efforts and multiple innovations around one simple mission: to make it easy for people to drink a better cup of coffee in the comfort of their homes.

That all sounds well and good.
Says KitchenAid Craft Coffee Product Designer Brandon Mock:

Good coffee is becoming more prevalent today, much like craft beer. And what you’re seeing is that once people are exposed to craft coffee, there’s no turning back.

Ok, we’re still with you. But then there’s this from McConnell:

We’re taking the manual aspects out of craft coffee, which just makes it easier and more accessible for everybody.

That’s where the record scratches. Taking the manual aspects out a craft is to undo it. It is the very manual-ness that defines a craft.
It’s entirely possible that KitchenAid’s new products do have the ability to produce stellar results, even when touched by untrained, nonprofessional hands. (Their stand mixer is a proven winner in its high-end home category.) But should we not try to protect one of the only remaining reasonably definable terms in the coffee industry
 Θέματα ακεραιότητας Ορολογία αφθονούν στον κόσμο του καφέ. Σκεφτείτε γενική, κούφια διαφοροποιητές ποιότητας, όπως «πριμοδότηση» ή «γκουρμέ». Ή την ασάφεια που σχετίζεται με το «απευθείας εμπόριο». Ή το πολύ φράση "specialty coffee", το οποίο, παρά το γεγονός ότι κάποια γείωση μέσω αποδεκτά πρότυπα για πράσινο καφέ, όπως αναπτύχθηκε από το Specialty Coffee Association of America , γίνεται πολύ πιο ασαφής όταν το ψήσιμο και ζυθοποιία να συμμετάσχουν . Ή, τέλος, η σύγχρονη αστέρι του σε κίνδυνο περιγραφείς καφέ, ο σκοτεινός και συχνά-καχύποπτα στην αγορά "τρίτο κύμα".
Το ένα θα ήθελα να επικεντρωθώ σήμερα είναι "σκάφος του καφέ."
Κατ 'αρχάς, μια προειδοποίηση: καφέ Τέχνη δεν είναι ένα πραγματικό πράγμα - όχι περισσότερο από ό, τι ντόνατς σκάφη , καλή μπύρα ή κοκτέιλ σκάφος . Καφές, ντόνατς, μπύρα και κοκτέιλ έχουν γίνει με το χέρι με διάφορους βαθμούς της φροντίδας και της εφευρετικότητας για δεκαετίες ή και αιώνες, και μόνο τα τελευταία 10 χρόνια έχουμε γίνει bastardizing το ουσιαστικό βιοτεχνίας και επικόλληση σε αυτούς ως επίθετο. Αλλά όλα αυτά τα πράγματα κάνουν έχουν ένα κρίσιμο στοιχείο σχετίζονται με την παραγωγή από κοινού, ένα στοιχείο που πιστεύω ότι δίνουν τη φράση "καφέ σκάφος" κάποια νομιμότητα.
Το στοιχείο αυτό είναι, φυσικά, η προσοχή στη χειρωνακτική ικανότητα. Οι κυριότερες λεξικό εκδότες είναι σε ευθυγράμμιση σχετικά με αυτό: Τέχνη είναι μια τέχνη, το εμπόριο ή επάγγελμα που απαιτεί ειδικές δεξιότητες, ειδικά χειρωνακτικές δεξιότητες.
Στο καφέ, οι ευκαιρίες για δεξιοτεχνία - η εφαρμογή των επαγγελματικών δεξιοτήτων και χειροκίνητη ακρίβεια - είναι εμφανής σχεδόν σε όλα τα στάδια της παραγωγής από το αγρόκτημα στο κύπελλο. Αλλά μήπως ένα καφέ πρέπει να έχουν αποδεδειγμένη δεξιοτεχνία σε όλα αυτά τα επίπεδα για να φέρουν την ένδειξη «σκάφος;" Αν πουθενά αλλού, ο όρος σίγουρα μπορεί να ισχύει για το στάδιο της ζυθοποιίας, όπου οι ευκαιρίες κυμαίνονται από την εισαγωγή ενός pod και το πάτημα ενός μόνο κουμπιού σε χειροκίνητο έλεγχο κάθε παράμετρο και λειτουργία.
Τι πυροδότησε βασανίσει μου πάνω στη φράση πρόσφατα ήταν ένα δελτίο τύπου από το σπίτι συσκευή γίγαντας κατασκευής KitchenAid . Η εταιρεία έχει τώρα μια επίσημη ομάδα Καφές Τέχνη των προγραμματιστών του προϊόντος, και εισήγαγε πρόσφατα τρία νέα προϊόντα στην γραμμή καφέ Τέχνη του, συμπεριλαμβανομένου ενός σιφόνι ζυθοποιία, ένα γαλλικό Τύπο και ένα εγχειρίδιο μύλο. Είναι σύντομα να ενταχθούν στην ήδη διαθέσιμη KitchenAid Ρίξτε πάνω από τον καφέ Brewer , μία αυτόματη καφετιέρα φίλτρου που προσπαθεί να αντιγράψει το εγχειρίδιο δράση pourover και τα αποτελέσματα.
Προσπάθειες KitchenAid για να αξιοποιηθεί η πρωτοφανής και αυξανόμενη δημοτικότητα του "καφέ σκάφος" μεταξύ σπίτι ζυθοποιίες είναι κατανοητό. Κατά την απελευθέρωση, Διευθυντής Σχεδιασμού της KitchenAid Προϊόν John McConnell λέει:

Σκάφη καφέ σχεδιαστική ομάδα της μάρκας επικέντρωσαν τις προσπάθειές τους και πολλαπλές καινοτομίες γύρω από μια απλή αποστολή: να καταστήσει εύκολο για τους ανθρώπους να πίνουν ένα καλύτερο φλιτζάνι του καφέ στην άνεση των σπιτιών τους.

Όλα αυτά ακούγονται ωραία και καλά.
Λέει Designer KitchenAid Τέχνη Καφές Προϊόν Μπράντον Mock:

Καλή καφέ γίνεται όλο και πιο διαδεδομένη σήμερα, μοιάζει πολύ καλή μπύρα. Και αυτό που βλέπουμε είναι ότι όταν οι άνθρωποι εκτίθενται σε σκάφη καφέ, δεν υπάρχει γυρισμός.

Εντάξει, είμαστε ακόμα μαζί σας. Στη συνέχεια, όμως υπάρχει αυτό από McConnell:

Παίρνουμε τις οδηγίες πτυχές της καλλιέργειας καφέ σκάφος, το οποίο ακριβώς κάνει ευκολότερη και πιο προσιτή για όλους.

Αυτός είναι όπου οι γρατσουνιές ρεκόρ. Λαμβάνοντας το εγχειρίδιο πτυχές ένα σκάφος είναι να το αναιρέσει. Είναι η ίδια η χειροκίνητη-κότητας που ορίζει ένα σκάφος.
Είναι εξ ολοκλήρου δυνατό ότι τα νέα προϊόντα της KitchenAid δεν έχουν την ικανότητα να παράγει εκπληκτικά αποτελέσματα, ακόμη και όταν άγγιξε από ανειδίκευτο προσωπικό, μη επαγγελματικό χέρια. (Μίξερ με βάση τους είναι ένας αποδεδειγμένος νικητής στην κατηγορία του στο σπίτι high-end). Αλλά δεν θα έπρεπε να προσπαθήσει να προστατεύσει ένα από τα λίγα εναπομείναντα εύλογα προσδιορίσιμο όρους στη βιομηχανία του καφέ;

Greek Coffee the Key to Longevity?

hers targeted it as a proxy for Ikarians' longevity.
The results, published in the journal Vascular Medicine on March 18, show a strong correlation between Greek coffee drinking habits and endothelial health.
The study included a sample of 71 men and 71 women from Ikaria, out of 673 Ikarians over the age of 65 who are permanent residents of the island. 80 percent had high blood pressure, 23 percent had diabetes, 73 percent had high cholesterol, 17 percent were active smokers, and 22 percent had a history of cardiovascular disease.
Medical professionals collected questionnaires about the participants' health, lifestyles, and coffee habits, and measured health indicators like high blood pressure and endothelial function. The researchers recorded all types of coffee consumed by participants, including boiled Greek coffee, instant coffee, cappuccino, or filtered coffee.
The results showed that over 87 percent of participants drank boiled Greek coffee every day, and that those participants who drank it had better endothelial function than those who drank other types. Even participants with high blood pressure had better endothelial function if they drank boiled Greek coffee.
"Boiled Greek type of coffee, which is rich in polyphenols and antioxidants and contains only a moderate amount of caffeine, seems to gather benefits compared to other coffee beverages," Siasos said in a statement.
The researchers suspect that boiled Greek coffee retains more of the healthful chemical compounds of coffee, since the boiling water is able to extract more from coffee grounds than it would in other methods like filtering. The basic method involves boiling roasted and finely ground coffee in a pot of water with sugar, though there are many possible variations.
Many recent studies have indicated possible health benefits of coffee, and caffeine in general- among them, preventing Alzheimer's disease and heart disease, lowering oral cancer and skin cancer risk, losing weight, and promoting longevity. Still, it's important to note that anything, especially a drug like caffeine, should be consumed in moderation.
More research needs to be done to observe how boiled Greek coffee, or any caffeinated beverage, might boost cardiovascular health. The study only shows a correlation, not a causation, between drinking Greek coffee and greater endothelial health. Ikarians are known to have many other positive habits, like their heart-healthy Mediterranean diets, that are much more strongly linked to better overall health and longevity.
Still, it couldn't hurt to pick up a habit from the world's oldest people. Greek coffee, also known as Turkish coffee, is fairly easy to brew.

Starbucks «Μικρή ελληνικό πρόβλημα - Mikel

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation έχει τα πήγε εξαιρετικά καλά σε πολλές αγορές του εξωτερικού, αλλά όχι στην Ελλάδα. Γιατί;

Έντονος ανταγωνισμός από τις τοπικές τυχάρπαστο, Mikel Coffee Company.
Ο Mikel φαίνεται να είναι ένας δημοφιλής προορισμός για τους νέους στην Ελλάδα, βοηθώντας την εταιρεία εξάπλωση buzz και να αυξηθεί αλματωδώς, νικώντας Starbucks από ένα μεγάλο περιθώριο. Σε μόλις οκτώ χρόνια, Mikel έχει ανοίξει 84 καταστήματα και ένα άλλο 25 υπό εξέλιξη, ενώ η Starbucks έχει κολλήσει με 30 καταστήματα.
Στη βόρεια πόλη της Θεσσαλονίκης, Mikel έχει ήδη 20 καταστήματα Starbucks και μόνο 4 με ορισμένα καταστήματα Mikel βρίσκεται ακριβώς δίπλα στο Starbucks.
Η ραγδαία εξάπλωση της νέας αλυσίδας φαίνεται να έχουν βάλει τα Starbucks στην άμυνα, τροφοδοτώντας έναν πόλεμο τιμών που δεν συναντάται σε άλλες αγορές του εξωτερικού.
Όταν επισκέφθηκα για πρώτη φορά ένα κατάστημα Mikel στην οδό Κοραή, Αθήνα τον περασμένο Ιούνιο, είχα την εντύπωση ότι ήταν μια εντοπισμένη αντίγραφο της Starbucks: άνετα καταστήματα σε κεντρικά σημεία, μια ποικιλία από καφέ και χυμό, και καλά εκπαιδευμένους υπαλλήλους. Με μία διαφορά - το χρώμα των στολών ... πράσινο για τα Starbucks και μαύρο για Mikel.
Αυτή η εικόνα άλλαξε δραματικά κατά τη δεύτερη επίσκεψή μου τον περασμένο Αύγουστο, όταν είχα την ευκαιρία να καθίσει με τον Mikel Πρόεδρος Ελευθέριος Κυριακάκης και Διευθυντής Χρύσα Γερολυμάτου, και να συζητήσουν την ιστορία της εταιρείας και το επιχειρηματικό μοντέλο.
Ελευθέριος μεγάλωσε στη Λάρισα, βόρεια Ελληνική πόλη όπου η κατανάλωση καφέ είναι μια καθημερινή τελετουργία στις βαθμολογίες των παραδοσιακά καφενεία και καφετέριες. Αυτό θα μπορούσε ίσως να εξηγήσει συγγένεια του για τα καταστήματα καφέ, η οποία ξεκίνησε από την ηλικία των 16. Μέχρι την ηλικία των 18 Ελευθέριος είχε ανοίξει το πρώτο κατάστημα καφέ του, το δεύτερο του στο 19, ένα μπαρ-κλαμπ, σε 22 - και το πρώτο Mikel στο 26, το οποίο στράφηκε σε μια αλυσίδα δικαιόχρησης από την ηλικία των 31 ετών.
Ελευθέριος «επιχειρηματική εμπειρία με καταστήματα καφέ και κλαμπ μπαρ ρίχνει φως στο επιχειρηματικό μοντέλο Mikel του: δηλαδή, τη διασύνδεση πολλών διαφορετικών παραδοσιακών εννοιών που καταλαμβάνουν διαφορετικές χρονοθυρίδες στο εργάσιμη ημέρα:
Ένα παραδοσιακό καφενείο (καφενείο), το οποίο ανοίγει νωρίς το πρωί και προσφέρει καθίσετε στο καφέ υπηρεσιών σε ένα απλό περιβάλλον?
Ένα παραδοσιακό καφενείο, το οποίο ανοίγει αργότερα το πρωί και προσφέρει καθίσετε στις υπηρεσίες καφέ και χυμό ποτά σε ένα πιο χαλαρό περιβάλλον, υπό τους ήχους απαλής μουσικής?
Το περίπτερο του καφέ, το οποίο προσφέρει καφέ για να πάει?
Και το μπαρ-κλαμπ, το οποίο ανοίγει τις πρώτες πρωινές ώρες το βράδυ και προσφέρει αλκοολούχα ποτά υπό αχνά φώτα και δυνατή μουσική.
Καταστήματα Mikel ανοιχτά 6 το πρωί και κοντά 10πμ. Εξυπηρετούν όλα τα είδη των ποικιλιών καφέ? και προσφέρει 35 τοις εκατό έκπτωση για καφέ για να πάει, σε ένα χάρτινο κύπελλο και όχι ένα φλιτζάνι αφρό, καθώς χρησιμοποιείται για να είναι στις παλιές ημέρες. Φωτισμός και μουσική ρυθμίζεται κατά τη διάρκεια της ημέρας για να ανταποκριθεί στις διαφορετικές πλήθη - και σερβίρουν αλκοολούχα ποτά το βράδυ.
Ελευθέριος εξηγεί περαιτέρω πως το επιχειρηματικό μοντέλο Mikel διαφέρει από εκείνη των Starbucks.
"Starbucks είναι ένα άτομο self-service εμφάνιση", υποστηρίζει. "Η barista εκτελεί κάθε εργασία - λήψη παραγγελιών, την προετοιμασία ποτών, καθώς και τη συλλογή των χρημάτων."

Behind the Lens with the Creative Duo at European Coffee Trip

Radeck Nozicka (right) and Ales Pospisil of European Coffee Trip.

For the coffee-obsessed, road trips to new cities typically involve mapping out coffee destinations and building the itinerary around them. Coffee is not an afterthought dependent on factors like timing and proximity. It is the starting point, and a reputable guide is a major bonus.
Ales Pospisil Radek Nozicka are hoping to be that guide for travelers in Europe. The two have created European Coffee Trip, a guide site rich with beautiful photography, customized maps and a blog highlighing coffee shops and the characters within them. ECT also recently unveiled an educational component, a video series with former World Barista Champion Gwilym Davies.
Pospisil says he came up with the ECT idea after he founded Coffee Club Zurich, an online hub for local coffee obsessives. He and Nozicka, the primary photographer and videographer, discussed the site concept over infinite coffees, eventually launching the site in English as a way to bypass some European language barriers.
We recently caught up with Pospisil to talk about ECT’s creation and what the 2015 itinerary might look like:

What was the impetus for ECT?

Initially, it was connecting two aspects of our lives that Radek and I are eager to explore further: good coffee and travel. We thought there was space for an online platform or magazine that could connect all people interested in speciality coffee across Europe. Each country has its national language, which limits how far words and ideas can be spread.

Is this purely a labor of love?

Since the beginning of the project, we have planned to turn it into something sustainable. In recent months, we have gotten involved in the project full-time and are searching for sponsors who can make the rest of the trip possible. We started to contribute to some Czech and international coffee-related magazines and we are experimenting with bringing coffee from various European micro-roasters to the Czech Republic. We would like to continue. We are on our way to figuring out how.

What are your backgrounds, and when and how were you drawn to the coffee world?

We are bot engineers by education — I am telecommunications engineer; Radek still studies mechanical engineering — but we both lean toward the business and marketing side of the profession. I discovered speciality coffee during a home barista course in Brno (Czech Republic) with Jaroslav Tucek, owner of great roastery in Prague called Doubleshot. I remember the moment he mentioned a coffee he was holding would smell and taste like strawberries and chocolate. I thought he was crazy until I opened the bag and tried it myself. I started my journey that day and I never looked back. Radek got on board much later and his initial motivation was the creativity of the project rather than coffee itself. That has changed a lot since the beginning, and he has learned a lot.

What have been some of the personal highlights of your trip?

Some are discussing speciality coffee for national television and radio in Poland, or presenting our stories to full hall of people at Prague Coffee Festival. We really like Prague. We have incredible memories from Poznan, Poland, where we met Damian Durda, who works for Bonanza Coffee in Berlin, and he was incredible guide on our way. If somebody asks us about a specific coffee experience, we usually say Headfirst Coffee in Amsterdam.
One truly influential meeting was with Gwilym Davies, who we interviewed during Coffee Week in Brno. His thoughts and stories were mind-blowing and we couldn’t wait to share it. We are happy to call Gwilym friend now.

What kind of gear are you shooting with?

Ohh, good question! Radek carries with him Nikon D5100 with a set lens, plus a 35mm f/1.8 extra lens. For the audio recording, we use Zoom H1 recorder and Audio-Technica lavalier mic. We also have a GoPro 3 Silver camera and “selfie stick” for alternative videos and photos. It allows us to create a favorite sub-project of ours we call “coffee people.” We are releasing a picture of a person almost every day, in addition to some of his or her story. It’s a way baristas can learn more about their colleagues from all over Europe.

How would you describe the upscale coffee industry’s growth on a continental scale?

We’re seeing very rapid growth in most countries and cities we visit. East and South are a bit behind North and West but that’s changing very fast. Most cafes we visited didn’t exist two years ago, and some not even 2 month ago. Prague has doubled its speciality cafe scene, Vienna has tripled. What’s more important is that customers are getting educated in coffee, and that is what makes the market more interesting..

What’s your itinerary for 2015?

Next trip is to Finland (Helsinki), and Baltic countries, visiting Tallin, Riga and Vilnius. We are also visiting the main coffee festivals in Europe (Bratislava, Vienna, London), and we plan to be present at World of Coffee in Gothenburg. We are looking forward to visiting the UK and Scandinavia, as well as Greece and Turkey. It will be also pretty exciting to explore what some people might describe as “undiscovered” coffee culture in Romania and Ukraine.

So when you’re going to a city that’s new to you, what’s your coffee guide?

This is tricky part. In the very beginning, we knew baristas from each city, so we asked several of them what cafes would they put on the map. Our criteria is the use of speciality coffee, consistency in delivering great coffee, well-trained baristas and quality machines. We choose the final list based on the time we have in each city. It’s quite difficult, but we don’t aim to generate a complete list from each of our visits.

Now Roasting in South Philadelphia’s Point Breeze: Other Animal

March 20, 2015 1:59 pm

Other Animal Coffee Roasters Instagram photo.

Diverging slightly from a career in restaurants and foodservice, Daniel Westiner has created his own small-batch commercial roasting operation, Other Animal Coffee Roasters, in South Philadelphia’s Point Breeze neighborhood.
The roastery concept has been developing in Westiner’s mind for a period of years, forming in earnest after Westiner managed the opening of Talula’s Daily, an upscale, food-focused cafe concept spun off from the farm-to-table restaurant Tulula’s Garden. Westiner was deeply drawn to the coffee program, working with representatives of La Colombe to develop custom blends for the new shop.
“That was a really great way for me to further my knowledge,” Westiner, a home roaster for the past six years, recently told Daily Coffee News.
Westiner is roasting with an Artisan 6 fluid-bed model from Washington State-based Coffee Crafters inside a former shoe repair shop. Early in the venture, Westiner got a boost from two-location local grocer Green Aisle Grocery, which promotes mostly local and transparently produced products. “They are kind of like an incubator for local products,” Westiner says. “They sell Blue Bottle, Rival Brothers and Reanimator, but they came to me and asked if they could have samples.”
Westiner is currently working with a small handful of importers, including Cafe Imports and Royal Coffee, with a focus on small lots and seasonality. “I look for a few different things,” Westiner says of his sourcing approach. “I’m looking for interesting characteristics in terms of sweetness and acidity. I like a balanced acidity with a really well-rounded sweetness — something that could be well-rounded in a blend, or something that could be unique in a single origin.”
Other Animal currently offers single-origin coffees from Ethiopia, Panama and Guatemala, as well as a house blend (Analog), an espresso blend (Patchwork), a decaffeinated blend (Kind Eyes), and a cascara tea. Westiner says he intends to keep his rotating line of coffees small and refined.
“With the Analog, I wanted to have a blend that would work for a variety of different palates — whether there’s a little milk in a cafe, or whether it’s at home with a french press,” he says. “It’s approachable but it’s sturdy enough to be interesting on its own.”
The single-origin offerings tend to offer more complexity, and Westiner presents them in the context of seasonality. “We’ll certainly be changing with different harvests,” he says. “However, there are certain regions I’m driven to more than others. Ethiopian coffees will be a staple in my roaster, and I tend to go toward South and Central American coffees, as well.”
Westiner says his roasting style skews a bit on the light side, but he is not pushing those boundaries. “There’s been a trend of roasting pretty aggressively light, and I think there’s been some pushback from that,” he says. “I want something a little more rounded and balanced.”
Other Animal’s first month mostly involved setting up shop and ensuring its smooth operation, but Westiner is now more active in seeking various wholesale accounts. He’s specifically interested in working with quality-focused multiroaster cafes. Philadelphia is naturally fertile ground.
“Within the past four or five years, the scene has exploded here,” says Westiner. “What makes Philadelphia unique — the coffee scene is really inclusive. I feel like people are not quite as brand-loyal as they are in other places. There are all kinds of ideas being shared, and it makes for better coffee awareness. The roasters win, and the consumers win.”

Coffee and Cannabis for a Cause Coming to Seattle in April

elevate

[v. el-uh-veyt; adj. el-uh-veyt, -vit]
verb (used with object), elevated, elevating.
1. to move or raise to a higher place or position; liftup.
2. to raise to a higher state, rank, or office; exalt; promote.
3. to raise to a higher intellectual or spiritual level.
4. to raise the spirits; put in high spirits.
Definitions three and four most apply here. Lacey, Wash.-based coffee equipment and accessory seller Espresso Parts is teaming up with Seattle-based cannabis accoutrements seller Trichome to present the Elevated Coffee Experience, a celebration of cannabis and coffee.
The two-night event is being held in conjunction with the upcoming SCAA 2015 event in Seattle, beginning Friday, April 10, at Trichome’s International District location. Seattle roaster Anchorhead Coffee will be serving two espresso-based drinks: espresso and cannabis oil; and a macchiato-style drink with espresso, milk and cannabis oil. The following night, the Espresso Parts team will be serving pour overs with Anchorhead coffees, also infused with cannabis oil.
The event is free and open only to SCAA attendees (age 21+), although the companies are planning to leverage the expectedly high turnout for some good by collecting $5 donations, the proceeds from which will go to the Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, a waterway protection group.

Single Cups and Workplace Coffee in the NCA’s 2015 Consumer Trends Report

Single cup brewing and dissatisfaction with office coffee are among the trends in the NCA’s 2015 consumer report. 2008 photo “Why I Love Waking Up” by Tomasz Bobrzynski.

Single-cup brewing systems are continuing their meteoric rise, while workplace coffee may provide one of the industry’s biggest opportunities for development. This according to the National Coffee Association’s 2015 National Coffee Drinking Trends report.
Each year, the NCA gets a hold of about 3,000 U.S. consumers of ages and ethnicities in proportion with U.S. population data. The longest running study of its kind for the industry, the National Coffee Drinking Trends (NCDT) report provides a wide-angle view of consumer trends, something that can get lost in the “specialty” bubble.
For 2015, total coffee consumption remained within the margin of error of last year’s numbers, with 59 percent of Americans saying they drink coffee every day, and 71 percent saying they drink coffee at least once per week. At these rates, coffee holds its place as Americans’ top daily beverage choice behind water, the NCA says.
The survey showed that single-cup brewing ownership is at an all-time high of 27 percent, compared to 15 percent last year and 12 percent two years ago. Additionally, 12 percent of consumers said they intend to buy a single-cup brewing system within the next six months, although that number is lower than it was in the 2014 survey. Awareneness of single-cup brewing systems is also up to an all-time high of 75 percent.
This year’s survey yielded some interesting feedback on workplace coffee, an area the NCA suggests shows room for opportunity among coffee providers. “Attitudes toward office coffee systems appear to suggest opportunities to improve the workplace coffee experience,” the group said in an announcement of the report. “Fifty-four percent are less than ‘very satisfied’ with their workplace coffee area, while the 13 percent who said they are not satisfied will likely be a receptive audience for new preparation options.”
As for age demographics, the report confirmed that coffee drinking in total is skewing older, although the margin was smaller in this year’s report compared to last year’s. Additionally, there was growth in total consumption, especially pronounced in espresso-based drinks, among consumers under the age of 40. Drinkers age 18-24 also reported drinking less non-gourmet coffee.
The NCA officially released the report in conjunction with its annual convention, which took place this past weekend in Charleston, S.C. The group moved production of the report up three months from previous years to align the timing. The full trends report is available online and in print beginning today, beginning at $350 for NCA members and $595 for non-members.

One Roaster’s 66-Page Manifesto on Modulating the Flavor Profile of Coffee

“Modulating the Flavor Profile of Coffee” by Rob Hoos.

Experienced roasters always seem to be toeing the line between, to borrow a phrase, the known knowns and the known unknowns. That toeing is reflected in the very title of professional roaster, instructor and consultant Rob Hoos’s new book, Modulating the Flavor Profile of Coffee: One Roaster’s Manifesto. The book officially launched today, and is available here.
Modulating draws from Hoos’s experience as a roaster for commercial operations of various sizes with many different types of equipment. From that experience, he forms his manifesto, which is in part derived from the known knowns. Early on, he writes:

I have been as precise, objective and analytical as I can be with my current equipment. Readers should be able to take my experiments and reproduce them to test my theories and paradigms. I have been working with this approach for the past three years and have found it to be true regardless of roaster manufacturer, batch size, origin, altitude, etc. I hope that these standards can help you as much as they have helped me.

From there, Hoos acknowledges the unknowns:

With something as complex as coffee, I recognize that the nuance, and thus the conversation, is never over.

While some roasters can lean toward secrecy after developing roasting methodologies over a course of years, Hoos has always leaned toward education. In addition to his own consultancy, Hoos has been deeply involved in professional development education and instruction, specifically with the the SCAA and the Roasters Guild. He is currently the lead roaster at Portland-based Nossa Familia Coffee, where over the past three years he has logged more than 7,500 roasts. From those logs and associated observations come the bulk of this book.
We were able to catch up with Hoos just prior to Modulating‘s launch:

The big question is, “Why this book?” How do you see this fitting into the existing catalogue of in-depth writing on roasting methodology?

Part of the reason I wrote this book is to document and clarify, through the act of writing, my current approach to roasting coffee. I have always found that writing causes me to focus more thoroughly on the subject matter.
Another part is, I believe that I have stumbled into some novel, interesting, and compelling ideas that I would like to put out there for the world.
Yet another part is because I really enjoy acting as a consultant with roasters and helping them go to the next level, and I hope this book drives some new and interesting consulting gigs.
A big part is because of my experience when I was beginning to roast coffee. I found myself in a sort of vacuum of information about coffee and coffee roasting. Though there were books out there on how-to or home-roasting — usually more general ones — there was little to nothing out about how to manipulate the flavor of the coffee through varying the profile of the coffee while it is roasting.
Some of it could be secrecy, but as I have been working as a consultant and volunteer educator, I have found that there is just not much information out there on the subject. So, around the end of 2011, I decided I was going to do my best to experiment with the roast profile of coffee, compare it to cupping notes, and see what trends appeared in the data. Then I did this over different origins, different varieties, different roasters, and found that these trends held true.
What separates this book from others on the market is in-depth discussion of how I manipulate the roast profile to alter the taste of the roasted coffee I am serving. It doesn’t make recommendations — it just talks about causes and effects.

Rob Hoos. Photo by Connie Blumhardt.

Apart from yourself, who is the book for?

It is geared primarily toward people who use professional equipment and roast coffee for a living, though it is applicable to home roasting, as well. I started out as a home roaster and would love for them to find the book helpful and informative. Some of it may be frustrating, depending on the level of control and data-feedback they have access to, but I think overall it will be an enjoyable book for professional roasters, as well as home-enthusiasts. Many times, home enthusiasts can be just as particular, if not more so, than people that roast for a living.

In the context of the book’s title and of coffee roasting, what do you mean by “modulation?”

Google does quite well in saying, “to exert a modifying or controlling influence on.” The premise behind the book is to take intentional control over the roast profile. The profile is a graph of the coffee moving through different chemical and physical changes over time. To intentionally control or “modulate” the profile is to take the coffee through the chemical/physical reactions to the duration and intensity that you deem to be appropriate or “best.” The key is to be intentional, to be controlled, and to understand how the changes you are making to the curve from one roast to the next are changing the flavor of the coffee.

COFFEE KING ATHENS NEW LOOK

Raleigh’s Slingshot Coffee Continues Growth Pattern with $400,000 Investment

Slingshot Coffee next to Jenny Bonchak’s US Brewers Cup trophy.

A tremendous achievement for a first-time competitor — or for any competitor, really — Jenny Bonchak recently placed second in the US Brewers Cup in Long Beach, Calif., behind champion Sarah Anderson of Intelligentsia and in front of 2014 U.S. champion Todd Goldsworthy of Klatch Coffee.
This was at a time when a large percentage of her professional energy was largely focused elsewhere, in Raleigh, N.C., where her cold brew business Slingshot Coffee was in the middle of a $400,000 investment round with multiple firms.
“I’ve been busy,” Bonchak told Daily Coffee News on the heels of her Brewers Cup success.
The funding was initiated through a somewhat-chance meeting with John Replogle, the President and CEO of Seventh Generation Inc., and former President and CEO of Burt’s Bees. Replogle got a hold of Slingshot Coffee through a mutual friend of Bonchak’s, tasted the product, requested a meeting, and the two hit it off.

Bonchak. US Coffee Championships photo.

“He’s been an amazing partner to have,” says Bonchak, who has also secured investments from two separate private equity firms that she declined to name. “He believes so much in what we’re doing and he believes in the entrepreneurial spirit, It’s not just a monetary support he’s bringing, it’s a different kind of support he offers, and I’m really grateful for it.”
With the investment round nearly finalized, Bonchak says she intends to add staff and ramp up all aspects of the business, including production, sales, marketing and new product development. “Pray, tell?” we asked of the latter, but Bonchak says she is currently “not quite ready to let the cat of the bag.”
Slingshot’s core products currently include a ready-to-drink bottled cold brew, a bottled cold brew concentrate and, most recently a cascara tea. Bonchak sources her coffee from Durham-based Counter Culture, where her husband Jonathan Bonchak has worked for four years. (Both Bonchaks have now stood on the figurative Brewers Cup podium). Jenny Bonchak takes an innovative approach in the bottled cold brew segment, pushing coffee quality to the forefront. Slingshot even offers a seasonal brew, using single-origin coffees from Counter Culture.
While Slingshot’s products are now in stores in at least 11 states, its beginnings three years ago were modest. Bonchak was brewing and bottling in a small kitchen space after hours. She would go in at 11 p.m., work through the night, go to her day job, get a few brief minutes of shut-eye and do it all over again.
As production grew, the one-person operation moved into an approximately 150-square-foot space inside a Raleigh bike shop owned by friends. In June 2014, feeling further production growth Bonchak moved yet again, into a 1,000-square-foot dedicated space.
“We were very picky about where we wanted to be,” Bonchak says of Slingshot’s current home. “We wanted to be somewhere near the neighborhood where I lived. I want the business to continue to be part of a community.”

Photo by Slingshot Coffee

Slingshot also opened a limited-hours retail component, called Weekend, with outdoor seating, tapped cold brews and hot coffee pourovers. Slingshot’s pattern thus far has been step-by-step growth in fairly rapid succession, and Bonchak says the company may yet outgrow its existing space, although she’d like to stay there for as long as possible and further develop the Weekend component this Spring.
“I have always had a lot of faith in what this is — making a really good product,” says Bonchak. “I’ve certainly had ideas about ‘I would love to be at X sort of place by X sort of time,’ but there is a lot more focus just on doing what is really good, and on being calculated about how we’re growing as a brand.”

‘Men and Coffee’ is Like ‘Hot Dudes Reading,’ Minus the Books

A relatively new Instagram account peppering images of half-naked men and mustachioed baristas drinking and preparing coffee is the latest, greatest thing on the internet, where shallowness knows no depths.
@menandcoffee is up to 13K+ followers, with thousands more bound to follow after Time Magazine yesterday described the Instagram as “your new morning pick-me-up.” The account is in the vein of “Hot Dudes Reading on Trains,” which as Jezebel so wryly put it, “celebrates basic literacy in men.”
Through the hashtag #menandcoffee, Vancouver-based social media strategist Alex Tooby is running the account, along with a recently launched sister account, @womenandcoffee. Both accounts point to Tooby’s online store, which includes things like coffee-theme t-shirts and mustache mugs.
Tooby says she launched Men and Coffee on a “total and utter whim” and that most of the photos from men and coffee come from the hashtag. “So it’s true, the photos you see on the feed come to me from beautiful men all over the world,” she writes.
You would be hard pressed to find many other industries in which the perceived “beauty,” let alone “hotness,” of individual purveyors is so readily explored as in coffee. Whether that’s a good or bad thing for coffee retail at large is, I think, debatable. For now, with a modicum of shame, we share some selections from Trooby’s people drinking coffee accounts:

Inside Zagat’s 2015 Coffee Consumer Trends Survey

Latte art is trending upward, according to the 2015 Zagat consumer trends survey. 2011 Creative Commons photo “Latte Art” by Kenny Louie.

Google-owned restaurant review surveyor Zagat has released its third annual National Coffee Survey, including some illuminating results on how much U.S. consumers are willing to pay for prepared coffee, as well as gender-based drink preference trends.
The survey gathered replies from nearly 1,500 coffee-drinking respondents throughout the 30-plus markets in which Zagat conducts its restaurant surveys. Respondents reported more frequent consumption and a willingness to pay more for home or barista-prepared coffee than respondents in comparable surveys, like the 2014 National Coffee Association 2014 consumer trends report. For example, 82 percent of the Zagat respondents drink coffee daily, compared to 61 percent in the NCA study.
Here are some of the Zagat study’s most interesting finds for 2015:

Home vs. Retail

Forty three percent of coffee-drinking respondents said they most often make their coffee at home or make/pour it at work. That leaves a relatively whopping 26 percent of people who most often get their coffee from “large national chains” and an equally relatively whopping 22 percent who get their coffee most often from “small chains” or “independents.” The number of people saying they regularly purchase coffee outside the home grew by 8 percent over 2014.

#Trending

According to the Zagat survey, latte art and flat whites  — which recently debuted on Starbucks menus — are trending upward among U.S. consumers. For what it’s worth, latte art was measured by levels of apathy and enthusiasm, with 45 percent of respondents saying they “love it.”

 Paying More at the Shop

On average, survey participants reported paying $3.28 for a cup of coffee, a noticeable increase from $3.05 in 2014 and $2.98 in 2013. $3.67 was the average price point deemed “too much” for a cup of black coffee. Meanwhile, respondents said an average of $5.07 is the tipping point for “barista-prepared” coffee drinks, representing a 38 percent increase over prepared black coffee.

Drinking More with Age

The national average for coffee drinks consumed per day among all age groups is 2.1, down from 2.3 last year, although respondents reported consuming more drinks with age: people in their 20s (1.8 drinks per day); in their 30s (2.0); in their 40s (2.2); in their 50s (2.4); and in their 60s (2.4). Males of all ages reported consuming more drinks per day (2.4) than did females (1.9).

Specialty Drinks Catching Black Coffee

Black coffee remains the most popular drink among Zagat respondents, although its 24 percent share is down six percent from last year’s results. While “other” captured a 21 percent share of the favorite drink category, popular prepared drinks include: latte (17 percent), cappuccino (12 percent), Americano (8 percent), espresso (8 percent), iced coffee (5 percent), and flavored latte (5 percent).

Preferences by Gender

For 2015, Zagat broke out its data by gender, illustrating some interesting differences in drink preference and retail brand preference. At 22 percent, lattes were the most popular drink type among female consumers, with a regular cup of coffee trailing behind at 19 percent. At 30 percent, a regular cup of coffee was the preferred drink of male respondents, with straight espresso following at 14 percent. When not making coffee at home, females said they prefer buying their drinks at large national chains (31 percent, compared to 20 percent for males), while males responded with a preference for small chains or single-location shops (23 percent).

Tipping and Lingering Etiquette

Zagat has asked two very interesting questions over the past two years: “Do you tip baristas?” and “How long is too long to stay at a coffee shop?” Answers to the latter remained fairly consistent with 2014’s results, with 41 percent of respondents suggesting there is no problem with staying for two or more hours (23 percent said they should be allowed to stay indefinitely). Nearly half of the respondents said staying any time longer than an hour is too long.
Results regarding tipping practices were equally consistent with those in the 2014 study, with 61 reporting regular tipping: 25 percent always tip; 24 percent tip if the barista is friendly; 12 percent tip if the order is complicated. Nine percent of respondents said they don’t tip for non barista-prepared coffee, while 30 percent said they don’t necessarily tip at all. Interestingly, tipping is clearly practiced most among West Coast consumers, while consumers in the Northeast responded as being stingiest with their tips.

Coffee Prices Continue Decline Despite Production Deficit Predictions, ICO Says

2011 photo in Brazil by Mark Hillary.

Green coffee prices continued in a downward slide through February, despite recent estimates that global production will result in a deficit this year, according to the latest monthly report from the London-based International Coffee Organization.

The ICO’s composite indicator price — a historical data series that reflects price monitoring for coffees from all the world’s main growing regions — dropped to a monthly average of $1.411 USD per pound in February, a 4.6 percent decline from January and the lowest monthly average in a full year. The ICO attributes the price drop, which has followed a peak of $1.85 in October 2014, to “heavy selling pressure” in Brazil, where weather conditions have been favorable for the current crop.

Despite the immediate downward trend, ICO data suggest an upward trend may be imminent, as current estimates for world production for the crop year 2014/15 are at 142 million bags, a 4.6 million drop off from last year.

“This puts the coffee market into a deficit for the current year, although stocks in exporting countries have so far allowed exports to continue at a strong pace,” the ICO said.

Arabicas, particularly from Brazil and Colombia, saw the sharpest decreases last month, at 6 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, as the composite price for robustas actually increased minimally.

The ICO’s February report contains some unexpected good news in the form of revised upward production estimates in some traditionally smaller global markets. While the total production estimate is 3.2 percent less than last year, it was revised upward slightly due to strong performances in Honduras, Tanzania, Cameroon, Rwanda and Burundi. Estimates have been revised downward in India and slightly downward in Mexico, while Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Indonesia held steady over the previous month.

In its regional breakdowns, the ICO suggests total output will be decreased by 6.8 percent in South America, and by 4.8 percent in Asia and Oceania. Output is expected to increase by nearly 8 percent in Mexico and Central America, which are still trying to rebound to 2010/11 levels, before the leaf rust outbreaks. Additionally, African coffee production is now estimated to reach 17 million bags, which would be the highest output from the continent since 1999/2000.

Download the complete ICO February report, including stockpile estimates and analysis of arbitrage between arabica and robusta.