Every Friday, Perfect Daily Grind rounds up the top coffee industry news from the previous week. Here are this week’s stories. 

• Mon, 31 Jan – Colombian-focused direct trade platform Who Is Coffee launches online. Coffees are available as whole bean or ground and are shipped direct to consumers. Who Is Coffee’s packaging includes the names and portraits of farmers who grew the coffees, as well as designs from Colombian artists based in different coffee-growing regions.

• Mon, 31 Jan – Beijing private equity firm Centurium Capital acquires major stake in Luckin Coffee. Centurium Capital now owns over 50% of the coffee chain.

• Mon, 31 Jan – Coffee subscription service Yes Plz partners with NFT project Bored Breakfast Club. The Bored Breakfast Club is a collection of 5,000 non fungible tokens (NFTs). Each NFT serves as a membership token which allows owners to receive free coffee orders on a regular basis. Each bag of coffee will include a limited edition design, featuring licensed NFTs owned by Bored Breakfast Club members.

• Mon, 31 Jan – Death Wish Coffee launches collaboration with US tattoo artists. The Tattoo Series will include original artwork from nine artists printed on limited edition mugs and t-shirts. The first artist in the collaboration series is Buffalo, New York tattooist Eva Jean.

• Mon, 31 Jan – Starbucks unionisation campaign expands to include 54 US stores. Employees from 54 stores in 19 states have filed for union elections after the chain’s first-ever union was formed in Buffalo, New York in December 2021. Around 30 Starbucks employees in Mesa, Arizona are finalising their mail-in unionisation votes this week.

• Mon, 31 Jan – Kuwait’s COFE App acquires e-commerce platform Sippy Beans. COFE app acquired the UAE online platform for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition will support COFE’s strategic expansion plans across the Middle East.

• Tue, 1 Feb – New Zealand Specialty Coffee Association postpones national 2022 Cup Tasters and Latte Art Championships. The two competitions were originally scheduled for 4 and 6 March, respectively. NZSCA is looking to reschedule the events in July.

• Tue, 1 Feb – Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) becomes largest Colombian coffee exporter to receive Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) accreditation. The accreditation is awarded to companies meeting the highest security standards throughout their supply chains. Benefits of the AEO accreditation include simplifying customs procedures for coffee exports and imports.

• Tue, 1 Feb – Kenya’s 2021 coffee exports drop by over 5,000 tonnes. Despite export revenue increasing during 2021, Kenya’s government claims the country exported over 35,000 tonnes last year – a decline from the almost 41,000 tonnes exported in 2020. Kenya’s government predicts coffee exports will also decline this year.

• Tue, 1 Feb – Design strategy company Smart Design holds coffee-focused webinar. The Coffee and Ritual online event explored how companies can design products and services for daily coffee-making routines. The webinar included Starbucks’ Senior Product Manager Clay Hoffman and founder and CEO of Poursteady Stephan von Muehlen.

• Tue, 1 Feb – Eight Colombian coffee farmers receive funding for housing and farming equipment through Periodic Economic Benefits (BEPS) programme. The eight recipients will collectively receive US $108 million, including a first-ever female winner, Luz Elena Vélez Orozco from Antioquia.

• Wed, 2 Feb – Outdoor coffee and drinkware brand BruTrek launches new insulated bottle. The double-wall BruTrekker bottle is available in three sizes and includes a leak-proof dual lid system.

• Wed, 2 Feb – Colombian coffee brand Juan Valdez to expand presence in Florida. The multi-year project with Hurd Construction Management plans to open over 180 new stores by 2025.

• Wed, 2 Feb – Fire Dept. Coffee launches new frontline worker donation campaign in US. For every bag of coffee purchased before 14 February, the veteran and firefighter-owned company will donate a bag of coffee to first responders, nurses, and military members across the US.

• Wed, 2 Feb – Outdoor equipment brand Stanley reports 40% sales increase in coffee and tea category. The company sells a range of insulated drinkware items for coffee and tea beverages.

• Wed, 2 Feb – US green trader and roaster Coffee Holding Co. reports 14% decrease in revenue despite sales increase. The company claims issues related to Covid-19 and rising freight costs caused revenue to fall, but annual profits increased by US $2.9 million. Turnover increases was driven mainly by green, roasted, and branded coffee sales increasing in the last quarter of 2021.

• Wed, 2 Feb – Pret A Manger raises coffee subscription price by 25%. The monthly price for up to five barista-made drinks per day will increase from £20 (US $27.20) to £25 (US $34). The coffee and food-to-go chain states the price increase is due to the rising costs of coffee, milk, and staff wages.

• Wed, 2 Feb – Folgers Coffee launches new modern advertising campaign. The iconic US coffee company’s has rebranded to attract younger demographics. The campaign will run across TV, online video, digital display, and audio streaming in the US, featuring American musical artist Trombone Shorty.

• Thu, 3 Feb – Steeped Coffee partners with award-winning chef Nick Stellino on new coffee blend. The Fair Trade-certified and organic Nick Stellino Italian Coffee Medium-Dark Roast is available as Steeped single-serve coffee bags. For each purchase of the new blend, customers will receive two of Stellino’s digital cookbooks for free.

• Thu, 3 Feb – Lincoln & York appoints former Chair of British Coffee Association as Managing Director. Ian Bryson has over 15 years’ experience working in some of the UK’s leading coffee companies, including Taylors of Harrogate and Finlays Beverages. Former Managing Director of private label roaster Lincoln & York James Sweeting will now serve as Executive Chair of the company.

• Thu, 3 Feb – UAE roaster Coffee Planet to open coffee experience centre in Dubai. The Coffee Planet Experience is set to open in the Ain Dubai tourist attraction – the world’s largest and tallest observation wheel.

• Thu, 3 Feb – USAID Green Invest Asia and Global Coffee Platform to co-host coffee sustainability webinar. The third webinar of the 7-part Sustainable Coffee Dialogue series will look at low-carbon coffee production. The webinar will be held on 10 February at 16:00 ICT (9:00 UTC) and is free to attend.

• Thu, 3 Feb – Starbucks 2022 Q1 revenue exceeds predictions by reaching US $8.1 billion. However, the company emphasised that rising supply costs are negatively affecting sales growth.

• Fri, 4 Feb – Black Rock Coffee Bar hosts donation programme for US Children’s Cancer Association. For the third consecutive year, the coffee chain will donate 100% of the sales of its Lavender Vanilla Latte, as well as other non-coffee beverages, to the charity.

• Fri, 4 Feb – International Coffee Organisation launches new online database. The World Coffee Statistics Database includes over 50 years of coffee data and statistics from more than 190 countries. Users can download data and build personalised reports.

• Fri, 4 Feb – Coffee equipment cleaning brand Cafetto certified halal. Cafetto received the certification from the globally recognised Supreme Islamic Council of Halal Meat in Australia Inc. following an onsite production facility inspection. Twenty of Cafetto’s products are now certified halal, including Clean Bean Tablet and Grinder Clean.

• Fri, 4 Feb – Franke becomes official coffee machine supplier for KFC France. The fully automatic Franke A300 machine will be installed at over 250 KFC restaurants in the country.

• Fri, 4 Feb – Brazil’s domestic prices increased in January 2022. The CEPEA Index for arabica closed at US 278.02 cents at the end of last month. Price increases were attributed to the absence of sellers on the national spot market. Brazil’s National Company for Food Supply (Conab) predicts Brazil’s 2022 production will reach over 55 million bags, while financial services company Rabobank estimates over 63 million bags were produced in 2022.

Here are a few news stories from previous weeks that you might find interesting. Take a look.

• Wed, 26 Jan – German roaster Tchibo to expand in southeast US. From spring 2022, Tchibo coffee will be available in select retailers across the southeastern US. Tchibo first entered the US market in 2020.

• Wed, 26 Jan – Automatic machine Franke A300 receives GOOD DESIGN award for Design Excellence. Franke received the award based on the machine’s design features, including the FoamMaster milk steamer and automatic EasyClean system.

• Wed, 26 Jan – Social enterprise I’M NOT A BARISTA developing manual coffee grinder. The Momentum will feature two differently-sized conical burr sets. I’M NOT A BARISTA says the first burr set will grind coarser, while the last burr set will provide a finer grind, depending on setting. The Momentum will also include a built-in sieve to separate fines.

• Thu, 27 Jan – Caribou Coffee partners with Make-A-Wish Foundation for limited edition blend. The foundation supports children dealing with critical illnesses. Caribou Coffee will donate US $1 from each bag of the light roast Wish Blend sold now through to 31 December 2022.

• Thu, 27 Jan – Compostable capsule packaging company Nexe acquires Ontario facility. The 54,000 square foot industrial facility will enable Nexe to expand production.

• Thu, 27 Jan – World Coffee Research launches new membership and funding model. The previous funding model was based on voluntary contributions determined by each member company. The new funding model will calculate each member company’s contributions based on the volume of coffee they purchase or annual revenue, which WCR claims will provide greater equity and transparency in its funding.

• Thu, 27 Jan – Boutique coffee shop concept Café Kitsuné opens location in Vancouver BC, Canada. The French-Japanese brand operates 16 stores across the world – including in South Korea, China, the UK, and Thailand.

• Fri, 28 Jan – Acaia introduces upgrades to Pearl and Lunar scales. Both scales will now include new flow rate indicators using illuminating LED displays during extraction.

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Photo credits: @cafenakua