Every Friday, Perfect Daily Grind rounds up the top coffee industry news from the previous week.

Here are this week’s coffee news stories.

Mon, 25 Sep

• Kenyan government takes action against “coffee cartels”. Kenyan Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua says the government will “not back down until cartels and brokers are kicked out of the value chain” – claiming these groups exploit coffee producers.

• Exhibitor registration opens for 2024 Melbourne International Coffee Expo. The event will return from 12 to 14 May at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, with more than 11,000 people expected to attend.

• FNC CEO “defends” Colombian producers at Swiss Coffee Trade Association. “We don’t want charity, we want profitability,” said Germán Bahamón at the event, adding that Colombia’s smallholder farmers care for trees that “capture the pollution generated by someone else in developed countries”. He continued to say that more investment is needed to encourage younger people to work in coffee production.

• Latte Art Factory wins Smart Label HOST Innovation award. The awards scheme celebrates innovation excellence in the global HoReCa industry, and is based on criteria such as functionality, performance, usability, innovation, and user benefits. Latte Art Factory will also exhibit at the 2023 HostMilano event, which will take place from 13 to 17 October.

• Over 260 people representing 33 different companies attend The Barista League Bristol event. This year’s competition winners were Joshua and Kevin of team Regazzi Del Latte. Attendees from the UK, Ireland, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and the US took part in the event, which also included several seasoned UK Coffee Championship competitors.

• Starbucks begins its first-ever Global Coffee Week. The company says the week-long event celebrates the people and communities behind its coffee. Celebrations include coffee tastings at select stores, festivals at regional support centres, and a feature documentary which aired on CBS.

• JNP Coffee to attend this year’s Caffè Culture. Following the Burundi coffee exporter’s recent expansion into Europe, founder Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian will be attending the event – which will take place on 3 & 4 October in London.

Tue, 26 Sep

• The 2023 New York Coffee Festival to return from 6 to 8 October. The event will once again feature numerous exhibitions, the Roasters Village, Latte Art Live, and the Coffee Masters NYC competition – with contenders vying for the chance to win US $5,000.

• New Sphera and European Coffee Federation report outlines carbon footprint of different brewing methods. The study found that single-serve coffee products have an overall lower carbon footprint than other brewing methods, but mainly because they use smaller doses per serving.

• This year’s Speciality Coffee & Tea Asia takes place in Singapore. The three-day event forms part of the 2023 Speciality Food & Drinks Asia expo, and includes an exhibition, informative talks, and the 2023 Singapore Coffee Championships.

• New website showcases the best café designs from around the world. Best Café Designs includes photography guides optimised for smartphones – allowing users to find the best-designed cafés in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

• Raw Material to host expert-led coffee course in Colombia from 23 to 30 October. The seven-day Plant to Port course will offer insight into all stages of green coffee production, including pre-export procedures and work carried out at origin. The event will be hosted at three coffee farms in Quindio, Caldas, and Risaralda.

• The San Franciscan Roaster Co. to host training session at Carson-Tahoe campus on 24 & 25 October. The two-day course will cover roast profiling, cupping for evaluation, using roasting software, the impact of airflow on flavour development, omni vs espresso roasting, and more.

• Starbucks develops six new climate-resilient arabica varieties. The coffee leaf rust-resistant varieties were developed at the company’s Hacienda Alsacia farm in Costa Rica. Seeds will be distributed to producers in the coming weeks.

• Cometeer and James Hoffmann to host live online coffee tasting on 21 October. Some 5,000 Taste Test Kits for the Great American Coffee Taste Test livestream event have already sold out, but interested participants can also use regular Cometeer flash-frozen coffee capsules. In the blind tasting, Hoffmann will guide attendees through a sensory analysis session.

Wed, 27 Sep

• Nominations open for SCA Germany committee election. Nominations close on 4 October and voting will begin on 18 October. Open positions are National Coordinator, Community Coordinator, Education Coordinator, Judges Coordinator, Events Coordinator, and Marketing and Communications Coordinator.

• Headstand launches the UK’s first coffee leaf infusions. The three new infusions are made using coffee leaves from Sonsonate, El Salvador, and are brewed similarly to loose leaf tea. Headstand founder and UK Barista Champion Josh Tarlo says the infusions are high in antioxidants and allow producers to double their income from every coffee plant.

• World Coffee Conference 2023 launches Centre for Circular Economy in Coffee. Several global organisations have partnered to launch a new research hub which will accelerate the coffee industry’s transition to a circular economy. The centre is open to all supply chain actors and provides them with access to a global network of industry experts.

• SCAJ 2023 begins in Tokyo, Japan. Touted as the biggest specialty coffee event in Asia, this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Specialty Coffee Association of Japan. The event includes an exhibition and is hosting the 2023/24 Japanese Coffee Championships – with Taka Ishitani crowned the 2024 Japanese Barista Champion.

• Arabica futures recover following drought concerns in Brazil. The main ICE contract for December delivery reached US 150.85 cents/lb after hitting a two-week low on Monday. Weather forecasts predict protracted drought conditions in several of Brazil’s coffee-growing regions.

• Registration opens for 2023 US AeroPress Championship. Regional champions can now register for the national final, which will take place on 2 & 3 November at Onyx Coffee Lab in Rogers, Arkansas.

Thu, 28 Sep

• SIGEP to return to Rimini, Italy from 20 to 24 January 2024. The 45th edition of the event will be held at the Rimini Expo Centre, and will include an extensive trade show. Last year’s expo attracted over 178,500 visitors.

• ICO to focus on curbing child labour on coffee farms. Speaking at the World Coffee Conference in Bangalore, ICO Executive Director Vanusia Nogueira said that while some coffee farms are family businesses, the ICO aims to ensure children are not exploited in the supply chain, and will ensure they have access to education.

• Hiroia launches crowdfunding campaign for Hikaru V60 Smart Coffee Brewer. The fully automatic pour over brewer allows the user to control flow rate, water temperature, and brew time. The Kickstarter campaign has already received nearly £160,000 (US $196,062).

• Ally Coffee launches Rooted in Coffee podcast series. As part of the Ally Open platform, the new podcast addresses challenges and poses solutions for a number of topics in the coffee industry – with guests including 2021 World Barista Champion Diego Campos, Wrecking Ball Coffee Roasters’ Trish Rothgeb, and SCA CEO Yannis Apostolopoulos. The podcast is available on YouTube and Spotify.

• This year’s Coffee Roasters Guild retreat begins in Washington, US. The four-day event includes lectures, networking sessions, the annual Team Challenge, and US Coffee Roasting Championship workshops.

• Indian chain Third Wave Coffee raises US $35 million in Series C investment round. Funding comes from both existing investors and angel investors, and will be used to accelerate expansion plans and develop new technologies. The chain currently operates more than 100 stores.

• US federal judge approves final US $12 million settlement in Kona coffee labelling case. The judge approved the settlement claim made by coffee farmers in Hawaii’s Kona region against MSN, Ltd., which owns the ABC convenience store chain. Farmers assert that 19 different products were marketed as Kona coffee, but contained little-to-no genuine Kona coffee – constituting a false designation of origin.

• Competitors announced for inaugural Nordics Best Roaster competition to be held in Feb 2024. The peer-assessed competition is designed to focus on roasters’ real-world skills and expertise, and will be held at the 2024 Nordic Coffee Fest – organised by Ordna Event Agency. The 12 competitors are:
  • Tim Wendelboe (Norway)
  • Prolog Coffee (Denmark)
  • Morgon Coffee Roasters (Sweden)
  • Coffee Collective (Denmark)
  • Good Life Coffee (Finland)
  • Kaffibrugghusid (Iceland)
  • Kaffa Oslo (Norway)
  • Drop Coffee (Sweden)
  • Solberg & Hansen (Norway)
  • Kafferäven (Sweden)
  • Standout Coffee (Sweden)
  • Gringo Nordic (Sweden)

• The Barista League Madrid event to take place on 7 October. The competition will be held at the MEEU events venue, and will feature several prominent guest judges – including Onyx Coffee Lab’s Lance Hedrick and Nomad Coffee’s Ivette Vera. Spectator tickets are still available.

Fri, 29 Sep

• International Coffee Day to be celebrated on 1 October with the theme of “a faired and safer supply chain for farmers”. ICO Executive Director Vanusia Nogueira says all coffee workers deserve decent and safe working conditions. The organisation has partnered with the International Labour Organisation to launch the #CoffeePeople campaign, aiming to champion coffee farm worker rights.

• CATIE and BIOCENFT launch NFT fundraiser featuring coffee-inspired artwork. The fundraiser showcases CATIE’s collection of arabica varieties and cultivars through purchasable NFTs. Funds will go towards genetic diversity conversation projects and breeding programmes.

• Remidag to launch new coffee grinder at 2023 HOSTMilano. The Italian coffee equipment manufacturer will present its new touch-screen grinder at its booth from 13 to 17 October.

• New Coffeely coffee review app launches. The app aims to become the world’s largest coffee community. Users can upload photos of labels on coffee packaging to view a range of information, including ratings, reviews, origin, and processing methods.

• Onyx Coffee to launch annual advent calendar in October. This year’s advent calendar will feature 24 different whole bean coffees sourced from around the world. Pre-orders open on 1 October.

• DC Coffee Festival to take place on 30 September. The event, hosted by Craft Hospitality at Dock 5 @ Union Market in Washington DC, features numerous coffee roasters, equipment suppliers, and other industry exhibitors.

• Danish Coffee Festival to host two SCA Coffee Retail Summit talks on 30 September. The event will take place at Folkestuen at Demokrati Garagen in Rentemestervej and features two SCA talks: Education and training from hospitality, for hospitality by Jack Muirhead, Manager of MAD Academy, and Growing with a purpose: Coffee Collective by Cees Kuypers of Coffee Collective.

• Sixteen national AeroPress Championships to take place in October. The winner of each national championship will go on to represent their country at the World AeroPress Championship finals in Melbourne, Australia from 1 to 3 December 2023:
  • Romanian AeroPress Championship on1 Oct, hosted by Artisan Coffee Gear at Galeriile SENAT, Bucharest
  • Indonesian AeroPress Championship on 4 Oct, hosted by Otten Coffee at Kota Kasablanka, Jakarta
  • Italian AeroPress Championship on 4 Oct, hosted by La Marzocco at Accademia del Caffè Espresso, Florence
  • Kuwait AeroPress Championship on 6 Oct, hosted by Brewever Academy, Kuwait City
  • Bahrain AeroPress Championship on 6 Oct, hosted by Manual Specialty Coffee, Manama
  • Venezuelan AeroPress Championship on 7 Oct, hosted by Senzani Internacional at Agua Fria Coffee, Caracas
  • Saudi AeroPress Championship on 7 Oct, hosted by Sulalat Coffee, Riyadh
  • New Zealand AeroPress Championship on 7 Oct, hosted by Atomic Coffee Roasters, Auckland
  • Panamanian AeroPress Championship on 8 Oct, hosted by AeroPress Panama at Holiday Inn Hotel, Ciudad del Saber
  • Puerto Rico AeroPress Championship on 14 Oct, hosted by Gustos Coffee Co. at Downtown Cupey, San Juan
  • Norwegian AeroPress Championship on 15 Oct, hosted by Solberg & Hansen at Kulturhuset, Oslo
  • Irish AeroPress Championship on 20 Oct, hosted by Badger & Dodo at Monk’s Kitchen, Dublin
  • Canadian AeroPress Championship on 21 Oct, hosted by Eight Ounce Coffee, Calgary
  • Chilean AeroPress Championship on 21 Oct, hosted by CafeStore at Ubuntu Café, Santiago
  • Cypriot AeroPress Championship on 27 Oct, hosted by Limassol Coffee Festival at WAGMI COFFEE, Limassol
  • Japanese AeroPress Championship on 28 Oct, hosted by AeroPress Japan at COUZOU, Tokyo

• Second edition of the Barcelona Coffee Awards takes place at Nau Bostik. The three-day event, which runs until 1 October, includes lectures, cupping sessions, and the 2023 BCN Coffee Awards competition.

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

• Thu, 14 Sep – Pilot programme demonstrates climate resilience of Komasti arabica variety. In 2022, the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute partnered with World Coffee Research to establish a Komasti demo plot programme in West Java. WCR says seedlings are more vigorous in the early growth phase compared to existing locally-cultivated varieties.

• Tue, 19 Sep – UK roaster Climpson & Sons attains B Corp certification. The London specialty coffee company scored 110.4 on its B Impact Assessment, surpassing the minimum requirement of 80.

• Wed, 20 Sep – Change Please unveils new branding and launches Ten Days for Change campaign. The organisation has refreshed its branding and website – and now includes a “secret homeless language”, featuring symbols used by people who are homeless for “a good place for a job” and “hard work pays off”. The Ten Days for Change campaign will take place between International Coffee Day and World Homeless Day.

• Wed, 20 Sep – SSP Group aims to be net-zero by 2040. The company, which owns hundreds of brands and franchises such as Starbucks and LEON, says its net-zero goals have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.

• Fri, 22 Sep – OXO Brew 12-cup coffee maker becomes latest SCA Certified Home Brewer. The machine features a “podless single-serve function” which meets the SCA’s quality standards for brewing specialty coffee at home.

• Sat, 23 Sep – Ezpresso launches coffee extract in the UK. The brand’s cold drip, single origin arabica extracts are sourced from Mexico, Kenya, Brazil, and Peru.

Photo credits: AeroPress

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Want to keep up with current affairs in the coffee industry? Check out last week’s coffee news stories and make sure to read the latest Coffee Intelligence current affairs piece exploring whether big coffee roasters are intentionally vague about sustainability.