Coffee News Recap, 18 Aug: MICE hosts first-ever Australia’s Richest Barista competition in Melbourne, Blue Bottle & The Weeknd launch instant coffee & more

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, 14 Aug

Coffee prices remain stable as Brazil’s exports increase. September delivery contracts for arabica and robusta fell by 4.25% and 1.95%, respectively, following a 22% increase in Brazil’s green coffee exports in July.

Dunkin’ announces new range of “spiked” iced coffees and teas. The new alcoholic coffee drinks will be available in several flavours, including original, caramel, mocha, and vanilla.

El Niño to impact Indonesian coffee production and raise prices. Reuters reports the weather phenomenon is likely to cause dry conditions in Indonesia between late 2023 and early 2024, which could exacerbate harvest issues caused by excessive rainfall earlier this year. As a result, the country’s coffee production will likely decrease by 18%.

UK packaging company says it can recycle both plastic and paper from single-use coffee cups. James Cropper claims its patented CupCycling technology can remove and convert plastic from disposable coffee cups into pellets. These can be used to create new packaging, as well as several applications in the agricultural sector.

Reborn Coffee reports 93% increase in 2023 Q2 revenue. The US company says gross profits increased by 96% to US $1 million. Reborn also recently secured a new US $1 million credit facility for further retail expansion in the US and abroad.

Starbucks launches reusable cup trial at 12 stores in California. Customers who order takeaway drinks are able to bring their own reusable cups, or opt into the TURN Systems trial scheme. Starbucks will use TURN Systems’ collection bins to assess and better understand customers’ cup return behaviour.

Big Island Coffee Roasters calls for donations to support people affected by Maui wildfires. The fires have devastated communities across the island, with more than 100 deaths already recorded. All donations will go to the Maui Strong Fund, which is supporting those impacted by the fires.

Tue, 15 Aug

Hard Beans Coffee Roasters publishes two research papers on water activity in green coffee. The company’s Head of Coffee Krzysztof Barabosz published the findings on LinkedIn. The first study explores how water activity affects the quality, food safety, and shelf life of green coffee, while the second study assesses the impact of water activity on flavour development during roasting.

Probat supports ten graduates with apprenticeships. As part of its careers programme, Probat is offering ten graduates the opportunity to learn more about coffee processing, engineering, product design, and IT systems.

Blue Bottle and The Weeknd’s Samra Origins line launches merch & instant coffee. The limited-edition Ethiopia Natural METAD Yirgacheffe Gedeb Chelebesa instant coffee is available until stocks last. The merchandise line includes t-shirts, hoodies, and canvas totes branded with the Blue Bottle logo and Amharic spelling of “Samra”.

Dubai’s Saddle Café opens first international location in France. The chain operates 11 outlets across the UAE, and is now the only Emirati coffee brand operating in France. Saddle Café plans to expand into the UK and Saudi Arabia later this year, too.

Neumann Kaffee Gruppe USA announces partnership with GrainPro. The new initiative will allow green coffee buyers to recycle more GrainPro hermetic bags and other packaging liners. NKG and GrainPro will work with New Jersey warehousing company Continental Terminals to create more accessible collection points.

Morocco’s Bacha Coffee begins expansion strategy in Hong Kong. CEO Taha Bouqdip says the first Bacha Coffee store will open in Hong Kong this month. This will spearhead further expansion into South China’s Greater Bay Area in early 2024.

World Coffee Research launches open-access arabica genetic fingerprinting database. The organisation says the new resource will make arabica variety identification and authentication more accessible and streamlined. In turn, WCR says this will reduce quality control costs at farm level.

Wed, 16 Aug

Exhibitor spots still open for 2023 Speciality Coffee & Tea Asia event. There are several exhibition space options available for coffee businesses interested in attending the event, which will coincide with the 2023 Speciality Food & Drinks Asia expo from 26 to 28 September.

Global latte powder market to grow by nearly US $1.2 million by 2027. Research firm Technavio says the market will increase by a 6.1% CAGR during the analysis period, driven by significant sales growth in Europe and rising global coffee consumption.

SCA Poland Chapter opens voting for 2023 committee elections. Voting is open until 23 August, with eligible roles including Education Coordinator, Marketing & Communications Coordinators, and National Coordinator.

Cotti Coffee opens first international store in Seoul, South Korea. The Chinese coffee chain, launched by former Luckin Coffee executives, plans to expand into other markets – adding to its 5,000 locations in China alone. The Seoul store is located in the Gangnam district, with more company-operated and franchise coffee shops to open across South Korea.

The Alphabet Book of Coffee launches limited-release coffee subscription service. Subscribers will receive 26 different alphabetically-organised coffees bi-weekly over the course of a year, with each including a cassette tape describing the sensory profile. Each coffee is US $10, with subscribers receiving a 26% discount on the first two orders.

Coffee Roasters Guild Retreat announces this year’s team challenge. The “Chrononautics” challenge will test roasters’ ability to work with past crop coffee. Competitors will work in teams, using both past crop and fresh green coffee provided by Atlas Coffee Importers, to produce a sample containing at least 75% past crop. Final submissions will be blindly cupped and scored by all attendees using Cropster’s Cup App.

Thu, 17 Aug

Tenth MICE hosts first-ever Australia’s Richest Barista competition in Melbourne. The three-round knock-out style contest includes a prize pool of AU $40,000 (US $25,700). MICE will also host the Product Innovation Awards, and will coincide with this year’s Melbourne Coffee Week.

Global Coffee Platform study finds many Brazilian coffee producers don’t receive a living income. The GCP Collective Action Initiative on Social Well-Being found that many smallholder farmers in Brazil depend on additional employment and government aid to support income from coffee production. GCP says it will use these findings to establish “transformational change on farmers’ prosperity”.

Stronghold Technology launches S7X smart roaster at MICE 2023. The new machine features Stronghold’s patented drum heater design and X-Lens infrared temperature sensor.

SCA opens qualified espresso machine sponsor applications for 2024-27 World Latte Art Championships. Applications are open to fully-automatic and traditional espresso machine manufacturers that are or will be in production by end of 2023. Espresso machines that meet specified criteria are considered “Competition Grade”, and are therefore eligible to sponsor the 2024-27 World Latte Art Championships.

Arabica futures fall to seven-month low, while robusta falls to four-month low. The main ICE arabica contract for September delivery fell by 35 points to US 148.90 cents/lb on Wednesday, while the corresponding ICE robusta contract dropped by US $55 to close at US $2,378/tonne.

MTPak Coffee to showcase innovative packaging solutions at this year’s PACK EXPO Las Vegas. The event will take place from 11 to 13 September at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, where MTPak Coffee will exhibit its sustainable packaging and takeaway cups.

Darrell Baskin and Yoshawn Smith of Team Watts Riot win The Barista League Los Angeles 2023 competition. Twelve teams took part in the event, which included the Mystery Mocktail Challenge. Team Watts Riot will attend the Barista League’s Mystery Vacation in 2024.

Fri, 18 Aug

This year’s Vienna Coffee Festival to take place from 8 to 10 September. The annual coffee festival will be hosted at the Marx Hall in Vienna, and will include an exhibition featuring over 100 brands, as well as cupping sessions and a series of talks. The Vienna Coffee Festival will also host the 2023 Austrian Coffee Roasting Championship.

Costa Rican AeroPress Championship to take place on 19 August in Escazú. Agua y Tiempo Café and the Costa Rican Coffee Academy will co-host the competition, which will take place at Hermita Brewery in Escazú. The winner will represent Costa Rica at the World AeroPress Championship from 1 to 3 December.

The Barista League to return to Bristol on 9 September 2023. The multi-disciplinary barista competition will take place at Extract Coffee Roasters. Guest judges include Casey Lalonde of Girls Who Grind Coffee and Josh Tarlo of Headstand.

Sixth World Kokekaffe Championship to take place on 14 September. The competition, which celebrates and promotes the traditional full immersion Nordic brewing method, will be hosted at Kaffebrenneriet in Oslo, Norway. Each competitor has ten minutes to serve four coffees to four judges.

MILKLAB hosts 2023 Barista Battle Australian final at MICE in Melbourne. Winners of regional heats, which were held earlier in the year, are taking part in the latte art competition to receive the chance to progress to the MILKLAB Master Baristas international final.

Vietnamese coffee industry encouraged to adopt new EU anti-deforestation protocols. Vietnam News reported government officials state the country’s coffee producers must prepare for the law by integrating new digital technology into supply chains – which will be costly for many smallholders.

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

Wed, 9 Aug – Swiss Water reports 10% drop in 2023 Q2 revenue. The company says production capacity constraints adversely affected revenue during the period, but that this was offset by higher sales in Q1.

Fri, 11 Aug – Elektra Coffee Machines unveils new headquarters in Italy. The facility in Mogliano Venete includes workspaces for baristas and technicians, a showroom, and an office space.

Fri, 11 Aug – Conservative Starbucks investor loses lawsuit against company over its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Reuters reports that the lawsuit, which claimed that Starbucks’ racial equity policies violate civil rights laws, was deemed “frivolous” by the judge. The case was made by non-profit Starbucks investor the National Center for Public Policy Research, which originally sued in August 2022 following Starbucks setting hiring goals for people of colour, awarding contracts to “diverse” suppliers and advertisers, and tying executive pay to diversity.

Sat, 12 Aug – Caffè Nero sees 112% sales growth on pre-pandemic levels in 2023 Q4. The UK coffee chain opened 23 new stores during the analysis period, and also reported a 63% increase in delivery sales year-on-year.

Sun, 13 Aug – Global “intelligent” coffee machines market expected to grow at 3.83% CAGR until 2030. Research indicates the market will reach a total value of US $3.46 billion by 2030, indicating significant growth in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled coffee machine sales.