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

• Monday, 8 Mar – Caffè Corsini becomes the first Italian distributor of Ahmad Tea. The Italian coffee roaster now sells a range of the UK company’s teas, alongside their own branded ground coffee and capsules.

• Monday, 8 Mar – Dunkin’ launches range of iced coffee-flavoured jelly beans. Flavours include French Vanilla, Caramel Latte and Hazelnut. The newly launched product is available for a limited time.

• Monday, 8 Mar – La Marzocco launches updated GB5 espresso machine. The new look machine is available in two versions, both app-compatible. Updates also include a 5-button interface and Auto Brew Ratio with Drip Prediction.

• Monday, 8 Mar – Coffee Island launches Miles+Bonus programme with Aegean Airlines and OLYMPIC AIR. The international coffee chain also updated their mobile ordering application, allowing customers to collect and redeem air miles for future travel.

• Monday, 8 Mar – Mayorga Organics to open roasting, packaging and storage facilities in Baltimore, MD. The lease of the company’s Rockville, MD facilities ended and Mayorga is now relocating to a 116,000 square foot property in Baltimore. “I would like to go in there and actually make a positive impact,” says CEO Martin Mayorga.

• Monday, 8 Mar – Starbucks and Air Canada announce partnership for loyalty programme. Aeroplan users can connect to the Starbucks Reward system, allowing them to redeem Aeroplan points for Starbucks gift cards.

• Monday, 8 Mar – The ICCO predicts that India will be the fastest-growing cocoa consumption market. This prediction has been attributed a drop in demand across Europe and the US as the Indian economy grows.

• Monday, 8 Mar – Shipping inflation accounted for US $10 billion of corporate costs on US inbound routes. During the last quarter of 2020, coffee roasters were affected by increasing transportation costs. Delivery contracts for summer and autumn 2021 are said to have increased in price by 15%.

• Monday, 8 Mar – Löfbergs celebrates its 25th anniversary. The Swedish roaster was the first company in the country to sell organic coffee.

• Tuesday, 9 Mar – Capsul’in Pro launches world-first 100% bio-based and home compostable capsule. The Zero Impact Nespresso-compatible capsules are certified HOME compostable by TÜV Austria. The packaging also meets goals set out by the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan.

• Tuesday, 9 Mar – Oatly announces UK manufacturing facility. The new factory in East Anglia will be capable of producing 300 million litres of oat milk annually, with the capacity to later increase to a maximum of 450 million litres. This would make the UK plant one of the largest plant milk factories in the world.

• Tuesday, 9 Mar – Crem releases new range of customisable EX3 espresso machines. The new models are available as one and two group machines, and are only 550 millimetres wide. They can be customised both externally and internally.

• Tuesday, 9 Mar – New bilingual coffee podcast, Cafetera Intelectual, now available to stream. Royal Coffee’s Sandra Loofbourow and Doris Garrido record episodes in Spanish and provide complimentary English translations. Loofbourow and Garrido created the series to improve industry access for Spanish speakers.

• Tuesday, 9 Mar – Higher Grounds documentary on coffee production in Panama released. The one-hour documentary received the Best First Time Director, Best Editing, and Most Inspirational Film awards at the Los Angeles Film Awards.

• Tuesday, 9 Mar – Starbucks appoints Dennis Brockman as Diversity and Inclusion leader and Senior Vice President. Brockman will lead Starbucks’ global diversity and inclusion strategy. Brockman joined Starbucks in 2011 as Regional Director of Operations.

• Tuesday, 9 Mar – C price saw one of the largest daily trading ranges of the year so far in February 2021. On Monday 22, prices opened at 128.10 US cents per lb and reached a peak of 136.25 US cents per lb. The Bloomberg Commodity Index is set to reach a 2 year high.

• Tuesday, 9 Mar – Foodtastic set to open around 100 new Second Cup locations over 36 months. The Montreal company purchased Second Cup in early February this year. Currently there are 211 Second Cup stores across Canada.

• Wednesday, 10 Mar – Cropster releases AI-powered first crack prediction tool. The software can be used with any machine and can help roasters predict first crack, leading to better accuracy and quicker results. The launch follows on from the release of the company’s AI-powered curve prediction tool in 2020.

• Wednesday, 10 Mar – Increases in US at-home coffee consumption have driven sales of California-grown coffee. Coffee farmers in Southern California have reported a 400% increase in direct-roasted coffee sales, including in the UK and Japan. More than 85,000 coffee trees are now planted in the state.

• Wednesday, 10 Mar – CocoMiel now sells Guatemalan green coffee. The wholesaler works with the indigenous Maya community in San Gaspar, Chajul, in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. The coffee is grown by Asociación Chajulense.

• Wednesday, 10 Mar – Dark Matter Coffee launches GoFundMe for the San Jeronimo Miramar farm in Guatemala. The Chicago roasters are asking for emergency funding for the area, which has been affected by wildfires. More than 300 locals work in the agricultural sector in the area.

• Wednesday 10 Mar – Simonelli Group launches the DOSE digital platform. Through the online platform, Simonelli Group partners and clients can connect and communicate. DOSE also offers online courses and original manufacturer spare parts for Simonelli machines.

• Wednesday, 10 Mar – US Starbucks launches its Cold & Crafted range in grocery stores. Flavours include Coffee Sweetened Black, Coffee with a Splash of Milk & Vanilla, and Coffee with a Splash of Milk & Mocha. The RTD drinks are available nationwide.

• Thursday, 11 Mar – Over 200 UK hospitality businesses sign up to the Embargo loyalty app during pandemic. The online platform allows venues, including coffee shops, to reward customers through click and collect or delivery services. Users include The Gentleman Baristas and Crosstown Doughnuts.

• Thursday, 11 Mar – New documentary showcases robusta production in the Amazon. “Amazon Robustas – aromas, flavours and stories from Matas de Rondônia” presents the sustainable production of award-winning robustas from the region. The documentary is available in Portuguese.

• Thursday, 11 Mar – SCA announces Coffee Retail Summit on April 13 & 14. The virtual event and resource library will provide content to retail business owners on how to navigate the challenges caused by the pandemic. Attendance is free.

• Thursday, 11 Mar – New scientific paper published on genetic origins of Yemeni coffee. Research collaboration between Qima Coffee, RD2 Vision, and CATIE found that most global coffee varieties originated in Yemen. Researchers also found an entirely new genetic group of varieties exclusive to Yemen.

• Thursday, 11 Mar – Brazilian co-op Monteccer achieves negative carbon emissions. The coffee co-operative in Monte Carmelo in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais has conducted an independent study and found the total balance emissions of 34 farms was -5.66 tCO2e/ha/year.

• Thursday, 11 Mar – Texas rock band Whiskey Myers launches its own line of 100% arabica whole bean blend. The band partnered with the Gruene Coffee Haus to create the Texas Pecan blend. Pecan nuts are included in the coffee beans, which are provided by Oliver Pecan Co.

• Friday, 12 Mar – TC Transcontinental Packaging wins Gold Award for Sustainability at the 2021 Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards. The company won for their fully compostable coffee capsule lids and coffee bag films, which are certified industrially compostable by the Biodegradable Products Institute.

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

• Tuesday, 23 Feb – Oatly files for initial public offering (IPO). The oat milk company could be valued at more than US $5 billion. Current investors include Oprah Winfrey, Jay-Z, and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.

• Thursday, 4 Mar – ICCO Expert Working Groups on Stocks announced global cocoa bean stocks for 2019/20. The groups found a gap of 410,000 tonnes between estimated and identified cocoa stock. The ICCO has stated this was due to non-reporting in some Asian countries.

• Wednesday, 24 Feb – Central American Bank for Economic Integration set to invest US $15 million in ITRECAFE. The Trust of the Initiative for the Regional Transformation of Coffee operates across Central America and the Dominican Republic. Funding will be used to improve technological resources in coffee-growing areas.

• Wednesday, 3 Mar – World Coffee Alliance Cross Talk Series attracted over 500 attendees. Participants attended the “Digitalising Access to Coffee Finance: Where is the Beef?” event from the coffee, finance, and public sectors. The virtual event is available on YouTube.

• Thursday, 4 Mar – Califia Farms create Mushroom and Oat and Hemp Barista Blends. The Mushroom and Oat Blend is the only RTD milk with organic mushroom extracts on the US market. Califia Farms released the blends after the domestic increase in at-home coffee consumption.

• Thursday, 4 Mar – ICO composite indicator confirms coffee prices at highest monthly average since October 2017. Prices increased by 3.1% up to an average of 119.35 US cents per pound. The global 2020/21 arabica harvest is expected to increase by 5.2% to 101.88 million bags.

• Friday, 5 Mar – London’s Amar Café serves coffee from telephone boxes. The UK roaster exclusively sells Colombian coffee from iconic British red telephone booths. Its first location opened in March 2020.

• Friday, 5 Mar – RGC Coffee releases 2020 sustainability report at NCA 2021 virtual convention. The report is the first time that the trader has publicly announced the work of its 3E sustainability programme. They now have more than 41 community development projects.

• Sunday, 7 Mar – Dutch filmmaker creates 3-minute video as an ode to filter coffee. Andre Maat directed “PHILIP”, featuring an ageing personified office coffee pot outshined by capsules.

• Sunday, 7 Mar – Temperature-controlled food and beverage lockers increase in popularity during the pandemic. Fast food chains such as Burger King and KFC are announcing their plan to use the contactless lockers. Dunkin’ tested pickup lockers in November 2018 for coffee orders.