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

• Monday, 24 May – Jaguar Siembra releases Colombian Specialty Coffee for Biodiversity to support indigenous farmers. The Colombian micro lot scored 87+ points; sales will help finance the planting of 25,000 trees.

• Monday, 24 May – SCA announces second 2021 Coffee Retail Summit. The SCA will deliver lectures and discussions on how coffee businesses can rebuild following the challenges of Covid-19. The online event is free to attend, and will be held June 22 to 23.

• Monday, 24 May – Singapore Specialty Coffee (Micro-Lot) Auction 2021 rescheduled to July 13. To comply with national Covid-19 safety measures, the Singapore Coffee Association has decided to postpone the auction. The Singapore International Coffee Convention will also be held on the same day.

• Monday, 24 May – Leon partners with Puro to launch Fairtrade coffee in UK Sainsbury’s stores. Every bag of coffee sold in Sainsbury’s outlets will help protect 4m² of rainforests in Tanzania – hoping to conserve as much as 5,000,000m² over the next 2 years.

• Monday, 24 May – Paper Plane Coffee Co. launches RTD line of coffee sodas. The brand’s Root Beer, Moka Cola, and Café Malta beverages all include organic coffee extract. Each 355ml (12oz) can includes 103mg of caffeine.

• Monday, 24 May – Covoya Specialty Coffee creates Café Delas programme to empower female coffee farmers in Brazil. Since 2015, the company has managed the Coffee Flowers project in partnership with the IWCA. During this time, Covoya launched Café Delas to increases women’s access to farming education and resources.

• Monday, 24 May – Entries for 2021 Ethiopian CoE winners announced. There were 30 CoE winning lots, with 5 farms scoring over 90 points. The highest-scoring lot was an anaerobic 74165 variety from the Tamiru Tadesse Tesema farm in Sidamo, scoring 90.60 points. The CoE auction will take place on July 7.

• Monday, 24 May – CoffeeBuyDirect will use funds from Kickstarter campaign to donate coffee to frontline workers in Los Angeles. The money was used to fund the new DIY Drip Coffee range. Coffee will be donated to essential workers at the LA Regional Food Bank.

• Monday, 24 May – Anacafé estimates Guatemalan exports to decrease by 3%. The association predicts in the 12 months to September 2021, the country will produce 3.2 million 60kg bags. Anacafé claims that erratic rainfall patterns have negatively affected yields.

• Monday, 24 May – Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association celebrates 30th anniversary. The association will launch an online video series to explore the Brazilian coffee supply chain. The series aims to educate more consumers on the specialty coffee sector.

• Monday, 24 May – TNI King Coffee opens first store in the US. The popular Vietnamese coffee chain opened its first store in Anaheim, California. The chain operates more than 50 stores in Vietnam and South Korea, but plans to open 100 US stores by 2022.

• Monday, 24 May – Farmers Voice Radio to host free The Importance of the Farmer’s Voice in Smallholder Supply Chains webinar. A panel of five speakers with experience sourcing from smallholder farmers will speak on how international supply chains – including for coffee – can support local communities. The webinar will take place on June 10 at 12pm BST.

• Tuesday, 25 May – Allegra World Coffee Portal releases UK Automated Coffee Report 2021. The UK’s self-serve coffee sector is estimated to comprise over 14,600 units. The sector has experienced more than 100% growth over the last five years, with Costa Express currently the leading brand. The report also claims that as much as one-third of surveyed UK consumers are open to a fully-automatic coffee shop experience.

• Tuesday, 25 May – Phuc Long Coffee & Tea Café acquires US $15 million in funding. The funds will be used to develop over 2,200 kiosks in VinMart+ stores in Vietnam, starting with a pilot project in Ho Chi Minh City.

• Tuesday, 25 May – International Coffee Partners celebrates 20th anniversary. Lavazza, Löfbergs, Neumann Gruppe, Paulig, and Tchibo founded the organisation in 2001 to support smallholder coffee farmers in 13 countries. The ICP will hold the Focus on People! How the coffee sector can ensure smallholder families’ livelihoods webinar on June 15 at 10am CEST.

• Tuesday, 25 May – Coffee Innovation Fund awards 2.53 million birr (US $59,000) to five Ethiopian entrepreneurs. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) partnered with the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority to announce the winners of the second CIF competition. Debo Engineering, Konjo Coffee, Carble B.V, YA Coffee, and Moyee Coffee Roasting Ethiopia are this year’s recipients.

• Tuesday, 25 May – Caravan Coffee Roasters collaborates with Raw Material Coffee on Finca El Fénix coffee range. The El Fénix Tasting Set will include three different Colombian coffees, each processed differently. The UK roaster will be holding a free tasting event on May 28 at 13:00 CEST.

• Tuesday, 25 May – Brazilian coffee farmers attempt to negotiate higher prices on contracts. With dry weather expecting to decrease harvest yields, farmers’ unions are requesting more money from traders and exporters than agreed upon several months ago. Farmer defaults on contracts are expected throughout the harvest period.

• Tuesday, 25 May – Swiss Water announces acquisition of US $25 million in further funding. The funds will be used to complete the company’s second production facility.

• Wednesday, 26 May – Coffee Planet launches line of biodegradable capsules. The Nespresso-compatible pods are made from plant-based materials, meaning they are 100% biodegradable and compostable. The range includes Italian Dark Roast, French Medium Roast, and single origin offerings from Brazil and Peru.

• Wednesday, 26 May – Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment journal releases study on shade-grown coffee and coffee leaf rust. Between 2017 and 2019, researchers looked at 60 sites across southwest Ethiopia. They found denser shade minimised the growth of CLR due to the increase of Lecanicillium lecanii – a “hyper-parasite” of the fungus.

• Wednesday, 26 May – The (B)ean, an industry-first event focused on B corporations in the coffee industry, has been announced. Brazilian farm Daterra is hosting the event, which will take place June 1 & 2 at 16:00 GMT. The online event will be holding four panels with ten speakers, hoping to encourage more open conversation among the 105 coffee-related certified B corps.

• Wednesday, 26 May – Mercon renews partnership with International Finance Corporation. The US $55 million investment will be used to strengthen Mercon’s operations – supporting coffee producers in Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala.

• Wednesday, 26 May – DreamPak releases Ultimate Concentrated Coffee in Press’d product line. Each 8oz (236ml) bottle provides 50 servings. A ratio of 1 part concentrate to 50 parts water is recommended when brewing coffee.

• Thursday, 27 May – Higher Grounds sets up donation campaign for Mount Nyiragongo volcano eruption in the DRC. The eruption has severely affected the population of nearby Goma, displacing people and leaving them in urgent need of basic supplies. Through the company’s sister non-profit On The Ground, donations will be used to provide humanitarian relief.

• Thursday, 27 May – Caravela Coffee experiences shipment delays of up to five weeks due to Colombian protests. The demonstrations have blocked transport of coffee from dry mills to ports. Caravela is working with local authorities and partners to resume shipments.

• Thursday, 27 May – IWCA announces Dr. Sarada Krishnan as new Executive Director. Krishnan has an extensive background in coffee and horticultural research, with her doctorate research focused on coffee conservation in Madagascar. Krishnan will oversee programming, fundraising, and events, as well as strategic plans for organisational growth.

• Thursday, 27 May – Labour strike at Jacobs Douwe Egbert’s factory in Oxfordshire, UK. Over 300 workers held a number of labour strikes, as well as several demonstrations outside of the JDE’s Ruscote Avenue site. Workers are taking action against the company for announcing new contracts that significantly reduce their pay.

• Thursday, 27 May – Löfbergs pushes European Commission for stricter deforestation laws. Along with over 40 other European businesses, the Swedish coffee company released a statement on sustainability laws and EU-driven global deforestation.

• Thursday, 27 May – Risk Capital Partners seek to sell GAIL’s bakery for £250 million. Previous sales in 2018 and 2020 were put on hold because of uncertainty around Brexit and Covid-19. The café chain is expecting 2021 revenues to exceed pre-pandemic levels.

• Thursday, 27 May – Bulletproof to sell new Canned Cold Brew Black and Espresso Pods product lines. The cold brew offerings will be available in Unsweetened and Lightly Sweetened variations. The Original and Mentalist capsules will be compostable.

• Friday, 28 May – University of Stuttgart partners with Costa Rican co-op to recycle coffee husk and pulp into organic compost. Coopetarrazú is the largest coffee co-op in the country, and is committed to regenerative agriculture and sustainable farming. The three-year partnership has helped optimise compost nutrition, stimulating healthier plant growth.

• Friday, 28 May – Sensible Development, International Trade Centre, and East African coffee farmers partner with Farm To Home coffee platform. Producers maintain ownership of coffee until the point of purchase on the consumer-facing platform, allowing an estimated ten times more profit than coffee sold at farmgate price. The current offerings include coffee from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi.

• Friday, 28 May – Texas A&M University launches “12th Man” coffee line. The university’s Centre for Coffee Research and Education sources beans from smallholder farms in Guatemala. The range includes three products: Howdy Blend, 12th Man Coffee Blend, and Midnight Yell.

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

• Wednesday, 19 May – Cocoa farm raids in Côte d’Ivoire result in sentencing of 22 people for child trafficking offences. The offences were committed in the southwest region of Soubré. Five of the 22 people convicted were sentenced to 20 years in prison.

• Thursday, 20 May – Costa Coffee will install electric vehicle charging ports in 200 UK drive-thru stores. The coffee chain will partner with InstaVolt to double its EV charging capacity. The company said the initiative is part of the UK retail sector’s plans to reach net zero emissions by 2040.

• Thursday, 20 May – Colombian coffee farmers partner with local jaguar conservation project. Over 93,500ha have been dedicated to preserving jaguar habitats. Seven farms have received the Jaguar Friendly label for their coffee as they manage the land for jaguar protection.

• Thursday, 20 May – USDA forecasts 2021/22 Brazilian production will decrease by 19%. According to their annual report, Brazilian coffee production will reach 56.3 million 60kg bags, compared to the 69.9 million bags produced in 2020.

• Friday, 21 May – Mayorga Organics completes construction of second home in Nicaragua. Sugeydin Rodríguez and her family lost their home last November, when Hurricane Iota flooded the local area. The roaster and organic food company is rebuilding eight homes in total after the destruction caused by Hurricanes Iota and Eta.

• Saturday, 22 May – US Environmental Protection Agency approves use of fungicide for coffee leaf rust. Priaxor Xemium will be used to combat the concerning rise in leaf rust on the Maui, Hawaii, Oahu, and Lanai islands.

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