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

• Monday, 19 Jul – Sucafina launches The Centre e-learning platform. The Centre will provide online coffee education courses, on topics such as processing, logistics, and roasting.

• Monday, 19 Jul – SCA announces World Coffee Championships to be held at HostMilano in October. The competitions were originally scheduled for November in Taipei. The World Barista Championship, World Brewers Cup, and World Cup Tasters Championship, will take place in Milan, Italy from 22 to 26 October.

• Monday, 19 Jul – Dunkin’ opens first store in Morocco. The store opened in Rabbat City, with more locations planned throughout the year. The new café will be operated by franchisee Alamar Foods Company, which currently operates 35 Dunkin’ locations in Egypt.

• Monday, 19 Jul – Global coffee shop market to reach US $201.4 billion by 2027. The CAGR is anticipated to be 3.6% from 2020 to 2027.

• Monday, 19 Jul – England’s high street footfall predicted to increase by 20%. As Covid-19 restrictions were fully lifted in the country on 19 July, high street businesses (including coffee shops) could see the number of customers increase significantly.

• Monday, 19 Jul – Study finds coffee consumption may decrease risk of heart arrhythmia. Over 385,000 UK consumers were studied over a four-year period. Researchers at UC San Francisco found that increased coffee consumption led to 3% decrease in the risk of developing certain heart conditions related to irregular heartbeats.

• Monday, 19 Jul – World Coffee Producers Forum receives over 3,330 registrants. The third annual forum saw participants sign up from over 67 countries for a first-ever virtual event. The next in-person forum will take place in Kigali, Rwanda in 2022.

• Monday, 19 Jul – Shipping container shortages continue as prices increase. Prices for shipping containers have tripled since the beginning of the pandemic. Transit time has doubled in recent weeks, potentially slowing down coffee shipments.

• Monday, 19 Jul – McDonalds partners with Loop to trial reusable cup scheme. Six UK restaurants will charge customers £1 (US $1.38) for a Loop cup, consequently giving them a 20p (US $0.33) discount when buying hot beverages. Customers can then return the polypropylene plastic cups at Loop stations for cleaning and reuse.

• Monday, 19 July – CEPEA index for arabica reaches new nominal records. For the July 2020 to June 2021 period, the index closed at 726.26 BRL per bag (US 138.25 cents) – an increase of 5.5% compared to the previous season. Average crop values are now the highest since 2016/17.

• Tuesday, 20 Jul – Partnership for Gender Equity hosts two Virtual Learning Journey sessions. The online webinars were specifically targeted to roasters. Ten organisations in Guatemala and Colombia discussed the impacts of gender equity strengthening the supply chain. Two sessions took place on 20 and 22 July.

• Tuesday, 20 Jul – Olam partners with Aldi supermarkets to reduce living income gap in Honduras. The 4-year project will help 1,000 Honduran coffee farmers to become Rainforest Alliance-certified. Farmers will be trained to use apps which allow them to trade coffee directly with Olam.

• Tuesday, 20 Jul – Higher Grounds sells exclusive Peru microlot. The Peruvian Jeinner Cubas Vasquez coffee is part of the company’s Apex Series. Pre-orders are available for 10 oz. (283g) whole bean bags, with roasting set for 28 July. Only 152 pounds of this exclusive Geisha coffee were produced.

• Tuesday, 20 Jul – Allpress Espresso launches new capsules. The Espresso Blend capsules are Nespresso-compatible and include specialty-grade coffee. The capsules are made from aluminium and can be recycled using the Allpress Espresso dedicated scheme.

• Tuesday, 20 Jul – Breville launches first iced coffee maker. The Breville Iced Coffee Maker can brew iced coffee beverages in just four minutes by cooling concentrated, hot brewed coffee. Each machine includes an insulated tumbler.

• Tuesday, 20 Jul – Lavazza launches three new ¡Tierra! organic products. The Rainforest Alliance-certified coffees include ¡Tierra! for Planet, ¡Tierra! for Africa, and ¡Tierra! for Amazonia. The ¡Tierra! product range supports environmental protection and biodiversity initiatives.

• Tuesday, 20 Jul – MTPak Coffee publishes article on G7 Summit and specialty roasters. The G7 Summit was held last month in the UK, focusing on Covid-19 recovery and reducing carbon emissions. The commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 could lead many roasters to move towards zero-emission roasting and more sustainable packaging options.

• Tuesday, 20 Jul – Frosts in Brazil increase coffee prices. Temperatures in Minas Gerais reached the lowest levels since 1994, causing significant damage to coffee plants and orange groves. Futures for arabica increased by 7.7% to US 165.50 cents/lb – the highest since 2016. More frosts are expected next week in Brazil.

• Wednesday, 21 Jul – UN publishes The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report. More than 418 million people in the world were affected by food insecurity and hunger in 2020, mainly in Asia and Africa. Women are more likely to be affected by food insecurity, including in coffee-producing communities.

• Wednesday, 21 Jul – First Dalla Corte Zero Espresso Flow Profile competition announces winner. Benjamin Sneddon placed first in the Brisbane heats, winning AU $5,000 (US $3,669) for his recipe. The Ethiopian Ugara Indigo carbonic maceration natural coffee was sourced by Project Origin, and roasted by Tim Adams Specialty Coffee.

• Wednesday, 21 Jul – Metric Coffee launches Source Code magazine and companion podcast. Both the publication and podcast will break down sustainable green coffee purchasing practices and discuss prices. The podcast series will include 15 episodes of discussions between roasters and traders.

• Wednesday, 21 Jul – Nobletree Coffee launches Royal Roast Micro-Lot range. The new product line includes Empress Light Medium Roast, Majestic Medium Roast, and Imperial espresso blend. The coffees are sourced from Minas Gerais in Brazil.

• Wednesday, 21 Jul – Smile Beverage Werks earns BPI certification for compostable capsules. The company manufactures capsules using wind, solar, and hydro power, and the packaging is made from recycled materials. BPI certified the capsules as commercially compostable.

• Wednesday, 21 Jul – Heifer International to host webinar on Verified Living Income model. Heifer partnered with Bellwether Coffee and Sustainable Harvest to create the model for developing a minimum fair price for coffee farmers. Heifer CEO and President, Pierre Ferrari, will host the webinar, entitled How a New Approach to Pricing Can Improve Livelihoods in Coffee Farming Communities on 10 August.

• Thursday, 22 Jul – Lilk launches two plant-based milk blends. The Common Blend consists of rice and oat, while the Lush Blend is made with coconut, oat, and quinoa. Lilk is the first European brand to use recyclable paperboard Combidome packaging.

• Thursday, 22 Jul – Hawaiian Department of Agriculture confirms cases of coffee leaf rust in Kaua’i and Moloka’i. Research concludes CLR has been present on the island of Kaua’i for at least six months. More cases of CLR were detected on the east side of the Moloka’i island.

• Thursday, 22 Jul – Young Ambassadors Society partners with ICO for virtual roundtable. The online event hosted several sessions, focusing on sustainability issues and career progression for young people in the coffee industry. The final declaration of the event – summarising challenges and potential solutions – will be shared with G20 leaders.

• Thursday, 22 Jul – Singapore Specialty Coffee (Micro-Lot) Auction 2021 announces results. The auction took place on 13 July. The lot that received the highest bid was a natural Geisha from Finca Santa Teresa in Panama. All lots sold received over US $4.50/kg, with the highest bid reaching US $77/kg.

• Thursday, 22 Jul – Fairtrade International launches first Living Income Reference Prices report for Colombia. Over a six-month period, Colombian coffee professionals and key stakeholders partnered with Fairtrade to define minimum living income prices. Fairtrade will design pilot projects with producer organisations to implement the model.

• Thursday, 22 Jul – Guatemalan Coffees partner with CoE for Guatemalan CoE giveaway. One winner will receive 200g of green coffee from the top three Guatemala CoE winners, as well as CoE merchandise. The winner will be announced on 26 July.

• Friday, 23 Jul – Storm partners with 17th annual Lago Film Fest. The Italian espresso machine manufacturer will promote a new competition, Princìpî Awards, at the festival, which takes place from 23 July to 1 August. The Princìpî Awards honours global short film directors aged 25 and under.

• Friday, 23 Jul – CaféSmart 2021 to take place from 2 to 8 August. The annual campaign raises funds for homeless individuals and communities in Australia. Participating cafés will encourage customers to donate the equivalent of a cup of coffee via QR codes.

• Friday, 23 Jul – Costa Coffee increases Coca-Cola’s UK coffee category sales by 78% in Q2 2021. A significant amount of this growth was attributed to the reopening of UK Costa outlets. During 2020, Costa opened 56 stores (net) in the UK.

• Friday, 23 Jul – Winners announced for Toddy Cold Brew Experience Kit giveaway. Across the US and Europe, 75 winners received an exclusive Toddy cold brew kit. The webinar Better Cold Brew with Toddy: Exploring the Art & Science of Cold Brew will be held on 29 July.

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

• Thursday, 8 Jul – Research finds green coffee extract provides health benefits. Brazilian researchers concluded green coffee can improve blood pressure, plasma lipid levels, and cognitive function, as well as helping with weight loss.

• Wednesday, 14 Jul – Black Rifle Coffee Company distances brand from far-right political groups. The self-proclaimed “pro-military” roaster is popular among US conservatives, and turned over US $163 million in 2020. Co-founder Evan Hafer stated his personal disagreement with alt-right groups, such as Proud Boys and those involved in the January US Capitol insurrection.

• Thursday, 15 Jul – Oatly stocks fall 9% after accusations of overstating revenue. Shares were down to the lowest levels at US $18 since the company began trading. Oatly claims the accusations are false.

• Friday, 16 Jul – Segafredo Zanetti awarded highest number of cafés in Germany for second consecutive year. The chain operates 327 coffee bars across the country, including in train stations and airports.

• Friday, 16 Jul – Keurig Dr Pepper announces Olivier Lemire as new President. Lemire has previously worked at Proctor & Gamble and Nike. Lemire joined Keurig Dr Pepper in 2011 as Sales Director, and will now lead the company in its strategic partnerships.

• Sunday, 18 Jul – World Coffee Research releases 2020 annual report. The organisation evaluated 82 varieties and accessions for possible commercial release. The report confirmed seed purity to support the planting of 28.5 million trees every year. The report is available in English, Spanish, and Japanese.

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