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

• Mon, 7 Feb – Chicago roaster Dark Matter Coffee partners with Jägermeister on infused beans. The honey processed Caturra coffee from Guatemala is infused with Jägermeister Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur. Dark Matter is also releasing a single origin chocolate bar infused with the Jägermeister coffee liqueur.

• Mon, 7 Feb – Brooklyn roaster Partners Coffee releases limited edition Valentine’s Day coffees. The Sweetheart Duo includes the Elevate and Brooklyn blends, available online and in Partners’ coffee shops. The Singles Bundle includes two single origin coffees, with delivery available on DoorDash.

• Mon, 7 Feb – Brazilian roaster opens coffee shop in Buenos Aires’ Barrio 31 neighbourhood. Barrio 31 is one of Argentina’s oldest neighbourhoods, home to over 35,000 people. Owner of Arabicca Coffee Roasters and Coffee Master for Four Seasons hotel chain Diogo Bianchi opened the coffee shop as a social initiative to support local young people.

• Mon, 7 Feb – Peruvian Chamber of Coffee and Cacao states 2021 coffee exports increased to US $615 million. However, the organisation reports that export volumes will most likely drop to 3.1 million bags once full 2021 production data is collected.

• Mon, 7 Feb – International Coffee Organisation to host free webinar on living income for farmers. In partnership with the ASEAN Coffee Federation, the Living Prosperous Income for Coffee Farmers webinar will be moderated by ASEAN Vice President and member of the UN FAO Steering Committee Pacita Juan. The webinar will be held on 15 February at 8:15 GMT.

• Mon, 7 Feb – Chemical industry company LyondellBasell produces recycled coffee capsules. The recycled polymer-based CirculenRevive capsules will be used for Nestlé’s Nescafé Dolce Gusto products. LyondellBasell aims to manufacture 2 million tonnes of recycled polymer material by 2030.

• Mon, 7 Feb – Second Starbucks store opens in Cayman Islands. Caribbean Coffee Traders, Starbucks’ sole operating licensee in the Cayman Islands, opened the new store in central George Town. Starbucks intends to open a total of 15 stores in the Cayman Islands by the end of 2022.

• Tue, 8 Feb – JDE Peet’s appoints communications and branding agency WPP as new global creative partner. JDE Peet’s will work with a WPP team based in the Netherlands to design and lead a new omnichannel strategy for several of JDE’s coffee brands – including Douwe Egberts, Peet’s, and Tassimo.

• Tue, 8 Feb – Roasting consultant David Rosa releases eight-part instructional video series. The former CEO and Managing Director of Australia’s Bay Coffee covers a broad range of roasting topics, such as quality control and blending. The video series is available on Vimeo for US $99.

• Tue, 8 Feb – Applications open for Re:co Symposium Fellowship programme. The programme, funded by the Ernesto illy Foundation, covers the registration fee for the in-person event being held from 6 to 7 March 2022. Applications close on 21 February.

• Tue, 8 Feb – US roaster Bluestone Lane launches Nespresso capsule line. From 9 March, the capsules will be available online and at national Bluestone Lane locations. Bluestone’s blends included in the capsule range are Maverick, Bayside, and Riptide.

• Tue, 8 Feb – Finalists announced for 2022 Coffee Masters. The theme of this year’s competition is “New Beginnings”. Finalists include Matteo D’Ottavio from WatchHouse, Tetsuya Yamada from Climpson & Sons, and Nicole Battefeld-Montgomery of Rancilio Deutschland. Coffee Masters will be held at the 2022 London Coffee Festival from 31 March to 1 April.

• Tue, 8 Feb – Registration opens for PRF Colombia. All PRF tickets include access to the 2-day event at Plaza Mayor, Medellín. The Origin Trip Experience ticket will include a four-day trip in Colombia’s coffee-growing regions. PRF Colombia will be held from 30 June to 1 July, with the Origin Trip Experience taking place from 26 June to 29 June.

• Tue, 8 Feb – Starbucks fires seven Memphis employees involved in unionisation campaign. Starbucks claims the employees violated company safety and security policies by conducting an in-store interview with a local media outlet. The Starbucks Workers United union, which is currently representing two unionised stores in Buffalo, New York, has filed unfair labour practice charges against Starbucks.

• Wed, 9 Feb – Uganda officially withdraws from the International Coffee Agreement. The Uganda Coffee Development Authority outlined its intention to leave the International Coffee Organisation in late 2021. Reasons for withdrawal still remain unknown.

• Wed, 9 Feb – Dalla Corte Australia appoints new National Sales Manager. Hamish McKinstry has held roles in the beverage industry for some 8 years. McKinstry will oversee sales and distribution of Dalla Corte’s espresso machines and grinders throughout Australia.

• Wed, 9 Feb – Colombian coffee production down 20% in January. The FNC reported 868,000 bags were produced in January 2022 – down 1.1 million bags on January 2021. Reasons for the decline include unfavourable weather conditions.

• Wed, 9 Feb – Direct trade platform Falcafé to host booth at Dubai’s Gulfood 2022 expo. Falcafé connects smallholder producers in Brazil with international markets. The Gulfood expo will take place from 13 to 17 February.

• Wed, 9 Feb – New EU-focused initiative set to increase Jamaican coffee exports. The Caribbean Export Development Agency will seek to improve the presence of the Blue Mountain and Jamaica High Mountain coffee brands throughout Europe. Caribbean Export consultants will carry out market reports throughout Europe to develop the most effective marketing strategies.

• Wed, 9 Feb – ICO halves global 2020/21 coffee surplus estimates; coffee prices reach over ten-year highs. The ICO revised its global coffee surplus from 2.41 million bags to 1.2 million bags – mainly due to shipping container shortages and extreme weather impeding harvests.
  
  • Arabica inventories hit a 22-year low of over 1.06 million bags, while robusta inventories reached a more than 3-year low of 9,212 lots.
  • Arabica futures reached a high of US 258.95 cents/lb early this week, close to historic highs seen in November 2011. Robusta futures hit a 3 and a half week high at US $2,246/tonne.

• Wed, 9 Feb – Winner of Australian 2021 Golden Bean competition announced. CoffeeSnobs received first place for its natural processed Ethiopia Shakisso coffee. CoffeeSnobs also placed first in the 2016 and 2018 Golden Bean roasting competitions.

• Wed, 9 Feb – US roaster Crimson Cup Coffee to sell 25 boxes of Colombia Pink Bourbon EF2 coffee. The exclusive varietal is available as 12oz (340g) boxes for US $45 until stocks last.

• Thu, 10 Feb – International Women’s Coffee Alliance and Women in Coffee Project to host producer perspectives on specialty coffee webinar. The IWCA Honduras chapter will hold the How We Define Specialty Coffee: Producer Perspectives”/”Cómo Definimos Café de Especialidad: Las Perspectivas de Productoras” webinar on 12 February at 11:00 EST. The free English and Spanish webinar will explore the meaning of the term “specialty coffee” from the perspective of coffee producers.

• Thu, 10 Feb – Austrian roaster Julius Meinl acquires three US coffee suppliers. The three acquisitions are for Paramount Food & Beverage and Restaurant Beverage Service in Miami, and Sovereign Coffee & Tea based in Orlando. The acquisitions are part of Julius Meinl’s strategic plans to double net sales by 2025.

• Thu, 10 Feb – World Coffee Events updates rules and regulations for 2022 World Coffee in Good Spirits. The new rules provide more clarity on the preliminary and final rounds for the Stage Presentation section. World Coffee in Good Spirits 2022 will take place at World of Coffee Warsaw from 23 to 25 June.

• Thu, 10 Feb – Flash Coffee partners with Bumble dating app on coffee giveaway. From 14 to 20 February, Bumble users can show their profiles to Flash Coffee baristas to receive two small iced lattes as part of the company’s 2022 Valentine’s Day campaign.

• Thu, 10 Feb – Vanusia Nogueira announced as new Executive Director of ICO. Nogueira also serves as the Executive Director of the Brazilian Specialty Coffee Association. She will succeed José Dauster Sette, who has led the organisation since 2017. Nogueira is the first woman to fill the role at the ICO.

• Fri, 11 Feb – Consulting service Coffee Enterprises celebrates 30th anniversary. The company was founded in 1992 by established coffee professional Dan Cox. Coffee Enterprises specialises in evaluating and improving both coffee and tea quality.

• Fri, 11 Feb – Italy becomes IWCA’s 30th chapter. Italy is the sixth majority consuming country to join the non-profit and will host the organisation’s second European chapter.

• Fri, 11 Feb – PRF Colombia announces Mayorga Organics will be Diamond Sponsor. As the Diamond Sponsor of PRF Colombia, Mayorga Organics is supporting thousands of coffee producers, roasters, and industry leaders to connect and collaborate in Medellín. Founder and CEO Martin Mayorga will deliver a keynote lecture to more than 5,000 expected attendees, and be part of a wider number of networking events.

• Fri, 11 Feb – 2021 Specialty Coffee Transaction guide published. The latest version of the guide includes data on over 57,000 green coffee contracts. The guide concludes that the median price per container of 83-point green coffee rose to US $2.00/lb in the 2020/2021 harvest, compared to the median price of US $3.70 per 1,000lb lot of 87-point coffee.

• Fri, 11 Feb – Canada’s second co-shared roasting facility opens in Ontario. The KW Coffee Collective grants users full access to two roasting stations with 10kg capacities, green coffee storage, and an education centre.

• Fri, 11 Feb – Bandung West Java Food & Beverage Expo 2022 rescheduled to 27 to 30 June. The event will include the 2022 Bandung West Java Coffee & Tea Expo. Over 10,000 visitors are expected to attend the event held in Indonesia.

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

• Mon, 31 Jan – Product review company Simple Ghar releases study on global coffee shop closing times. Simple Ghar calculated the average closing time of coffee shops in 78 major global cities. Cafés in Cairo, Egypt were found to stay open the latest, with an average closing time of 00:26. Budapest in Hungary had the average earliest closing time of 19:40.

• Tue, 1 Feb – Dutch espresso machine manufacturer Kees van der Westen launches new manual lever model. Each of the Slim Jim Idrocompresso’s groupheads are directly connected to its own individual boiler, helping to stabilise brewing temperature. The machine also includes a dial for each group to adjust lever spring pressure.

• Tue, 1 Feb – Food and beverage service company Sodexo appoints new Africa & Middle East CEO. Colm O’Mahony will lead the company’s growth across the region, including in the coffee sectors. O’Mahony previously served as Sodexo’s CEO of Education Asia Pacific.

• Wed, 2 Feb – illycaffè celebrates 30th anniversary of illy Art Collection. The Milk of Dreams art exhibition will showcase key moments in the illy Art Collection. The exhibition will be held at the art and cultural institution La Biennale di Venezia from 23 April to 27 November 2022.

• Thu, 3 Feb – Portable blender brand Blend Jet releases JetPack Lattes. The ready-to-blend latte products are available in Vanilla, Matcha Green Tea, Mocha, Caramel, Cinnamon Dolce, and Chai flavours. The new powdered latte products can be blended with water or milk (including plant-based options).

• Thu, 3 Feb – Robot barista store concept Rozum Café plans expansion in Europe and Dubai. Rozum claims its automated baristas can serve over 400 coffees per day. The coffee stall brand currently has over four locations in Dubai.

• Fri, 4 Feb – Chinese homeware brand XY Design set to release new temperature-controlled pouring kettle on Kickstarter. The O-Kettle’s design includes a ring between the body and handle to protect against burns and improve maneuverability when pouring. Pre-order deliveries are expected for May 2022.

• Fri, 4 Feb – Winner of national Argentina AeroPress Championships announced. The event was hosted by Café Registrado. Aquiles Mentado Rodríguez placed first using the inverted brewing method.

• Fri, 4 Feb – Coffee Technicians Guild launches new series of Ask The Pros. The live webinar series will run until March 2022. Past session recordings are available on the CTG’s YouTube channel.

• Fri, 4 Feb – Hong Kong company Coffee Chaps launches grinder with automatic fine removal on Kickstarter. The AIRMILL grinder includes a built-in air sifting system, which removes and disposes of fines and chaff in a separate chamber.

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Photo credits: Paula Andrea Molina Ospina