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

• Mon, 14 Feb – Sustainability certification 4C releases new Carbon Footprint Add-On system. The new system allows coffee companies to target emissions reduction in supply chains and implement carbon offsetting initiatives.

• Mon, 14 Feb – Starbucks opens 1,000th store in the MENA region. Through the Kuwait franchise company Alshaya Group, Starbucks opened its1,000th location close to the Marina Walk in Dubai. Alshaya first partnered with Starbucks in 1999.

• Mon, 14 Feb – Reopening of UK Costa Coffee stores drives Coca-Cola’s 2022 revenue growth. Coca-Cola’s Global Ventures Group (which oversees Costa Coffee retail operations) reported net revenues increased 27% on the 2021 final quarter – exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

• Mon, 14 Feb – Colombian chain Café Quindío to enter Polish market. The company will sell its coffee products at over 3,000 Biedronka supermarket chain locations. Café Quindío also aims to open its first shop in the Middle East by late March 2022.

• Mon, 14 Feb – International Women’s Coffee Alliance to host new Coffee Women’s Colloquium session. The IWCA US chapter will hold the Sustainability Storytelling webinar for women in positions of leadership to discuss implementing sustainable changes within their coffee businesses. The webinar will be held on 24 February at 12:00 PT.

• Mon, 14 Feb – World AeroPress Championships announces 2021 Wildcard competitors. Yuki Saito of Canada, An Nguyen of New Zealand, and Federico Ciamberlini of Ireland will compete in the first-ever virtual World AeroPress Championships. The competition will be held on 5 March 2022.

• Mon, 14 Feb – Green Coffee Summit resource library now available. All educational videos from the first-ever virtual event are available online for free. The resource library includes videos covering a range of topics, such as profiling international consumer markets and risk management.

• Mon, 14 Feb – IWCA establishes partnership with International Labour Organisation to advance women’s safety in coffee supply chains. The women-focused non-profit will lead technical training sessions across its 29 chapters to improve occupational health and safety guidance, which will be funded by the UN agency.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Coffee and food-to-go chain Greggs partners with clothing store Primark. Greggs will open its largest UK store in Primark’s flagship Birmingham location. Greggs and Primark will also collaborate on a limited edition clothing range.

• Tue, 15 Feb – European water treatment company Best Water Technology partners with Alpine F1 Team. The long-term strategic partnership will seek to reduce carbon footprints of both BWT (which supplies to coffee shops and World Coffee Championships) and the Formula One World Championship team. The partnership will begin with eliminating single-use plastics. BWT is now the title partner of Alpine F1 Team for the 2022 season onwards, rebranding the team as BWT Alpine F1 Team.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Caffè Nero operator fully acquires UK coffee chain Coffee#1. The Nero Group, which operates Caffè Nero, Harris+Hoole, and Aroma coffee brands, purchased the remaining stake from Welsh brewery S.A. Brain. Coffee#1 operates over 100 UK stores. The company will operate as a standalone brand within Nero Group.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Uganda Coffee Development Authority clarifies reasons for ICO withdrawal. Managing Director Emmanuel Iyamulemye stated the non-profit believes the International Coffee Agreement needs more reforms to sustainably tackle issues in the coffee industry, such as price volatility and climate change.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Gruppo Cimbali becomes founding partner of ASEAN Coffee Institute. The ASEAN Coffee Institute (ACI) is an educational training body which works to establish coffee quality standards and promote sustainable practices across southeast Asia. Cimbali will support accessible ACI training programmes across the region.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Brazilian coffee exports down 12% in January 2022. All forms of coffee exports fell to around 3.2 million bags, despite revenue increasing to a record US $700 million because of higher domestic prices.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Over 5,000 coffee shops join mobile ordering app Orda. The app allows customers to order and pay at coffee shops, as well as receive rewards from their purchases. Orda works with digital payment service Square and deliveries are available through DoorDash.

• Tue, 15 Feb – PRF Colombia announces first speakers. The keynote speaker will be Martin Mayorga, founder of Mayorga Coffee. Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, founder and Managing Director of Colonna Coffee, is also confirmed as a speaker. Finally, Head of Coffee for Coffee Planet Cleia Regina Junqueira will present on a panel discussing Middle Eastern markets.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Blue Bottle to open Singapore location. The US specialty coffee chain’s new location will open in the Jing’an International Centre on 25 February.

• Wed, 16 Feb – Krispy Kreme appoints new member to Board of Directors. Marissa Andrada joins the company’s Board of Directors. Andrada currently serves as Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and People Officer for Chipotle Mexican Grill.

• Wed, 16 Feb – Packaging machine company Syntegon Technology launches new model. The PMX packaging machine can be used for whole bean and ground coffee. The PMX can pack up to 65 bags of roasted coffee per minute.

• Wed, 16 Feb – Bellwether Coffee launches new sustainable roaster. The Series 2 Bellwether Automated Roasting System can roast three batches per hour. The company claims the new model reduces carbon emissions from roasting by up to 87%.

• Wed, 16 Feb – La Marzocco launches Pro app. The espresso machine manufacturer is installing wifi connectors on all Linea PB, Strada AV, and KB90 models to coincide with the release of the mobile app. The Pro app will allow baristas to access the machine’s settings and usage stats.

• Wed, 16 Feb – Carimali to serve as exclusive European distributor of Kilo’ automatic tamper. The fully automatic Kilo’ tamper can be programmed for between 3kg and 30kg of pressure. Carimali will sell and distribute Kilo’ machines across Europe.

• Wed, 16 Feb – Latest World Coffee Championships All-Stars Online set to launch. Season five of the online series will include 2021 World Brewers Cup Champion Matt Winton and 2021 World Barista Championship finalist Andrea Allen.

• Wed, 16 Feb – Starbucks delays unionisation vote at Arizona store. After Starbucks filed a request to review the union vote, employees at the Mesa, Arizona location will wait until the National Labour Relations Board assesses the request from the coffee chain.

• Thu, 17 Feb – Restaurant Brands International reports US $10 billion in 2021 digital sales alone. The 65% increase in digital sales is mainly attributed to the rise in mobile orders for Tim Hortons Canada, which RBI operates.

• Thu, 17 Feb – Sucafina invests in artificial intelligence-powered traceable food and beverage platform. ProfilePrint’s AI fingerprint platform can assess the quality and profile of food and beverage ingredients in seconds, including coffee. Sucafina carried out pilot projects using ProfilePrint’s technology in Rwanda and Hong Kong with successful results.

• Thu, 17 Feb – San Remo Coffee Machines releases new t-shirt collection. The San Remo Apparel clothing line includes the work of two designers, Stefano Baldin and Marika Bortolin. San Remo will also release exclusive barista kits over the course of 2022.

• Thu, 17 Feb – Expo Café & Gourmet Guadalajara 2022 to take place from 24 to 26 March. The event brings together food and beverage professionals, including the coffee industry. The 2020 event attracted over 16,700 visitors.

• Thu, 17 Feb – Public voting opens for 2022 UK Coffee Awards. The second stage of voting includes fourteen categories, such as Best All-Round Grinder and Most Ethical Initiative. Nominees include Fiorenzato and Girls Who Grind Coffee. Public voting closes on 6 March.

• Fri, 18 Feb – Dutch Bros to run food bank campaign. On 18 February, all 500+ locations of the drive-thru coffee chain will donate US $1 from every drink order to local food banks. In 2021, Dutch Bros raised over US $537,000 through its annual Dutch Luv day campaign.

• Fri, 18 Feb – PDG Education launches two new online courses. The first course will cover cupping protocols with Chris Kornman, Director of Education at Royal Coffee. The second course will feature 2019 World AeroPress Champion Wendelien Van Bunnik talking about how to brew coffee with the AeroPress.

• Fri, 18 Feb – Coffee Quality Institute launches accessible training programme. The Learning Online Together course is aimed at producers and roasters. Applications for the programme will be accepted until 28 February.

• Fri, 18 Feb – National Coffee Association announces new speakers for 2022 Virtual Convention. Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer of Sysco Foods Adrienne Trimble will lead a session on diversity and inclusion. Executive Director of IWCA Sarada Krishnan will speak on advancing roles for women in the coffee industry. The 2022 NCA Virtual Convention will be held from 8 to 10 March.

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

• Mob, 7 Feb – UK hospitality leaders request 12.5% VAT freeze. Over 250 UK business leaders – including in the coffee industry – signed a joint letter urging the UK government to keep VAT at 12.5% from March 2022 onwards. VAT for UK hospitality businesses was cut from 20% to 5% in July 2020 as part of the UK government’s Covid-19 support package. The rate was partially reinstated to 12.5% in October 2021 and is scheduled to return to 20% in April 2022.

• Wed, 9 Feb – Green coffee trader Belco begins to ship coffee by sailboat. The company imported 30 tonnes of green coffee from Colombia on a sailboat to avoid rising costs of shipping containers on cargo ships. By 2026, Belco aims to transport half of its annual coffee purchases by sailboat.

• Thu, 10 Feb – Black Rifle Coffee Co. begins US $1.7 billion IPO. The roaster claims going public on the New York Stock Exchange will help to achieve its long-term goal of hiring 10,000 US military veterans.

• Thu, 10 Feb – Brazil’s soluble coffee exports hit new record. The country exported 4.09 million bags in 2021 to 98 countries, with revenues up 6% on 2020. Domestic consumption of soluble coffee also increased by 5.9% in 2021, helping to make coffee the second most consumed beverage in Brazil; an average 3 to 4 cups are consumed per capita.

• Thu, 10 Feb – UCC Coffee Holdings acquires three Suntory Beverage & Food companies. UCC will acquire Suntory’s Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore subsidiaries. The full transaction, totalling AU $229 million (US $164 million), is expected to be complete by mid-2022.

• Fri, 11 Feb – La Marzocco’s Accademia del Caffè Espresso to host Ecuador-focused cupping session. The latest in the Liaison Cupping series will feature five Ecuadorian coffees. The event will take place on 24 February at 16:30 CET.

• Fri, 11 Feb – JDE Peet’s commits to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across supply chain. Peet’s announced it will responsibly source 100% of its coffee by 2025 through its Common Grounds programme. The company will also seek to expand the use of renewable electricity across its operations.

• Fri, 11 Feb – The Azkoyen Group launches new fully automatic coffee machine. The Vitro S1 MIA is the last model to be released in the Vitro range. The machine includes Azkoyen’s programmable micro-injection air technology for milk steaming.

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Photo credits: @quintasdeguimaraes