STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 15 Dr. Monika Beutgen (Tea & Herbal Infusions Europe): The launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN in 2015 brought sustainability issues to the fore in the tea industry. The tea business has always been a global trade carried by people who promoted the mutual understanding of tea growing countries and consumer markets. Neverthe- less, existential threats like the climate change and environmental degradation have brought tea growers, traders, and industry closer together than ever before. Ralf Torenz (Neuhaus Neotec): There has been a lot of movement within the buyer community for large coffee production plants through new partnerships and mergers of coffee producers. And Marcus Clausen (Dethlefsen & Balk): In the tea business, we see a rising importance of the packaging and marketing. Where Nicola Panzani (IMA Coffee): The last 10 years showed a tremendous growth in single-serve, with particular focus on coffee capsules – the leading consumption method in most homes developed countries. With the expiry of the patents on main platforms such as Nespresso Original and K-cup, many companies entered the market with compatible solutions. This trend increases the availability of products and reduces prices for consumers, allowing further growth of the market for both new entrants and incumbents. In the last years, there's a new wave of development driven by the focus on environmental impact, with many solutions introducing recyclable or composting materials and to ensure the implementation of correct end-of-life handling. Looking over the last 10 years, the coffee industry proves itself an excellent example of a fast-moving industry, more similar to high tech than the traditional food industry. Holger Preibisch (Deutscher Kaffeeverband e.V): Sustainability must not be just a marketing tool, but a serious commitment that is urgently needed and that it even represents an opportunity. However, it has not been possible to fully secure a decent income for many coffee farmers. Increased demand [over the past 10 years] is gratifying to the industry and is also an agronomic challenge to grow even larger quantities of coffee on the same acreage in an increasingly demanding ecological manner. Consumers are not only drinking more coffee, they are also drinking better quality. Specialty coffee is firmly established in Germany with classic filter coffee reducing its market share from 90% to 50%, and whole bean increasing accordingly. The fully automatic coffee machine is replacing the classic filter coffee machine. previously the bulk packaged loose leaf tea was the main business, we now also have a broad range of packaged specialty teas on offer and continuously seek to develop individual products in close cooperation with our customers. Coffee, on the other hand, experienced the emergence of a multitude of micro-roasters where consumers can often see the roasting of their beans live onsite. This is a result of the strive for maximum freshness which is also evident in the increased demand for whole bean coffee. Shorter supply chains and just-in-time roasting favor this trend. the acquisition of more and more new consumer groups, especially in countries previously dominated by tea, leads to a continuous demand for new coffee roasting plants. This trend continues, so that despite more difficult conditions in green coffee cultivation due to climatic changes, a turnaround in capacity expansion is not yet in sight. The significantly increased quality awareness among end consumers and the desire for constantly new coffee creations and taste experiences has created a new generation of young, small roasters with a focus on high- quality specialty coffees, similar to the craft beer scene before. Doug Bishop (BUNN): The coffee consumer is more educated than ever in both taste profiles and preparation methods. Consumers are now looking to purchase specific types of beans or blends to fit the flavor profile they desire. In concert with that mindset, the method of prepara- tion has evolved both in style and technology – speeding up the process in some cases and in others pinpointing the perfect time to extract the desired flavor. Innovation of coffee offerings has also helped enrich the industry. Iced coffee and frozen coffee beverages started the innovation boom when they Peter Goggi (Tea Association of the USA): One of the key trends that I find very impactful is the reluctance by larger retailers to allow price increases for tea, or to recognize that the cost of goods increased in the tea supply chain. Many of these same companies talk about sustainability in their supply chains yet are hesitant to pay for it. Sustainability is not limited to ecological concerns. Economic and social sustainability must also be under consideration. By refusing to accept price increases, packers face being de-listed or reducing prices, which more often than not, means reduced quality. This also means that producers are not receiving their fair share of economic benefit. Smallholders make up the majority of tea producers around the world. They depend heavily on the income they receive from harvesting quality tea leaves, which are then manufactured into finished tea. The large retailers must wake up to the misguided strategy of always keeping pricing low and should instead adopt a view of promoting and selling product value. Sunalini Menon (Coffeelab): In India, we moved rapidly from just being a "filler coffee" to being a "coffee", which is respected for quality, its basket of flavors, and the consistency of our varied types of coffee products. Farm- ers have also moved up the value chain in not just being a farmer, but also a reliable exporter, a café owner, and an owner promoting tourism through converting his home on the farm into a "home stay" educating the tourists and consumer along the way. Coffee consumption in a tea drinking country has been transformation- al with cafés opening not only in urban areas, but in rural India also. Coffee which was only prepared at home on the traditional Indian filter consumed only by adults, is now brewed in various and innovative ways at the cafés, educating the younger consumer on the story behind the brewed coffee beans, the different methods of brewing coffee, and on the different taste nuances of the coffee cup. came on to the scene early in the decade and that fostered the explosion of cold brew and nitro coffee which continue to gain a following and are leading to limitless flavor pairings. Consumer knowledge also changed the landscape of tea for the better. Learning more about health benefits and flavor options with the different types of tea helps grow the industry by leaps and bounds. Much like coffee, tea is on the forefront of a period featuring innovation in both preparation and flavor pairings.

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