STiR coffee and tea magazine

6 STiR coffee and tea | 2025 Issue 1 Spring (Mar/Apr/May) Executive Editor Emily Mclntyre emily@coffeetea.media Associate Editor Diana Jendoubi diana@coffeetea.media Tea Correspondent Dan Bolton Contributing Writers Mainbayar Badarch (Mongolia) Seth Griffin (Vietnam) Bhavi Patel (India) Fionn Pooler (UK) Gold Quetulio (Philippines) Lesley Jacobs Solmonson (USA) Art Director Somjet Thitasomboon snt@octobermultimedia.com Administrative Assistant Sommai Jekaram asj@octobermultimedia.com Subscriptions Malisa Kongkatitum malisa@stir-tea-coffee.com Sales Director Emerson Leonard edl@octobermultimedia.com Director, October Inter Co., Ltd. Boonthin Tubsongkroh brt@octobermultimedia.com Founding Editor & Publisher Glenn Anthony John glenn@coffeetea.media c/o October Inter Co. Ltd. 159/19 Soi Ramkhamhaeng 110, Saphan Sung, Bangkok 10240 THAILAND. Tel: +66818299409. www.coffeetea.media Published by A Member of In This Issue W Subscribe to STiR Coffee and Tea Magazine 1 Year – US$60.00 2 Years – US$110.00 3 Years – US$150.00 For inquiries, contact: accounts@octmm.com Secure online payment: https://www.stir-tea-coffee.com/subscribe ithin this issue, STiR explores the connective tissue between industry professionals in a variety of ways. Former STiR managing editor and current tea correspondent Dan Bolton writes an excellent analysis of how the trade show landscape is shifting in a post-pandemic world. Profiling three key events in the United States (SCA Expo, NCA Conference, and Coffee Fest), he outlines innovations and changes and dives into how decision makers still flock to these events to do business and examine new opportunities and products in Tradeshows Evolve and Adapt on page 28. Fittingly, we spend some time with the National Coffee Association's Next Generation Coun- cil in Cultivating Tomorrow's Leaders on page 36. This volunteer-based group is exerting influence and intentionally raising the next generation of coffee professionals in an industry that is notoriously tight-knit and challenging to "break into." Connections between professionals aren't only seen at trade shows and in councils; they exist between parents and children in generational coffee and tea businesses. This issue's Good Growth column (page 8) examines the challenges and opportunities in passing the torch on to the next generation, touching on India, Ethiopia, Peru, and Kenya. Ultimately, the industry's future depends on these ties being maintained in the face of enormous difficulties. Ties between communities of women and the remarkable effect of empowering them are the focus of this issue's opinion piece from Filipino coffee professional Gold Quetulio. The International Women's Coffee Alliance (IWCA) is an organization that has accomplished a lot and will get even more done along these lines. Take a look at Empowering Women in Coffee on page 48. Expanding the focus on connection to a beautiful deep dive into what exactly can happen when an entire country – Vietnam, in this instance – pulls together to a single end, associ- ate editor Diana Jendoubi highlights the remarkable reinvention of Vietnamese coffee as a leading presence in logistics and processing in just a few years. See Vietnamese Coffee: A Lesson in Portfolio Diversification, page 18. Expansion is key, too, for Korean coffee businesses, which are looking outside the country's borders for opportunities to grow. In South Korean Coffee Going Global (page 22), Main- bayar Badarch takes us behind the scenes of this remarkable movement. Then we cross the world to learn how the Scottish coffee and tea scenes have shifted and come of age in Fionn Pooler's Scottland's Piping Hot Coffee and Tea Scenes on page 42. Following the last issue's exploration into tea liqueurs, Lesley Jacobs Solmonson highlights the innovations and fascinating history of coffee liqueurs (The Diverse World of Coffee Liqueurs, page 46). Seth Griffin examines dark tea, one of the six major categories of Chinese tea, with a focus on how processing and regional influence have matured in A Bright Future for Dark Tea on page 40. Among other briefs, news items for this issue cover key updates with shifts in the coffee futures market (page 10), Kenya's tea landscape after the Unilever sale (page 14), and scientific breakthroughs that use cellular expansion technology to produce good coffee in a lab (page 12). All told, the issue reminds us of how intertwined each aspect of the industry is and pushes us to (re)connect with our neighbors to boost our own success. Emily McIntyre Executive Editor

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