Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491350
STiR tea & coffee industry international 25 T h e w o r l d o f t e a u n d e r o n e r o o f www.haelssen-lyon.com Over 50 years ago, Hälssen & Lyon built the first tea extract facility in Sri Lanka. Today, our company is one of the largest suppliers and developers of traditional and innovative tea extracts. We provide cold- and hot-water-soluble black, green, oolong, and white tea extracts, as well as rooibos, mate, and herbal extracts. Excellent service from production to delivery as well as new ideas and solutions for ever- changing markets, meticulous quality control and a worldwide network of trusted partners – that's what Hälssen & Lyon can offer you for your benefit. Apart from more than 130 years of tea experience, that is. Extracting success. HL_AZ_Extracts_89x254_STiR_v2-300.indd 1 06.12.13 15:25 Torrey Lee, president of Café Moto, affirmed, "So far we are able to receive the needed volumes from our regular sources for next harvest. Going forward we'll see." This San Diego roaster buys about 10% of the volume of GMCR with approximately half sourced from Central and South American origins. Peace Coffee, a roaster in Minneapolis, Minn., purchas- es about 35% of its green coffee from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The company's director of coffee, Anne Costello, explained how she hopes that maintaining long-term relationships will help secure the volumes she wants: "We'd like to think we'll be first in line if our suppliers are going to have a higher harvest than they're projecting. We think we're good traders, we hope that's the case. A lot of our work in risk management is being a good partner." Future adjustments The coffee industry in Central America faces challenges that will take years to resolve. Even without the rust crisis, con- vincing those in the next generation of coffee farmers to stay in the business is difficult. Griswold predicted what will happen if conventional pric- es stay low: "There will be limited supplies as people con- vert their farms to other uses. And that's already happening. People are planting avocados, in Brazil they're putting in eu- calyptus, or they sell it to become condos or golf courses. The remaining farms will become highly subscribed." At least one large-volume buyer is concerned about what happens if specialty volumes decline. "Diversifying market access is important for everybody. It's sustainable for Green Mountain but mostly for producers to have several customers. There is room in this conversation for buyers of all sizes and our solutions will be more success- ful with their involvement," said Canty. "We really don't want to buy any more than 60% from one co-op," said Canty. The reality is that not every producer will recover. As Cue- vas put it, "Coffee is going to go to the edges. The guys in the middle are going to get squeezed. If you produce 82-84 cup- ping coffees, you are in a bind. Buyers will gravitate to other countries and varieties." Beattie was pragmatic, "Absolutely I'm looking at other alternatives if this is a permanent issue for Central America that doesn't get resolved within the next year or two. If I have to start looking at other origins like Peru or Colombia or Bo- livia or Ecuador because those countries have the potential to produce coffees with the same profiles as those in Central America, then I will." Other small roasters and retailers agreed that more signifi- cant product line changes could become necessary. "We're going to need to be flexible. That means more blends and differentiating our lineup a bit more. It's a scary thing to look at when you know one of your best sellers is the coffee you're going to have to change up," said Costello.