Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491374
20 STiR tea & coffee industry international Photo courtesy of Rabobank Bonvita products, from Espresso Supply Inc., Almelo, The Netherlands Mercon c.o.o. Juan Pablo Ibarra Netherlands Bonavita Expands to Europe Bonavita, an Espresso Supply Inc. brand, is expanding its international presence by opening a new European office and distribution facility in Almelo, The Netherlands. "Baristas throughout Europe have relied on onour products and, as a result, demand from retailers and consumers has increased. Bonavita has grown organically in Europe and we have an established base of retail partners and loyal enthusiasts," said Espresso Supply Inc. and Bonavita c.e.o. Chris Legler. "This expansion will allow us to better serve our customers." Since 2011, Bonavita kitchen wares and electronics have been carried around the world in boutique and specialty coffee shops and in large retailers throughout the U.S. Now the brand is marketed around the globe exclusively by Espresso Supply Inc. The company, from its headquarters in Seattle, Wash., has been a leader in the specialty coffee industry for 21 years. Learn more: www. bonavitaworld.com Nicaragua Mercon Recognized for Sus- tainability Leadership Rabobank North America Wholesale recognized three leading food and agriculture companies on Thursday, December 4th at its annual Client Week event in New York City. Nicaragua's Mercon Coffee Group received the Rabobank Sustainability Award. Mercon c.o.o. Juan Pablo Ibarra accepted the award at the event. "We created these awards based on our beliefs around what food and agriculture companies must do to be competitive in the long run," said Rajiv Singh, c.e.o., Rabobank North America Wholesale. Mercon won on the basis of its work to develop coffee which can survive pests and diseases, and for introducing Robusta to Nicaragua. "The robusta crops are an important piece of Mercon's legacy to Nicaragua, and we have worked very hard over the last ten years to prove that the produc- tion in Nicaragua will benefit the coffee industry and the country's national economy," said J. Antonio Baltodano, chairman, Mercon Coffee Group. Learn more: www.merconcoffee- group.com United States SpinBrew Goes Small Scale Remington Designs LLC, makers of a new single-serve brewing system, released the results of a study it commis- sioned to compare flavor of coffee brewed with its "spinning jets technol- ogy" in the iCoffee Opus SpinBrewer to that of a Keurig 2.0 brewer. The study used 12 panelists trained in descrip- tive analysis in the Sensory Science Group at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio to develop sensory profiles for the same single serve coffee, which was Starbucks House Blend K-Cup. As reported on the iCoffee website, the iCoffee brews tasted "…smoother with a more pleasant aftertaste and aroma." This month, the brand announced the impending arrival of the iCoffee Express to retailer Bed Bath & Beyond. According to the announcement, this product was designed with college students and anyone abiding in "micro- living spaces" in mind. Bruce Burrows, c.e.o. of iCoffee, said, "The Express – the second of five single serve models we are introducing in 2015 – sMpeaks to the demand for appliances in a smaller, personal size while still providing coffee lovers with our signature iCoffee features and exceptional taste." Learn more: www.icoffee.com/ Taste Great, Less Waste Cameron's Coffee has introduced a new filtered single serve coffee brewed through a filter, not a plastic cup. In conjunction with the launch, the Shakopee, Minn.-based company fielded a national survey to examine the tastes and preferences of American coffee drinkers. Though 84% describe themselves as environmentally friendly and 87% would not consider themselves to be wasteful, more than half (53%) use single-cup machines at home. The survey also found that eight in 10 (80%) coffee drinkers had concerns about traditional single serve coffee. Plastic taste (51%) and wastefulness (45%) topped the list of worries among this group. Kelton, a leading global insights firm, conducted the Cameron's Coffee survey Nov. 11 to 17, 2014, among 1,012 Americans ages 18 and over who drink at least one cup of coffee each day, using an email invitation and an online survey. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points at the 95% confidence. Learn more: www.cameronscoffee.com