Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/716988
32 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 4, 2016 (August/September) Central America and Brazil. He soon discovered he was in unchartered coffee territory and at the bottom of a steep learning curve. Mastering the roaster was easy but establishing a reliable green coffee supply and convincing consumers who spoke a language he had yet to learn was more challenging—all the while looking after a new family. In late 2014 he was selling a humble 35 kilos a week, but every bean was roasted the way he thought both the green coffee and consumers deserved. Then came the tipping point. Sørbot- ten won the 2015 World Coffee Roasting Championship and orders soon came tumbling in, not just from Poland but from Taiwan and places he did not even know existed. Volume increased to a ton per month. He now buys green coffee by the pallet. His favorites are from farms in Kenya, Honduras, Colombia and Brazil. Customers locally have improved their brewing skills and adapted to his coffee. Most demand high-end espressos but he is still trying to convince consumers to try filter coffee. That tide may be hard to turn, but he is working on it., and his head is well above the tide. — Alf Kramer RWANDA Plans to Double Consumption The National Agricultural Export Development Board of Rwanda encourages greater domestic consump- tion by 2017 As reported in the New Times, much discussion during the 4th Rwanda Coffee Day celebrations in Gihombo Sector, Nyamasheke District focused on encouraging greater domestic consump- tion of Rwandan coffee. The event is part of a five-year plan to promote coffee quality and production. Pie Ntwali, the communication officer for the National Agricultural Export Development Board, noted the irony of Rwandans drinking imported coffee instead of that grown in Rwanda. The price for one kilogram of brew- ready coffee is more than 30 times what a farmer can sell the same weight of coffee cherries for. That differential is the main reason consumption remains low—farmers cannot afford to buy their own coffee once it has been processed. Charles Dambui, new c.e.o. of CIC The NAEB reports about 1% of Rwandan-grown coffee gets consumed in-country though the organization aims to double that by 2017. Learn more: www.newtimes.co.rw/ section/article/2016-07-12/201594/ US Starbucks Reassigns Key Staff The latest quarterly financial report shows continued slide in same store growth for the coffee behemoth. The company announced several leadership changes effective Sept. 1. These include promotions for Cliff Burrows to group president, Siren Retail, and Matt Ryan, e.v.p. global chief strategy officer. John Culver was named group president, global retail. Kevin Johnson, c.o.o., was named to head the leadership team and now appears the most likely successor to Starbucks c.e.o. Howard Schultz. In a letter to employees Schultz wrote that he shifted personnel in an attempt to "look around the corner" to initiate a new era of innovation. The expansion of Starbucks Reserve with new two new roastery locations and 500 new reserve stores will showcase new brewing methods and micro-lot coffees. The roastery is the "most dynamic, immersive retail experience the indstry has ever seen," he wrote. VIETNAM TPP and Coffee in Vietnam Viêt Nam News published a report about the potential for Japanese investment in agriculture in Vietnam in July. It centered on the potential effects of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for both countries. If the agreement is ratified, it will have impacts on a wide range of industries by effectively reducing import tariffs on many products. The result of the upcoming presiden- tial election in the US will have direct bearing on what happens next with TPP ratification. However according to that Viêt Nam News story, Japanese investors are already putting money into agricul- tural projects in Vietnam. Mori Mutsuya, quoted in that story, signaled that the potential of the agriculture sector could impact coffee production. Mutusya said, "For instance, our survey in Lâm Đồng found that if farmers replace coffee trees with flowers, their income will rise nine fold." NEW GUINEA New Chief for Coffee Industry Corp. The coffee marketing board for Papua New Guinea announced appointment of chief executive officer, Charles Dambui. The Papua New Guinea (PNG) the coffee marketing board got started in 1964 and became known as Coffee Industry Corporation Ltd. (CIC) in 1991. Coffee remains an important export for PNG. The organization names Charles Dambui as c.e.o. for a term of four years starting in May, though he has served as acting c.e.o. since June of 2015. "Stability is vital for the growth of any institution. One of my immediate tasks is to bring back stakeholder confidence in the coffee industry which has been missing for almost six years," said Dambui. Among the tasks facing Dambui are helping small-to-medium businesses grow. To achieve that end, he will review market trends and align extension policies to meet those demands. The last appointment of a permanent c.e.o. for CIC was in 2010. Learn more: http://cic.org.pg/ POLAND Roasting Against the Tide Audun Sørbotten was a very successful roaster from Lillehammer Norway when love struck and he moved to his wife's native Poland. He opened a small roastery in Bydgoszcz where locals favored a dark roast robusta with warm water poured over it. Stubbornly he decided to change these habits by introducing quality light-roast washed arabicas mainly from East Africa,