STiR coffee and tea magazine

18 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 6, 2017 (December / January) Bulletproof Opens in Seattle Bulletproof Coffee, coffee roasters and manufacturers of high-performance food and nutrition products, opened a new café in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood in late October. The new café, covering more than 1,000 square feet of floor space, features a menu of Bulletproof Diet compliant and ketogenic friendly choices alongside its Bulletproof coffee – made with Bulletproof Coffee beans, Brain Octane oil and grass-fed butter. "It feels amazing to announce Bulletproof expansion into Seattle," said Dave Asprey, c.e.o. and founder. "Bulletproof is headquartered in Seattle and deeply connected with the commu- nity. It has been a goal to bring the flagship Bulletproof experience to Seattle customers, combining the unique products, technology, and service," he said. bext360 Pilot Underway Two pilot programs designed to trace green coffee from countries of origin are underway using new blockchain technology developed by bext360. The programs, which began in November, are intended to track the product inventory and payments to coffee farmers, according to a bext360 statement. In Uganda, Great Lakes Coffee will install a proprietary "bextmachine" with its farming partners so they can deposit their coffee cherries for analysis at washing stations. The farmers are paid at that time. The product is then tracked to coffee roaster Coda Coffee in Denver, Colo., where the beans will be roasted and sold. In the second program, Moyee Coffee will participate in a four-month revenue-generating project by sourcing coffee in Ethiopia and providing proof that living-wage payments are made to farmers. That information also will be tracked through a bextmachine. The bext360 blockchain technology is designed to deliver coffee coopera- tives and smallholder farmers real-time verification and payment for their crops. Eventually, consumers will be able track their coffees' origins as they make their individual purchasing decisions and see for themselves the positive impact their buying decisions make on the farm, according to bext360. Harvesting for Farmers First Coffee overall feel for the Seattle roastery. Starbucks announced in 2016 that it had joined a global investment team – which includes Milan-based Angel Capital Management and Pekepan Investments – to expand Princi bakeries into international markets. In addition to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery locations, Starbucks also plans to open Princi stand-alone retail stores starting in 2018. Blockchains are networks of cloud-based databases that track digital information and transactions. Learn more: STiR's June 2017 issue Coffee Shops Growth Slows US coffeehouses generated $23.4 billion in sales in 2017 but expansion slowed to 2%, the worst performance since the end of the recession. Coffee sales increased 41% since 2011, according to market research firm Mintel International. In its latest report on Coffee US 2017, Mintel identified ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee as the fastest growing segment in the $13.6 billion retail coffee market. Mintel forecasts RTD coffee will experience 67% growth form 2017-22. "The coffee shop market is benefiting from shifting consumer interest in more premium, albeit pricier, coffee drinks such as specialty coffees, cold brew coffee and third wave coffee. However, the number of new coffee shops hitting the US market is slowing, indicating sales growth is coming from increased consumer expenditure on these more expensive beverages rather than unit growth and expansion," said Caleb Bryant, senior foodservice analyst at Mintel. Bryant explains that "innovation may help persuade consumers to enjoy cold brew at home as one in eight (12%) are interested in roasts specially made for cold brewing coffee at home and one in 10 (10%) are interested in RTD nitro cold brew." Megan Hambleton, Beverage Analyst at Mintel said "The overall retail coffee market enjoyed strong growth between 2012 and 2015, primarily driven by increased availability and interest in single-cup coffee and consumers buying single-cup coffee makers for their homes and offices." "However, as market penetration of single-cup coffee makers has become more saturated and less people are purchasing new single-cup coffee makers, the segment has begun to stabilize, ultimately resulting in slowed growth of the coffee market as a whole over the last two years," concluded Hambleton. Looking at the market overall, total retail sales of coffee in the US have slowed, with just 2.5% growth 2016-17, down from 2.6% the year prior. Levanta is Now Farmers First Levanta Coffee is changing its name to better reflect its commitment to coffee farmers. The company is now Farmers First Coffee Company. The new name, according to co-own- er Matt Hohler, is intended to emphasize the company's intention "to provide coffee farmers with the income they need to improve their quality of life." To that end, Farmers First Coffee is now paying 50% above market price for green coffee. That equates to prices four times higher than the traditional fair trade price, the company said. "Although it was a difficult decision to let go of 'Levanta,' we've come to realize that we needed to be clearer in conveying our message," co-owner Robert Durrette said in a statement. "In a world where people have so many choices and such little time we felt that we needed our potential customers to understand exactly why we are different - and we have to do that quickly. That begins with our company's name." The company launched a Kickstarter pre-sale campaign during summer 2017 to raise initial funding for the new effort. More than $52,000 was raised as more than 600 supporters placed orders. Those orders were to be filled in November in conjunction was a new online store. Learn more: www.FarmersFirstCoffee.com

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