Every Friday, Perfect Daily Grind rounds up the top coffee industry news from the previous week. Here are this week’s stories.

Mon, 3 Apr

• SCA announces 2023 UK Barista Champion. Ian Kissick of Formative Coffee in London placed first, and will represent the UK at the 2023 World Barista Championship in Athens, Greece from 21 to 24 June.

• This year’s High Density event to take place on 16 November 2023. The theme of this year’s event is “Not Just Origin” to acknowledge the diversity of different coffee-producing countries and regions. High Density is a free event, and registration is open now.

• Lacsnac launches single-serve coffee bags for nursing mothers. The Colombian Blend Lactation Coffee bags also contain fenugreek and thistle, which the company says can help to increase supply of breast milk. Each bag contains 120mg of caffeine, which is in line with medical recommendations for nursing mothers.

• Project Café Europe finds three out of four European branded coffee shop markets grew during the past year. The research project found that the total European branded coffee shop market grew by 3.3% over the last 12 months. Costa Coffee remains Europe’s largest coffee chain, followed by Starbucks and McCafé.

• This year’s US Comandante Championship to take place in Portland, Oregon. The grinder manufacturer will host the competition at Proud Mary Coffee Roastery on 20 April. A total of 18 participants will compete using C40 Nitro Blade grinders. Attendance is free for spectators, and the competition will take place prior to Proud Mary’s “Deluxe Coffee Getdown” event.

• Catalyst Trade to host pre-auction cupping on 22 April in Portland, Oregon. The US green coffee importer is set to host its first online auction in June later this year. The cupping session, which is capped at 50 attendees, will allow prospective buyers to try a range of Ethiopian coffees.

Tue, 4 Apr

• Price of Brazilian robusta recovers in late March following three weeks of devaluation. CEPEA reports that increased demand helped robusta prices recover during the last week of March, following three weeks of devaluation as a result of low purchase volumes and a decline in international coffee prices.

• SCA announces 2023 German Brewers Cup Champion. Home brewer Erik Freudenberg will represent Germany at the 2023 World Brewers Cup in Athens, Greece from 21 to 24 June later this year.

• Next year’s World Brewers Cup and World Cup Tasters Championship to take place at 2024 Specialty Coffee Expo. The SCA will host the two competitions at the 2024 Specialty Coffee Expo, which will take place in Chicago, US from 12 to 14 April next year.

• European Bioplastics supports motion to make coffee capsules mandatorily compostable. The organisation is backing the European Commission’s proposal to revise packaging rules for a number of products, including coffee capsules. European Bioplastics is also calling on the European Parliament and Council to impose the legislation, too.

• Rancilio Group and 2022 Barista League champion to showcase new Invicta espresso machine at 2023 London Coffee Festival. Along with Rancilio Group’s team, Claudia Cho Ngai Lam will present the new single-boiler espresso machine, which includes integrated Steady Brew technology, at the Truman Brewery from 20 to 23 April.

Wed, 5 Apr

• World Coffee Research launches Grafting Robusta resource for farmers. The new nursery training and best practices guide outlines a step-by-step process that farmers can follow when grafting their own plants, as well as techniques for maintaining grafted plants.

• World AeroPress Championship announces more confirmed hosts for 2023 national competitions. New hosts include Manual Specialty Coffee Roastery in Bahrain, Amor Perfecto in Colombia, and Every Half Coffee Roasters in Vietnam. The 2023 national AeroPress Championship season will officially begin on 1 May.

• SCA opens Coffee Design Awards applications for 2023 World of Coffee Athens. The winners of this year’s awards, which recognise creativity in the coffee industry, will be presented and celebrated at World of Coffee Athens from 22 to 24 June.

• New spring 2023 National Coffee Data Trends Report finds that more Americans drank coffee in the previous day than any other beverage. The National Coffee Association’s new report also concluded that past-day consumption of coffee increased across all demographics. Furthermore, out-of-home consumption is also recovering post pandemic, with 35% of past-day drinkers purchasing coffee outside of the home, compared to 31% in January 2020.

• Nguyen Coffee founder featured on Inc. magazine’s 2023 Female Founders cover. Sahra Nguyen, who founded the fine robusta company, was one of five women featured on the cover of the April issue.

Thu, 6 Apr

• Alliance for Coffee Excellence to host fifth Best of Yemen Private Collection Auction on 8 August 2023. This year’s auction will focus on “cultivating innovation”, and will highlight research and development carried out by Qima Coffee over the past few years. Samples are available to order now.

• Frank Buna announces World Latte Art Championship finalist Dhan Tamang as new Latte Art Factory ambassador. Tamang, who is also a six-time UK Latte Art Champion, will be a global brand ambassador for the automated milk foaming solution, and will join the Frank Buna team at World of Coffee Athens and HostMilano this year.

• World Coffee Research releases 2022 annual report. As part of its key results last year, the organisation launched the Innovea Global Coffee Breeding Network, advanced US legislation of strategic interest to the coffee industry, and increased available funding for coffee research and development.

• Neumann Kaffee Gruppe’s Partnership to Advance Coffee Equity (PACE) programme celebrates first graduating class. This year, Jayy Terrell, Charles Umeano, and Porttia Portis successfully passed the programme, which developed by NKG and the Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity to increase diversity in the US coffee industry. Partners for the next NKG Pace programme are Jalen Kelly, Shaa’ista Sabir, and Zakiya Mason.

Fri, 7 Apr

• International Coffee Organisation’s Composite Indicator Price fell by 2.7% in March. The organisation says average prices for all group indicators (except robusta) decreased in March. Global green coffee exports also dropped by 20.23% in February compared to the same month in 2022 – leading the ICO to estimate that there will be a deficit of 7.3 million 60kg bags in the 2022/23 coffee year.

• Certified B Corp Sancoffee releases 2022 impact report. Among several key achievements, the Brazilian specialty coffee co-operative exported a total of 53,501 60kg bags in the 2022/23 season, and sequestered 68,798.55 tonnes of carbon dioxide across 20 farms – meaning the company is carbon neutral.

• Café Show Vietnam 2023 to take place from 13 to 15 April in Ho Chi Minh City. The annual event will be held at the Saigon Exhibition & Convention Centre, and will feature more than 200 exhibitors from ten different countries. This year’s Café Show Vietnam will also host the 2023 Vietnamese Latte Art Championship.

Here are a few coffee news stories from previous weeks that you might find interesting. Take a look.

• Mon, 27 Mar – Huhtamäki says sustainable packaging is key to its long-term growth strategy. The Finnish packaging company announced its updated 2030 profitable growth strategy last week, which includes developing its new “blueloop” sustainable initiative.

• Thu, 30 Mar – Starbucks’ investors vote for external review of company’s handling of workers rights. Investors voted in favour of a proposal to commission and oversee an independent, third-party assessment of Starbucks’ “adherence to its stated commitment to workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights”.

• Thu, 30 Mar – Lavazza reports 17.6% increase in 2022 revenue. The Italian coffee company also completed the acquisition of MaxiCoffee, which Lavazza says will help with its international expansion plans.

• Fri, 31 Mar – Luckin Coffee opens first international locations in Singapore. The Chinese coffee chain’s Marina Square and Ngee Ann City stores are the first outside of China.

• Fri, 31 Mar – Global coffee pods market expected to grow by nearly US $10 million by 2027. Research firm Technavio anticipates a CAGR of 5.22% during the forecast period.

• Fri, 31 Mar – UK roaster says “it’s an ongoing gamble” to manage coffee supplies in the face of climate change. Cairngorm Coffee Roasters says that coffee businesses in consuming countries need to “strengthen links” with producers to solve supply chain issues.

• Fri, 31 Mar – Paulig reports 14% revenue growth in 2022, but profitability declines. The international food and beverage company, which also sells coffee, says increasing costs of raw materials, energy, and transportation led to a significant decline in profits.

• Sat, 2 Apr – Harrods unveils the world’s first Prada Caffè in London. The store was designed to mimic the interior of Prada’s historic boutique store in Milan.

Photo credits: Specialty Coffee Association, World Coffee Events

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Want to keep up with current affairs in the coffee industry? Check out last week’s stories and make sure to read the latest Coffee Intelligence News & Opinion piece on why Singapore is becoming the coffee hub of Southeast Asia.