Coffee News Recap, 18 Feb: PRF Colombia confirms first speakers, Brazil’s exports decline by 12% & other stories

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

• Mon, 14 Feb – Green Coffee Summit resource library now available. All educational videos from the first-ever virtual event are available online for free. The resource library includes videos covering a range of topics, such as profiling international consumer markets and risk management.

• Tue, 15 Feb – European water treatment company Best Water Technology partners with Alpine F1 Team. The long-term strategic partnership will seek to reduce carbon footprints of both BWT (which supplies to coffee shops and World Coffee Championships) and the Formula One World Championship team. The partnership will begin with eliminating single-use plastics. BWT is now the title partner of Alpine F1 Team for the 2022 season onwards, rebranding the team as BWT Alpine F1 Team.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Caffè Nero operator fully acquires UK coffee chain Coffee#1. The Nero Group, which operates Caffè Nero, Harris+Hoole, and Aroma coffee brands, purchased the remaining stake from Welsh brewery S.A. Brain. Coffee#1 operates over 100 UK stores. The company will operate as a standalone brand within Nero Group.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Gruppo Cimbali becomes founding partner of ASEAN Coffee Institute. The ASEAN Coffee Institute (ACI) is an educational training body which works to establish coffee quality standards and promote sustainable practices across southeast Asia. Cimbali will support accessible ACI training programmes across the region.

• Tue, 15 Feb – Over 5,000 coffee shops join mobile ordering app Orda. The app allows customers to order and pay at coffee shops, as well as receive rewards from their purchases. Orda works with digital payment service Square and deliveries are available through DoorDash.

• Tue, 15 Feb – PRF Colombia announces first speakers. The keynote speaker will be Martin Mayorga, founder of Mayorga Coffee. Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood, founder and Managing Director of Colonna Coffee, is also confirmed as a speaker. Finally, Head of Coffee for Coffee Planet Cleia Regina Junqueira will present on a panel discussing Middle Eastern markets.

• Wed, 16 Feb – La Marzocco launches Pro app. The espresso machine manufacturer is installing wifi connectors on all Linea PB, Strada AV, and KB90 models to coincide with the release of the mobile app. The Pro app will allow baristas to access the machine’s settings and usage stats.

• Wed, 16 Feb – Starbucks delays unionisation vote at Arizona store. After Starbucks filed a request to review the union vote, employees at the Mesa, Arizona location will wait until the National Labour Relations Board assesses the request from the coffee chain.

• Thu, 17 Feb – Public voting opens for 2022 UK Coffee Awards. The second stage of voting includes fourteen categories, such as Best All-Round Grinder and Most Ethical Initiative. Nominees include Fiorenzato and Girls Who Grind Coffee. Public voting closes on 6 March.

• Fri, 18 Feb – Dutch Bros to run food bank campaign. On 18 February, all 500+ locations of the drive-thru coffee chain will donate US $1 from every drink order to local food banks. In 2021, Dutch Bros raised over US $537,000 through its annual Dutch Luv day campaign.

• Fri, 18 Feb – PDG Education launches two new online courses. The first course will cover cupping protocols with Chris Kornman, Director of Education at Royal Coffee. The second course will feature 2019 World AeroPress Champion Wendelien Van Bunnik talking about how to brew coffee with the AeroPress.

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

• Mob, 7 Feb – UK hospitality leaders request 12.5% VAT freeze. Over 250 UK business leaders – including in the coffee industry – signed a joint letter urging the UK government to keep VAT at 12.5% from March 2022 onwards. VAT for UK hospitality businesses was cut from 20% to 5% in July 2020 as part of the UK government’s Covid-19 support package. The rate was partially reinstated to 12.5% in October 2021 and is scheduled to return to 20% in April 2022.

• Thu, 10 Feb – Brazil’s soluble coffee exports hit new record. The country exported 4.09 million bags in 2021 to 98 countries, with revenues up 6% on 2020. Domestic consumption of soluble coffee also increased by 5.9% in 2021, helping to make coffee the second most consumed beverage in Brazil; an average 3 to 4 cups are consumed per capita.

Sign up to our weekly coffee news recap to get a summary of all the biggest stories in the sector, delivered straight to your inbox every Monday.

Want to keep up with current affairs in the coffee industry? Check out last week’s stories.

Photo credits: @quintasdeguimaraes