The Tea & Coffee World Cup/AMERICAS held in Miami Beach, Florida on January 9-11, 2008 brought together individuals throughout the tea and coffee industry. Providing something for just about everyone, the conference was the ideal place for networking; conducting business; checking out the newest industry trends, machinery and products; and sitting in on educational and informative symposiums and workshops.

Bringing the Heat in Miami

Rarely have I attended a three-hour symposium without glancing at my watch or squirming in my chair. There is usually one panelist out of the group that inspires some creative doodling. What a refreshing turn of events to report that “Status Report Tea Origins” and “Best Practices from Seed to Cup: An In-Depth Exploration of Growing, Roasting, Brewing & Serving Procedures” held my attention without a single drawing. I left both symposia more knowledgeable and eager to learn more

News from the tea status report was not all positive. All panelists’ echoed recent reports about increased costs of tea production without benefit of a higher return on investment. Adding to those challenges, the tea industry’s increased demand for orthodox processing needed for producing specialty teas will continue to be problematic, stated Shri Basudeb Banerjee, chairman of the Tea Board of India. “Overall,” he emphasized,” there is a need for a single industry standard applied on an international basis.” Like the coffee industry, Banerjee addressed the importance of protecting tea origin trademarks as well as implementing systems to track authenticity along the tea chain. The Tea Board of India’s most recent initiatives, either already implemented or coming soon, include an on-line auction, special funding for uprooting and replanting senile bushes, the creation of a geo-data base, more funding for tea research pertaining to manufacturing and research from the Institutes of Technology on improvement of energy requirements.

As new tea regions come to market, education and differentiation continue to challenge the industry, from plantation to consumer. Addressing the challenges in marketing Himalayan or Nepal Tea, Chandra Bhushan Subba, managing director, Tea Direct, a company that sources tea based in Nepal, shared concerns stemming from lack of brand identify. Several tea organizations have been established in Nepal that are helping to improve marketing from this area. Two of the associations are HOTPA (certification) and HIMCOOP. Realizing the specialty tea market is growing, Subba hopes to assist small growers in eastern Nepal, where there are 18,000 farmers, to source additional financial incentives. One source of incentive, he pointed out, is financial assistance from manufacturers. Like Banerjee emphasized for India, Subba expressed the need for a single certification or global COC (code of conduct) program.

While growing consumer demand is in specialty teas, changing the processing method from CTC (cut-tear-curl) to orthodox is costly in itself. In some countries, such as Kenya, producing specialty teas is not practical or economical. David Walker, born in India and raised in Kenya, has spent a lifetime living and working in every segment of the tea industry. He shared a brief tea history of Kenya, which gave attendees a better understanding of the tea production, economics and politics prevalent. Since 1903, Kenya’s tea has been exported from Mombassa, founded some 600 years ago and was an Arab city. Tea from Sri Lanka is also exported from Mombassa.

Other countries are more geographically conducive to producing specialty teas. Manik Jayakumar, chief executive, Q Trade Teas & Herbs, reported that Sri Lanka was a billion dollar tea industry in 2007. Sri Lanka is a leading exporter of orthodox teas. “Distinctive micro-climates are unique to Sri Lanka,” said Jayakumar. Still, there are challenges of production. High cost of production coupled with labor shortage (teas have to be hand cropped), and demand for specialty teas is a continuing dilemma. In Jayakumar’s presentation, the regions of Nuwara Eliya, Dimbulla, Uva, Uda Pussellawa, Kandy and Ruhuna were identified with appropriate descriptions.

The coffee industry continues to have some of the same challenges noted in the tea seminar. As new regions open up for coffee production, the demand for quality and transparency becomes stronger. In the seminar, “Best Practices from Seed to Cup: An In-Depth Exploration of Growing, Roasting, Brewing & Serving Procedures,” Margaret Swallow, president of Swallow & Associates, and moderator, shared several of her personal slides depicting trips to origin. In each photo, she pointed out that “coffee is a unique product in terms of the human touch factor.” Swallow set the stage for the four panelists by stating that opportunities for coffee are at all levels, from origin to that cup of enjoyment; “coffee starts with a hand and ends with a hand,” she said.

Each panelist addressed a segment of the coffee chain, with Dr. Maria Ruiz, special projects executive, Casa Ruiz, speaking of her family farm in Panama. Her presentation, “From seed to green bean,” was a dynamic and valuable educational presentation. Ruiz covered systems and sub-systems she has developed and implemented at the farm level, to ensure quality through best practices. There just wasn’t enough time to delve into the intricacies of how the systems work together, and her topic could have been an entire three-hour seminar.

Also featured in the symposiums were Raphael Acevedo of Colonial Roasters, who discussed roasting techniques with seasoned experience; Sam Grasinger, BUNN’s vice president sales Latin America, who shared a detailed chart on the proper ratio of coffee and water to brewing equipment; and Rogerio Alba, a former Enterprise rental car employee, now a successful coffee entrepreneur, who made the coffee business seem like the Midas touch. He and his wife are co-partners in several businesses: Dominican Coffee Company, Caribbean Coffee & Tea and Mundo Marketing. As he shared about his growing businesses and retail store openings, he made it sound easy and smooth.

The espresso presentation was equally as successful. For beginner baristas, Julian Melbourne’s “5M Rules” to quality and consistency were basic. Melbourne, who owns Quality Espresso, based in Barcelona, Spain, admitted the “5M”s are not all M words in English, but they are in Italian and Spanish. In English, the 5M’s are: machine, grinder, maintenance, hand and blend.

Complementing the Symposium were presentations from Robert Nelson of the National Coffee Association of the U.S. and Néstor Osorio of the International Coffee Organization who spoke on “Building on Sustainability.” Address their nation’s quest for evolving quality and secured availability within the coffee market were: Juan Esteban Orduz, Colombian Coffee Federation; Jose Antonio Salaverria Borja, El Salvador; and Christian Rasch, Anacafe . Reknown Australian author and inventor, Ian Bersten, reviewed the past, present and future technological advances for both the tea and coffee industries.

The coffee retail segment was highlighted by Branding expert Lon LaFlamme of Dillanos Coffee Roasters (USA).

The Tea Symposium also featured the most up-to-date “tea and health” with Joseph Simrany and Melissa McAllister from the Tea Council of the U.S. as well as ready-to-drink trends as Pearl Dexter of Tea, A Magazine, took a look into Tea Salons across America.

Aside from the captivating symposium and workshops conducted from industry notables, Tea & Coffee World Cup/AMERICAS also hosted an exhibition where over 100 of the industry’s biggest companies came to show their products. Together in one room were some of the most well-known coffee and tea companies, such as BUNN, Astoria, Rancilio and Florapharm, to name a few. The only complete Tea & Coffee exhibition featured all segments of the industry from green coffee growers, industrial roasters and tea packers to specialty distribution and retail segments. Functioning machinery was featured on the show floor from packaging equipment to tea baggers and roasters and hands on roasting classes were even available. The exhibition featured: suppliers of equipment, machinery, supplies, and services; manufacturers of coffee and tea products; and international importers, exporters of raw product, industrial and specialty roasting as well as restaurant, hotel and coffee bar chains.

Tea & Coffee Trade Journal would like to thank every individual who made the exhibition and symposiums possible, and we hope to see everyone next year at the Tea & Coffee World Cup Madrid on June 7-9, 2009.

The Organizers that started it all.

Tea & Coffee World Cup Americas is a Lockwood Publications event. Founded in 1872, Lockwood is the publisher of Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, Tea & Coffee Asia as well as the organizer of Tea & Coffee World Cup Europe and Tea & Coffee World Cup Asia Exhibition and Symposium.

No other show has so much promotional ability. World Cup Americas is backed by the two leading trade magazines for the coffee and tea industries and is supported by a worldwide sales force, which calls on the entirety of the coffee and tea industries. Tea & Coffee World Cup has over 14 years of Trade Show Experience with shows in Europe, Asia and now North America.

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EXHIBITION CONTACTS
Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle East Glenn A. John Tel: +66 2255 6625 Fax: +66 2655 2211 Email: g.john@teaandcoffee.net Austria, Switzerland, Southern Germany, United Kingdom Robert M. Lockwood Tel: +1 (212) 391-2060 Fax: +1 (212) 827-0945 Email: robert@teaandcoffee.net Northern Germany, Scandinavia, Central America/Mexico Larry Frank Tel: +1 (207) 893-1152 Fax: +1 (207) 893-1172 Email: l.frank@teaandcoffee.net Benelux, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Northern Africa Jonathan W. Bell Tel: (33) 563-41-35-90 Fax: (33) 563-41-47-81 Email: j.bell@teaandcoffee.net France Marie-Claire Roussy Tel: +33 563-58-31-73 Fax: +33 563-58-90-96 Email: mc.roussy@teaandcoffee.net	Eastern North America Scott L. Rogers Tel: +1 (212) 391-2060 Fax: +1 (212) 827-0945 Email: s.rogers@teaandcoffee.net Western North America, Southeastern Europe, Southern Africa Emerson Leonard Tel: +1 (212) 391-2060 Fax: +1 (212) 827-0945 Email: e.leonard@teaandcoffee.net South America Frederick A. Lockwood Tel: +1 (212) 391-2060 Fax: +1 (212) 827-0945 Email: f.lockwood@teaandcoffee.net North West U.S.A., Western Canada Rob Lockwood Jr. Tel: +1 (212) 391-2060 Fax: +1 (212) 827-0945 Email: roblockwoodjr@teaandcoffee.net Show Coordinator Analia Christmas Tel: +1 212 391 2060 ext 104 Fax: +1 212 827 0945 Email: a.christmas@teaandcoffee.net

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