Recent YouGov research commissioned by Costa Coffee has revealed that 80 per cent of people in the UK now want the option of purchasing ethical coffee from their regular high street outlets. And surprisingly, Brits are also willing to pay an average of 14p (€ 0,18) more per cup to ensure their coffee is ethical. But despite consumers’ willingness to pay more, Costa will not be charging any extra for an ethical cup of coffee. (Carlo Odello)

Giorgio Rancilio, President & CEO of the company, announced that Rancilio completed the acquisition of 53% of the Swiss company Egro Coffee Systems AG, the historic brand that manufactures fully automatic professional coffee machines for bars, of which Rancilio already held a 25% stake, and now controls the company based in Niederrohrdorf, near Zurich. Rancilio holds now 78% of the shares in Egro Coffee Systems. The Egro brand and the company were founded in 1849 by Castor Egloff. He made the first model in 1934, and then developed and produced the "Mikado" in 1972, the world’s first ever fully automatic professional coffee machine. In 2007, the Swiss company had a CHF 26 million (EUR 16 million) business and 80 employees.

Starbucks today announced a strategic licensing partnership to open more than 150 Starbucks stores in prime travel channels in key European markets within the next three years. The agreement details wide-ranging co-operation across the European travel market, covering both airport and railway station locations. Starbucks will give SSP licensing rights to the Starbucks brand in a number of significant markets that in some segments are exclusive, including France, Germany and the United Kingdom.  (Carlo Odello)

by Roberto Sala Barista. His bar, the Mary’s Bar in Costa Masnaga, in the North of Italy, was set up by his great-grandparents in 1928. He was brought up surrounded by machines, bags and cups. Fifteen years ago he started his job behind the counter: from 2001, he is a coffee taster and Espresso Italiano Specialist.In February 2007, he has been appointed to the board of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters. He is the first barista who has been appointed to such a role.

Recently, I hosted in my coffee shop some Japanese baristas who were accompanied by the infaillibly efficient Yumiko Momoi – the secretary general of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters for Japan. We spent a few hours together in my coffee shop. This was a great occasion for speaking about espresso and cappuccino and for working together at the espresso machine. Actually, Chihiro Yokoyama – a colleague who won several times the Japanese Barista Championship – was there with the group. First thought: all the baristas had an in-depth and specific knowledge of the entire coffee production process. Put it more clearly: they know what sort of processing the product they use every day went through. They’ve got clear views on the differences between the species, between the various ways of processing green beans and so on. This is not irrelevant: you can make the most of a semi-processed product such as coffee is only with a deep knowledge of how it is processed. This makes it possible to extract its specific sensory characteristics.

Second thought: strong preference for coffee with sharp acidity. The Japanese see a strong connection between this characteristic and the persistence of the espresso. They appreciate the blends from the North of Italy precisely because of their fresh acidity, nonetheless, they demand a highly delicate product. This is mainly due to a cultural reason: Japanese cuisine is a rampart of the delicacy of tastes and aromas. Adding to this point, confirmation of their preference for acid coffees came from the tasting of a pure Guatemala (for this occasion, I used the classic Italian moka because this is a delicate product which could have been ruined by the espresso machine). Anyhow, the Japanese baristas are well aware of the relevance of the blend: the single origins, despite their being interesting, are incomplete even from their point of view. This is an important common point of view with the Italian culture of espresso. Different views, instead, on cappuccino. Let’s say it: the Japanese, just like many foreign consumers adore it. There is, though, a difference between our cappuccino and theirs. The Italian traditional preparation method has no separate phase between the foamed milk and the coffee. The espresso must be blended with the foamed milk with the aim of obtaining a uniform cream. This characteristic, according to Yokoyama, is not fully appreciated by the Japanese consumer. This is the reason why the Japanese cappuccino is a mix of espresso and milk with a final top of foam which is often also decorated. This conveys to the beverage the typical note of tactile softness which comes from the milk foam on top. The point is that this creaminess does not characterise the overall cappuccino. This is a variation to the Italian recipe intended to better satisfy the preferences of the Japanese public. Given the professionalism of their baristas, the Japanese are a very lucky public.

by Carlo Odello

The Professional Barista’s Handbook is an interesting attempt by Scott Rao – American consultant in the USA coffee business – to provide a 360° view on the art of being a barista. “When, 14 years ago, I started working in the business I used to read each and every available book on coffee I could find – says Rao in the introduction. After having read all these books, I was left with the impression that I had not learned so much on how to prepare a great coffee”. In a few words: there was no book with the most relevant and down-to-earth hints for a barista. Given that he could not find any, Rao decided to write one himself with the aim of producing the first truly exhaustive manual for a barista. No doubt that this is a book which covers everything and each topic is dealt with in great detail: percolation, dosing, the methods for levelling the ground coffee in the filter-holder, pressing and, it goes without saying, everything which has got to do with preparing an espresso (more than that: there is also a chapter on tea). The author makes a thorough description with continual reference to scientific research, data and numbers. However, sometimes, Rao suffers from excess of zeal and proposes solutions which could be deemed, quite rightly, a bit complicated and the usefulness of which could be legitimately questioned. If we neglect some overdoing here and there, Rao’s book is a good quality guide. Indeed, it is a collection of most of the things a barista should know if s/he wants to define her/himself a real professional barista.

The Professional Barista’s Handbook
Author: Scott Rao
Dimensions: 17,7 x 25,3
Pages: 100
Price: US$ 45,00
ISBN: 978-1-60530-098-6

You can buy it at:
www.theprofessionalbaristashandbook.com

by Luigi Odello

Secretary General of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters, he is also a lecturer at the University of Udine, Verona and at the Cattolica in Piacenza. In addition he is the Chairman of the Taster Study Center and Secretary General of the Italian Espresso National Institute

Without competition, there can be no improvement. This is a genetics law but it is true also for the business world. However, many companies in the coffee sector are not that keen on competition, especially if it is on the sensory impact of the blends. Think about wine, a product from which coffee should draw inspiration if it wants to a step further towards the life of consumers. There is an incredible number of guides with all sorts of comments – expressed in differing ways – valuations at exaggerated rhythms and competitions with tens of editions left behind.

In our business, the International Institute of Coffee Tasters has recently finalised an unprecedented investigation on quality at the bar: 907 surveys in bars in the entire Italian territory, 20 bars in he city centre of Milan and Rome examined by means of the environment and sensory analysis.

On the one hand, the joy of the winners has been expressed in quiet tones, on the other, the anger of the excluded has been strong to the extent that the poorly appeased acrimony reached the governing bodies of major institutions. We should be happy about this because it is anyhow a reaction which means that something will happen. We would like this to turn into food for thought for everybody on what to do to improve rather than to boil down to plain expression of sorrow.

These are our thoughts while we are busy with the organisation of another big event at an International level: the second edition of International Coffee Tasting. The first edition, in 2006, was a success. Not only in terms of the number of attendees. Some companies bought entire pages on newspapers to advertise the award they won. Other participants asked if it was possible to display the logo of the competition on their product. Let alone the company that received an order of coffee from a big Dutch agent in order to supply 5000 families with the gold medal product.

International Coffee Tasting is the first and only competition in the world of this kind. Its rules are based on the strict rules applied to wine tasting and defined by the International Organisation of Vines and Wine. Expert tasters from the International Institute of Coffee Tasters taste, anonymously, the coffee and the data is processed with the support of the most modern statistics techniques.

What else can be done? Well, we are already aware that the anger of the excluded will show once again.

Everything is ready for the kick-off of the International Institute of Coffee Tasters – Japan. It will be opened up on the 28^th of April in Tokyo. To celebrate the occasion, on the 26-27^th of April two new licence courses have been organised to satisfy the continually increasing demand for training on coffee tasting. The courses will be held in Osaka and Tokyo, as in the past. The new tasters will join the large number of tasters already operational in Japan thanks to the excellent coordination job done by Yumiko Momoi and her staff.

Brazil also will have its own International Institute of Coffee Tasters. The founding of an association with the same aims of its parent association and which will apply the very same methods seems to be a symbolic undertaking in the country which give us so much precious raw material for the Italian Espresso. While the Japanese market dates back to some years ago, the Brazilian market is opening up just now to the Espresso: an association of coffee tasters has a pioneering spirit to it.

Also the market in the Balkans is opening up and growing. Where the must was drinking Turkish coffee, nowadays, in the dregs of that beverage, it is possible to read the future of the espresso in the Balkans. In March, the International Institute of Coffee Tasters has been invited by Grand Kafa – the biggest roaster, comprising Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, in the region – to give coaching at a licence course and a course for Espresso Italiano Specialist at its new training centre. This is a collaboration with the most challenging training scheme in the Balkans and a cooperation which will position the International Institute of Coffee Tasters and its method as the quality standard for this region.

The Swedish home furnishing retailer IKEA has decided that all coffee sold and served at IKEA worldwide shall be UTZ CERTIFIED. UTZ Certified is an independent not-for-profit organization that sets a standard for responsible coffee growing and sourcing, taking both people and the environment into consideration.
Annually, around 150 million cups of coffee are served and sold in the restaurants, bistros and Swedish Food Markets in 25 countries. Anders Lennartson – Quality, Social & Environmental Manager IKEA Food Services: “We serve a lot of coffee every day. We want our customers and co-workers to know that the coffee they drink is produced in a sustainable manner. Traceability is also important for a global company like us; an on-line coffee tracer will be available for the IKEA branded coffees”.

(Carlo Odello)

TheCafeGuide.com has announced the launch of their enhanced podcast available for free. TheCafeGuide.com Podcast covers everything relating to coffee, tea and café culture, hosted by Richard Wolak, featuring news and interviews with experts on coffee, tea and cafes from around the world.
Episode 1 covers coffee, tea, coffee equipment, barista championships, café culture and cafes from around the world. Including features on Intelligentsia Coffee, Harney & Sons Tea, The Clover coffee brewer and more. The spotlighted cafes include Ritual Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, USA; Caffe Art Java in Montreal, Canada and Tropicana Caffe in Sydney, Australia.
Listeners can have the enhanced podcast of TheCafeGuide.com Podcast automatically downloaded to their computer, as well as to personal device such as an Ipod or mp3 player, by visiting the Podcast host page at http://thecafeguide.wordpress.com/

Costa Coffee will become the first UK coffee shop chain to source its entire coffee supply from certified sustainable farms. Marketing Director, David Hutchinson, announced Costa’s plan to source all of its coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified by 2010. From September 2008 at least 30% of the coffee used in Costa’s Mocha Italia coffee blend, which forms the base of its coffee drinks, will come from certified sources, equal to about 1000 tonnes of green coffee over the course of a year.

In order to earn the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal farms must meet rigorous standards developed by the Rainforest Alliance. The Rainforest Alliance is an independent, international non-profit NGO that works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behaviour. Farms must make improvements in the way the farm is managed including reducing pesticide use, improving worker safety, ensuring workers have decent housing and access to clean water, as well as education and medical care for themselves and their families.

(Carlo Odello)