The operations, which began with this historic handshake between Starbucks’ Howard Schultz and Tata group’s former chairman Ratan Tata, has only picked up steam over the last 12 months.

It’s a year to the day that coffee-chain Starbucks decided to give India a whiff of its world-famous blends. CNBC-TV18’s Vineetha Athrey travels to Tata Starbucks’ plantation in Coorg to find out what’s cooking for year-two.

This luscious Tata Coffee estate is where Starbucks sources its coffee beans from. And the Tatas have set up an exclusive plant here for Starbucks with an annual capacity of 375metric tons of coffee beans for the Indian operations.

The operations, which began with this historic handshake between Starbucks’ Howard Schultz and Tata group’s former chairman Ratan Tata, has only picked up steam over the last 12 months.

The joint venture has opened 24 outlets across Mumbai, Pune and Delhi and is now gearing up to ramp up its presence. This means newer cities with it city Bangalore becoming the next destination. Enthused by the warm welcome it has received in India; Starbucks also plans to enter other metros and tier-2 cities.

“The corner stone of the brand is the passion and commitment with which the partners create that beautiful environment and that unparalleled Starbucks experience. We feel humbled and proud that the Indian consumer has adapted to it so well, says Avani Davda CEO, Tata Starbucks.

Expansion, of course, means money and while the exact amount is as secret as its coffee recipes, Starbucks says it is aggressively shoring up its war-chest. Remember, in august the company got the go-ahead to infuse an additional Rs 150 crore into the operations and trebling its authorized capital of Rs 70 crore.

Getting that long term strategy in place means a strict standardization of beverage recipes, signature coffee blends and a stronger snack portfolio, for starters. That explains why its Indian outlets boast a new blend that is not available in any of its other markets just yet. The special blend, of course, actually boils down to the beans that come from this Tata plantation in Coorg.

Now the coffee giant is working on leveraging this further by possibly making this plant a sourcing base for its Asia operations, a move that would give it a significant competitive advantage over its competitors.

source: http://www.moneycontrol.com / MoneyControl / Home> CNBC-TV18 comments / by Vineetha Athrey, Reporter, CNBC-TV18 / October 18th, 2013

Asia’s largest plantation firm Tata Coffee Wednesday unveiled its premium extraction plant at Theni near Madurai in Tamil Nadu to process the beans into freeze dried powder for exports to global markets.

Set up at a cost of Rs.80 crore with an installed capacity of 2,000 tonnes per annum, the hi-tech plant will produce spray dried, agglomerated and freeze dried instant coffee, retaining its aroma better.

“Freeze dried coffee retains aroma better and gives rich flavour, colour and appearance to the beverage,” Tata Coffee managing director Hameed Haq said in a statement from Theni, about 500 km from Chennai.

The plant is strategically located at the company’s instant coffee manufacturing facility, which is 170 km from Tuticorin port in the southern part of the state for export shipping.

“Our expertise in the bean to brew value chain, efficient processes and focus on sustainability has helped us maintain leadership position in the business. The expansion of our instant coffee facility demonstrates our commitment to provide premium coffees to customers worldwide,” Haq said.

As a 100 percent export-oriented unit, the instant coffee facility has an installed capacity of 4,000 tonnes per annum.

The Theni plant became a top exporter of soluble coffee to Russia and CIS countries last fiscal (2012-13).

As a subsidiary of Tata Global Beverages Ltd, the company produces 10,000 tonnes of shade grown Arabica and Robusta beans in its 19 estates across southern India and exports green coffee to Asia, Europe, North America and the Gulf region.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News-IANS> Business-Economy / IANS / Bangalore – June 19th, 2013

Concerted efforts are needed for coffee consumption to increase in northern India, said Hameed Haq, Managing Director, Tata Coffee, principal sponsor of the India International Coffee Festival (IICF).

“Thrust should be there to take coffee consumption from the South to North of India,” he said.

“We have taken new direction under India Coffee Trust to bring focus to the domestic consumption in India, which is low by any standards and, therefore, are trying to focus on North India which is a huge market to explore,” he said.

The fifth edition of the India International Coffee Festival (IICF) will be held in Bangalore at Lalit Ashok during January 21-25.

The Coffee Board and India Coffee Trust held its fourth edition of the IICF at New Delhi in 2012.

It was the first event outside Bangalore to give a wider exposure among the coffee drinkers in non-traditional areas such as Delhi to boost coffee consumption. “The event was taken to Delhi at the risk of adventuring in unknown waters but the resultsurprised us as we were greatly satisfied with the event.

It was a grand success by any standards,” said Jawaid Akthar, Coffee Board Chairman.

Now the steering committee of the IICF has decided that ideally the event should be alternated between Bangalore, the headquarters of coffee, and another destination preferably a consuming destination in the south.

FOCUS ON ENVIRONMENT

In addition to domestic consumption, the IICF is also to focus on environment.

“We as coffee growers have to keep in mind the changing demand on the environment. Globally, there is a lot more consciousness on coffee and the environment and during this festival, we will try and cover it all,” said Haq.

Haq further said the IICF started in 2002 and has evolved into a very mature international event and is being held at a right opportune time. Especially at a time when global coffee majors are eyeing Indian market.

NEW DIMENSIONS

“The coffee festivals are the right place to showcase Indian coffee globally; this festival has evolved over a period of time and taken certain new dimensions,” he explained.

IICF is also laying emphasis on quality.

“Of course, quality remains the benchmark and will be the differentiator to get us the premium in the world coffee market.

SMALL GROWERS

It is important to note that 95 per cent of coffee produced in the country is by small growers.

Corporates are very small, Tata Coffee being one of them,” said Haq.

FOCUS ON COORG

“We are hoping to extend our learning initially to the growers in Kodagu (Coorg) which forms a large part of the production base through the coffee trail, conference and workshops,” he added.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Agri-Biz / by The Hindu Bureau anil.u@thehindu.co.in / Bangalore – October 16th, 2013