Haven Café is a cozy space inside Haven Palm Beach, a recently opened experiential design center at 211 Royal Poinciana Way. It is the perfect venue for meeting up with friends and enjoying one of the most exceptional cups of coffee on the island.
Nandini Jayaprasad and David Bell serve Chik Monk Coffee at the Haven Cafe inside Haven Palm Beach. (Meghan McCarthy. / Palm Beach Daily News)
The café features Chik Monk coffees and Chik Monk specialty coffee products made from beans grown on barista Nandini Jayaprasad’s family coffee estates in the lush mountain range of Chikmagalur, India.
Nandini Jayaprasad is shown with the coffee berries which are left in the open air to dry. This releases the green coffee beans. Courtesy of Nandini Jayaprasad.
It is coffee with a conscience. The beans are tended, hand-picked, sun-dried by the local community and are Rainforest Alliance Certified. This part of southern India is known as the garden of the sub-continent. It has a microclimate, with a dense rain forest canopy and is home to large agricultural estates that grow some of the most coveted coffee beans in the world.
The coffee blossoms have their own scent but the closest comparison would be Jasmine. Courtesy of Nandini Jayaprasad.
Most of the production is presold to France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Scandinavian countries and marketed under well-known brand names.
Jayaprasad is currently in India overseeing this year’s harvest.
David Beil, Jayaprasad’s husband and business partner, is running the day-to-day operations at home. Beil grew up in Grosse Pointe, Michigan but his family has deep roots in Palm Beach. His father, Leo Beil, was an associate of Chuck Muer and Harold Kaplan, the team that opened the former Chuck and Harold’s and Charley’s Crab restaurants.
As children, the Beil family took extended vacations throughout Europe. This gave Beil a view of the world that tweaked his interest in developing countries. While studying in Germany for his doctorate in economics, an opportunity to attend a seminar in India came up.
The welcome reception, held at a coffee bar in downtown Bangalore, was hosted by Jayaprasad. Beil was smitten by the hostess, fascinated by the country and found excuses to go back to India often. The couple began a trans-continental romance that culminated in a three-day traditional wedding on the estate attended by 600 friends and family.
They are passionate about their coffee. The beans come into the country green and are locally roasted in small batches to their specifications by Oceana Coffee in Tequesta.
The Haven Cafe sells estate-grown Chik Monk Coffee from India / Megan McCarthy / Palm Beach Daily News
Chik Monk’s style is coffee with low acidity, smooth on the tongue with balanced flavors. Medium roast, whole or ground, has hints of caramel, citrus, fruits and spices. Dark roast also comes whole or ground, and has notes of chocolate, caramel and nuts with a touch of spice. French roast, whole or ground, has roasted nuts and dark chocolate accents. Espresso, whole bean only, is well-balanced with caramel, chocolate and fruity tones.
The 12-ounce bags of coffee are $15 to $17. The company offers free local delivery.
2 shots of hot espresso or 2 ounces of hot strong brewed coffee
2 or 3 tablespoons milk, oat milk or other non-dairy milk
Place the ice in a cocktail shaker, pour hot coffee over the ice and shake for about 10 seconds.
Pour the iced coffee into a cup and top with milk.
Makes one serving.
An iced beverage with two shots of single-origin Chik Monk espresso, oat milk, almond milk and coconut milk is served at Haven Cafe (Meghan McCarthy , Palm Beach Daily News)
source: http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com / Palm Beach Daily News / Home> Lifestyle / by Roberta Sabban, Special to Daily News / February 23rd, 2021
Completes 80-metre hurdles (U-16) in 11.50 seconds at National Junior Athletics Championships
Bollanda Unnathi Aiyappa from Kodagu has created a new national record in the 80-metre hurdles held on Feb. 8 and 300-metre hurdles held on Feb. 9 at the 36th National Junior Athletics Championships at the Sarusajai Stadium in Assam.
Representing Karnataka in the Under-16 category, Unnathi Aiyappa clocked 11.50 seconds in the 80-metre hurdle and bagged the gold medal. It is a new national record. In the 300-metre hurdles too, she clocked 40.11 seconds, creating a record. She defeated Soumita Paul (West Bengal) 40.15 and Roshani Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) 40.94.
She is the daughter of former Indian heptathlete Pramila Aiyappa (from Guddanda family) and quartermiler B.P. Aiyappa. Notably, it was her father, presently a national athletic coach, trained her to achieve the feat.
In 1979, the legend P.T. Usha had created a record in Under-16 category by completing the 80-metre hurdles in 12.2 seconds and in 1985, Karnataka’s A.N. Rekha matched Usha’s record. Now Unnathi has broken this record to wind up the race in 11.50 seconds.
In the 300-metre hurdles, Unnathi clocked 40.11 seconds, thereby breaking a national record that was held by an athlete from West Bengal.
Unnathi was a constant presence at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru from a very young age, accompanying Pramila during contests and later on, as a trainee under her parents.
She watched on television her mother winning the Asian Games bronze in the heptathlon at Guangzhou in 2010 but at five, was too young to understand its significance. Soon though, she too was winning medals on her own at the school level and now she has risen to national level, breaking records.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports / February 11th, 2021
Ex-banker Soomanna Mandepanda and his wife, Puja Soomanna set up their startup Humblebean in 2017 to ensure better prices and reach for small coffee farmers and improve every part of the value chain.
For former banker Soomanna Mandepanda, the motivation for setting up Humblebean was not just to sell the best coffees, but more importantly, uplift the small and medium Indian farmers who grow them.
In the process, he is trying to bring about changes at almost each stage of the business — from cultivation and supply chain to research and education.
Founded in 2017 by Soomanna and his wife and former Yahoo executive Puja Soomanna, Bengaluru-based Humblebean works on an omnichannel model: It ties up with small coffee farmers in south India, roasts and grounds supply, provides the beans to roasters, exports its products, operates brew bars, and has an online presence.
A responsible way to grow coffee
The coffee drinking experience has been gaining traction in India, with the market for the brew expected to record a compound annual growth rate of 7.2 percent during 2021-25, according to a January 2021 Statista report.
Startups including Sleepy Owl, The Flying Squirrel, and Coffeeza, as well as shops such as Third Wave Coffee Roasters are making their presence felt in the market.
India is the world’s sixth-largest producer of coffee and fifth in terms of exports; in fact, 70 percent of its production is exported, says a January 2021 report by the India Brand Equity Foundation. Yet, Soomanna says, “a lot of small and medium farmers and farms aren’t getting the kind of business and reach they should” .
Soomanna would know: he spent most of his childhood on the coffee estates of Coorg and was a small farmer before moving to the world of finance and banking for 13 years. One way to correct the imbalance, he says, is by “making great biodiverse coffee that farms in India are already poised to do”.
According to him, 80-90 percent of coffee farms in India are held by small and medium farmers, whose secondary income comes from crops such as jackfruit, avocado, pepper, and orange that are part of the same farms.
Cultivating other crops alongside coffee “ensures automatic carbon sequestration, top soil replenishment, and lesser need to feed chemicals unlike commercial crops grown in other countries”, says Soomanna. “The mining of the minerals is automatic and you become carbon neutral.”
Puja Soomanna
Advocating farmer-friendly norms
Increasingly popular among young consumers are organic, speciality, and Rainforest Alliance coffees that respectively employ natural methods of cultivation dispensing with harmful chemicals, are of the highest grade being derived from a single origin or single estate and protect the environment as well as worker rights.
However, in India these certified varieties are grown largely on rich estates; most small and medium farmers cannot afford the costly certifications and grades.
Coffee cultivation and the business are still quite unorganised in India, the certifications cost a lot of money, and need constant follow-ups, says Soomanna. “The norms are difficult to adhere to for most small farmers. It is a replication of an American model.”
___________________
He says most large corporations in India export to Europe. “The small companies in Hassan, Chikmagalur, etc. certify about 150 estates and add the tags. But the farmer doesn’t get the price because the better prices are still being fetched with the local trader. The local traders are important, but the real traceability is lost.”
As farmers don’t get better prices, there is little driving them to improve their produce, he says. “Speciality coffee is something few farmers can afford to grow.”
Hence, the need to bring in farmer-friendly rules, he says.
The Humblebean coffee
Promoting social value investing
Given the largely unorganised state of affairs, Humblebean focused on getting farmers on board. The team collected random samples, tasted them, and guided farmers on growing the beans in a better way.
By 2018, the team had got 50-60 farmers on board and given them assessment reports free of cost. Until then, the startup was in its pre-revenue stages, bootstrapped with funds from family and friends.
The team then focused on getting roasters to directly buy from farmers. For this, it adopted the idea of social value investing, in which everyone who is part of the value chain comes together to solve a problem and there is money in it for all.
__________________
“Once we got the farmers on board, we decided to tie up with brands and introduce them to the new portfolios of coffees,” says Soomanna. “We incubated close to four different brands in India from scratch to start a unique brand with a different blend. The idea was to bring in multiple partnerships and inclusiveness in the farming community on one platform.”
Most of the speciality coffee firms have restricted names and types of beans grown on particular estates. “The idea is to bring in more brands that can access different estates, work with them, and encourage the farmers,” says Soomanna.
Humblebean also fulfils the complete roast and ground process for such brands and even gives them a credit facility, he says.
Quality comes with education
Towards the end of 2018 and early 2019, the Humblebean team found that coffees served at most star hotels weren’t up to the mark.
One of the reasons for this, Soomanna says, is that coffee as education is lacking in hotel management schools: one has to go to Italy to learn more about its nuances. The Coffee Board of India mostly takes care of the functionality, he says.
_________________
“We met a few management schools and after some discussions it was decided that the colleges would look at it as part of the curriculum,” says Soomanna.
Brewing innovative Indian blends
Even as Humblebean works to improve every part of the value chain, it is trying to offer consumers a very Indian coffee drinking experience.
To that end, the startup opened its first Brew Bar in the food experience section of a workspace on Bengaluru’s Residency Road in 2019. Humblebean was one of the early members of that workspace set up by a Singapore-based company.
Puja, who conceptualised Brew Bar, spent time innovating the blends with the use of Indian robustas.
“We don’t serve a single cup of speciality coffee; we wanted to make sure through the brewing methods can small and medium farmers come into mainstream brewing?” says Soomanna.
______________
He says these Indian blends “aren’t being used by a single new-age speciality coffee company” as they are considered “harsh and used as a filler across the world. But they are unique and you need great expertise and experience to make a robusta out of them”.
Following research and development, the startup has also come up with its own set of products. Together with B2B partners, it has launched these products online and will soon sell them at other marketplaces. The range is priced at Rs 220-350 for 250 gm for limited editions and depending on the roast.
“Indian coffees can have a global impact,” says Soomanna. “The idea is to be farmer-friendly and also not cause too much environmental damage. We want to bring an amazing cup of coffee from the farms the way it should be drunk.”
Edited by Lena Saha
source: http://www.yourstory.com / YourStory / Home> Start Up / by Sindhu Kashyap / February 07th, 2021
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa jumped 16 places to reach a career-best ranking of world number 19.
Indian shuttler Ashwini Ponnappa (Photo | PTI)
New Delhi :
India’s mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa was rewarded for its stupendous show at the recent-concluded Asia leg as it broke into the world’s top 20 in the latest BWF rankings announced on Tuesday.
Satwik and Ashwini, who had become the first Indian mixed doubles pair to reach the semifinals of a world tour Super 1000 event at the Toyota Thailand Open, jumped 16 places to reach a career-best ranking of world number 19.
The duo had stunned fifth seeded Malaysian combination of Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying in the quarterfinals.
In the men’s doubles, Satwik and Chirag Shetty retained their world number 10 spot after reaching the semifinals at Toyota Thailand Open.
Among others, world champion P V Sindhu remained static at world number 7, while Saina improved a place to world number 19.
In the men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth moved up a spot to 13th, while Sameer Verma jumped four places to 27th spot after his quarterfinal showing at Toyota Thailand Open.
B Sai Praneeth, who lost in the opening round of the first event and was forced to withdraw from the second tournament after testing COVID-19 positive, slipped a spot to 17th, while Parupalli Kashyap, who struggled with a calf muscle injury, dropped two places to 26th spot.
M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, who started playing together in 2019, zoomed 33 places to 64th in the men’s doubles.
The BWF World Rankings reopened following the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals which concluded on Sunday.
The first tournament in the Olympic Qualifying period for the Race to Tokyo will be the Swiss Open Super 300, to be held from March 2 to 7.
The qualification period will end with the Indian Open (May 11-16), with the rankings published on May 18 to be considered for deciding the players making the cut for the Tokyo Games.
Last March, the BWF had frozen the world rankings, saying standings as on March 17 will be the basis for entry and seedings when it restarts the international calendar.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport> Other / by PTI / February 02nd, 2021
The ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were decked with flowers on account of Martyrs’ Day in Madikeri on Saturday.
The district administration and Sarvodaya Samithi observed Martyrs’ Day in Madikeri on Saturday.
The ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were taken out from the district treasury in district administration complex and floral tributes were paid to them.
The ashes of Mahatma Gandhi were taken out from the district treasury in district administration complex and floral tributes were paid to them.
All-religion prayers were offered and the Scouts and Guides sang Bhajans. Religious leaders recited the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible and the Quran on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, former minister M C Nanaiah said that it is an honour that Kodagu district has the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi.
A memorial should be constructed at Gandhi Mantapa on the lines of Raj Ghat to keep the ashes of Gandhi, he said.
“We have been demanding a memorial at Gandhi Mantapa for the last 15 years, which has not been fulfilled so far,” he added.
Deputy Commissioner Charulata Somal, Superintendent of Police Kshama Mishra and others were present.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DHNS, Madikeri / January 31st, 2021
India’s Rohan Bopanna will emerge from his 14-day quarantine in Melbourne later on Saturday with a spring in his step after his quest for a new doubles partner for next month’s Australian Open finally ended.
The former doubles World No. 3 is one of 72 players who have been confined to their hotel rooms in Melbourne after fellow passengers on the flights that brought them to Australia tested positive for COVID-19.
Compounding his problem, Bopanna was forced into searching for a new partner after Joao Sousa was unable to travel to Australia on time after testing COVID-19 positive.
“Playing with Ben McLachlan from Japan in Australian open,” Bopanna told Reuters in a message on Saturday.
McLachlan is a New Zealand-born player who represents Japan. He will team up with China’s Duan Yingying for the mixed doubles.
In next week’s ATP event at Melbourne Park, Bopanna will partner Denmark’s Frederik Nielsen in the men’s doubles.
Denied training like most other players, Bopanna earlier told Reuters he had been relying on exercise bands and mats to stay fit.
Conceptualized by Lowe Lintas, the TVC draws parallel between sound and emotion
TATA Coffee Grand, the packaged coffee brand from the house of TATA Consumer Products, unveiled its recent campaign that aims to create a new language for coffee – Shik-Shik-Shik that evokes emotions and excitement amongst consumers. The campaign synonymises the word ‘Coffee’ with the sound of coffee ie. Shik-Shik-Shik – the sound that is created by shaking the coffee pack!
Depicting the southern part of India and building an emotion around coffee moments, the TVC, conceptualized by Lowe Lintas, draws parallel between sound and emotion, Coffee is a word but Shik-Shik-Shik is an emotion. The film opens on an early morning in a radio station where the Radio Jockey calls for a Shik-Shik-Shik and the audience is introduced to TATA Coffee Grand. She then takes us on a journey of how Shik-Shik-Shik is echoing in South India with everybody calling coffee the Shik-Shik-Shik way, to relish the taste, the flavour and the decoction crystals that is exclusive to TATA Coffee Grand.
Speaking about the campaign, says, Mr. Puneet Das, SVP – Marketing, Beverages – India, TATA Consumer Products, “We’ve been excited about the idea of the ‘sound of coffee’ for a while now. Through this campaign, we have built the proposition of ‘The sound made by our tata coffee grand pack, which has big granules and decoction crystals that make a great cup of coffee’. A simple and powerful narrative is linked to a simple action of shaking the pack, remembering that unique sound, replacing coffee with shik shik shik when asking for it. We are hopeful that the disruptive unique sound of Shik-Shik-Shik will soon become an overarching synonymous word for coffee.”
Sagar Kapoor, Chief Creative Officer – Lowe Lintas, said, “It’s always a great opportunity when your brand has a product differentiation. Leaping to the creative idea from the differentiator lands on a disruptive idea, more often than not. With Tata Coffee Grand we had the decoction crystals. Besides delivering a superior cup of coffee, these crystals also make a unique’ Shik-Shik-Shik sound when one shakes the pack. So great coffee was always known by its aroma, it will now be known with its sound. That led us to the idea of ‘Great coffee will now be known as Shik-Shik-Shik. Going ahead we will engage with the consumer in many ways with the ‘Shik-Shik-Shik device,”
The campaign is live on TV in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, showcasing TATA Coffee Grand as a differentiated product which is driven by innovation and consumer centricity.
source: http://www.exchange4media.com / exchange4media / Home> Internet Marketing News> Latest Internet Marketing News> Marketing / by exchange4media.com / January 23rd, 2021
IAS officer Charulata Somal has been appointed as the Deputy Commissioner of Kodagu District. She took charge this morning from Zilla Panchayat CEO Bhanwar Singh Meena who was functioning as in-charge DC.
Charulata replaces previous DC Annies Kanmani Joy, who has left to the United States on a long leave to join her husband. Charulata Somal is a 2012-batch IAS Officer from the Karnataka cadre. Brought up in Mumbai, she did her graduation in Economics Honours from St. Stephen’s College of Delhi University.
She has served as Deputy Secretary, Chief Minister’s Secretariat. She has also served as Commissioner, Shivamogga City Corporation with additional charge as Managing Director, Shivamogga Smart City Corporation. She has been the CEO of Kodagu Zilla Panchayat and as Managing Director, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation.
Charulata is the first IAS officer to have gone on Antarctica expedition twice in 2016. She had got an opportunity to be a part of the International Antarctic Expedition led by Robert Swan for ‘A Leadership on the Edge Program to the Last Wilderness on Earth.’ Robert Swan is the first person in the history to have walked unsupported to both the South Pole and the North Pole back in the 1980s.
With 140 participants across the globe and themes focusing on sustainability, energy and climate change, the 15-day expedition in March 2016 was an inspiring experience for Somal. Her second chance to go to Antarctica was in November the same year when Swan invited her for an 80 Degrees South Expedition.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / January 23rd, 2021
Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy inspects the dry run for the vaccination in the district hospital in Madikeri, on Friday.
Covid warriors were administered with mock vaccination as a part of the Covid-19 vaccination dry run held in the district hospital in Madikeri and across various health centres in Kushalnagar and Virajpet, on Friday.
Deputy Commissioner Annies Kanmani Joy inspected the vaccination and enrollment centres and monitored the preparations towards software registration process, storage of vaccines, transportation, de-freezing processes and other mock exercises as a part of the dry run.
She said that the dry run was held in six centres in the district, namely, district hospital in Madikeri, taluk hospital in Somwarpet, Community Health Centre in Kushalnagar, Primary Health Centre in Kakotuparambu village, Institute of Dental Sciences in Virajpet and Urban Health Centre in Madikeri.
Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences (KoIMS) Director Dr Cariappa, District Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr K Mohan and others were present.
During the dry run held at PHC, Kakotuparambu, medical officer Dr Shrishaini said that 25 health workers were selected for administering the mock Covid-19 vaccination. Those who received vaccination were required to enrol their names by providing Aadhaar card number. Before obtaining vaccination, they were made to wait in a room.
Later, the documents were scrutinised online and the vaccination was administered. The details of the persons getting the vaccination were uploaded online. After vaccination, the person has to take rest in the observation unit for 30 minutes, she said.
If the person experienced any side effects, he/she will be provided with treatment as per the necessary precautionary measures. If there are no side effects, the person will be sent home, she added.
Taluk Medical Officer Dr Yatiraju said that the actual Covid-19 vaccination programme is likely to begin from next week.
The health centres were completely sanitised for the mock vaccination programme.
District Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr Mohan inspected the dry run held at the Community Health Centre in Kushalnagar.
Speaking on the occasion, he said that health workers, Asha and anganwadi workers will be administered with Covid-19 vaccination in the first phase.
District Surveillance Officer Dr S Gopinath was present.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State> Mangaluru / by DHNS, Madikeri / January 09th, 2021
Rohan Bopanna will partner Portugal’s World No 75 Joao Sousa to begin the 2021 season, including at the Australian Open.
Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna (File photo)
Chennai :
Rohan Bopanna will partner Portugal’s Joao Sousa (World No 75) to begin the 2021 season, including at the Australian Open. “I was going to play with Austria’s Jurgen Melzer initially but after the dates changed, that wasn’t feasible. So I have decided to play with Sousa,” he told TNIE .
The first event they will play as a pair is at an ATP 250 event in Melbourne, beginning January 31. Post that, they will play at the Australian Open. Because of the regulations, it’s not going to be easy, it’s something the 40-year-old concedes. For him to play the event beginning January 31, he has to be onsite from January 15.
“I am leaving India on January 14, serve my two weeks of quarantine, do multiple Covid-19 tests and get ready for the 250.” The one good thing is that they will be allowed to practice during the quarantine. “We can practice five hours everyday, but the five hours will include everything… gym work, physio, recovery work in the pool as well as playing on the court.”
However, World No 39 isn’t complaining. “I am just happy because playing amid the pandemic is not easy, so, yeah.” He had been subjected to about 40 Covid-19 tests while he was playing from August to November. More tests await. “There will be one before I leave, one upon arrival and five tests in two weeks before quarantine finishes.”
His plans — including finding a partner — after the Australian swing is evolving. “The one good thing is I am not defending a lot of points in that three-month stretch right to the French Open. I have to play with somebody which will enable to play in the Masters events.” Right now, though, his focus is on Melbourne. Do well there and he will begin an important year — his 23rd on the professional circuit — with the right foot forward.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport> Tennis / December 25th, 2020
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