A file photo showing group of female plantation workers walking on the road in the Kuppamundi Coffee Estate in Kolagapara near Sultan Battery, a location in the Wayanad dsitrict of Kerala. (Photo: iStock)
Coffee exports from India, Asia’s third-largest producer and exporter, reached an all-time high at 3.95 lakh tonnes in the 2017-18 fiscal on strong demand for instant coffee, according to state-run Coffee Board.
Coffee exports from India, Asia’s third-largest producer and exporter, reached an all-time high at 3.95 lakh tonnes in the 2017-18 fiscal on strong demand for instant coffee, according to state-run Coffee Board.
The country had exported 3.55 lakh tonnes of coffee in the previous year.
“The coffee exports were at all-time high in FY 2017-18 because of increased shipments of value-added products, especially instant coffee,” a senior board official told PTI.
There was an increase in instant coffee output because of improved production capacity with setting of up new units.
The country largely exports Robusta variety of coffee, the volumes of which also showed a jump in the 2017-18 fiscal in view of strong demand and record domestic production.
The top three export destinations are Italy, Germany and the Russian Federation.
The board has pegged coffee output at a record 3.50 lakh tonnes for the 2017-18 crop year ending September 2018 as against 3.12 lakh tonnes in the previous year.
source: http://www.thestatesman.com / The Statesman / Home> Business / by PTI, New Delhi / April 19th, 2018
If there is a word that can describe Ashwini Ponnappa’s present state of mind, it would be tranquil. At the moment, the doubles shuttler is sorted in her head and clear in her heart. The recent success at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) has only contributed positively to the cause.
The Bangalore player, who impressed by playing four matches in a day and winning medals at Gold Coast, said this edition of the CWG was extra special, simply because of the way the team played and won together.
“This one was special, extremely special. We won our first team gold and the atmosphere in the team was all very positive. Everybody was giving their best, trying to do well for the country. It felt good to be a part of the team. My first CWG in 2010 was special for obvious reasons and on top of it, we had won doubles gold,” Ashwini told TOI.
However, the World Championships bronze medallist felt there was a lot more she could do.
“Although it was India’s best ever show in the CWG, personally, I could have done better. I am one of the senior-most players in the team now and I feel I could have contributed more than what I did by pushing more in my matches and sharing a lot more insights with the juniors. Personally, I feel that me and my partners could have done better,” Ashwini, who won the women’s doubles bronze with N Sikki Reddy, said.
Her efforts in Gold Coast were so remarkable that even coach Gopichand praised Ashwini in one of the felicitation functions after the Games. Gopi called Ashwini the real champion of the team.
“I am grateful to Gopi sir for saying all the good things. He was generous with his comments, but I would say the whole team did well and right feedback from Gopi sir helped all of us,” she said.
Ashwini, who had a long partnership with Jwala Gutta, now looks settled with Sikki and Satwik Rankireddy in women’s and mixed doubles respectively.
“I would say it is going good for me. I am happy with the way we played and hope to do better with them. It’s good to have left the partnership decision to the coach (Tan Kim Her). As long as he sees us having the potential to do well as partners, we’ll definitely be playing together (with N Sikki Reddy and Satwik Rankireddy).”
She admits that things were not easy after her split with Jwala, two years ago, but with time, things are falling in place for her.
“Initially it was tough as I was recovering from dengue so I was pretty low. I wasn’t feeling strong. A lot has happened during the two years. I have changed partners, got married, and become physically and mentally much stronger,” said Ashwini, who got married to businessman and model Karan Medappa last year.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> Sports News > Badminton News / by Tushar Dutt / TNN / April 20th, 2018
Chinappa and Pallikal had to settle for a silver in the women’s doubles competition India squash stars Joshna Chinappa (left) and Dipika Pallikal with their CWG silver medals at Chennai airport on Monday. Pic/PTI
India’s leading squash players, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal, returned to a warm welcome here late last night after winning silver medals at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
Chinappa and Pallikal had to settle for a silver in the women’s doubles competition. Pallikal also won a historic silver in the mixed doubles with Saurav Ghosal. As defending champions, the thought of the past glory did come to the mind, said Chinappa, who had won a gold medal in the Glasgow Games in 2014 alongside Pallikal.
“Four years since, much has happened in squash. We were there on the podium then and the goal was not to miss that moment again. To that extent it was satisfactory finish,” she said. “We are encouraged to work harder for next big challenge, the Asian Games in August,” she added.
This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
source: http://www.mid-day.com / mid-day.com / Home> Sports News> Other Sports News / PTI / April 18th, 2018
Ashwini Ponnappa (right) won her third Commonwealth Games medal as she bagged a Bronze in women’s doubles with N Sikki Reddy in Gold Coast. (Photo: Reuters)
India completed their best-ever medal in badminton at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) on Sunday with a total of the six medals, including two Gold, three Silver and a Bronze.
India not only won a Gold and two Silver in the singles events but scooped a gold medal in the Mixed Team event, a Silver in men’s doubles and a Bronze in the women’s doubles.
The reason for India to win double the number of badminton medals this year than the last two CWG is the success of doubles.
On Sunday, after the Games officially got over, Pullela Gopichand said that he felt “this tournament belongs to Ashwini (Ponappa).”
Ashwini Ponnappa is a name well known in India. She has been India’s top doubles players for quite a lot of years now but it is truly now that her name has begun to be highlighted well.
During the Mixed Team event final against Malaysia, Ashwini played the first match of the tie, the mixed doubles, with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Satwik, who is only 17 years old, is already one of the best doubles players in the country and world No.21 in men’s doubles along with Chirag Shetty. However, on April 9, 2017, it was Ashwini who led the pair to a stunning win against Rio Olympics silver-medallist Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goh.
Ashwini Ponnappa was constantly chatting with Satwik, guiding him, during their mixed doubles match in the Mixed Team event final. (Photo: Reuters)
In the first game of the mixed doubles, the Indian pair completely dominated the Malaysian pair but Chan and Goh soon found their way through Ashwini and Satwik and took over from the second game.
In the decider, Chan and Goh were leading 12-7 at one point but the Indian pair then won a point to make it 8-12. From there as Ashwini led the way with her serve, India won seven straight points to go up 15-12.
Therafter, Chan and Goh could win only three more points before Ashwini and Satwik took the match away.
Ashwini in that mixed doubles victory was a sight to behold. Such was her brilliance that even the commentators were in awe of her skills and intelligence.
One could see in those final few moments, the determination and belief in her eyes and her strokes, she knew they could win it. Even as the Malaysians played it around, Ashwini knew exactly where the shuttles would come, she would leap up front and go for the kill.
Satwik supported her ably. Ashwini was constantly chatting with Satwik, guiding him, discussing their strategies, leading the team and it showed. Satwik’s control at the back of the court enabled Ashwini to absolutely intimidate the opponents at the net. Ashwini’s sharpness and booming smashes, along with Satwik’s jump smash, eventually took them home.
It was that unexpected mixed doubles victory that pegged the defending champions Malaysia behind. It gave Kidambi Srikanth to come forth and play his game.
Like Gopichand said, “The win in the team championship was very critical to put the team 1-0 up and give the confidence to Srikanth to beat Lee Chong Wei.” And Srikanth dominated the legend Chong Wei in some style.
Satwik and Chirag, thereafter, missed the chance to seal the win in men’s doubles and India’s Golden Girl Saina Nehwal came next and sealed the deal, giving India their first-ever mixed team Gold at CWG. (India Open: Indian doubles stars show spark, five pairs in quarters)
Ashwini, along with N Sikki Reddy, went on to win a bronze medal in women’s doubles and missed a mixed doubles Bronze by a whisker.
Consider this, on April 14, Ashwini played a total of four matches. Four gruelling badminton matches and still managed to scoop a Bronze in women’s doubles.
ASHWINI’S ROLE IN GUIDING THE YOUNGSTERS IN INDIAN DOUBLES
Ashwini’s importance in this badminton setup is not limited to the medals she brings home. Her stature has gone beyond that.
She plays in two different categories with two youngsters — a 17-year-old Satwik and a 24-year-old Sikki. She is the one who is making them better players.
Satwik is one of the most successful stories to come out of Premier Badminton League (PBL), where he plays along Olympic medallist Pia Zebadiah for Hyderabad Hunters. He came into prominence playing alongside Zabadiah but the immense growth the youngster has shown in the past year and a half, is down to the experience he is gaining from Ashwini.
Ashwini is a leader on the court. She teaches Satwik the mental aspect of the game and that helps him when he plays with Chirag in men’s doubles. (BWF rankings: Satwiksairaj-Chirag Shetty break into world top 20 for first time)
In fact, Ashwini is almost transmitting her leadership quality into Sikki. Sikki, who also plays mixed doubles with Pranaav Jerry Chopra, shows those leadership qualities alongside Pranaav.
Ashwini has achieved a great deal over the years. A women’s doubles Gold with Jwala Gutta in 2010 CWG started a long success story. Even then, perhaps the success did not get its due recognition. Thereafter, came a Silver in women’s doubles with Jwala at 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, a Bronze in women’s doubles at the 2011 World Championships and many more. Yet, those achievements hardly created a stir in the sporting spectrum.
Doubles badminton needs to be given its due credit. In Australia, while Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth held sway at the individual events, the doubles players quietly took home two medals. Consequently, India was the most dominant nation in badminton during the Gold Coast events.
At the age of 28, Ashwini has a great deal of experience and many more years of play where she can achieve more glory and impart far more knowledge.
Even as the success story of Indian badminton at CWG 2018 was largely attributed to the credentials of the singles, it were truly the doubles players who stamped their name uniquely in Australia.
Among a host of Indian badminton stars in Gold Coast, Ashwini perhaps shone the brightest.
source: http://www.indiatoday.in / India Today / Home> News> Sports / by Abreshmina S. Quadri / New Delhi – April 16th, 2018
Ever heard of a coffee tasting session instead of the wine tasting session? Well, the entire concept of coffee-tasting is a not a far-fetched one considering the coffee-lovers are showing interest in tasting a large variety of coffee that is yet to be discovered.
‘Cupping’ is the word used for tasting session for brewed coffee to evaluate the quality of the coffee bean. It has been a prevalent practice in Britain since late 1990’s which is also recognised to be as the First Wave of American coffee, as per media reports.
As per a coffee expert, wine is considered to be a finished product that is already packaged in a bottle and just needs to be tasted whereas the coffee needs to freshly brewed and then is given for tasting thus changing the mechanics of the tasting sessions.
Another coffee expert said that a rise in the coffee brewers and constant innovation in the caffeine industry along with the rise in dedicated blogs for coffee tasting are the driving factors to increasing interest towards coffee-tasting sessions.
Some of the steps included in the coffee tasting sessions are as follows:
-Smelling the aroma of the dry coffee before it is added to the water.
The pour matter too because the purer the water, the more space the coffee has to extract.
The ratio of coffee to water matters also matters: around 13 grams of coffee to 230 grams of water, or 1:17. Given that an espresso is normally around 2:1, and one can see the difference in intensity. The water should be approximately 94/95 degrees, so just off the boil. Let the grinds infuse for around four minutes. Good quality coffee still tastes good when it cools, whereas poor quality coffee decreases further as it cools.
-Smell the coffee
Use a flat, wide spoon angled away from you to break the bubbly film on the top to release the aroma. Push the spoon through the crust, about halfway down into the cup, and put your face right up into it. Inhale at will. The sweeter, chocolate flavours go well with milk, while the fruity samples are best served as black.
-Then taste the coffee
Skim the top with the spoon, in order to avoid any floating grinds, and put a little on our tongues to slurp. Do not be ashamed of slurping the coffee and try to coat the entire mouth with coffee and push it at the back of the tongue where the taste buds are stronger and so you could identify the aroma.
-The ranking
Look out for the body, or texture/mouth feel, and the acidity. Also, take note of both the flavour and the aftertaste. Consider the acidity of the coffee as well.
So now we hope that the coffee lovers would be all set to take part in coffee-tasting sessions.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News-ANI> International / by ANI, London / April 17th, 2018
Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa settle for silver in women’s doubles squash final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa lost 9-11, 8-11 in the final of women’s doubles squash at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.(Twitter)
Defending Champions Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa settle for silver after losing their women’s doubles final match to the New Zealand pair of Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy at the Commonwealth Games 2018 on Sunday.
Pallikal and Chinappa lost the final in straight games 9-11, 8-11 in just over 20 minutes.
Coming into the final the Indian pair had lost just three games in their six matches but lost both of their games in the final to win silver.
Dipika was understandably unhappy with the contentious calls.
“There were some shocking calls as usual, those calls changed the match. They need to be looked at. If they don’t, then the game doesn’t grow,” she said.
“It’s sad to see, the players and game are growing, but the officials they’re not growing at all. It’s harsh for us players,” the player from Chennai added.
Joshna too was disappointed with not winning the gold but found some consolation in the silver.
“It’s great that we could be in the finals, we had a great chance to win. The New Zealanders played really well, we had a few bad calls. It’s disappointing, but it happens, that’s sport. We still managed to get a silver four years later,” she added.
This is India’s and Dipika Pallikal’s second medal in squash at the Games after winning the silver in mixed doubles on Saturday.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Sports> Other Sports / by HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Gold Coast / April 15th, 2018
Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM), an organization bridging the knowledge gaps in treating hearing loss, is proud to celebrate its 7 year anniversary. The HHTM website is a resource for people who share the belief that Hearing Health & Technology Matters!
The editor’s at HHTM strive to provide timely information and lively insights to everyone who cares about hearing loss.
“Being a member of the HHTM writing team for the past 7 years and to see its growth has been exciting. People with hearing loss tell me that learning more about hearing and the view from the professional side has helped them deal better with their personal hearing loss,” said Gael Hannan, editor of the Better Hearing Consumer.
“Hearing Health & Technology Matters has filled a long-needed gap in the hearing healthcare industry; a series of reasoned and thoughtful blogs touching on underlying causes of issues without being constrained by any one ‘party line’,” said Dr. Marshall Chasin, an expert on music and hearing issues and editor of Hear the Music.
CELEBRATING HHTM MILESTONES:
Over the past 12 months, HHTM has exceeded 1 million unique pageviews. Since January 2018, the site has already witnessed greater than 20% growth in visits compared to 2017.
January 2018: Brian Taylor, AuD, was named Editor-In-Chief of HHTM and Amyn Amlani, PhD, was welcomed as new section editor of Hearing Economics.
March 2018: HHTM underwent a significant brand refresh. The website undertook major updates, including a new company logo. This update significantly enhanced the overall performance of the site and user experience.
March 2018: HHTM launched new section, Innovations in Hearing Healthcare, and welcomed new editor, Bopanna B. Ballachanda, PhD.
March 2018: HHTM’s Jane Madell, PhD, editor of Hearing and Kids, and Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director, producer, writer and cinematographer Irene Taylor Brodsky, premiered their documentary The Listening Project on March 9th at the American Cochlear Implant Alliance’s (ACIA) annual scientific meeting in Washington, DC.
“I take great pride in my role of Editor In Chief of the Hearing News Watch at HHTM. We strive to be an independent source of accurate and timely information. Like all credible journalists, our top priority is to inform our readers, who are combination of hearing healthcare professionals and lay-people, with unbiased reporting and thoughtful opinions about topics related to hearing healthcare,” said Dr. Brian Taylor, Editor In Chief.
HHTM articles and reporting have been cited and republished frequently over the last several years by authoritative sources inside and outside the hearing industry, including HHTM news reports cited in the influential “PCAST” report from the Obama Whitehouse in the fall of 2015.
“When I was first invited to work on the blogs, I hardly knew what a blog was… and I am not too sure many of our authors knew either. I had probably been to a blog but did not really know the term for it. It has really been hard work – but lots of fun – to be part of a blog that has gone from zero hits to millions of hits over the past 7 years. I must say, however, that the dedication of our initial investment team, our web site administrator and our authors that spent hours and hours of their time putting together blogs for our site once per week has allowed it to get to where it is today,” said Dr. Robert Traynor, editor of Hearing International.
The editors of Hearing Health & Technology Matters regularly add fresh content, including the latest industry news, so be sure to visit the website regularly for new articles. To view a full list of editors, visit: hearinghealthmatters.org/about-hearing-health-matters.
source: http://www.prweb.com / PR Web / Home> News Center / Tucson, Arizona – April 12th, 2018
The Indian contingent is on a roll at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia.
They created history by winning the first gold ever in the mixed team badminton event.
In the team is namma Karnataka hudugi Ashwini Ponnappa. We managed to talk to her for a brief moment, during which she shared the excitement and some details about plans for the rest of the tournament. She says, “I’m really happy. This is the first time we are winning a gold at the CWG mixed team event. It’s a huge confidence booster for all of us.”
The team is looking at this gold as an opportunity to better their record and aim for more wins at the tournament. “I sincerely hope that we get to do this again in the other team events too. But for now, the focus is on the individual events and doing well there as well,” Ashwini signs off.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> Lifestyle> Spotlight / by Sunayana Suresh / TNN / April 11th, 2018
With coffee running in the blood lines of the family the Mother Mirra Group has owned coffee plantations for four generations.
Sundar Subramaniam, executive director of Mother Mirra Group of companies releasing their company product in Coimbatore. (Photo: DC)
Coimbatore:
His family is introduced as the ‘first Asians’ to own a plantation in Asia. Ironically, it took several years and four generations of entrepreneurs of the ‘Mother Mirra Group of Companies’ to foray into retail coffee market.
Speaking to DC, Mr. Sundar Subramaniam executive director of group said, “way back in the 1930s, my great grandfather Mr. PPR. Subramanian Chettiar owned and managed estates in Malaysia at a time when only British and Scots owned coffee plantations. Since then on, my family is in the business of supplying coffee powder and roasted beans from our estates in Coorg to different parts of India. Entering into the domestic filter coffee market is a dream come true for my father Mr. S. Subramanian, who is a third generation entrepreneur of our family.”
With Mirras Coffee the company has entered the domestic filter coffee market. Two options of coffee powder were launched in Coimbatore recently. Mirras Premium blend is a combination of 85 per cent coffee and 15 per cent chicory while the Mirras Gold variant is a combination of 53 per cent coffee and 47 per cent chicory.
Available in 200 grams sachets, for a cost that is affordable, the traditional filter coffee tastes just like home-made coffee, sticking to the tag line of the product ‘idhu namma veetu kaapi’.
The product is available across big and small stores and supermarkets across the city. The firm has a strong dealership network in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. “We have partnered with 350 dealers across both the regions. In a year’s time we are hopeful of capturing 3.50 per cent to 4 per cent of the filter coffee market,” Mr. Sundar Subramaniam said.
The company already has a strong market hold in the wholesale filter coffee market segment with regular consignments of their coffee powder delivered across India. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is where the company does thriving business. The coffee is customized for their wholesale clients.
With coffee running in the blood lines of the family the Mother Mirra Group has owned coffee plantations for four generations.
It is home where three generations of employees have worked and it has to its credit more than seven decades of experience of growing and producing coffee powder. At the product launch in the textile city, one-year-old master Shiv Ram Alagappan, the founders’ grandson, gracefully received the first packet of coffee.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> In Other News / by Lakshmi L Lund, Deccan Chronicle / April 08th, 2018
Hussein Ahmed says that the secret behind his love for coffee comes from the smell of the beans which reminds him of his mother. (Supplied)
Yemen’s famous coffee farms have been replaced by khat farms in recent years after coffee had an agricultural and economic priority.
Gradually, those coffee beans exports disappeared and weakened after it flourishing for centuries in Yemen. After all, “Mocha” gained its name after the Yemeni port city of Mokha, known for having been a point of contact between coffee lovers and farmers in Yemen.
In 2015, production fell from 55,000 coffee bags to 8,000 bags in exports, which urged farmers to seek replacement of coffee seeds with Khat or other crops.
Al Arabiya interviewed one young man who is trying to restore the original spirit of coffee by exporting the Yemeni origin beans to the world. Hussein Ahmed is a certified coffee connoisseur and holds the international taste certificate for coffee from the American Coffee Quality Grader.
But Hussein prefers to be called the “Coffee Hunter”.
Love story with caffeine
Hussein says that the secret behind his love for coffee comes from the smell of the beans which reminds him of his mother.
“I grew up in a family that loves coffee. Since early childhood, my mother asks me to go to the market to buy coffee and I used to enjoy this. When I was getting ready for school, my mother makes coffee and its smell filled the house. This scent was the source of my daily happiness. My mother’s coffee was my companion when I moved to Britain to study, where I visited a lot of coffee shops seeking to find the smell of my mother’s coffee. Unfortunately, I could not find the same smell which my mother used to prepare in my childhood,” Hussein told Al Arabiya.
“At this point I became more interested in coffee in Britain. Ten years later, I returned home in late 2007 and settled in Sanaa. I worked in the software industry, but I noticed that our economy depended on consumption only, so I decided to produce the best of the Yemeni production. Thus, I focused on coffee,” he said.
Hussein would go on to spend more than a year traveling between the mountains of Yemen and the valleys looking for the legendary Yemeni coffee, and documented information and data as much as he could.
Japan and his first coffee shop
“My Japanese wife, who came to Yemen with me, she could not adapt with the life in Yemen. So we decided to immigrate to Japan where we decided to export the Yemeni coffee to Japan. We started to send samples to Japanese labs and made high scores in the tasting sessions. This is when passion turned into business. After I settled in Japan and started working in exporting the high quality Yemeni coffee beans to Japan. I opened the first coffee shop specialized in the Yemeni coffee in Tokyo in 2011,” he said.
“In late 2013, I stopped the business and returned back to Yemen due to family issues. Then, I focused on exporting Yemeni coffee to the United States,” Hussein told Al Arabiya. “In 2014, I went to America for two years, during which I studied coffee tasting and got the international tasting certificate, and I established a trading company.”
Hussein revealed that there were some obstacles in the supply due to the instability of exchange rates, the difficulty of shipping charges, high operating costs, and the unavailability of oil derivatives and facilities for farmers.
How Khat contributed negatively to decline of Yemeni coffee
Hussein asserted that the major problem now in Yemen is due to the plantation of khat, which he said was a real environmental disaster as it drains most of the groundwater and goes to the fertile soil where coffee used to be grown on.
As for the future of coffee in Yemen, Hussein confirmed the necessity of developing the quality of the production, marketing and establishing a center to develop the beans. Returning the Yemeni coffee to the international market, Hussein also added that it was important to have fair prices for the farmers and stopping the bad and unfair trades of Yemeni coffee beans.
source: http://www.english.alarabiya.net / Al Arabiya English / Home> Features / by Frash Shmsan, Al Arabiya English / Saturday – April 07th, 2018
WELCOME. If you like what you see "SUBSCRIBE via EMAIL" to receive FREE regular UPDATES.
Read More »
