Bogota, Colombia (Marketwired via COMTEX) :

Under the motto, “Colombia, a renovated vision,” the 8th edition of the International Specialty Coffee Expo, ExpoEspeciales Cafe de Colombia, will be held from October 15 to 18, 2015 in Corferias, the most important exhibition and events center in Bogota, Colombia.

ExpoExpeciales Cafe de Colombia has become the most important international specialty coffee expo in Latin America and the Caribbean, due to the number of attendees each year, the high caliber of its academic agenda, the relevance of industry-related topics, and the opportunity to network at the highest level, thanks to its business matchmaking forum.

ExpoEspeciales is organized by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) as part of its value added strategy, in order to promote the production of the highest-quality coffees from different regions of Colombia, the country that produces the world’s best Mild Washed Arabica coffee.

ExpoEspeciales is also a propitious platform for consumers and coffee industry professionals that attend from different countries across Latin America, as well as buyers from Asia, North America and Europe.

ExpoEspeciales, which takes place every year in different cities of Colombia, integrates the entire coffee value chain and brings together farmers, traders, buyers, visitors and coffee lovers in one single place.

In addition to being an excellent showcase for coffees from different Colombian regions, this expo is also a platform to present and spread market trends and innovations on a national and global scale. It features spaces that facilitate commercial, cultural and academic exchanges, as well as sharing of experiences and knowledge between industry participants.

For the second time, the expo will host the business matchmaking forum, organized by the FNC and ProColombia (formerly ProExport, the Colombian government’s agency for promotion of non-traditional exports, attraction of foreign investment and positioning of Colombia as a world-class touristic destination).

Producers, suppliers and distributors of products and services will be able to get in contact with buyers and companies interested in learning about offers and business models that can make them grow within the coffee industry.

International Convention of the Women’s Coffee Alliance

This year, within the framework of ExpoEspeciales Cafe de Colombia, “Coffee & Trade Beyond Barriers,” the IV Convention of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA), will be held. It is organized by the IWCA itself and the FNC.

This educational and networking forum, to be held on October 15 and 16, will attract more than 300 members of the international coffee sector, including producers, exporters, importers, roasters and baristas, as well as industry analysts and IWCA chapter members from around the globe. A broad selection of subjects that impact men, women and families involved in the seed-to-cup process will be explored.

“The IWCA represents coffee-growing women from producing countries to empower them, make them visible, get support programs and show the importance of women in the coffee value chain,” Ana Maria Lleras, coordinator of the FNC Coffee-Growing Women Program, explains.

10th Colombian Barista & 5th National Cup Tasters Championships

It is worth highlighting the 10th Colombian Barista Championship and the 5th National Cup Tasters Championship, two other events of great tradition that will take place within the framework of this important expo. The barista champion will represent Colombia at the 2016 World Barista Championship, which will be held in Dublin, Ireland.

The 5th National Cup Tasters Championship awards the professional coffee cupper who demonstrates speed, skill and accuracy to distinguish the taste differences in specialty coffees. The winner will represent Colombia at the World Cup Tasters Championship.

Varied Academic Agenda

A rich and varied academic agenda, with top-notch speakers, will allow attendees to familiarize themselves with relevant industry issues, such as the diversity of Cafe de Colombia, the FNC’s specialty coffees strategy and industry trends, among others.

Other events enriching the academic agenda include food pairing shows and the traditional Q meeting, co-organized by the FNC and the Coffee Quality Institute, as well as activities under the “Toma Cafe”, Colombia’s National Program to support coffee consumption led by FNC.

A bit of history

ExpoEspeciales was first held in 2008, in the city of Neiva, Huila, and was created to strengthen the industry and encourage greater dynamism in the coffee business.

With great success every year, this event promotes a coffee-growing region of Colombia. 2015 will mark the expo’s 8th edition, with a steadily growing number of attendees. Other cities that have hosted the expo include Ibague (2009), Pasto (2010), Bogota on two previous occasions (2011, 2013), Popayan (2012) and Medellin (2014). The 4th edition, which was held in 2011 in Bogota, brought together more than 19,000 people, as this event was held in conjunction with the World Barista Championship. In 2015, the Colombian capital will once again serve as the venue for the event.

This annual expo traditionally features the following exhibitors:

— Coffee growers and associated industry groups (cooperatives,
associations).
— Departmental Coffee Growers Committees.
— Manufacturers and distributors of machinery for the coffee
post-harvest processing, equipment and supplies for the industry
(threshers, roasters) and coffee shops.
— Threshing and roasting companies.
— Exporters.
— Non-governmental and industry supporting entities.
— Financial institutions.
— Certifiers, among others.

As visitors and buyers:

— Coffee growers.
— Representatives, managers and professionals of the coffee sector.
— Coffee roasters and traders.
— Cup tasters.
— International buyers.
— Academics.
— Professional baristas from establishments such as hotels, restaurants,
coffee shops and bars.
— General public.

For more information visit: www.expoespeciales.com

source: http://www.marketwatch.com / Market Watch / Home> Real Estate> Press Release / Marketwire LP / June 09th, 2015

Company says it filed confidential prospectus for share sale on Wall Street.

A long-awaited initial public offering on Wall Street of Strauss Coffee, a multinational joint venture controlled by Israel’s Strauss Group and the Texas-based private equity fund TPG Capital, is finally moving forward, Strauss Group said on Monday.

Strauss, a maker of snacks, fresh foods and coffee, said it had submitted a draft confidential prospectus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. “There is no certainty that the IPO will indeed be finalized, and if it is, on which date,” Strauss said in a statement. There were no other details.

Shares of Strauss Group closed up 5.6% at 61.90 shekels ($15.61) on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Monday.

The IPO comes seven years after TPG bought a 25% stake in Strauss Coffee for $293 million. Although Strauss Coffee grew through acquisitions to become the world’s fifth largest maker of ground and roasted coffee and No. 4 in instant coffee, the partnership has been stormy.

Strauss and TPG went to court after the U.S. fund sought to block Strauss’ ouster of Todd Morgan, the joint venture’s CEO and a former TPG employee. It lost the fight and Morgan was ousted early last year. The two also squabbled over fees that Strauss was charging the joint venture and disagreements over failed deals.

On Monday, Strauss Coffee reported 2014 net profit had fallen 13.6% to 265 million shekels ($66.756 million) as sales declined 3% to 3.8 billion shekels. The company paid out a huge dividend of 175 million shekels for the year, apparently in anticipation of the IPO.

A string of acquisitions and partnerships transformed Strauss Coffee into the No. 1 coffee seller in Brazil and the fourth-largest in the global retail coffee market and a market leader in Russia and in Central and Eastern European countries. In 2014, it accounted for almost half of Strauss Group’s total sales.

Nevertheless, Strauss Coffee didn’t develop as the two sides hoped it would when TPG bought its stake in 2008. That was just as world financial markets seized up and the world slipped into a deep recession, bringing merger and acquisition deals to a near halt.

Three years ago, TPG and Strauss tried to sell the coffee company’s Russian and Eastern European businesses in order to buy out TPG’s stake with the proceeds. After abortive talks with India’s Tata Coffee and Master Blenders, TPG urged an IPO.

That set off a dispute that ended up in court, along with the dispute over Morgan. Strauss contended that TPG sought to inflate Strauss Coffee’s value while TPG accused Strauss of deflating its value in order to block any chance of an IPO and buy out the private equity fund cheaply. The court dismissed TPG’s allegations.

Nevertheless, an IPO would enable TPG to reduce, if not divest, its Strauss Coffee stake. But The Wall Street Journal report a year ago said TPG valued its Strauss Coffee holding at just 10% more than it paid after holding it for nearly six years.

Meanwhile, Strauss Group, Israel’s second-largest food and beverage maker, reported Monday that it earned an adjusted 84 million shekels in the fourth quarter, up from 70 million shekels a year earlier, thanks to currency hedging transactions as well as lower tax expenses.

Sales edged up 0.3% to 2.08 billion shekels. Excluding the impact of changes in exchange rates, sales grew 2.8%. Coffee sales rose 2.4% to 1.03 billion shekels, led by a 4.8% increase in overseas coffee sales. Excluding currency effects, total coffee sales grew 9.4%.

source: http://www.haaretz.com / Haaretz / Home> Business> Israel News / by The Marker – March 24th, 2015

OBAMA MENU: Jammu and Kashmir’s ‘Nadru Ke Goolar’; West Bengal’s ‘Mahi Sarson’; ‘Shatwar (Asparagus) Ka Shorba’; Sweet dishes ‘Gulab Jamun’, ‘Gajar ka Halwa’ and assorted fruits; ‘Shrimp Karavalli’ from coastal Karnataka; ‘Murg Neeza Kebab’ of the Mughlai cuisine; ‘Anannas Aur Paneer ka Soola’ — char-grilled cottage cheese with pineapple; ‘Nadru Ke Goolar’ (lotus stem kababs); ‘Kela Methi Nu Shaak,’ a Gujarati dish; Mixed Vegetable Kalonji; Gujarati ‘Kadhi’; ‘Matar Pulao’ and assorted breads; Bengali dish ‘Mahi Sarson’ and ‘Bhuna Gosht Boti’ — tender pieces of lamb cooked in tomato and onion masala; South Indian Coffee and herbal tea.

by N.K.A. Ballal, Retd. Sr. Vice-President, ITDC

A look at the menu served to Barack Obama, the US President, on the eve of the official lunch hosted by Modi, our Prime Minister, at the Hyderabad House, made an interesting reading. If you glance at the last item on the menu, our own South Indian coffee was served to the President. Those of you, who are not aware, Hyderabad House is a palatial heritage building near India Gate where all the official sit-down banquets of visiting heads of States is held. The catering is always exclusively handled by ITDC through its Ashok hotel outlet from ages. The service is normally handled by junior executives and not regular waiters since it is imperative that the service should be soundless.

Talking about these State banquets, the invitations are co-vetted by all. The menu is designed keeping the preferences of the host and the guest. For example, if one has a look at the recent banquets after Modi has taken over, most of the times it will have a Gujarati flavour. These menus are planned at Ashok hotel and then sent for approval to the pmo. Some PMs like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were very particular about the menu. Rajiv Gandhi used to come to the venue half-an-hour in advance and check small details of seating etc. Even Vajpayee, who was fond of good food, used to scrutinise the menu to ensure that his choice of food was put up without fail. Otherwise it was left to some official in the pmo.

Most often the food is served once on the plate and refills are rarely asked for. On an average, two waiters serve five persons. Sometimes the meal is also served pre-plated and the entire service is strictly designed keeping in mind the preferences of the visiting head of the State. If he or she indicates that they have finished the meal, the plates of all others guests would also be removed, even if they were midway on their meal. These banquets are definitely not for foodies who relish and enjoy their food leisurely. The seating order is decided by the mea much in advance. Hence, a couple may find themselves sitting diametrically across.

Coming back to the story of coffee, it is said that coffee bean was brought to India by a Sufi mystic, Baba Budan, who smuggled seven beans from Yemen and scattered them on the hills of Chikkamagalur in around 1670 and the rest is history. The hills were later named after the saint as Bababudangiri. The history of coffee goes at least as far as the 13th century and it is said to have originated in East Africa, specifically Ethiopia. Some scriptures have indicated that the Arabs cultivated coffee in the 14th century but the earliest authenticated evidence of cultivation and drinking of coffee has originated from the Monasteries of Yemen. By 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey Balkans, Italy and the rest of Europe and finally to the Americas.

The word coffee is said to be borrowed from the Turkish “kahve,” which in turn is a derivative of the Arabic “qahwa,” which means “wine of the bean.” There are several legendary accounts of the origin of the brew itself which may or may not be true. But the story of one Omar, who was once exiled from the City of Mocha to a desert cave near Qusab, strikes a chord. Starving, Omar chewed some berries from a nearby shrub and found them to be very bitter. He then tried roasting the beans to improve their flavour and then boiled them and the resultant brew was consumed. This revitalised him so much that this brew became a miracle drug. Subsequently, it is said that he was made a saint for this discovery.

Anyway coming back to India, though there are about 30 strains of coffee all over the world, the two main varieties cultivated are arabica and robusta. As the word itself denotes, robusta is a very hardy plant and disease-resistant unlike arabica which requires a lot of attention. The robusta bean has much more caffeine but very less flavour and hence not preferred. 75 percent of the world’s production is arabica and only about 25 percent of the production is robusta. But more and more people are now cultivating robusta since it is economical, good for blending and used mainly by instant coffee producers. On an average, the productivity of arabica is about 810 kg per hectare and robusta about 1100 kg per hectare.

Why is there such a demand for Indian coffee? The reason is the monsoon-effect. Most of the crops in South India are dependent on monsoons and the beans develop a separate flavour, which is attributed to this. The bean would turn pale yellow and swell up and lose the original acidity resulting in a smoother brew, which is milder. This mellowing is called “monsooning.” Surprisingly, coffee cultivation at present is the main economic activity of many a country in the world, next to oil. Surprised?

Currently, Coorg is the largest coffee-growing district of India, an impressive 53 percent. The distinction for being the first British to start coffee cultivation at Coorg would go to Capt. Le Hardy. Many others followed him and by 1870, there were 134 British-owned estates in Kodagu. But the man who brought all the coffee estate planters together to form a consortium called Consolidated Coffee was none other than Ivor Bull.

Coffee growing is not restricted to Coorg alone. It is grown in two other regions of India, that is Kerala and Tamil Nadu too. The Coffee Board, located in Chikkamagalur town, oversees the production and marketing of all the beans cultivated in the country. But the biggest coffee grower of the world is still Brazil followed by Vietnam.

I do not want to bore my readers with much more stats but suffice to say that I felt very proud that our own South India kaapee was served to the US Prez. Many a connoisseurs swear by different combinations of beans for making of this kaapee. But the one taught by my father was 80 percent of arabica, 15 percent of robusta and 5 percent chicory, a root additive that gives an additional bitterness, which is liked by many a consumer. And one cardinal rule, never reheat the brew and the second rule, use cow’s milk. Do you agree?

[email:ananthballal@yahoo.com]
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / Thursday – February 26th, 2015