National departments plan to boost coffee production in the Phillipines
Average output levels for the Philippines stand between 25,000 and 30,000 tonnes a year, even though national consumption averages at around 65,000 tonnes per year. This year’s coffee production has dipped by some 15% to 22,000 tonnes but encouragingly there are plans afoot to redress the balance.
The lower levels of production have been attributed to climate change and its effects on El Niño. However, the Philippine Coffee Board, Inc. (PCB) together with the Department of Agriculture-High Value Commercial Crops Program (DA-HVCC) have confirmed that more can be done to help coffee growers make the most of the opportunities available to them.
They also identified that, without efficient processing facilities and technical know-how, local farmers are producing lower-quality coffee than if conditions and equipment were to be improved.
Together they plan to help educate and assist the smallest producers across the 22 of the county’s coffee-growing provinces, which will allow them to produce a better quality of coffee that will sell for a higher value on the open market.
The PCB and the DA-HVCCs plan, already in its second phase, is to design and equip farmers with better post-harvest facilities that will monitor and standardise the harvesting process. Dry mills will also be set up in communities that will enable farmers to mill their own coffee as opposed to selling dried cherries at a much lower value.
In certain coffee-producing areas of the country, wet mills will be established, helping to elevate quality levels and ensure that higher prices are achieved as a result.
Bill Gates committed to help educate and equip local Ugandan coffee farmers
Bill Gates’ Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), in conjunction with Hanns R. Neumann Stiftung (HRNS), plan to donate $4 million over a four-year period in order to help local coffee farmers in Uganda.
Dana Boggess, head of agricultural development at the foundation, said “We want to make the lives of the farmers much better and we are proud to be partners in this project”.
…continue reading Bill Gates committed to help educate and equip local Ugandan coffee farmers
Revival in coffee emerging on the Australian north coast
Coffee production along Australia’s north coast is experiencing a resurgence, as demand continues to increase.
Coffee grown in cooler climates than those found in the tropics has a longer ripening period which, it is claimed, gives the crop a sweeter taste and greater depth of flavour.
However, there are other benefits to growing coffee in sub-tropical areas. Australian Subtropical Coffee Association (ASCA) Treasurer Jos Webber, said “it’s also pesticide free because we don’t have the pests and fungal diseases”.
…continue reading Revival in coffee emerging on the Australian north coast
The best way to make your coffee as healthy as it can be
With a wide range of health benefits increasingly attributed to coffee, it is worth briefly reviewing the best way in which to make coffee in order to ensure that it is as healthy as possible. The following are some of the key steps in making coffee at home:-
1. For the freshest coffee possible, grind whole beans immediately before brewing.
2. Ensure uniform size by grinding coffee in one chamber until the grinds are small enough to flow through a variable-sized mesh into another container.
3. Use a ceramic kettle.
4. Filter the Water. Distilled water is far better than water from the tap.
5. Using a French Press enables the coffee to be mixed directly with boiling water, ensuring the best brewing process.
6. Choose evaporated cane to sweeten your drink. The best sweetener is raw sugar.
7. Buying organic cream is arguably the biggest key to get the purest of coffees. It also offsets the bitterness of black coffee.
8. Use real silverware as a silver spoon is naturally antibacterial. Silver mechanically purifies water without breeding “super” bugs.
9. As with wine, it is essential in drinking coffee that you use a suitably sized coffee cup to enjoy the full flavour. The radius of the cup determines the parts of the tongue that hit the liquid first.
Clearly not all of us will have access to, for example, a ceramic kettle, but the more of these guidelines you are able to follow, the greater the enjoyment and associated health benefits should be.
Global coffee output up by 19 per cent in 2010/11
World coffee output will jump to 147.9 million sacks in 2010/11, up from the 124.2 million bags produced last year, according to statistics director Neil Rosser from the Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG).
“Consumer stocks have fallen a lot over the past few years,” said Rosser adding that global stocks had fallen by 5.9 million bags from September through March to 20.5 million bags.
It was estimated by Rosser that global coffee consumption stands at between 130 million to 131 million sacks a year.
Rosser said he expected larger harvests from the two largest producers, Brazil and Colombia, this year, which would help rebuild global consumer stocks. However, he admitted that the supply shortfall from Colombia looks set to remain for the coming season.
“Colombian output has been a disaster over the past two crops. There will be some recovery in 2010/11 to a little above 10 million bags but not back to the levels of more than 12 million bags of a few years ago,” he said.
Columbia’s poor harvests over the last few years has driven the emergence of Central American producers of mild Arabica beans with Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras stepping up to replace Columbian output.
Their crops continue to grow in number, but Rosser has predicted Brazil’s harvest this year to be around 59.7 million bags and believes that it will be this surge in output that will be the greatest contributor to global production.
Reports from Uganda suggest coffee exports set to remain stable
The Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) has this week indicated that Uganda’s coffee exports for May 2010 will be unchanged from the same period last year thanks to good weather.
The UCDA is expecting exports to hold at 220,000 60-kilogramme bags, which is welcome news for the country after export figures have been in decline in recent months, a trend that has been attributed to lower yields in the central and eastern regions of the country.
Uganda is East Africa’s third largest economy, and the world’s twelfth largest exporter of coffee. As with the vast majority of third world producers, coffee exports are vital for the nation’s economy and constitute a major source of its foreign exchange revenues.
Uganda, which primarily grows the Robusta variety, exported a total of 152,640 sacks in April this year, generating over $15.5 million in income, compared with 205,725 sacks sold in the same month in 2009 which generated $19.1 million.
“Coffee exports in May are projected to be approximately 220,000 bags,” the UCDA said in a report.
If this month’s levels really are to replicate those of May 2009, the country can expect to generate in excess of $20.3 million.
The change in circumstance has been explained by the UCDA as being due to “the main harvesting season in south western region [which] has started and is expected to be higher than the previous year due to the favourable weather.”
These two regions account for over 55 per cent of the country’s total coffee output.
Boris Johnson puts his name behind the One Pot Pledge
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has added his support to the One Pot Pledge today, a campaign that is aiming to get coffee drinkers reusing their disposable cups to grow food. It is hoped that coffee drinkers will pledge to use their daily cup as a ‘one pot allotment’.
The One Pot Pledge campaign is run by charity Garden Organic. The plan is to encourage people throughout Britain to grow fruit and vegetables out of re-used everyday objects such as coffee cups. The aim is to get 30,000 people to sign up to the campaign and to grow their own food for the very first time.
The One Stop Pledge has estimated that 88,218 disposable cups are used every 15 minutes in the UK. In central London alone, “a third of litter’ found on streets can be attributed to discarded drink related rubbish”, according to Mr Johnson. As a result, he is lending his support to the organisation’s attempts to rethink the way in which we treat waste, adding “I urge Londoners to sign up to the fantastically simple One Pot Pledge.”
The campaign has already attracted interest amongst schoolchildren across the country, with a number of schools becoming involved. St John’s Primary school in Devon organised a seed sowing day for children, hosted by One Pot Pledger, Anna Guyer. Over 160 pupils enlisted as committed pledgers after the event taught them the basics of gardening.
It is hoped that the scheme’s initial success will continue, promoting recycling and home-grown food endeavours across the country.
Take a look at their website One Pot Pledge
Authorities in Papua New Guinea to clamp down on illegal coffee traders
The Papua New Guinea Coffee Industry Corporation has set out plans to reinforce and implement the country’s coffee trade laws that have been in place since 2007.
60 arrests have been made over the past three years for breaches of the regulations, which officials say is affecting both the quality and prices of the crop grown by genuine small farmers.
The corporation has issued its warning to coffee producers in time for the beginning of the 2010 coffee season.
Sam Menanga, compliance manager for the coffee corporation, said that cherry theft is a serious problem affecting the coffee industry in the country and one that cannot be tolerated.
Papua New Guinea produces around 1 million tonnes of coffee per year. Mr. Menanga called on coffee farmers “to assist us to enforce this policy”, saying that it was not their intention to “hurt them, we’re trying to help them. We’re trying to increase the quality, we’re trying to do away with these middle people who are creating markets for people who go around stealing cherries and selling it right on the spot, which is making the genuine farmers to [sic] lose interest to invest or spend time to work in their gardens.”
He pleaded for coffee farmers not to sell coffee to roadside buyers or indeed anyone who simply opens buying posts in the villages, requesting instead that farmers stick to the agreed factory collection methods to ensure legitimacy.
First ever Bath Coffee Festival well received
Bath’s first ever coffee festival has proven a success over the weekend, showcasing a range of local and national businesses.
Demonstrations were performed by Baristas, chefs, and even an artist who specialises in painting with coffee. Visitors have had a number of opportunities to learn about, sample and buy coffee at the festival, which also featured cakes, biscuits, tea and even cider.
One of the organisers Rick Donaldson said: “This is the first event of its kind, not only that we have ever done but that anybody has ever done, so we were unsure about how popular it was going to be, but the response today has been absolutely fantastic.”
The shows organisers had anticipated visitor numbers between 500 and 5,000 visitors and early indications are that the volumes were towards the higher end of the anticipated scale.
The event benefited from good weather, clearly helping to swell numbers, with the show’s organisers optimistic that the level of interest should merit an annual coffee festival in Bath for many years to come.
Celebrity chef Martin Blunos and Derek Stansfield, who paints landscapes using coffee were just some of those who performed on the main stage.
Debbie Rolfe, who attended the festival with her husband Michael and her son said: “We are local people so we like to take part in as much as we possibly can and my husband really likes coffee. I think if they had even more things here next year then it could just grow and grow.”
Take a look at their site here
Image: www.bathcoffeefestival.co.uk
Patent pending innovation combines caffeine with convenience
Empty Nest Ideas LLC is launching ‘Cupless Joe’. An original creation from the USA, this is a fast-acting coffee contained in a capsule format.
Cupless Joe will be aimed at those who are constantly on the go, or otherwise unable to get to the kettle. The Cupless Joe pill can simply be swallowed with water.
The ease with which the pills can be consumed is expected to attract athletes, students, and travellers alike. The convenience factor will also appeal to long-haul drivers will be able to take the pill without the worry of any spillage or the need for bathroom breaks.
The company was founded last year by two mothers in America. The product is currently being sold in bottles containing 120 capsules of the fast-acting coffee. Four capsules are the equivalent to a regular cup of coffee that generally contains around 25 milligrams of naturally occurring caffeine.
Cupless Joe will soon be available in herbal and medicinal shops, speciality food, and a range of upmarket outlets in the USA. It will also be available on the internet in the near future. With 67% Projected Market Growth in Energy Drinks by 2010 this latest innovation has the potential to gain significant market share.
The price will also attract customers as the bottles will be sold at $14.99, the equivalent of each ‘serving’ costing less than 50 cents. Quite whether the experience will match up to a decent cup of coffee is another debate entirely.
Take a look at thier site here
Photo: cuplessjoe.com