Higher quality products fueling growth in US
American; spent around US $ 19 billion on coffee in 2003, but at increasing share of those sales will be from packaged ready-to-drink coffee products and whole bean sales, according to the newly released study, The US market for Coffee and Ready-to Drink coffee products and whole bean sales, according to the newly released study, The US Market for Coffee and Ready-to-drink-Coffee, published by market researcher Packaged Facts.
Starbucks and the premium coffee purveyors have driven other coffee marketers to introduce competitive high-quality whole coffee bean products, usually calssified as 'specialty' or 'premimum' coffee, noted the rport, Indeed, the most new product activity in coffee is in the category of packaged whole bean coffees, which come in a variety of roasts, blends and flavors, the roport noted.
"Today's coffee isn't your father's cup o'Joe, " said Don Montuori Acquisitions Editor for Packaged Facts. "Thanks to companies such as Starbucks, -today's consumer has a higher coffee education, and has become conditioned to embrace a US$4 lattee or US$12 pound of organic beans. And the refrigerated coffee drinks have created new markets for coffee, particularly among younger consumers who might not otherwise drink a standard cup of coffee."
Now in its updated, fourth edition, The US Market for Coffee and Ready-to Drink Coffee covers the entire coffee market, including retail and food service venues, key players and their successes and failures, demographic breakouts, and distribution trends.
Packaged for further use coffees, packaged ready-to-drink coffees, and freshly brewed coffees for immediate consumption comprise the primary focus of the research.
More information on this new report, which is also available for purchase, can be found at www.packagedfacts.com.
Indian coffees on speciality route: US roasters
Raghu Krishnan : "it was an eye-opener," was how the members of a visiting Speciality Coffee Association of America (SCAA) delegation described their 10-day tour of India's coffee-growing heartland. More to the point, the memories of the "horrible coffee" they had tasted on the previous SCAA delegation visit in 1995 were forgotten as the likes of Tim O' Connor and Doug Mitchell told ET that some of the coffees they had sampled this time around on the estates in Coorg (Kodagu) and Chikmagalur showed rare characteristics.
This cupping quality, when combined with what socially-aware American connoisseurs perceive as desirable characteristics for coffee-its cultivation as a shade-crop in India is regarded as an indicator of sustainable eco-friendliness, the other plus points being the care being taken to meet the worker's needs - is what has favorably impressed the west coast Washington-based Larry T Challain of Batdorf Bronson. However, Challain adds that the final decision on sourcing Indian coffee will be left to his roastmaster.
"I havent't seen shade crop like this anywhere." Adds Mitchel, President of the Denever-based'café Away!' And SCAA chief communications officer Mike Ferguson says the processing and curing of the coffees on the estates is very good and that he is impressed with the focus on cleanliness.
Ferguson-sees two options for Indian coffees to take vis-à-vis the sophisticated American market. The first is as a filler-in-the-blends in place of those existing fillers which have not been able to maintain quality. The other option is the more demanding one of single-origin coffees which are retailed as such.
There is, however, a time-consuming process before Indian Coffees can establish themselves in the American market. The first stage is creating awareness, followed by trials and then sampling of the coffees. Speciality coffees are defined as such not by the seller but by buyers who rate them for seller but by buyers who rate them for some kind of uniqueness is taste, as well as consistent quality and meticulous preparation at every stage from cultivation to curing and cupping.
It is this uniqueness which fetches them a huge premium in the international market. Which is why only a fraction of the over 200,000 tonnes exported annually by India is any where near the speciality grade.
SCAI president Ashok Kuriyan says there is a far greater awareness of the speciality potential of Indian Coffees in the American market following participation over the last few years at SCAA's annual convetions in America.
And Doug Mitchel's wife Barbara adds that plantation tourism of the king practiced in other coffee-producing countries could further facilitated the process. But, then, as the connoisseurs say, "You don't just taste the cup when you drink coffee. You sample a way of life!"
