Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/131835
11111111111111111111 BY DAN LEIF DECEMBER 2012 FEBRUARY 2013 APRIL 2013 The Front Tea and Art Shop, a Colorado café, becomes the first coffee and tea retailer in the nation to openly allow the use of cannabis in its space. The shop was able to make its pot play after the state legalized recreational use of marijuana during November elections. A year after seeing its space decimated by fire, Georgia roaster-retailer Safehouse Coffee re-opens in the town of Griffin. Industry nonprofit Coffee Kids celebrates its 25th anniversary at the SCAA expo, which itself was celebrating its 25th iteration. MARCH 2013 JANUARY 2013 A group led by actor Patrick Dempsey (best known as McDreamy in "Grey's Anatomy") buys the Seattle café chain Tully's Coffee, which had fallen into bankruptcy. The actor pledges to shake up the company's Starbucks-imitator business model. Guatemala's coffee-production industry declares a state of emergency due to the continued spread of coffee rust. It's a powerful signal to consuming countries that the fungus is bringing ruin to many Latin American farmers. Thousands of Colombian coffee farmers block roads and go on strike for nearly two weeks after a year of falling coffee prices and currency fluctuation leave many of the nation's small growers struggling to make ends meet. The unrest comes to an end when the Colombian government agrees to increase coffee subsidies for a year. Pete Licata wins his second United State Barista Championship title in three years, this time representing Kansas City's Parisi Artisan Coffee. Erin McCarthy of Counter Culture Coffee, meanwhile, wins the national Brewers Cup event. MAY 2013 In yet another example of venturecapital money hitting specialty coffee, San Francisco-based roaster Philz Coffee announces a multimillion dollar agreement with investor group Summit Partners. Philz (best known for having an outlet at Facebook's headquarters) will reportedly use the cash to expand outside the Bay Area. Starbucks buys a coffee farm in Costa Rica with the stated goal of researching plant varieties and growing techniques that could make crops less susceptible to disease. Fresh Cup Magazine • freshcup.com 23