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/66983
YEAR in coffee JUNE 2011 Twenty-three-year-old espresso wizard ALEJANDRO MENDEZ of El Salvador takes the 12th World Barista Championship. The event is held in Bogota, meaning the competition crowns its first producing-country winner the same year it is held in a major source nation for the first time. AUGUST 2011 Russia-based SOYUZ COFFEE ROASTING brings champion baristas from around the world to Moscow's historic Red Square for several bizarre days of high-profile coffee making as part of the nation's annual mili- tary-celebrating Spasskaya Tower festival. "I'm still kind of wondering if it was all real," event co-organizer Andrew Hetzel tells Fresh Cup afterward. OCTOBER 2011 The DURBIN AMENDMENT goes into effect. The piece of federal legislation aims to limit the fees retailers face for processing debit- card-based sales, but it turns out to be a headache for many café owners because its structure actually increases the surcharge on smaller transactions. After La Colombe's Todd Carmichael writes on esquire.com that a large stake of Portland's STUMPTOWN COFFEE ROASTERS has been sold to an investment firm, the specialty com- munity erupts in discussion about whether the claim is true and what such action could mean for the iconic company. In the coming weeks, it's confirmed that a major Stumptown stake was sold to TSG Consumer Partners, a San Francisco-based company that also holds ownership of Vitamin Water and household cleaner Comet, among other brands. JULY 2011 A team of researchers at the University of South Florida reports that experiments on mice showed coffee consumption can help ward off ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. But don't think chugging decaf all afternoon will help; the encouraging results only occurred when caffeine was present in the coffee samples. NOVEMBER 2011 SEPTEMBER 2011 An engineering group in Durham, England, develops a CAR THAT RUNS ON USED COFFEE GROUNDS. The modified Rover coupe tops out at 77.5 mph and completes a 209-mile road trip. Andrew Milstead opens the MILSTEAD & COMPANY café in Seattle. Many in the industry note that the single-cup-focused shop and its young, barista-competition-seasoned owner represent a significant step forward for the Emerald City's coffee culture. During an informal meeting with constituents at a small restaurant in Illinois, Republican U.S. CONGRESSMAN JOE WALSH goes on a tirade (using some colorful language), angrily remarking on Americans' response to eco- nomic troubles. After video of the incident spreads across the Web, Walsh apologizes and explains what led to his outburst: "empty stomach and too much coffee." 22 COFFEE ALMANAC 2012