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OFF THE WIRE Continued from page 20 capsules or fill those manufactured by another entity. Cook, for instance, says that a typical roasting company would likely need to make more than $100,000 in equipment purchases to set up a system to efficiently fill LBP's Upshot capsules. The base price of the Telesonic device, meanwhile, is $94,000. Those sums may be insignificant for larger corporate entities, but they're likely beyond reach for small, neighborhood-focused operations. If a company wants to produce its own capsules, the costs get even steeper. Jon Rogers runs California-based Rogers Family Company, which began offering Keurig-compatible prod- ucts in 2011. (Green Mountain sued the company for copyright infringement; that case is still in court.) Rogers says it took five years of research and millions of dollars in machine development to allow the product to finally reach fruition. "You don't just get into that business," Rogers says. "It's a major investment." Co-packing could be one alternative: Brooklyn Beanery's Schreiber says he has already fielded a number of requests from other coffee companies "asking us to fulfill their K-Cup needs." The other issue, of course, is coffee quality and brand percep- tion. Many in the specialty coffee and tea communities have built their businesses around the notion that fresh product and slight variations in parameters from brew to brew are essential to bring- ing out the full taste potential of each cup. To this segment of the industry, packaging pre-ground product in disposable cups may never hold much appeal. But with many analysts predicting automated single-cup to continue to gain traction in the home and office coffee categories, the product push may only be at its beginning stages. "I've been watching this market for 15 years," says Rogers of Rogers Family Company. "We used to say it'll never happen—it'll fade out just like the pods did. But since we've been in it, we've just seen it grow, grow, grow." —Dan Leif 'GROUNDS' FOR EXPLORATION: TRAVEL CHANNEL SHOW FOLLOWS ROASTER'S RARE-COFFEE SEARCH Those in the specialty coffee industry who have traveled to producing countries know to expect the unexpected—foraging into coffee-growing territory is an adventure, and the eye-opening experience is often as valuable as the business conducted there. Todd Carmichael is taking that sentiment to the extreme with "Dangerous Grounds," a Travel Channel show that follows his exploits as he travels to the far corners of the world in search of coffee. The series makes its debut this month. Carmichael co-owns Philadelphia-based roasting company La Colombe Torrefaction, but he also has an adventurous streak; in 2008 he set a record for the fastest unsupported trek to the South Pole, completing the task in 39 days, seven hours and 49 minutes. A documentary by Nancy Glass titled "Race to the Bottom of the Earth" followed his journey, and Glass' production company is behind the coffee show. "Dangerous Grounds" will draw from both Carmichael's coffee 22 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com