2002 Coffee Industry Update
There is very little accurate and timely statistical information available about the state of the specialty coffee industry. Many reports are produced about specialty coffee, and while they may have value in certain unique areas of the market, they often cost thousands of dollars each to purchase. I also see inaccurate and poorly researched statistics. What follows is my "gut feeling" of the specialty coffee retail market as of January 2002.

We are in a very unique position at Bellissimo...we are often the first company new coffee entrepreneurs contact for information and the one established retailers turn to for answers to specific problems they encounter. As a result, other coffee professionals look to us for information about where specialty coffee is heading. In most cases, what we see and hear is usually very accurate in terms of month-to-month and year-to-year industry conditions.

Bellissimo is very bullish on retail specialty coffee! Each night the news reports that America is in a full-blown recession. Nevertheless, one month after September 11 and the devastation the terrorist attacks caused in an already faltering economy, attendance at the Seattle Coffee Fest trade show increased by 37 percent.

We feel opportunity abounds in this industry and that the individual can compete with large and small chains and prosper. An associate of mine in San Francisco's East Bay owns a café across the street from a Starbucks. I visited her operation recently, and counted over 80 people in her café. I walked across the street to Starbucks, and only six people were inside. You can compete!

Coffee is not going to go away...the second most popular beverage on the planet after water is here to stay. I think the industry will grow a little more slowly than it did in the mid 90s-but this is a good thing. People now know they can succeed IF they get educated and plan their business properly.

The specialty coffee market will continue to grow. Today, everyone knows what a caffe latte is. We are finishing the consumer educational phase of a new industry and are now entering into the quality phase. I am positive this is an industry that is not only fun and rewarding, but has incredible potential for the savvy entrepreneur.

Visit our Web site for more information on the specialty coffee business: www.espresso101.com.

-Bruce Milletto

The Coffee Review: Building a Culture of Connoisseurship Around Coffee
Several years ago I decided with my colleague Ron Walters to found a publication that reviews coffees the way wines and other beverages are reviewed. In other words, with technically informed respect, sophisticated language, and a 100-point rating system.

The result was The Coffee Review, an Internet and newsletter publication that has just relaunched in collaboration with Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup at www.coffeereview.com.

Now, as then, the goal of The Coffee Review is to create a culture of connoisseurship around coffee by educating taste-making consumers and by recognizing and celebrating exceptional efforts by roasters and growers.

Currently up on the site are reviews of Fair-Trade coffees and coffees from four sometimes overlooked Latin-America specialty-coffee origins: Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Coming in February is a review of Hawaii coffees. One of the dreams of many coffee growers in this era of brutally low wholesale coffee prices is roasting their own coffees and selling them directly to the consumer. One of the few parts of the world where this practice has proven to be viable is the tourist-influenced market of Hawaii. For those exiles from the sun who want some post-vacation trade winds metaphorically whispering in their cup, how does a selection of Hawaii coffees roasted and sold directly from Hawaiian farms match up in quality and distinction with more generic Hawaii coffees offered by larger roasters?

In March we review coffees from another of the world's classic origins: the clean, bright, balanced cup of Costa Rica. Just how clean, bright and balanced are this year's Costa Ricas?
   
Have changes in processing methods provoked by introduction of controls on water pollution changed or diminished the Costa Rica character? And how many roasters are offering any of the perhaps increasing number of Costa Rica coffees with an alternative profile to the classically big, incisive Costa Rica cup?

In coming months we will introduce some new voices to go with mine: at least some reviews will be in the form of Siskel-and-Ebert style dialogues with rotating professionals who sit on the Coffee Review cupping board.

Finally, I'd like to address two of the challenges in reviewing coffees, challenges that are often vigorously brought to my attention at the end of the day after three drinks at Specialty Coffee Association meetings.

The most pressing challenge is occasioned by the fact that coffee is a collaborative beverage. Unlike wine, coffee is not a fait accompli safely closed up in a bottle. It typically is grown by one person, milled by another, roasted by another, brewed by still another, and, finally, often doctored with various substances by the consumer at the end of the line. This makes coffee a more expressive beverage than wine, with more opportunity for creativity by everyone involved, but it does present some difficulties for a reviewer.

Our response has been to provide a bit more information about the coffee being reviewed than wine reviewers supply for wine. In particular, we try to make readers aware of the three-tiered, sometimes contradictory impact of tree, processing and roasting on the final cup. We also make some attempt to suggest which coffees may provide a more satisfying cup black vs. those whose body and roastiness may make them a better candidate for enjoying with milk and sugar. Or, in the case of espressos, as straight shot vs. component of milk-heavy drinks like caffe latte or cappuccino.

On the other hand, we try not to bore readers with too much detail. We do our best to describe coffees in ways that are easily understood and engaging while at the same time technically accurate.

I hope that this double perspective - accessible language for the consumer, technically accurate language for the professional - makes www.coffeereview.com an ideal learning tool for beginning coffee roasters as well as a useful provocation for thought and dialogue among more established professionals.

-Kenneth Davids