A Look at Key Trends in the World of Tea
By Dan Bolton World Tea Media and experts say that tea’s trajectory continues its climb. With noteworthy trends in play, such as celebrity tea lines and growth on a retail level, tea reaches…
Important or Self-Important: The Role and Influence of a Barista
By Tracy Ging with significant contribution by James Hoffmann After the World Barista Championship (WBC) this year in London, I got to be a fly on the wall and listen in on a…
Wide-Spread Enjoyment, One City at a Time
The Regional Strategy of Alterra Coffee Written by Tracy Ging / Interview with Lincoln Fowler The age of Facebook seems to teach the value of scale and global connectedness. Concepts of local seem…
A Context for Competition
By Tracy Ging Competition within the coffee industry is intensifying. At least that is what some roasters and retailers (21 percent) are reporting, according to the most recent SCAA sector report. Interestingly enough,…
Tips & Tricks for Teaching Consumers
At Your Counter • Don’t just rely on your baristas to educate consumers. Roasters, counter staff, managers and everyone else can play a role. Make sure they know their stuff—or they know who…
The Teaching Triangle: 3 Ways to Educate Consumers
Imagine a class called Coffee 101. Now imagine that you are the teacher of said class, tasked with imparting coffee information to a classroom full of consumers. As you teach, you notice some…
Coffee in Cyberspace: Bridging the Gap Through Digital Engagement
By Jennifer Gyllenskog While this can be a great opportunity, it also comes at a cost, precisely because people do act different when they’re online. They have a shorter attention span and higher…
Getting the Story Straight
Communicating what is Special about Specialty Coffee By Tracy Ging You know that famous quote, the one that says imitation is the sincerest of flattery? Well, if that’s the case, specialty coffee should…
Coffee Slingers and Cheese Mongers
Learning from The Cheese Model By Ric Rhinehart Recently, I was listening to an interview with cheese monger Gordon Edgar in which he explained how critical it is to be able to educate…
Connecting with the Consumer
By Peter Giuliano In coffee, everything that we do leads up to one single, important moment: when someone drinks a cup of coffee. This is the moment that we all work towards—it’s when…
