We were given a tour of the facility, with its state-of-the-art materials and component testing laboratory, dedicated processing area and pilot manufacturing facility, which allows the company to simulate its customers’ factory conditions as well as test shelf life in temperature controlled stores. Eviosys was also proud to show off the manufacturing process for its Ecopeel innovation, which offers customers a lighter, easy-to-open packaging format. Eviosys also had on display its Orbit and Horizon technology, the former which allows for easier-to-open screw top jars, and the latter an impressively thin and unobtrusive resealable metal lid, allowing for a 100% metal packaging format and therefore improved recyclability.

The latter piqued my interest especially, in regards to tea and coffee applications. I have seen a fair amount of coffee, particularly instant coffee, sold in tins on the shelves, but with plastic lids. While this is better than a completely plastic tub, and certainly a step in the right direction, I can’t help but think they are so close to a truly sustainable option. The metal lid could be recycled alongside the tin, and made into something new again and again, with no degradation of quality. Meanwhile, plastic, while certain types are recyclable, the quality and application opportunities decrease the more it is done so. The visual appeal of an all metal can is also something that offers further benefit. Companies such as Eviosys can offer myriad ways to finish and decorate metal packaging, from contrasting gloss and matte areas, embossing, debossing, and holographic foils, as the company demonstrated yesterday. The image attached to this blog is one of the promotional examples Eviosys gave of its capabilities.

Specialty tea and coffee in particular, already utilises metal packaging to some extent, as it offers valuable resealable capabilities, as well as a quality feel. Tins have the fabulous quality of not just being infinitely recyclable, but infinitely reusable in their original format. I can’t be the only one who has an extensive collection of various tins alongside my hoard of jars, for storing biscuits, grains, nuts, lentils, anything from a packet that I have opened and want to keep stored fresh, tidy and stackable.

Chatting to Isabelle Le Graët, Eviosys marketing, communication and sustainability manager, yesterday, she touched on a report that Eviosys is due to publish soon about how consumers use their metal packaging and the role they play within the home. The report showed that 80% of consumers keep tins after purchase. This presents a phenomenal opportunity for brands to not only enter consumers’ homes, but to remain in them for potentially years to come, their packaging being got out of the cupboard and reused time and time again. Every time a consumer uses a brand’s tin, they are being reminded of the brand, the product, hopefully the enjoyment they got out of drinking the tea or coffee that the tin contained, and perhaps even the fond memory of the receipt of the tin if it was a gift. Highly decorative tins are much more likely to be kept and reused, and where the specialty tea and coffee industry is striving to offer quality and a memorable experience to consumers’ interaction with their products, a beautiful and repeatedly functional tin is an exciting as well as sustainable opportunity to expand this objective.

The concept has already been utilised in some categories for refillable solutions, where consumers buy a tin, and then going forward only need to buy bags or packets of their products to refill their tins, or some places even have opportunities for customers to bring their tin to be refilled. This is already beginning to have applications in the tea and coffee industry.

It will be interesting to see how metal packaging applications evolve within the tea and coffee segment, particularly for specialty, and how brands will utilise what is a great opportunity for memorable branding, consumer experiences, and unparalleled sustainability.

• Kathryn Brand, associate editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: kathryn@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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With corporations beginning to grasp that sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are important to customers and for the long term future of businesses, company claims of achievements and action plans are everywhere, alongside, of course, accusations of greenwashing. Which is why it is increasingly important for businesses to have certifications against their claims, to enlist consumer and stakeholder trust. Whether it be Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, organic, B Corp, non-GMO or vegan, consumers and company partners are looking for the certification labels, especially within the tea and coffee industry.

Certifications are notably prolific in the tea and coffee value chains. With 17 percent of tea, globally, certified Fairtrade, organic or Rainforest Alliance, and 25 percent of global coffee certified by these or similar schemes, according to Ethical Consumer (ethicalconsumer.org). This may be due to the fact that many tea- and coffee-producing areas are in developing countries, as well as the way in which both products are marketed to consumers; the origin of the tea and coffee is often one of its main selling points and helps the consumers build a narrative of the product before deciding to make the purchase. By instilling this focus and painting a picture of where the tea or coffee grew and was farmed, it is natural for consumers to want to imagine it with fair working conditions, nature friendly processes and beneficial to its local area, socially and environmentally. Amanda Archila, executive director, Fairtrade America, explained, “Coffee and tea are two critical commodities for Fairtrade. Globally in 2021, Fairtrade worked with 872,916 coffee farmers, and 400,402 tea farmers and workers. Premiums earned across coffee and tea amounted to over USD $102 million. We partner with traders, roasters, brands, and retailers around the world to ensure Fairtrade is easily accessible to consumers.”

As one of the biggest players in the tea and coffee certification field, Fairtrade as an organisation facilitates equitable and sustainable trading for producers in developing countries, working with co-operatives, businesses and governments. It does this by enforcing a Fairtrade Minimum Price for when the market price drops, as a safety net for producers, as well as an additional fixed Premium payment to be paid on top of the market price, to be invested in producers’ local communities.

It is an organisation and certification that is seeing a lot of growth; “The number of certified tea farmers in the Fairtrade system has been gradually increasing over the past few years: up to 347,000 in 2021 compared with 319,500 in 2019, in diverse origins,” commented Amy Collis, senior sustainable sourcing manager, Fairtrade Foundation.

Archila added that recognition among consumers has also increased: “Since 2019, recognition of the Fairtrade label has jumped by 118 percent among US shoppers,” demonstrating the building consumer interest in certified products. Archila continued, “Gen-Z shoppers showed the highest increase in recognition of the Fairtrade label among all age groups: 18-24 year olds who recognised the mark jumped by 121 percent, from 33 percent in 2021 to 73 percent in 2023. And millennial shoppers (25-34) are the most frequent purchasers of Fairtrade products.”

Archila agreed that “in the broader world of sustainability products, consumer awareness is definitely in the mainstream. Eighty-six percent of shoppers recalled seeing a sustainability or ethical label on a product while shopping. We also see this consumer connection to sustainable and ethical products growing stronger in the future.”

While the Fairtrade certification is seeing growth worldwide, Collis explained that the UK is currently the biggest market for Fairtrade tea, holding a share of 62 percent of Fairtrade tea sold globally. Collis said this was due to strong commitments from retail partners, “with Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Co-op all having a 100 percent Fairtrade commitment on tea and coffee.”

Image: Kloth & Köhnken

Duncan Gray, head roaster and managing director, Bay Coffee Roasters, a west Wales, UK -based roastery, explained why the Fairtrade certification is important to his company: “Fairtrade is often far more than paying a good price to the farmer and also their workers, many of the Fairtrade cooperatives that we have worked with have community initiatives providing training and education for the families, health care and often other improvements to the local area.”

Consumers embrace organic

Bay Coffee Roasters’ other major certification that it champions, is organic, which often goes hand in hand with Fairtrade, with “over 50 percent of Fairtrade farmers [choosing] to go organic: tea, coffee, chocolate, bananas and cotton are among the products carrying dual Fairtrade and organic certification,” said Collis, as they both call for sustainable farming practices. “The nature of organic farming where farmers cannot rely on chemicals means that they generally have to care for their land, respecting its bio diversity and farming in a more sustainable way. Organic certification means that the farmers have to keep to their word,” said Gray. With organic farming, the emphasis is on techniques such as crop rotation, biological crop protection, green manuring and composting, and different regions have their own organic certifications, such as the EU and USDA Organic.

As discussed in ‘The Balance of Organic’ feature in the Tea & Coffee Trade Journal October 2023 issue, the organic market is seeing growth, with the tea market holding a value of USD $1.24 billion as of 2023, with a CAGR of 8 percent through 2033, while the organic coffee market estimates are even higher with a CAGR of 12.5 percent until 2028, according to market research companies FMI and Mordor Intelligence. Organic products are not only perceived as better for the environment and for the producers by the consumer, but they are also believed to be healthier, with less chemicals needed to grow and process them.

Gray added that they even have some customers who will buy only organic coffee, and whether that be for sustainability, ethical or health reasons, it is clear it is something that is important to many customers, or at a minimum regarded highly and as a bonus to their purchases.

Organic tea is something that it is ingrained in Kloth & Köhnken’s (K&K) identity, explained Sandra Nikolei, tea department/corporate social responsibility at K&K; “Organic farming can result in a better taste of a product as the plant grows slowly compared to most conventional products.”

Nikolei added that they are seeing much interest from their customers for organic products, but also for Rainforest Alliance-certified products. Rainforest Alliance, an even bigger scheme than Fairtrade and which now includes the UTZ label, is another non-profit organisation that promotes responsible business practices and strives to improve producer livelihoods and communities, especially in the face of the climate crisis. It does not do this with fixed pricing structures, but rather through policing production.

Image: Rainforest Alliance

“As we approach 2030 – a year experts mark as the potential point of no return – we must respond with unparalleled speed and scale to shift the course of sustainability transformation,” said Rainforest Alliance CEO, Santiago Gowland, “The hard truth is that the old sustainability models are good but not good enough.” The Rainforest Alliance certification has been going for 35 years, and, as of December 2022, has since achieved sustainability projects and certified farmers in 58 countries, worked with over 6,000 companies, and made Rainforest Alliance certified products available in 190 countries.

B Corp on the rise

Another major certification that is rising to the forefront of the tea and coffee industry, indeed most consumer industries as a whole, is B Corp. For a company to achieve B Corp certification, it must be verified by the ‘B Lab’ organisation, to “meet high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability,” B Lab explained. There are B Labs across the world, including UK Australia, East Africa, Europe, and North and South America, with 6,800 B Corp certified companies across 89 countries and 161 industries.

Duncan Gray that becoming a B-Corp is next on Bay Coffee’s agenda to achieve, joining the many tea and coffee companies certified as B Corps, such as Nespresso, Pact Coffee, English Tea Shop, Bigelow, and Pukka Herbs to name a few.

The cost of certifications

Many companies, including Bay Coffee and K&K, hold multiple certifications, particularly if they have a strong international presence as different certifications are more popular in different regions. K&K for one, lists Fairtrade, Fair Trade USA, Bio EU (organic), Bio Suisse organic, USDA Organic, Rainforest Alliance, FairBioTea, and kosher, among theirs.

Different certifications cover different areas and demand different requirements from companies, so perhaps the more the better, it could be argued. There is such a variety of certifications available, many much smaller than the ones listed here, and it comes down to a company’s specific operational practices, locations, and community needs as to what certifications will have the largest impact on its environmental and social undertakings. However, it is the big names such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, organic, and B Corp that seem to be major drivers of consumer and customer interest and purchases.

Image: Bay Coffee Roasters

But there are also a lot of conversations around certifications in relation to pricing and verification. Consumers realise that they will likely pay more for certified products than they do for those without certifications. “For a pound bag of coffee, shoppers said they were willing to pay a price premium of up to 35 percent more for certified coffee over uncertified. Nearly four in five consumers said they were willing to pay more for a product to ensure that producers received a fair price,” explained Archila.

While it is understandable that there must be additional costs to ensure the producer is receiving a fair price, it does mean the more price sensitive consumer may struggle to choose the ethical option when making their purchasing decisions. This allows the mass produced and possibly unethically sourced tea and coffee companies to keep a sizeable share of the market. Collis detailed that “Fairtrade-certified organisations sell only around 4 percent of their tea on Fairtrade terms – this means they don’t benefit from being certified to the extent that they could. When shoppers choose Fairtrade tea, tea producers can sell more of their product on Fairtrade terms.”

So, while there is growing demand for certified products, and a certain amount of consumer willingness to pay extra for them, there may not be enough for producers to justify the additional expense if it is not being bought from them at the certified price.

Certifications are costly for the producer as well as sometimes for the consumer. “Significant commitment is needed from producers to achieve and maintain compliance with the Fairtrade Standards: but it isn’t always feasible for producers who are facing other challenges, such as rising costs of inputs, low market prices and the effects of climate change,” said Collis. Likewise with organic, there is a conversion phase where anything grown cannot be sold under the organic title with the benefits that come with it, until the transition is complete, and no compensation is offered for the expense or yield loss.

K&K is proud of its certifications and recognises their value, but also their limitations; “Certifications are necessary to help to make the world a better place. But often they are too cost intensive and too difficult to implement, for farmers, small businesses and for start-ups. They should be less complicated and should focus on an easy way to make changes. Imposing the same requirements on everyone in this world and origin is, from our point of view, unfortunately very European and unidimensional. It should be more individually adaptable. Many certificates are too bureaucratic and rigid,” explained Nikolei.

Therefore, while they are an important mark of credibility and of good intentions to inform consumers, having certifications is not the only nor final step to sustainability and ethical business practices. “Certification can only ever form part of a company’s sustainability efforts,” articulated Collis, they do not “replace the duties of state or business actors with respect to human rights or sustainability.”

• Kathryn Brand is an associate editor on T&CTJ, while still writing for several of Bell’s other magazines. She joined Bell Publishing as an editorial assistant at the beginning of 2022 after graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She may be reached at: kathryn@bellpublishing.com.

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Hosted in Islington’s Business Design Centre, London, it was great to see the coffee and tea industry so well represented at this scale of show compared to the other larger international events taking place at the moment. The show offered a great mix of big names such as Lavazza, Pukka and Sucafina, alongside the smaller-time roasters and newcomer businesses.

Elliot Gard, event director, commented, “One of my favourite things about Caffè Culture is bringing our fantastic industry together to share ideas, build new relationships, learn about the latest trends whilst reacquainting yourselves with old friends and colleagues for two busy days of invaluable networking.”

Alongside the 110 exhibitors, there was a speaker line up of over 40 experts, six of whom attended a panel discussing Supply Chain Sustainability. This included: Emma Haines, UK sales manager, Alegrano; Mandi Caudill, carbon project manager & lead ecologist, Falcon; Sarah Walker, sustainability officer, Origin Coffee; Catalina Gutierrez, co-founder, Cata Export; May Putman Cramer, change manager for sustainability, Sucafina; and Frank Turner, responsible sourcing manager, Taylors of Harrogate.

Catalina and Mandi begun by discussing what their respective companies’ main sustainability focus currently is. Catalina explained that pricing and nurturing connections along their supply chain is important, as stabilsing pricing creates loyalty and trust, and this not only leads to more sustainable relationships, but trust and accountability. Meanwhile Mandi revealed that Falcon currently have 20 different sustainability projects on the go, with lots of data and science driven initiatives. Its main objective is to consolidate how emissions are measured in the coffee industry, and find a common standard to hold companies to, rather than the current individualistic approaches which create a barrier for cross company comparisons and collaborations.

Emma added to this by explaining that access to finance is the main barrier for producer sustainability, alongside a lack of information and education on the issues. Communication at farm level and bringing the producers into the conversation about sustainability strategies is essential for the longevity and equality of the schemes.

Mandi agreed and commented that companies are making sustainability claims and expecting the farms to carry them out, despite the majority of emissions not even coming from the farm level of the supply chain. All of the responsibility cannot be placed solely on the farmer, especially when the vast majority of coffee farmers are living below the poverty line, pointed out Frank. For impactful sustainability practices to be implemented at origin, there needs to be a restructuring on how so much of our coffee is sourced to ensure security of farmer livelihoods.

This perspective of looking more holistically at the coffee supply chain was concurred by Sarah, who argued that we cannot just use technology as the solution, it can only delay or shift problems. She used the example of the development of bio-plastic; while a valuable innovation and substantially improved upon petroleum-based plastic, according to a study by University College London, if we were to replace all plastic we currently use with bio-plastic, in order to meet this demand there wouldn’t be enough land left to grow food. A longer term solution needs to be found. And this is the same with the coffee supply chain.

Frank asserted that we need to face up to the issues of the coffee supply chain and ask the uncomfortable questions if sustainable and long-lasting progress can be made to save the coffee industry for future generations.

• Kathryn Brand, associate editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: kathryn@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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There were ample exhibitors from across the speciality food and beverage sphere, from chocolate, cheese, spirits, and of course a sprinkling of speciality tea and coffee companies.

The ground floor was largely made up of more established companies, such as the English Tea Shop, a partner of the event, which, like almost all the companies exhibiting, had samples on hand for inquisitive visitors. Venturing upstairs I came across a couple of coffee roasters: Wales-based Bay Coffee Roasters had a great selection of its coffees on display, including project specific blends and roasts, and Rounton Coffee Roasters, who were sporting recent Great Taste Awards for six of its specialty coffee products, including two stars for Sparkling Water Decaf Coffee and Colombian Wilton Benitez Pink Bourbon Coffee.

It was also a pleasure to meet some of the many smaller, newer companies at the show many of which were part of The Start-Up Village, comprising companies trading under two years. QuirkyMonkey was launched only in November 2022, and came to the Speciality & Fine Food Fair to display its nootropic mushroom coffees, as well as its recently introduced mushroom hot chocolate. Darwin Fletcher, QuirkyMonkey’s founder, developed the idea for the company after discovering how nootropic drinks could support his focus throughout the day with his neurodiversity. The show presented a great opportunity for new companies, such as QuirkyMonkey, to place themselves in front of possible buyers and collaborators.

There was certainly a theme of health benefits and functionality at the show, and not just across tea and coffee. Functionality, sustainability and ethical production seem to be a necessity for specialty products, as customers are seeking more from their purchases than just a great taste; if they are going to pay that bit extra, they want the extra benefits, whether that be to their health or to the environment. Consumers want to feel that they are using their money for a good cause, and specialty producers are rising to meet this demand, with a tide of Fairtrade, organic, and B-Corp certifications flooding the packaging, and frequently more wellness claims of improved sleep or mood, calmness, better digestion and pretty much anything else you could want.

While some more budget and commercial products may still be able to get away with dodging sustainability pressures for now, as they have the price point advantage, consumers seeking more premium and specialty products do not withhold such demands from their purchasing choices. The array of projects and efforts on display at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair were a credit to this.

• Kathryn Brand, associate editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: kathryn@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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While this increasingly extreme weather may have been a wakeup call for some, World Coffee Research (WCR) has long anticipated these threats and is on a mission to mitigate the effects these changes will have, and is having, on our coffee industry, by breeding and growing more climate resistant coffee species. Yesterday, WCR shared an article on its LinkedIn page, published by the Financial Times, titled ‘Have we reached peak coffee?’

Coffee consumption is on the rise, the article detailed, with a rapidly growing market among ‘new consumers’ in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, this demand is outpacing supply, with warming temperatures threatening up to half of current coffee farmland, and fluctuating harvests forcing farmers to abandon the industry for a more stable income.

Vanusia Nogueira, executive director of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) noted in the piece that coffee may be forced to become a luxury commodity or endure a significant hit to its quality if the deficit continues.

Meanwhile, Jennifer ‘Vern’ Long, chief executive of WCR explained how the challenge comes from coffee being a plant that loves ‘perfect’ or ‘Goldilocks’ weather with just the right temperatures and rainfall, which are the fragile conditions being threatened by climate change. Areas that are currently ideal for coffee growing, known as the coffee belt, are decreasing in their suitability, with areas previously unsuited, to the north or south of this belt, beginning to be more suitable for growing coffee. However, any shift in location would affect the livelihoods of innumerable communities across the coffee belt that are reliant on coffee growing for their economy.

Since so much of the retail value of coffee is held in the higher-income countries which import the coffee, the coffee-farming communities do not have the resources or resilience to hold fast against these climate-induced challenges. The future of coffee hangs in the balance unless there is a redistribution of the risk and profit in the industry as a whole so that coffee farming remains a desirable and reliable practice for those communities, emphasised Daniele Giovannucci, founder of the Committeee on Sustainability Assessment, in the article.

Alongside this rethink of coffee pricing, ought to be a revaluation of the coffee plants themselves. While there are 130 species of coffee discovered in the wild, only arabica and robusta are used for the world’s coffee consumption, which significantly increases the vulnerability of the plant.

At World of Coffee Athens in June, Emilia Umaña, WCR nursery development manager, explained in her presentation that World Coffee Research is a collective investment in the future of coffee by the coffee industry. The work WCR does is to breed varieties that wouldn’t normally meet naturally, in order to cultivate certain advantageous characteristics, notably resistance to drought and high temperatures, to safeguard the future of the coffee industry. WCR has over 170 members in 30 countries and relies on these multinational links in its research. Numerous factors such as altitude, soil type, etc., as well as climate, necessarily impact the characteristics of coffee plants grown there, so the same variant may differ in each location. Which is why thorough testing internationally is essential.

Drastic changes to the way we grow, trade, and consume coffee might well be on the horizon, which is why change is rapidly needed to meet the ever-growing demand from the threatened supply. Work that the WCR is doing provides options to farmers, but they must be supported and incentivised by the corporations dominating the rest of the supply chain for coffee farming to continue being a worthwhile and viable livelihood.

• Kathryn Brand, associate editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: kathryn@bellpublishing.com
  Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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Within the specialty tea segment, loose-leaf tea has its advocates, yet tea bags remain a popular and convenient way in which most tea consumers will brew the beverage. However, with 68 percent of consumers drinking tea every day in the UK alone, 21 percent of whom drink between four to five cups a day, according to Statista, this mass consumption of single-use tea bags produces significant amounts of waste, much of which ends up in landfills. As consumer awareness of this builds, the pressure on tea brands to ensure sustainability within their operations is paramount, hence manufacturers must continue to meet the rapidly growing demand for sustainably made tea bags.

Tea bags are commonly made of bleached paper, plastic or nylon, and sealed with glue, resulting in a product that will not fully biodegrade and can contribute to the contamination of soil and waterways with microplastics. Fortunately, there has been much innovation in recent years, with many manufacturers making the switch to compostable bio-plastic-based materials, known as PLA (polylactic acid), normally made from corn or sugarcane, rather than petroleum.

Clipper Tea was among the first to make the switch in 2018, bringing to market its “world first’ unbleached, plant-based, non-GM, and fully compostable tea bags,” said Adele Ward, marketing director, Ecotone UK, Clipper Tea’s parent company. Clipper was driven by the ethical and sustainable principles it was founded on to make the change with its tea bags, but customer demand has also incentivised others.

Taylor Clayton, sustainability impact manager at Traditional Medicinals, commented, “While the launch [of its BPI-certified compostable tea wrapper] was partially inspired by the company’s vision to be a leader in finding solutions to plastic waste, we did also [consider] the feedback of our customers who feel just as passionately as we do about protecting the environment.”

Image: Traditional Medicinals

Tecpacking, while manufacturing tea bag packing machines, also produces tea-bag packing material, most of which are PLA-based and compostable, and Paul Zhang, sales manager, Tecpacking, revealed that while there was certainly some demand from customers, the company felt that it was how different industries were moving forward. “Tecpacking is committed to driving sustainable solutions to ensure that the company is directly an enabler within sustainability, so we promote the compostable material to our customers,” said Zhang.

The costs of converting

Whether companies make the switch due to customer pressure or their own sustainability principles, the demand is undoubtedly there, especially among “boutique and eco-conscious tea drinkers and tea brands,” which is where One Earth’s managing director, Erin Heryford, has noted the increase. One Earth manufactures its tea bag material in the US from non-GMO sugar cane, using a dry process so there is no waste water or water contamination, further reducing the impact of its tea bags on the environment. The eco-conscious may be driving the change towards compostable tea bags across the industry but the demand is widespread and increasing in enthusiasm.

The PLA-based compostable tea bag material used, is undoubtedly strides ahead of the conventional wrappers containing petroleum-based plastic, in terms of sourcing, waste, and consumer health, but there is still progress needed. Tecpacking’s and One Earth’s tea bag wrappers, as well as the wrappers used by Traditional Medicinals and Clipper, are only fully compostable in a commercial or industrial facility, rather than at home in a garden compost bin. Unlike biodegradability, which is a natural process where microorganisms degrade materials into simple components like biomass, carbon dioxide and water, compostability requires human intervention to contribute water and oxygen for the materials to fully break down.

“BPI-certified packaging – or packaging that meets the most stringent standards for biodegradability and eco-friendliness – requires ‘industrial aerated composting’ to fully breakdown, and this composting process only happens in a commercial-scale composting facility. In the simplest terms, in order to ensure a product truly breaks down and returns to the earth, leaving no harmful residue behind, it must be industrially composted,” explained Clayton.

In landfill, the material will break down faster than wrappers containing plastic but will still produce harmful GHGs (greenhouse gases) as a byproduct it breaks down, whereas in an industrial composting facility, the conditions are optimised for the material to break down efficiently, minimising GHG production, as well as producing a saleable product as a result: compost, farm fertiliser, or biogas. Therefore, the sustainability of the PLA-based tea bag wrappers is unavoidably reliant on the manner of which its end consumer is willing or able to dispose of it. Most consumers do not have access to industrial composting facilities, or if they do, lack the willing or awareness to separate out the conforming items. In the US, only 15 percent of consumers currently have access to an industrial composting facility, according to Clayton, and in the UK, where the figures are better but still low, almost half – 160 councils, covering 11.7 million households – of local authorities do not provide any food waste collection for their residents.

“We acknowledge that, due to limited availability, industrial composting is somewhat of an imperfect solution, however, it is the only viable option for breaking down compostable packaging at scale. We strongly believe that this is a waste solution that we should support and advocate for, and we feel that we are leading by example with the launch of this BPI-certified tea wrapper,” said Clayton, adding, “it is our hope that as more and more companies take a stance like us on the importance of industrial composting, that more and more facilities will become available.”

Having the necessary infrastructure and end-consumer awareness are not the only challenges facing bio-based tea bag material producers and tea brands. Like with so many other food and drink packaging formats, “The main challenge with compostable wrappers is finding a packaging material that effectively protects the stability of the ingredients within while also meeting biodegradability standards,” commented Clayton.

There needs to be a balance between the material being food-safe and non-detrimental to the shelf life of the product, to minimise food waste, while simultaneously being sustainable and biodegradable, to which there is seemingly slim overlap. Ward added, “It’s not an easy (or a cheap) switch. The challenge is sourcing an effective sealant that will prevent the two sides of the paper from separating and releasing the tea leaves into the cup. Clipper’s compostable heat-seal tea bag was the result of an extensive period of detailed trials and material sourcing.”

Once the appropriate material is found, the challenges do not stop there; “the traditional plastic envelope material is soft and flexible, but compostable material is a bit harder and difficult to form,” explained Zhang, and therefore the packing machine used needs to be adapted accordingly, requiring a high capital expenditure, which is a hurdle for large companies, but possibly an insurmountable barrier for smaller companies.

Image: One Earth

This is something One Earth recognises; “We work with some co-packers so that the One Earth tea and coffee filter material can be accessible to smaller tea brands,” shared Heryford, a move which is necessary for the industry as a whole to progress sustainably.

The cost of the wrapper material itself is also higher, as Clayton revealed, “Increased costs are mostly due to the use of novel, bio-based materials, such as the PLA layer in the wrapper. The bio-based inputs include more processing steps from farm to manufacturing.” But the costs should come down as it is more widely produced and used.

“Compostable tea bag material has still not captured the mass share of the market,” said Zhang, likely due to the manufacturing, disposal and cost challenges given, and until it does, manufacturers and consumers are having to absorb the additional costs associated with making the sustainable choice.

Challenges remain

Tenacity is undoubtedly necessary on the journey towards sustainability, and while there may still be numerous challenges associated with biodegradable tea bags, they are being met with innovation and persistence. Zhang explained that Tecpacking has “three points to do in the future: first is to try our best to work with our raw material suppliers to make good compostable material, second is to improve our machine to make it suitable and easy to run the compostable material, and third is to recommend and promote the compostable material to all of our customers, to try to make 100 percent of [our] customers use compostable material.” He noted that Tecpacking is a global company operating in local markets like Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, and the US, with different partners. “Our sourcing is within the local communities, and we drive the empowerment of these local communities,” as sustainability is about people as much as it is about resources.

Meanwhile, One Earth has a research lab in Naples, Florida, where it continues to develop its compostable and biodegradable products. With Traditional Medicinals’ global advocation of sustainable materials to its customers, and Clipper’s holistic approach to reduce packaging weight and improve recyclability, strides are being taken to counter decades of willful indolence by manufacturers and consumers alike.

Matching the innovation with the infrastructure and awareness needed remains a challenge, as, even if PLA packaging becomes widespread, there need to be means by which consumers can dispose of it in a way that makes the sustainability efforts of the manufacturer worthwhile. Although, it could be argued, that placing almost the full responsibility of the sustainability of a product on the consumer, rather than on the manufacturer which produced the product in the first place, may be a misdirection of accountability, and unsustainable in the long term. However, most will agree action is needed along the entirety of the supply chain, all the way to the consumer, to drive lasting and necessary change.

• Kathryn Brand is an associate editor on T&CTJ, while still writing for several of Bell’s other magazines. She joined Bell Publishing as an editorial assistant at the beginning of 2022 after graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She may be reached at: kathryn@bellpublishing.com.

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Yet The Tea Group is striving to elevate the tea experience further, as it demonstrated at its National Tea Day event at the Dorchester Hotel, London. The event was a luxurious and informative showcase of teas from all over the world, and even some closer to home. Díaz Ayub, managing director at The Tea Group, noted that specialty tea has been taking a backseat from specialty coffee in recent years, despite tea being the second most consumed beverage globally, after water.

The menu for The Tea Group’s National Tea Day event. Image: Kathryn Brand

Each tea presented at the event was paired with a dish with the intention of enhancing the flavour notes of the drink, with some pairings forming natural companions, while others were certainly more unusual and bold. Jersey Fine Tea’s British-grown green tea, paired with tuna tartare with a tobiko caviar and yuzu, was the former. The salty and citrus flavours of the dish balanced with the fragrant and mild green tea, which was pleasantly not bitter, unlike so many green teas I have tried before. We were told that this was a combination of the fact that Jersey Fine Tea only pick the top leaves of the plant to use in its teas, and also knowing how to brew green tea correctly, which is at a lower temperature of about 80-85°C, to refrain from burning the delicate tea leaves and creating that astringent flavour often associated with green tea.

The event was a fantastic opportunity not only to showcase some amazing tea growers and producers, but also to showcase the ritual, tradition and ceremony behind certain teas. One such example was a Japanese matcha ceremony, from Chill Tea Tokyo, whereby the matcha was mixed with a small amount of hot, but not boiling, water, and stirred with a special bamboo whisk until frothy, to promote creaminess in the flavour, before more water was added to make the final drink. The Tea Group demonstrated to the guests, most of whom were representing luxury London hotels, with each tea how it should be served to guests, in order to maximise not only the flavour, but the whole experience of teatime, validating the premium value that such specialty teas demand.

While the UK, and much of the world, is going though economic challenges and cost of living crises, people are still seeking out small moments of luxury where they can, and afternoon tea is more popular than ever, both in the UK and the US, said Díaz Ayub. Therefore, an opportunity is presented to maximise people’s desire for a little luxury and offer them an entire experience with their teatime. Since the pandemic, consumers are increasingly interested in teas, with so many willing to branch out from their standard cup of builders to something that will promote wellness, digestion, or mental health through botanical and herbal blends. This provides hospitality companies with an eager audience to really promote specialty tea to their guests, and enter a category that needn’t just be reserved for coffee.

• Kathryn Brand, associate editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: kathryn@bellpublishing.com
  Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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The first two were dramatically propelled forward because of the pandemic, as companies were forced to reimagine how they conducted business and how they could operate in safe and innovative ways. Rockwell Automation and tna solutions offered visitors to their stands the chance to experience their VR (virtual reality) technology. Rockwell Automations sat us down inside egg-shaped swivel chairs and placed a headset on us to talk through its Emulate3D digital twin software. You are transported to a factory floor with a range of production machinery, mirroring a real world set up. Customers can use this technology to trial machinery with their products before ordering, simulate how the equipment could work in their space and train employees on the systems without them even needing to be on the factory floor. 

Similarly, tna’s entire presentation was in a virtual reality (or what they call Extended Reality or XR) scape, where we were guided by a virtual figure (that brought to mind the uncanny valley theory!) through its virtual factory, allowing customers, much like Rockwell, to commission, maintain and train workers on production lines. tna developed this technology during the Covid-19 lockdowns, as travel was dramatically restricted, as was in-person contact of any kind. A client of tna wanted to be able to remotely design production lines and test them with their product. This pressure encouraged companies like tna and Rockwell to rapidly develop what still seems like incredibly futuristic technology to enable connectivity and productivity despite such physical and logistical barriers.  

Likewise with digitalisation, machine operators are now able to access and review production lines and equipment from a remote location, extracting and analysing the data to assess the machines efficiency and pre-empt any issues, so parts can be ordered, or maintenance can be scheduled ahead to reduce downtime and therefore increase productivity of a plant. With this knowledge, a machine can be relatively self-automated and switchover its own parts for format changes, as Sidel demonstrated with its new case packer at the show. 

While Covid-related restrictions may have all but eased, workforce-related challenges are now driven by labour and skills shortages, particularly in Europe, and especially in the UK. The advancements in digitalisation but particularly VR technology can mitigate the disruption caused by this shortfall as workers need less training and experience as they can be talked through changeovers and maintenance by the virtual simulation. If the machine is automated, then it can also maintain or changeover itself, again requiring fewer or less trained workers on the factory floor. 

With sustainability in mind, such developments can result in reduced travel necessities for customers in the design and development stages of machinery, as well as increased operating efficiency and reduced downtime, saving energy. Almost every company in attendance at interpack was eager to talk about sustainability, whether it be how their machinery is adapted to recyclable packaging materials, or how it is more energy efficient and therefore sustainable. Some made more tangible and impressive claims than others but all made claims, whether it be that they had reduced the plastic in their packaging by 10% or whether completely plastic free, as it is still such a buzz word that attracts every part of the supply chain. 

Having not attended the interpack six years ago, it’s hard to say precisely how much automation, digitalisation and sustainability trends have developed or emerged since then. However much of the innovations felt in their relatively early stages, especially the VR, which was still only just being realised on a commercial level, so it will be interesting to see how much more widespread and developed these futuristic innovations will be in 2026. 

• Kathryn Brand, associate editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
  Keep in touch via email: kathryn@bellpublishing.com Twitter: @TCTradeJournal or LinkedIn: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal

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Depending who and where you ask, kombucha ranges from a niche beverage that people have heard of but do not know what it is, to a beverage and lifestyle staple. However, there is no argument that, globally, it is a growing category, situated in the ready-to-drink (RTD) tea market, which is also growing. This growth is driven by four macro trends, according to London-based Momo Kombucha’s co-founder, Josh Puddle, which are “gut health, low sugar, alcohol alternatives and vegetarianism/veganism.”

Consisting of fermented tea, using a live culture of bacteria, known as a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), fruit flavours are often then added to create a naturally low-sugar, lightly sparkling probiotic drink, sometimes with a naturally occurring ABV of around 0.5 per cent, however many manufacturers remove this alcohol content to bypass possible restrictions.

Thought to originate in China, one of the largest markets for kombucha is currently the United States. A 2015 Mintel report found that nearly one quarter of US consumers were drinking kombucha, half of which were aged 25-34. However, the market has grown significantly since then so the figures are now likely higher — and it is still growing. Future Market Insights Kombucha Market Outlook report forecasts kombucha to globally experience a CAGR of 17.4 percent from 2022 to 2033, or a rise from USD $3.4 billion to $17.1 billion.

The US is one of the most developed kombucha markets, and therefore is experiencing innovation in the category, such as Caffe Luxxe’s coffee kombucha, brewed from the company’s own coffee as a base rather than tea, to “provide the energising effects of coffee in combination with the probiotic benefit of kombucha,” said Gary Chau, co-founder of south California-based Caffe Luxxe. Kombucha is highly popular among Californians, which Chau credits to the regional trend of lifestyle wellness and holistic health.

California was also the host state of Kombucha Kon, which saw its third annual installment in April. This conference and expo is targeted specifically at the kombucha industry, offering networking across the kombucha supply chain. “Medium-large and better-distributed US brands were represented, including Brew Dr., Bambucha, Flying Embers and Local Roots,” commented Jason Walker, marketing director of Firsd Tea North America, who attended the conference.

Where the US market is reaching maturity, in Europe, in particular the UK, whilst showing strength, the category is still establishing itself and growing its popularity base, with companies mostly trying to make themselves known and educate consumers on what kombucha is and the health benefits it offers, since this is what draws most consumers to the products, and then draws them back. One company already has an advantage in this respect; Yorkshire Tea, a household name in the UK for everyday black tea, is launching a line of kombucha in collaboration with kombucha brand, HOLOS Kombucha, brewed from its own tea. It is still in its trial phase and not yet available to consumers, however, attendees  at the London Coffee Festival, which took place in April, were able to sample the new line. Several other kombucha companies also exhibited at the annual event.

Millennials drive category growth

Kombucha is heralded as the ultimate functional beverage, serving as a probiotic, which contains live microorganisms intended to contribute to healthy levels of good bacteria in the gut, supporting digestion and boosting immunity. Kombucha companies are tapping into the wellness trend that strengthened during the Covid-19 pandemic, and offering a healthy, alcohol-free beverage that also tastes good.

Momo’s Puddle said that the main consumer demographic of its kombucha are millennials, primarily 25 to 45 year olds, which concurs with Fact.MR’s report detailing millennial’s rising adoption of bottled tea. However Caffe Luxxe’s Chau shared that its kombucha is sold generally to those “interested in an overall health and wellness lifestyle.”

That statement is supported by Anna Dominey, UK general manager at Remedy Drinks, an Australia-based kombucha company that dominates in its origin country as well as in the UK market, who says that it appeals to “those who are rejecting processed foods and drinks in favour of more natural alternatives and by those who are looking to cut down on alcohol or drink more mindfully.”

It is evident that the main driver of the kombucha category is its health benefits as well as the offering of an alcohol alternative. “Around 20 per cent of Remedy is consumed in the evening, suggesting consumers are enjoying it as a tasty and satisfying alternative to alcohol,” commented Dominey, further indicating the growing partnership between the low and no alcohol trend, and the functional/wellness beverage trend.

Beverage companies are tapping into this demand, according to Puddle, “more brands are creating products specifically for this segment, eg, kombucha in champagne-style and beer-style bottles.” An example of this is Mighty Brew, which, alongside its core range which retails at a price point of approximately £5.66 (USD $7.08) for 750ml, it offers a more premium ‘Heritage’ format at approximately £11.00 ($13.76) for 750ml which is housed in a champagne-style bottle, complete with cork and cage. Mighty Brew’s Heritage range is marketing itself as an alternative to alcoholic bubbly beverages at celebratory occasions.

Tapping into current trends

This functional/wellness and low and no category overlaps significantly with those incentivised by sustainability claims, therefore, most kombucha brands cite accolades accordingly, such as Momo achieving certified organic and B Corp status. Further, Remedy endeavours to source high quality, all natural ingredients; “This was the way Sarah and Emmet [Remedy’s founders] did it when they started on the kitchen counter, and they still take an active role in sourcing the best ingredients from trusted suppliers,” revealed Dominey. “We know where every single ingredient in our drinks comes from, right down to even our live culture,” she continued. Similarly, Caffe Luxxe builds sustainable relationships with its coffee farmer partners to provide consistent and fair prices.

Looking ahead, Future Market Insights (FMI) Kombucha Market Outlook report finds that it is “unlikely that consumer demand for fermented goods may decline anytime soon,” with the millennial generation’s focus on healthy eating fuelling the demand. However, to increase its consumer base, the kombucha market needs to actively promote its health benefits to attract the older consumer, as well as work on becoming more cost-effective, as it currently sits in the more premium category in most markets. FMI’s report also details that the category can take advantage of novel flavours to attract consumers and tap into the increasingly adventurous flavour palates of the consumer.

• Kathryn Brand is an associate editor on T&CTJ, while still writing for several of Bell’s other magazines. She joined Bell Publishing as an editorial assistant at the beginning of 2022 after graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She may be reached at: kathryn@bellpublishing.com.

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While to many, bubble or boba tea might seem like a new fad that has surfaced over the last couple of years, it is by no means a recent invention. Bubble tea is typically a milk- or juice-based tea drink containing soft and chewy tapioca pearls, or boba, made with flour from cassava. It originated in Taiwan in the early 1980s, from there it spread across East and Southeast Asia (in particular Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and mainland China), and was brought to the United States in the 90s to Asian American diasporic communities such as in California, the East Coast and West Coast and the Southeast.

There are myriad variations of the beverage, offering different tea varieties such as black, green or oolong as the base, fresh milk, powdered milk or juice options, as well as the boba themselves, which are sometimes added to or substituted with grass jellies, or juice filled boba known as popping boba. It is a unique product in that it is simultaneously a drink and a snack, with the flavoured tea providing the beverage, and the carbohydrate and fibre heavy boba offering a filling accompaniment.

It emerged in the mainstream in recent years and now has a market value that, according to global market research firm, Future Market Insights (FMI), is currently valued at USD $2.5 billion in 2022, and is expected to reach $5.82 billion by 2032, performing at an 8.8 percent growth rate. This ever growing success can be attributed to several factors. “Now that Asian American communities have a saturation of boba tea shops, many franchises and small business owners thought it would be best to introduce the treat to other communities, communities that have never heard of bubble tea,” explained Christine Trinidad, CMO of Milk+T, a company that began with its self-serve boba truck in 2015, and now has brick and mortar locations in Los Angeles, California and Beaverton, Oregon.

From there, it has been adopted by the Gen Z and millennial generations, to whom “the boba tea shop is in the position that the soda shop was in the 1950s,” according to Jason Walker, marketing director, Firsd Tea, which has recently expanded into the wholesale bubble tea ingredients sector. “Whenever you go into a bubble tea shop, the place is full of young people. Young parents bring their children as a fun and sweet treat. Young couples and groups of teens hang out and chat over bubble tea,” observed Walker.

Since the beverage is so popular with a younger audience, social media has inevitably played a key role. Through connecting people across the world, it allows trends to cross countries and cultures, and bubble tea appeals to this medium due to its highly visual attributes. “For the local boba tea shop, social media is a powerful force for showcasing the colourful and attractive drinks they create. Think of the brown sugar milk tea (sometimes called tiger milk tea) – this is a drink that was made to be shared on social media – once you see the rich milk caramel colour of the drink with brown sugar tiger stripes streaming down the cup – you are hooked!” said Walker. The beverage lends itself to artistic photos by food bloggers or Instagrammers on social media, broadening its audience and its cult following.

There are a few giant boba shop chains, but predominantly they are independents, “that mom or pop just started because they love the product,” said David Fan, co-founder and CEO of US Boba Company, which supplies a few hundred boba stores with tapioca pearls it makes in the US, as well as to its partner retail company, Boba Guys. “So, they come to the table with more ideas. That’s what I think is another driving force behind boba tea; it’s not major corporations, it is small business owners,” continued Fan. This gives more opportunities for creativity, new flavours and exciting visuals that attract the trend-seeking Gen Zs and millennials.

Boba shops generally also offer extensive options for customisation. Each consumer can not only decide their tea base, milk or juice, boba type and amount, but there are variable sweetness and ice levels, as well as the options for it to be served hot, and with toppings such as whipped cream. Its customers have been cultured by Starbucks, Fan noted; people like to be able to create their order specific to them, so they feel the drink is their own, as well as offering the opportunity to try a new combination and order every time you go.

Although, he argues that there has to be a balance, with recommended or shop specialties on offer, too. “This streamlines operations for the store for expansion and also standardisation of a drink, because sometimes with a customisation you choose well, sometimes you don’t,” commented Fan. However, the sweetness level remains a popular customisation option, especially with the health conscious.

Adapting to Changing Tastes

As well as reduced sugar options, the base of tea, particularly green tea whose health benefits have been lauded for centuries, has added attraction for functional beverage seekers. What’s more, it is readily made vegan, with dairy-free options with juice or plant-based milks. While boba tea is traditionally made with fresh dairy milk or milk powder, vegan formats are a way for the beverage to adapt within the American and Western culture, said Trinidad.

The health and sustainability credentials of the drink was something that was important to Bobba when developing its products. Bobba offers ready-to-drink (RTD) bubble teas across Canada, having also recently opened markets in France and the US. All its drinks are juice based and vegan, with only 12 or 13g of sugar per bottle, compared to boba store offerings that can reach 100g, revealed Sebastien Fiset, president of Bobba. Instead, it sweetens its drinks with oligofructose and very pure stevia. “It was really important for us, and I think it was a good move because they have been a huge success,” commented Fiset. Bobba had to develop its own kind of boba to include in its drinks, as traditional tapioca would lose all its integrity submerged in a beverage for any great length of time, but this is something that the company believes sets it apart, as its boba is flavoured to match the drink it is in, and they are all popping boba, therefore they are filled with real fruit juice syrups to complement the flavours.

boba tea offering from Milk+T,
served in one of its glass jars.
Image credit: Milk+T

Bobba also sells all its drinks in glass bottles, instead of plastic. Bubble tea is traditionally sold from boba shops in clear plastic cups, with a film lid and wide plastic straw, which is competing with the consumer’s growing intolerance for single-use plastics. While glass is expensive, Bobba is committed to sticking with this format over the cheaper and lighter plastic packaging alternatives. “That’s why we do not offer straws with our products. We don’t want to be involved with [straws] because [they are] not very good for the environment,” said Fiset.

Milk+T follows a similar mantra, having offered sustainable alternatives ever since opening its doors in 2015. “We offer glass jars with every drink to help lower the use of single-use plastics,” explained Trinidad. It is something Firsd Tea and US Boba Co have been concerned about and are currently also exploring, with Firsd Tea looking into incentivising consumers to use their own metal or reusable straws, and US Boba Co. developing its own paper cups and compostable straws without any PE coating.

“I think it’s a worldwide issue that we have to face the fact that these disposables need to go on a course of slowly diminishing,” said Fan. The challenge with switching away from plastics in the bubble tea industry is that a lot of the drink’s appeal is its visuals and the layers and colours visible through the clear cup or bottle. “We will absolutely lose a lot of remarketing effect, as people sharing and resharing your posts is very important.” However, he believes the visual appeal lost from transitioning away from the clear cup formats, will be replaced by the appeal of the product being sustainable. “What kind of posts are most shared right now? It is the organic ones by the consumer,” Fan pointed out, and fortunately, sustainability is trendy right now, so the switch away from plastics for bubble tea may not negatively impact the market after all, it remains to be seen.

Tapioca pearls being added to
make a boba tea.
Image credit: US Boba
Company

As boba shops spread and RTD formats surface, companies are having to compete with one another to be increasingly creative, whether that be with their flavours, toppings, packaging, or sustainability credentials, creating a dynamic market that FMI predicts will continue to grow.

• Kathryn Brand, associate editor, joined Bell Publishing at the beginning of 2022 after graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She may be reached at: kathryn@bellpublishing.com.

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Capsules ‘democratise’ specialty coffee, said Tony Dreyfuss, co-founder and president of Metropolis Coffee, but how accessible can they really be unless they are sustainable? Which is why Metropolis has invested to become the first coffee company to fill and pack its own compostable capsules in the United States.

“It is turning out to be one of the biggest investments in our company’s history,” revealed Dreyfuss, but “one of the reasons we invested in this capacity is because it felt like the right thing to do.”

Market research firm, Future Market Insights, projects the global capsule market to surpass USD $9.8 billion by 2032. As capsule coffee is yet to become as popular and widespread as it is in places like Europe and the United Kingdom, the company felt like it had a unique opportunity.

“[The capsule market] is already growing 25 per cent a year in the US,” said Dreyfuss, “With compostable we really do have the opportunity to kind of set the market on a good path toward compostable. In the US, we have a chance to actually start this out with compostable capsules and get people thinking that compostable are the market standard rather than aluminium.”

Bringing the packing in-house

Chicago-based Metropolis Coffee was founded in 2003 by father and son, Jeff and Tony Dreyfuss. It sources and roasts ethically grown and traded specialty coffee for over 650 shops, cafés, hotels, and restaurants across the US, Europe and the Middle East, as well as serving it in its own coffee shop in Chicago. It partners with specialty coffee companies and co-packs for them, which allows them to create more value across the coffee chain, explained Dreyfuss. “We’re unique in that we have tremendous roasting capacity, and we have packing capacity. So, we’re vertically integrated in that way.”

Image: Paul Hansen

Metropolis is particularly able to co-pack coffee, “because you might find coffee that’s a higher level of value in places you wouldn’t necessarily expect it.” And this applies even more so with capsule coffee, as Dreyfuss remembered seeing a Nespresso machine in a toll booth; and realised that it is just that much easier to have quality coffee anywhere and on-the-go with capsules, harkening back to the company mission to democratise specialty coffee.

Whilst there were companies in Europe that were able to fill capsules for Metropolis, this didn’t seem like the right choice for the company. “The cost of transportation, the time delays, the logistics, also the MOQs (minimum order requirements) are enormous with these things.” Being able to fill its own capsules as well as co-packing gives the company control of its own fate, explained Dreyfuss.

Compostable challenges

It also gave the company the opportunity to set the standard with compostable capsules. Metropolis sources its pods from Smile Beverage Werks, a packaging company that specialises in compostable materials, an industry which is rapidly growing as laws change and materials, certification bodies and the consumer lean further towards compostable in a bid to combat microplastics in the environment, said Frankie Schuster, COO and co-founder, Smile Beverage Werks.

The capsules from Smile Beverage Works are made from a plant-based material that is petroleum free and has been tested and BPI-certified for compostability, however, it is only commercially compostable since this is currently the only legal standard in the US, as there is not yet a home compostable standard, revealed Schuster. “We will be offering TUV certified pods in 2023 and are constantly monitoring the ASTM guidelines for updates to the standards,” he said. “Metropolis will offer home compostable pods this year but wanted to launch with the commercial pod to start.”

Image: Paul Hansen

Whilst they are better for the environment, compostable capsules may pose challenges in the form of freshness; “There’s a big challenge ahead of us in making sure that we seal the capsules correctly with the filter — I’ve learned that is the most critical step for manufacturing capsules,” said Dreyfuss. “If the seal isn’t good, the [coffee doesn’t] stay fresh. And particularly with compostable capsules, it is a bigger deal,” he noted, adding this is especially true between home and commercially compostable options, as commercial certified pods have a two year shelf life, versus just one year for home compostable.

“One of the reasons we chose Smile Beverage Werks is because their capsules are incredibly well known for holding up freshness, compared to other compostable capsules that are on the market.” Despite this challenge with compostable capsules, Dreyfuss does not anticipate it to be an issue they will face, as he believes Metropolis has achieved on par freshness with its compostable capsules, compared to aluminium ones. “It’s guaranteed to hold the oxygen barrier for that period of time.” Metropolis uses a machine from Spreafico, IMA Coffee Packaging, to fill the capsules, which produces up to four capsules per second.

Sustainability focused

Compostable capsules are another arrow in Metropolis Coffee’s sustainability quiver, which is something Dreyfuss asserted was a real focus for the company. “We can prove it with awards that we’ve won, like Roaster of the Year, which are not only for quality, but for sustainability.”

Third party certifications are something Dreyfuss feels is important for both a company’s future and of course the future of the planet; “Especially when we get into scale, it’s going to be more and more important to have those [certifications] not only to do the right thing, but also so that other people feel like they can trust it.”

Image: Metropolis Coffee

But Dreyfuss admits that there are inherent sustainability issues within the coffee industry itself. “Coffee is grown in areas where, in a lot of cases, they strip out the rainforests to grow it. It requires a lot of water, and so many farms out there use chemicals.” However, there is more sustainable and less sustainable, he explained, “Specialty coffee is typically more sustainable than the commercially grown coffee. Commercially grown coffee is mechanised, which means there’s an awful lot of chemicals and the picking and the actual working of the lands is done by machines,” he said. “With specialty coffee, it’s typically picked by hand.” Metropolis has been working with family farms for nearly 20 years and pride themselves in paying attention to the details that make a difference.

Impact of the Pandemic

Like many other companies, Metropolis also found itself looking inwards when the pandemic hit and paying more attention to itself and its values. Dreyfuss said that on the first day of the pandemic, something like 70 percent of its business stopped in one day. “So, we looked around and asked what are we good at? What are we?” The answer they came to was the ability to place products into areas where other specialty roasters aren’t currently saturating.

The availability of specialty coffee at home quickly became a priority for so many consumers when the world went into lockdown. “All these people that are used to getting espresso and coffee at their local cafés can’t do it anymore. But they still want the coffee. And they’re faced with this moment where they’re standing in the fluorescent lighting of a grocery store looking at coffee equipment, thinking, Do I need to do this? And then capsules are like a beam of light coming through the skylight, and hey, it’s easy.” Capsules enable consumers to have barista quality coffee at home without the investment of barista equipment.

Image: Metropolis Coffee

Consumers are seeking out better quality but are not prepared to give up on convenience. “If there’s one thing I have learned in coffee, it’s to never underestimate how much people want convenience,” said Dreyfuss. “It’s not that they’re lazy, it’s just that they have other stuff that they’re doing, that they care about more, which makes perfect sense to me. If we as a specialty industry demand that people put all this extra effort into preparing a cup of coffee, we will never grow specialty coffee — capsules are just perfect for that.”

The pandemic jumpstarted the capsule coffee industry in the US, and enlarged it in the UK and Europe, as consumers reassessed their priorities, particularly in relation to time, and convenience won out. However, premiumisation and specialty coffee is on the rise, and companies must also reconcile these factors with the need for sustainability. All of which leave a tidy place in the market for the compostable coffee capsule.

• Kathryn Brand is an associate editor on T&CTJ, while still writing for several of Bell’s other magazines. She joined Bell Publishing as an editorial assistant at the beginning of 2022 after graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She may be reached at: kathryn@bellpublishing.com.

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“When we started Waka, more than three years ago, we tried to bring the instant revolution to the United States,” said founder and CEO of Waka Coffee, David Kovaleski, explaining that the company’s ambitions are to change consumers’ perception of instant coffee and tea. In the US, where Kovaleski noted that “instant coffee is perceived as your grandma’s coffee,” Waka has already seen growth in the instant market, with its own sales increasing four to five-fold since before the pandemic.

Kovaleski said its winning secret has been to augment the US coffee market rather than to upheave it, “We are never saying to our customers: ditch your coffee maker, ditch your ritual, we say complement it.” He insisted that customers can still enjoy their rituals of grinding their coffee beans, steeping their tea, but Waka comes into its own for on-the-go beverages or times in the day when the ritual isn’t quite so significant. “A lot of companies tell you: we are better, choose only us. We’re saying we are better than any other instant coffee out there and we are better coffee for preparation, for ease of use but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you need only instant coffee always.”

Distinguishing its instant

The quality of Waka’s instant coffee is something Kovaleski believes sets it apart in the market, by freeze-drying its 100 per cent Arabica bean coffee. “Most traditional instant coffee, especially in the US, use Robusta beans and spray-dry their coffee, that’s why you have this bitter aftertaste. Our instant coffee is made from a higher end coffee bean and is processed in a more delicate way, so it preserves more of the aroma and flavours of the beans,” he said.

Waka’s instant tea is also made from 100 per cent real tea leaves which are brewed into a super concentrated liquid with cold water rather than hot to preserve the flavours and aromas. It is then spray-dried to evaporate the thick liquid into a concentrated powder which dissolves straight back into regular tea when water is added.

David Kovalevski, founder and CEO of Waka Coffee & Tea. Image: Waka Coffee & Tea

Beginning only with instant coffee, Waka introduced a single SKU of instant tea as an ‘add-on product’, which grew organically into its own category. The pandemic played a large role in this growth, for both instant tea and coffee. Social media trends such as whipped Dalgona coffee, health shakes and recipes requiring instant tea dramatically lifted Waka from a start-up business, to having its inventory sold out in a week. “A lot of people in the US were looking for ease and convenience when the pandemic hit. They were now working from home more and were caught off guard without coffee makers,” Kovaleski commented, adding, “When you want to have a coffee break when you work from home, it’s a much easier product.” He noted that the US instant coffee market grew by 30 per cent during the [initial] Covid-19 lockdown.

The pandemic was a driving force of this interesting shift in coffee habits with both US and UK consumers. As Kovaleski revealed, instant coffee was unpopular in the US before the pandemic, but the newfound necessity of it during the lockdowns and homeworking allowed many mindsets to be changed. However, the market in the United Kingdom is very different. Instant coffee was mainstream before the pandemic, but then people missed their coffee shop visits and replicated that routine in their own homes by investing in their own coffee machines and making the switch away from instant coffee.

Navigating new markets

Walnut, California-based Waka’s products are available in the US online and in retail stores. It ships its products internationally via iHerb to 165 countries, including the UK. Navigating the contrasting UK and US markets is a challenge Waka is looking forward to confronting head on as the business grows.

“In the US we are pretty much starting afresh, and we need to convince consumers that our product isn’t your old school instant coffee,” shared Kovaleski. “So, in that regard it’s harder because we still need to do the education, but it’s also easier because for them we are new products. However, in the UK it’s easier on the one hand because instant coffee is already well perceived, but on the other, it’s harder because people already know what instant coffee is so they’re judging us a bit more.”

Waka’s instant coffee comes in a variety of formats. Image: Waka Coffee & Tea

The cultural disparity between UK and US consumers is of course also present in the tea market. For Brits, tea is hugely cultural and ritualistic, and the prospect of instant tea is almost sacrilegious. The process of putting on a kettle of water to boil, brewing the tea and memorising everyone’s specific milk and sugar requirements is not something that would be given up easily by Brits. However, Kovaleski feels that there is a lot Waka can bring to the table. “There are two things, first is useability, and second is actual functionality.”

He said that instant tea’s useability exceeds that of tea because it can be brewed cold as well as hot, a huge benefit for those wanting to make iced tea. It is also significantly more concentrated so a much smaller quantity is needed—only a quarter of a teaspoon per serving, with each bag containing 200 servings, and retailing at USD $14.99 per bag, makes it highly economical, and cheaper than a tea bag. It also has a longer shelf life than tea bags, which sit at between six and twelve months, compared to Waka tea at about three years in its resealable bags.

In terms of functionality, Kovaleski said that Waka’s tea is much more eco-friendly. “You don’t have tea bags; you don’t have waste.” Many other tea companies will use bleached tea bags, many of which also contain plastic that poses the risk of microplastic contamination to both the body and the environment.

Waka’s instant tea experienced strong
sales growth during the pandemic. Image: Waka Coffee & Tea

Waka perpetuates its sustainability principles throughout the rest of its company practices too. Kovaleski explained that in terms of sourcing, it works only with coffee and tea suppliers that it knows are adhering to its sustainability values. Its packaging is all recyclable and made from recycled content and any paper that is used is certified by the Safe Forestry Initiative. Waka ensures its packaging is as compact and light as possible to limit its carbon footprint and it donates to support clean water initiatives in 26 countries, as well as managing its own Add Water, Give Water programme which is donated to on a rolling basis.

Yet there is always more to be done. “Our goal, as technology evolves and more packaging solutions become available, is to offer our customers even more eco-friendly solutions. We are all about less mess, less waste in how you make your coffee and tea, so we also want to make sure that this is how we deliver our products as well,” said Kovaleski.

Planning Ahead

As a relatively new company still, Waka is of course looking to the future, not just with its sustainability but with its future business plans. At the end of 2021, it received a $725k investment infusion, which it has already begun to use, and there are plans to utilise it further, alongside raising additional funds.

“We are going to double our SKUs of instant coffee, and we are going to launch light and dark roast coffee from Ethiopia and medium roast from Papua New Guinea in instant coffee,” shared Kovaleski.“We are rebranding, and we have launched new SKUs, new packaging types, and are going to change all of our websites; they’re going to look even more approachable and allow us to put our name out there in a more professional way.”

Reiterating the company’s desire to change the perception and demographic of instant coffee consumers, Kovaleski said Waka’s new packaging and website will look to encourage this evolution by being more colourful and designed. “All of our branding is much more approachable, young, inviting nothing like your old school instant coffee.”

Waka began rolling out a new line of instant flavoured teas in April starting with a peach-flavoured and a lemon-flavoured green tea. Image: Waka Coffee & Tea

Waka also began launching a new line of flavoured teas at the end of April, beginning with a peach-flavoured instant green tea, which will shortly be followed by a lemon variety. “All our flavourings are made from natural ingredients with no added sugar and are non-sweetened; there’s nothing like that in the market,” said Kovaleski noting that most people are accustomed to instant tea from the current two or three players in the industry, “which all have a bunch of sugar, additives and preservatives so ours is just natural flavours mixed with natural tea.” He also revealed that flavoured coffee is in the works.

Waka invests a lot in Intellectual Property trademarks that relate to its proprietary instant process as well as R&D. With the US retail market share of instant coffee at $760 million per annum, and instant tea at $260 million (per IRI Total US Multi Outlet report for the 52 weeks ending 28 November 2021), the instant industry continues to grow with Waka firmly in its saddle.

• Kathryn Brand joined Bell Publishing as an editorial assistant at the beginning of 2022 after graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She may be reached at: kathryn@bellpublishing.com.

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As cliché as it is, humans are creatures of habit, and when our habits were so dramatically altered by the Covid-19 outbreak, we reached for the things we knew, the things we could control, to emulate a semblance of stability. There is a reason we re-watch our favourite films or TV shows, re-read books over and over: we are comforted by the familiarity and the predictability.

As soon as cafés were allowed to offer takeaway coffee, a glimmer of normality returned, and we flocked to their doors in an attempt to capture that mimicry of routine once more. We all remember looking forward to the one trip outside that we were allowed each day. And for so many, this took the form of a walk to grab a coffee to-go from their local café or coffee shop. Not only did it hail back to normal times, but it was a chance for human interaction – seeing ‘real people’ aside from your dog or your long-suffering partner.

At the Specialty Coffee Association’s (SCA) Virtual Coffee Retail Summit in February, Jessica Warden, head of coffee at Gail’s, spoke of the newly essential role their baristas had to play during this time, that the exchange between customer and barista became even more important. For many, it may have been their only social interaction of the day and for most, it served as a chance to get out of the house and recalibrate with the outside world. Coffee, and more importantly, coffee shops, throughout the pandemic, remained an integral part of people’s lives, just in a rather different format.

It was during this time that Pret a Manger launched its subscription service: up to five barista-made beverages a day for £25 a month. This proved a popular scheme, encouraging its customers to make the effort to visit, if only to get the most out of their subscription. One of my closest friends and her housemates would walk to Pret daily – even though it was a forty-minute walk from their house – to feel like they had achieved something with their day, gone somewhere and done something at a time when this was a luxury.

Pret also opened to sit in before a lot of other places, socially distanced and one household to a table of course, where you could go and work or study. The return of indoor dining offered different walls to stare at, and a constant volley of people, which, despite not really being able to interact with, at least they were people and a reminder that life continued.

Instant coffee, was, and still is, widely consumed in the United Kingdom, but specialty coffee is on the uptake and has been for some time. Previously, most people were satisfied with their instant coffee at home and would enjoy a barista style coffee on their way to work or from their fancy office coffee machine, if they were lucky. But during lockdown, when a trip to the coffee shop became the focal point of the day, and time felt so endless that people picked up hobbies like sourdough cultivation and crocheting, the coffee-minded among us delved into the world of specialty coffee at home. They invested in coffee machines and experimented with more unusual and premium blends, no longer satisfied with anything but the high-quality coffee that was the spoils of their lockdown coffee-shop pilgrimages. This was expediated by social media such as the Dalgona coffee TikTok trend that saw people whipping instant coffee, sugar, and water together and adding it to hot or cold milk to create a cloud-like coffee concoction. People were using social media to learn how to do many things – like learning to knit a cardigan – and many were also using it to learn how to make specialty coffee.

Now that society has mostly re-opened, our evolved preference for specialty coffee has lingered and whilst many can achieve this at home, coffee shops have not lost their unshakeable attraction as a segment of our routine and a respite from what was a too empty life in lockdown, to a once more, busy life doing whatever it was we used to do in 2019.

• Kathryn Brand, Bell Publishing editorial assistant
  Keep in touch via email: kathryn@bellpublishing.com 
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