Mayorga Coffee Roasters Know Beans -- and Profits From Them

Laura Sanchez
HispanicBusiness.com

NAME: Mayorga Coffee Roasters
INDUSTRY: Specialty coffee
RANK on Hispanic Business Faste Growing 100: #5
REVENUES (2005): $4.2 million
FOUNDED: 1996
OWNERSHIP: Privately owned

Martin Mayorga has fond memories of Nicaragua's lush countryside. He spent the better part of his youth there amid the country's fertile valleys and volcanic peaks before narrowly escaping the Sandinista revolution in the early 1980s.

"We didn't really have many options," he explained. "We left Nicaragua because my parents feared for all of our safety." He recalls not having to go to school for a year when he was 8 or 9 and because there was a war going on. "It was a crazy time."

One evening his parents told the family that they were going to Disneyland and they fled to the United States, settling in the Washington, D.C. area. It proved a fertile ground for the future entrepreneur. "I feel that my Hispanic culture, coupled with the opportunities offered to me by this great country, have allowed me to continually challenge myself and move forward."

As a young college student at Georgetown, Mr. Mayorga struggled between getting educated and waiting tables and other odd jobs to pay his tuition. He began selling cigars out of the trunk of his car, eventually connecting with larger vendors and expanding his side-business.

As it turned out, a close family friend back in Nicaragua was also having difficulty making a living selling his coffee to exporters who charged hefty fees. So Mr. Mayorga offered to broker the friend's green coffee in the U.S. to commercial roasters, eliminating the middleman.

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Hot Selling Organic Coffee is Focus of National Coffee Association Seminar

Organic coffee certification will be the focus of a seminar at the National Coffee Association's 96th Annual Convention. David Abney, General Manager of QAI, one of the nation's leading organic coffee roaster certification organizations, will discuss the rapidly growing organic coffee market and what steps are needed to become certified. QAI certifies 3 participants of the Organic Coffee Collaboration - a project of the Organic Trade Association.

(PRWEB) February 28, 2007 -- Organic coffee certification will be the focus of a seminar at the National Coffee Association's 96th Annual Convention. David Abney, General Manager of QAI (Quality Assurance International), one of the nation's leading organic coffee roaster certification organizations, will discuss the rapidly growing organic coffee market and what steps are needed to become certified as organic. QAI certifies three participants of the Organic Coffee Collaboration -- a project of the Organic Trade Association.

Data from the Organic Trade Association's 2006 Manufacturer Survey indicate that U.S. organic coffee sales totaled $89 million in 2005, up 40 percent from the previous year. One factor driving organic coffee sales in the U.S. is the high quality of the beans. As an indication of quality, organic coffees won Cup of Excellence competitions in both Brazil and Nicaragua in 2006. The prestigious award program, managed by the U.S.-based Alliance for Coffee Excellence, results in the selection of the best coffees produced in a particular country in a particular year.

Where: The Phoenician, Scottsdale, AZ

When: The seminar, "Profitability Track Record of Certified Coffees" will be held Friday, March 2, 2007, from 2-3:30 p.m. Convention dates are March 1-4, 2007.

Contact: Sandra Marquardt, On the Mark Public Relations, tel: 301-592-0077

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Anchorage leads nation in coffee shops

Associated Press

Anchorage loves its coffee. A study found that Anchorage had more coffee shops per capita than any other city in the United States. The 2005, study by market research firm NPD Group found that Alaska's largest city had roughly three coffee shops for every 10,000 people.

That was more than even Seattle. Seattle, along with Bellevue and Everett, placed second. San Francisco was third.

World coffee growers warned not to raise production

New Delhi.– Coffee-growing nations risk killing a nascent price recovery should they boost production to take advantage of a fall in Brazilian output, a top industry executive has warned.

Brazil expects production to fall by eight to 10 million bags from last year's 41.5 million bags – at least 20 percent – when it harvests the next crop in April-May, said Nestor Osorio, executive director of the International Coffee Organisation.

"The market is going to be short of coffee because stocks are already at the lowest point in history," Osorio told AFP in Bangalore, where he attended the three-day Indian Coffee Festival ending Sunday.

The Colombian-born official forecast production for the next crop year at 110 million bags, each weighing 60 kilos (132 pounds), and demand at about 120 million bags, a deficit he said will likely extend the recovery after a crisis that started in 2000 when coffee prices fell below production cost.

"We are at a turning point at which the days of crisis are over," Osorio said. "The recovery of prices should continue.

"But a lot remains to be done and producers have to be cautious, not to think that the present situation could lead to more production," he added.

"The name of the game should be value, not volume."

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Robert tests the Hearthware i-Roast 2

I have roasted an 80 gram batch of Costa Rican Tarrazu and a 140 gram batch of Colombian Supremo, and so far, it looks as if I will have to retire my Café Rosto.

I have been roasting my own coffee for about five years but I am far from an expert roaster. I like to think I am an experienced amateur roaster. The only roaster I have ever used is the Café Rosto, and I am on my second one. Actually, I started out roasting with the Melitto Café Aroma, but please don't spread it around. Using the Aroma is like riding a moped. It's fun until your friends find out.

I will give a more detailed report on the i-Roast 2 in a later post. I need to use it and play with it some more before I can tell you about it. I need to study the directions some more so I can experiment with different roast cycles. It allows you to roast at different temperatures at separate stages of the roasting cycle and I need to see if that is worth the hassle.

So far, I like it very much. My Rosto requires a lot of supervision to get a good, evenly roasted batch. In other words, I have to stand there and shake it every 30 seconds so the beans get agitated sufficiently. Otherwise, some burn and others aren't roasted enough. I have wasted too much coffee because I was distracted (computer, kids, computer, wife, computer, telephone, etc.) during roasting and did not shake shake shake.

Accepted wisdom is to never leave a roaster alone. It's not safe. I know that, but, well, mea culpa on getting distracted.

My first two batches were beautiful! I did a preset cycle on the Tarrazu and it was perfect in 10 minutes. I programmed the Colombian to roast at 450 for 13 minutes, but I shut it down at 12 and it went into its 4 minute cooling cycle. Also a beautiful batch. Very nice roaster.

I'll roast some more and report in a later post.

Any questions? Please email me.

Robert

Starbucks chairman warns of "the commoditization of the Starbucks experience"

Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz wrote this to CEO Jim Donald earlier this month. The memo's authenticity has been confirmed by Starbucks.

From: Howard Schultz
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 10:39 AM Pacific Standard Time
To: Jim Donald
Cc: Anne Saunders; Dave Pace; Dorothy Kim; Gerry Lopez; Jim Alling; Ken Lombard; Martin Coles; Michael Casey; Michelle Gass; Paula Boggs; Sandra Taylor

Subject: The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience

As you prepare for the FY 08 strategic planning process, I want to share some of my thoughts with you.

Over the past ten years, in order to achieve the growth, development, and scale necessary to go from less than 1,000 stores to 13,000 stores and beyond, we have had to make a series of decisions that, in retrospect, have lead to the watering down of the Starbucks experience, and, what some might call the commoditization of our brand.

Many of these decisions were probably right at the time, and on their own merit would not have created the dilution of the experience; but in this case, the sum is much greater and, unfortunately, much more damaging than the individual pieces. For example, when we went to automatic espresso machines, we solved a major problem in terms of speed of service and efficiency. At the same time, we overlooked the fact that we would remove much of the romance and theatre that was in play with the use of the La Marzocca machines. This specific decision became even more damaging when the height of the machines, which are now in thousands of stores, blocked the visual sight line the customer previously had to watch the drink being made, and for the intimate experience with the barista.

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