Trip to America

I may be the tea guy, but I am very aware that a tea drinker is usually partial to a few cups of coffee in any given day. Because of this and our relationship with Burton Hollis, I recently had the pleasure of travelling to America with renowned coffee roaster, David Burton, to attend the SCAA (Speciality Coffee Association of America) conference in Minneapolis (image below).

This is a conference on a huge scale – stands from plantations, producers, roasters and retailers from across the world. It was a complete culture shock for a tea guy like myself. I know that the coffee industry is bigger than the tea one (give it time, people, give it time) but I was not prepared for the diversity of the stands, the growers and the ethnicities that were on display. We take it for granted when we sip our latte that “NZ roasted” covers it all, but a mere coffee bean undergoes a lot before it reaches our shores.

It was an information overload but given the amount of travel time I have given it some thought and these are the observations that I would like to share with you…

Ethical Coffee
The coffee industry has given a lot of thought and energy into the ethics of production. We see Fair Trade a lot here but overseas it is developing into something much bigger and we are seeing new movements like the Rainforest Alliance (www.rainforest-alliance.org ) and Coffee Kids (www.coffeekids.org ) gathering momentum and making a real difference.

Baristas
We went to the US National Barista Championships and felt incredibly patriotic when we learnt that one of the lead technical judges was Chris White from New Zealand. The standards of Baristas in the States is rising quickly and we saw some very theatrical performances – it was like watching a celebrity chef the way they engaged the audience.

Best Cup of Coffee
We drank a lot of coffee (as you would imagine). It is always interesting drinking coffee with David Burton. I agree with him when he says that street coffee in America is very bad. They favour a dark roast and then mix it with way too many creamers and flavours for it to be enjoyed. The best cup was a Colombian coffee, reputed to be the best coffee in the world and now I understand why it is referred to as ‘black gold’. David commented that a trip to America always reminds him that we are doing a good job in New Zealand.

Tea
A tea man cannot survive any trip without a good cup of tea along the way and I made sure to fit in a visit to Harris Tea (www.harristea.com ) in Anaheim. They are the largest private label supplier of tea in the States producing both speciality and mainstream tea and I felt right at home.

Proud to be a Kiwi
I always love traveling and letting people know that I am from New Zealand (yes I am aware that I am a POM, but I still call New Zealand home). What was interesting was how many people related to New Zealand on a more passionate level and for one reason in particular. Not the All Blacks, not the politics, but Flight of the Concords. Those boys have worked some magic with the Americans and we felt the love!

It is good to be home. It is good to be back tasting and blending tea, but I am delighted to have gained more insight into the coffee industry which has given me a new found appreciation for that cup of black gold I have every now and then!

Sri Lanka

Great news – I just booked my next flight to Sri Lanka! I’ll be heading off soon, with the CEO of the Bell Tea Company, Mark Hamilton. This will be his first trip to Sri Lanka and I can’t wait to show him around all the different estates, and introduce him to our friends and tea partners. Sri Lanka is one of our most important tea producers, and we have a really strong relationship with many of the great tea estates over there. So I’m really excited that Mark will be coming.

I’ll be sure to bring back photos for the blog!