Featured Articles

By Randy D. Pope

Coffee wasn’t always filtered. Originally, coffee was brewed by boiling water with ground coffee, then pouring off the beverage, trapping the grounds in a corner. Obviously this was a less than effective way to keep the grounds out of the coffee, and as a result, before 1908, a person quaffing a cup of coffee probably enjoyed some coffee grounds with the liquid.

All this changed in 1908 when a housewife from Dresden, Germany, Melitta Bentz, punctured the bottom of a brass pot and lined it with blotting paper. The result – the first filter-drip coffee. According to the Melitta website, she patented the device, now named "Filter Top Device lined with Filter Paper" which took on a cone shape in the 1930s, creating a larger filtration area lined with ribs for improved extraction of the ground coffee.

How much do we really understand about the manufacture and marketing of Puerh tea? After a week in China’s Yunnan province in May this year, the author discusses the different types of puerh and how to choose a good one.

By Jane Pettigrew

Puerh tea is a relatively recent arrival on western shores and many of us still struggle to appreciate why the teas vary so much in character, quality and price. Many tea lovers still find it hard to understand the differences between authentic ‘aged’ puerhs, which develop and mature over many years, and ‘cooked’ puerhs which acquire their aged or ‘ripened’ character in just a few months.

By Aparna Datta

Awards and honors are a pleasant, yet significant aspect of any thriving industry, indicative of professional achievement and a competitive spirit. Award ceremonies are also great business and social networking events, often bringing together stakeholders from across the business ecosystem. Quality awards, especially those that reward producers, have a special role in the tea and coffee industries, recognizing merit and quality in the cup that ultimately benefits consumers.

By Glenn A. John

Nearly all people who enjoy coffee come into contact with the Probat-Werke von Gimborn Maschinenfabrik GmbH, as this Emmerich-based enterprise that is rich in tradition enjoys a market share of roughly 7O% of the coffee roaster market. Put another way, out of 10 cups of coffee drunk world-wide, 7 were roasted with equipment made by the PROBAT Group. Probat has been operating globally for decades and is a global leader in the market segment of coffee roasting machines, equipment and plants.

Staff Report

Usually, the roasting and grinding processes are the main focus of coffee refinement. Third parties often underestimate the complexity of a coffee production plant. The configuration of the various plant components between green coffee feeding and packaging machine has to guarantee a flawless and efficient throughput.