The State and Future of Specialty Coffee, Parts I and II :: This hugely popular, Charlie Rose-style session from 2009 returns to address a New Year and a new set of challenges. Session I is recast with a new set of industry leaders and Session II will reassemble last year’s panelists to provide a concrete follow up on the issues and positions revealed last year, giving delegates an opportunity to delve into the motivations and strategies behind the most influential leaders in the coffee business.

Panelists for part one will include Dub Hay, Senior Vice President of Coffee for Starbucks Coffee Company, Nathan Herszkowicz, head of the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association (ABIC), and James Hoffman, founding partner of Square Mile Coffee and World Barista Champion 2007.

Panelists for part two will include Rocky Laverty, CEO of Farmer Brothers Coffee, Pat O’Dea, CEO of Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Doug Zell, CEO and founder of Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, and Nestor Osorio, Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization.

Both sessions will be moderated by David Griswold, founder and President of Sustainable Harvest Specialty Coffee Importers.

The Single Serve Market :: Batch brewing, which defined brewed coffee preparation for decades, is being challenged in both the mass market and high-end specialty by a proliferation of new technologies and a revival of old favorites. The advent of the K-cup®, the Clover®, soluble innovations in Starbucks’ VIA™, the revival of Melitta® and Chemex® pourover methods, all point to an exciting, paradigm-shifting phenomenon and this two-part session will explore how brewing to order, by the cup, is changing every part of the coffee business.

Session one will look at innovations like K-Cup®, Nespresso®, and VIA™ and how they’re making huge inroads into the at-home coffee marketplace. Is this simply adding dimension to the at-home coffee marketplace, or is this a microwaveable-popcorn style paradigm shifter? We’ll be addressing these issues along with insiders in the mass-market single cup brewing industry, evaluating consumption trends, supply issues, and quality developments.

Session two will look at how cutting-edge, high-end coffee bars have embraced single serve coffee preparations like the Clover®, siphon bar, pourover bar, and other by-the-cup brewing systems. How are these developments transforming the consumer experience of specialty coffee? Are these workable ways to run a business, or just a good show? Is this a fad, or is “brewing by the cup” here to stay? Join leaders in the brew-by-the-cup retail movement in discussing and demonstrating the mechanics of this transformation to the coffee retail environment.

Specialty Coffee in Ethiopia, Continued :: After an intensive dialogue last year, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) began working with the Specialty Coffee Association of America to design strategies to more effectively address the needs of the sector. Two of these new strategies took effect at the end of 2009 and this session will examine their impact in detail as well as give specialty coffee players a voice in how the programs evolve.

A short presentation by Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, CEO of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX), will be followed by an open and in-depth discussion.

In Pursuit of Taste with Lex Alexander :: This session will bring us as close to a relaxed, stimulating dinner table conversation as possible in a conference setting. Lex Alexander is known to many in the specialty food industry as the “Food Guy”, a title he earned while working as an executive at Whole Foods after his original grocery store Wellspring was purchased by the chain. Combining taste and science with captivating stories, Lex will introduce us to small producer wines, their origin and background, and an unexpected look at what coffee can learn from these examples.

Carbon and Coffee :: Carbon offsets, carbon sequestration, carbon neutrality—these days, carbon dioxide is a part of every conversation about the environment. As businesses, we might be legally obligated to account for and pay taxes on the carbon emitted through our use of energy within a few years. As citizens of the world, we are morally obligated to take responsibility for the impact of our activities on the environment right now.

Coffee occupies a unique space in the carbon debate: on one side is the energy- and carbon-intensive process of transporting, roasting, packaging and preparing our product for consumption, and on the other is the global cultivation of a crop with more potential for forest conservation and carbon sequestration than any other crop. Imagine being able to purchase carbon credits and coffee from the same suppliers, thereby providing additional income for coffee growers, attaching tangible value to biodiversity and providing incentives for environmentally sustainable agriculture.

This blueprint-building session will bring together various experts in the field along with coffee businesses who have actively partnered with their customers and suppliers to reduce their impact collectively, to sequester carbon and take a proactive approach to climate change. It is designed to fully inform participants on the subject and provide calculation methods that can be replicated. Moderated by Kim Elena Bullock, Sustainability and Producer Relations Manager at Counter Culture Coffee.

Hunger in the Coffee Lands and the growing threat to specialty coffee :: The hunger in coffee communities in Mesoamerica between May and September is so predictable and pervasive it has its own name: “Los meses flacos” or the thin months. And while we all know of its existence, it is a topic that hasn’t received much attention, in large part because it is an understandably difficult one to explore with many causes including mono-agricultural practices, low and unstable market prices, decreasing yields, and lack of access to credit and financing options. Even setting aside the moral issue for the moment, this situation poses a threat to the supply of specialty coffee as more and more farmers abandon coffee for other crops or leave coffee altogether and increasingly, government policies are encouraging shifts away from coffee production. While incredibly complex, recent work suggests this is not an unsolvable problem and this session aims to create a platform upon which solutions can be developed.

With context-setting presentations by Rick Peyser, Director of Social Advocacy and Coffee Community Outreach for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Chris Bacon, a Fellow at the University of California (Berkeley), Daniele Giovannucci will guide a discussion around how specialty coffee companies can address this problem.

Myths, Symbols and Realities of American Coffee History :: This session provides an academic look at some of the most pervasive themes in our industry—for example, quality of coffee equals quality of life—and challenges the stories we’ve used to develop our operating framework, build brands, communicate with consumers, and ultimately, justify our actions. This examination will reveal some clear inaccuracies and lead into a discussion that will focus on the potential risks and benefits of propagating these myths as well as identify the opportunities to build a stronger, more powerful platform upon which to create a new generation of business and marketing strategies.

Presented by Kenneth Davids of Coffee Review and Steven Topik, Professor of History at the University of California Irvine.

The Global Coffee Quality Research Initiative :: Last year, Dr. Timothy Schilling presented findings from various experiments conducted in Rwanda under a project to transform the country's coffee industry into a specialty one. It sparked much interest and in the hallways, during breaks, and at dinner, the discussion continued. It wasn't only Dr. Schilling's research that proved interesting, but also the recognition that the type of information he presented is scarcely available. Nearly every other agricultural crop in the world has a strong, central institution that broadly and thoroughly examines quality and other production improvements, yet for specialty coffee-an industry built on quality-there is a striking absence. Enter the Global Coffee Quality Research Initiative...from hallway discussions to a concrete plan...this industry-wide collaboration will expand research on quality, including genetics, agronomy, processing, and post-harvesting, build capacity for further studies, and increase the availability of information worldwide. Presented by Dr. Timothy Schilling, this session provides information about this groundbreaking new opportunity, one that may redefine the way we do business, and outlines how to become involved.

Digital Engagement- New Marketing Strategies for a Changing World :: After deconstructing our Myths and Meta-Histories, we'll follow with a session designed to lead us toward new, more authentic, and easily accessible brands. Social and other on-line media have drastically changed the rules and dynamics of marketing and reaching out to consumers. Used well, these tools create an enormous opportunity to tap into customers' social drivers before they ever engage with your business. However without the right strategies, thought, and attention, companies can quickly fall behind. In this session, David Armano, a senior vice president at Edelman Digital who writes Logic + Emotion, one of the top media + marketing blogs according to Advertising Age, will walk through how our industry can leverage digital engagement. David's approach blends strategy with design while integrating new opportunities around the social Web to enhance the customer experience, connect individuals and innovate.

With 350 million active Facebook users-half of which log in daily-and Twitter projecting the same by 2011, it is undeniable that there is a bold new world of marketing opportunities out there for the taking. This session will explore what's working for other industries and how we can apply new concepts to our own businesses.

Denomination of Origin :: with Paul Songer and Luis Fernando Samper. In this session, we'll look at two separate approaches to set geographical indicators, in Rwanda and Colombia. In Rwanda, the analysis has taken place purely on a cup basis and in Colombia, they've employed extensive lab testing and verification. Along the lines of the wine model, these types of projects help identify and protect specific regional flavors, provide interesting research for developing supply lines, and create marketing opportunities on both sides of the value chain. Understanding the nuances of flavors from various regions and having the information to explain those differences is what sets specialty products apart, creating interest and allowing us to start a conversation with the consumer.

New Approaches to Brew Analysis :: Coffee by the cup has made quite a comeback over the last year as habitual latte drinkers and new consumers have embraced drip coffee; storied hand brewing methods have been revived and new brewing technologies have been adopted. All this innovation has spurred the truly inquisitive to re-examine what makes a great cup of brewed coffee. This Q & A session with inventor and coffee fanatic Vince Fedele explores advancements in the technology of analyzing the cup and some of the surprising things we've learned about how to brew a great cup.

Growing Consumption :: A Q & A session with Judy Ganes and Carlos Brando exploring trends and how other beverages compete and are gaining share against coffee, leading to discussion about new strategies for building consumption.