What’s brewing for The London Coffee Festival 2025?

When Covid-19 hit over 12 months ago, the global hospitality industry was confronted with its biggest crisis in many generations. Now, as we look towards the end of the pandemic and businesses worldwide return to some form of normality, café owners may be asking themselves, “should we be cautious or optimistic”?We believe there is much to be positive about. In this episode, we are speaking to coffee business leaders and a global economist to explore the positive business trends and opportunities that have emerged in the wake of the global pandemic.We’ll hear a macro perspective from Deloitte’s Chief Global Economist Ira Kalish, who outlines what effect Covid has had on the global economy and how quickly he expects global GDP to rebound.Phil McKnight, General Manager for Global Specialty Coffee at Breville and Sage Appliances shares why he believes the coffee market will grow even more both in the home and in the cafe once consumers are back on the streets. We’ll also speak with Darren Levy, CEO of Africa’s largest coffee shop chain, vida e caffè, about the innovations he is bringing to South African coffee drinkers.This episode is part of a series of articles and interviews examining the opportunities for positive change in a post-pandemic world. Read the latest edition of the 5THWAVE magazine here for more on the topic. Credits music: Coffee 2 Go by Kirsten Izer in partnership with The Coffee Music ProjectGet in touch and tell us what topics you'd like to hear by visiting www.worldcoffeeportal.com/5THWAVE/Podcast

9 Apr 202129min

Running a coffee business has never been easy, but it's certainly more manageable if you have the right business partner. The question is – who should you choose and how should you work together? In this episode, we are exploring three successful coffee business partnerships that have stood the test of time to glean some of the secrets of their success.Amber Jacobsen, Co-founder of Partners Coffee Roasters, discusses her business partnership with co-founder Adam Boyd, and shares how their different synergistic skillsets have helped them to navigate a successful decade together including tackling Covid.We’ll hear from Steven Macatonia and Jeremy Torz, Co-founders of Union Hand-Roasted Coffee, and get an insight into how they manage the day-to-day pressures of being both business and life partners.We also speak with Keith Chua and Seo Young Youn of Bean Brothers, a Korean/Malaysian artisan coffee chain, to understand how Keith entered into an existing partnership and expanded the brand into a completely new market.Credits music: California, by Billy Bogaurd in partnership with The Coffee Music ProjectGet in touch and tell us what topics you'd like to hear by visiting www.worldcoffeeportal.com/5THWAVE/Podcast

25 Mars 202130min

Jeffrey Young speaks with Laila Ghambari, Director of Cafes at Stumptown Coffee Roasters, to get a glimpse into how the pioneering specialty coffee business manages its cafes and learn how she has been steering the ship through the turbulent waters of the pandemic.We originally spoke to Laila for our episode on Fostering team culture, but she offered such thought-provoking insights on leadership and navigating through change that we felt the interview deserved an episode of its own. In this conversation, Laila challenges us to rethink the traditional role of the leader and highlights the importance of serving the managers who report to you, instead of the other way round.Get in touch and tell us what topics you'd like to hear by visiting www.worldcoffeeportal.com/5THWAVE/Podcast

4 Mars 202131min

Jeffrey Young is joined by David Griswold, Founder and CEO of Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers – the world’s first B Corp certified coffee company - to explore what the 5th Wave of coffee means in practice and its significance to coffee farmers at origin. David is a leading figure in the world of specialty coffee and a pioneer in sustainable, ethical trade. In this conversation, David and Jeffrey discuss the importance of forging human connections with coffee farmers and fostering business synergies between coffee growing communities and the coffee drinking world. For more information on the guiding principles of the 5th Wave of coffee, read our introduction article Explainer: What is the 5th Wave?Get in touch and tell us what topics you'd like to hear by visiting www.worldcoffeeportal.com/5THWAVE/Podcast

19 Feb 202156min

Jeffrey Young speaks with Angus Thirlwell, CEO & Co-founder of Hotel Chocolat – a brand that forges a unique space for itself in the retail chocolate market. In this episode, Angus shares the secrets that helped him scale his business and discusses the parallel trends between chocolate and coffee. Angus is a master brand builder and a pioneering figure in the world of chocolate. During our conversation with him for the Christmas episode, Unwrapping the chocolate industry, Angus shared such wisdom and insight that we felt the interview justified a bonus episode. Credits music: Zelda Mae by Fergus from the Hotel Chocolat x Jake Gosling playlist Get in touch and tell us what topics you'd like to hear by visiting www.worldcoffeeportal.com/5THWAVE/Podcast

5 Feb 202138min

Teams can achieve extraordinary things when human beings feel united and pull towards the same goal. But building powerful workplace team culture can be hard, especially in a café, with staff on different shifts and cafes spaced miles apart.This week we explore how three successful companies foster powerful, united cultures that help their teams and businesses thrive across geographies and even through a pandemic.In this episode, Guido Bernardinelli, CEO of La Marzocco, outlines the company’s management framework, also known as the 4Ps – People, Product, Planet and Profit.We speak to Laila Ghambari, Director of Cafes at Stumptown Coffee Roasters about how building trust with their team is more important now than ever.We’ll also hear from Edwin Harrison, Co-founder of Artisan, Curious Roo Coffee Roasters and the Artisan Coffee School, about creating a caring team culture throughout his business.Credits music: Forceless by Erica ShaferGet in touch and tell us what topics you'd like to hear by visiting www.worldcoffeeportal.com/5THWAVE/Podcast

29 Jan 202130min

While specialty coffee consumption continues to grow, it’s an unfortunate truth that for many, coffee growing does not offer a financially viable livelihood. It is also true the quality of life in these communities almost always lags behind those of coffee drinkers in western economies. This week we are exploring how three different organisations are trying to address these problems.We’ll hear from Carlos Ortiz, Manager of Volcafe's sourcing strategy Volcafe Way. He shares how his company is prioritising farmer sustainability in its sourcing practices.Catherine David, Head of Commercial Partnerships at Fairtrade Foundation offers insights on why it makes sense for business operators to provide certified coffees.Rebecca Hodgson, Head of Project Waterfall, a water charity focused on coffee growing communities, explains how access to clean water is a key piece in the sustainability puzzle.Credits music: Quaranqueen by Dyllan winner of the Coffee Music Project Los Angeles 2019Get in touch and tell us what topics you'd like to hear by visiting www.worldcoffeeportal.com/5THWAVE/Podcast

14 Jan 202132min

Jeffrey Young speaks with Tim Wendelboe,  founder of the Oslo-based roastery that exemplifies the Nordic specialty coffee movement. In this conversation Tim discusses the business principles he used to build the iconic roastery and explores the challenges coffee growers face in building financially sustainable businesses. Tim is a shining example of a successful business leader guided by principles, ethics, and transparency. We featured Tim in our Careers in Coffee episode but were only able to include a handful of the many insights he offered, so today we are releasing that conversation in full.Get in touch and tell us what topics you'd like to hear by visiting www.worldcoffeeportal.com/5THWAVE/Podcast

8 Jan 202140min