Coffee emerging as youth drink world over, says illycafe chief
RAGHU KRISHNAN
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2004 02:56:39 AM ]

BANGALORE: Coffee prices may have scraped the bottom of the cup for the last few years in terms of growers’ realisations all over the globe. However, Ernesto Illy, chairman of the Trieste-based world espresso leader illycafe, sees no grounds for pessimism either in his corporate capacity or as the present head of the promotion committee of the International Coffee Organisation (ICO).

The future belongs to coffee, he told ET. Each time I come to India, I see an exponential growth in the number of youths being attracted to your fine coffee cafes, the Baristas, the Cafe Coffee Days, the Qwikys. And I am not surprised. You can try it out yourself. Keep a cup of tea, a cola and a cup of coffee on the table. There is nothing to match the aroma of a good cup of coffee!

The youthful passion for good coffee is, he adds, not something unique to India. It’s just three years since illycafe launched in the cities of China, not just in the posh hotels but in the tea-rooms frequented by young Chinese. I’m happy to say that consumption of illycafe is growing at an exponential rate in China!

illycafe is, of course, the world’s leading single espresso blend and sold as such in 40,000 restaurants and coffee-bars in 98 countries. It is estimated that between five million to six million cups of illycafe are drunk every day. illycafe is an espresso blend of 9 different Arabica origins, including India over the last few years.

Ernesto says that 15% of the coffee currently sourced by illycafe world over is from India. Some five years ago when we rated Indian coffees, on a scale where 3 was excellent, we found that your Arabicas were essentially below .5 but your quality has improved so much that today we rate your Arabicas at 2.5!