Inspiring ideation and delivering innovation, Monin Gourmet Flavorings brings beverage development to Dallas, TX with the recent grand opening of their second Flavor Café. An in-house, full-service commercial bar, coffeehouse and hi-tech conference center, the new Monin Flavor Café is designed to simulate every stage of beverage development – ideation, recipe creation, presentation and implementation.

Industry professionals representing over thirty top foodservice and coffee organizations gathered to rendezvous with flavor at a grand opening celebration of the new Monin Flavor Café on Thursday, June 19, 2008. The celebration brought Monin partners together to taste, tour and truly experience the facility that will serve as their new off-site beverage center.

The 3,400 square foot Monin Flavor Cafe in Dallas is fully equipped to accommodate the beverage development process for both foodservice and coffee partners. A large, centralized beverage demonstration area stocked with full front and back bar capabilities and customizable service station allow for on-site simulation of every beverage serving scenario. Also available for partners are a professionally equipped galley kitchen, photography studio, custom wood décor conference room and private office. The new Monin Flavor Café is wired with technology enabling live meetings through voice activated video conferencing, close circuit television, and hi-definition presentation video screens.

Another valuable attribute of the Monin Flavor Cafe in Dallas is Jeff Ruth, a new addition to the Monin team as resident Culinary Director. Joining Lisa Ash and Angela Thompson to round out the Monin Culinary Team, Ruth brings over 20 years of experience in the beverage and hospitality industries to Monin. His passion, creativity and knowledge combine to bring partners exciting, profitable beverage initiatives at the new Monin Flavor Café.

Centrally located, the new Monin Flavor Café in Dallas provides ongoing beverage development geographically convenient for partners in the central and western United States. “The facility was built as a resource for our customers,” said Joseph Smith, Sr. Vice President of Sales for Monin. “We needed to be even more accessible to our clients and provide them an environment to explore new and exciting beverage development ideas and conduct meetings.”

The opening of the Monin Flavor Café in Dallas once again demonstrates the leadership of Monin Gourmet Flavorings in the beverage industry by bringing innovation, customer service and partnership capabilities to the forefront. At the U.S. Headquarters in Clearwater, FL or at the new location in Dallas, TX; the state-of-theart Monin Flavor Cafés serve as ideal centers to explore the growing Monin portfolio of flavors and capabilities.

Founded in Bourges, France in 1912, Monin Gourmet Flavorings is driven by time-honored flavor traditions entrusted through three generations of the Monin family. Today, Monin is the world’s leading provider of premium gourmet flavorings. With an uncompromising standard for quality and flavoring expertise, Monin Gourmet Flavorings is dedicated to producing premium products for creating a full range of customized and distinct beverages. Monin matches quality products with attentive, first-rate customer service and innovative recipe applications to give operators proven, successful beverage offerings.

Monin products are available through distributors nationwide, online at www.monin.com, and in over 100 countries around the world. To find a distributor near you, call 800-966-5225 or visit the Monin Website. For more information on this press release contact Kerry Clift.

PORTLAND, OR — “The World Barista Championship 2007: Tokyo,” co-produced by Bruce Milletto of Bellissimo Media Productions and the World Barista Championship (WBC), was honored with a Bronze Remi Award at the 41st Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival held April 11-20, 2008 in Houston. This elite award was given to only 158 video/film productions out of a total 4,500 category entries from 37 countries.

WorldFest-Houston is the 3rd longest-running International film festival in North America and one of the premier film festivals in the world. Previous WorldFest-Houston winners include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Oliver Stone, Jonathan Demme, Ridley Scott, the Coen Brothers and Ang Lee, who were novice filmmakers when they each received their first awards at WorldFest.

WorldFest-Houston offers 12 major areas of competition and awards. “The World Barista Championship 2007: Tokyo” won its award in the Film and Video Production Category in the training sub-category.

"It's a great honor to win this award," said Bruce Milletto, Bellissimo president and the DVD’s director. "Knowing the criteria and how difficult it is to win an award at WorldFest makes this particular honor very sweet."

“The World Barista Championship 2007: Tokyo,” documents the 8th Annual World Barista Championship (WBC) held in Tokyo, Japan July 31 to August 2, 2007. The DVD is the first of its kind produced in the eight-year history of the WBC, and uniquely captures both the heart and mind of the exciting 2007 championship event. This documentary-style DVD includes interviews, local color shots and footage of many of the competitors in action. The film was shot and edited by Dana Vion of Sky’s the Limit Productions based in Springfield, Oregon.

"The DVD documents the full WBC experience, and allows viewers to see and feel the excitement generated by this competition as well as to hear from the participants, attendees and coffee professionals from all over the world," said Milletto.

This is the third time Bellissimo Media Productions has been honored by WorldFest-Houston. In 2001, the Bellissimo/Kenneth Davids production, “The Passionate Harvest,” was one of only 15 festival entries to win a Platinum Award, and in 2005, “Advanced Barista Training: Extreme Pours,” won a second place Gold Award in the training category.

“The World Barista Championship 2007: Tokyo,” retails for $69.95 and is available from Bellissimo Coffee InfoGroup. Wholesale discounts are available.

Additional information and a list of other winning films can be found at WorldFest-Houston.

Roast Magazine Salutes Local Coffee Company’s Efforts

For the second year in a row, Portland Roasting Coffee earned the title of Runner-Up Roaster of the Year at the industry’s fourth annual competition hosted by Roast Magazine in September. A close second, next to Zoka Coffee of Seattle, Portland Roasting collected high grades for its sustainable business efforts and top-quality single-origin coffees.

Nearly 40 coffee companies from around the country threw their hat into the ring for a competition that involved a written application pertaining and a cupping of three coffee samples. Portland Roasting shot to the top of the heap of applicants with its work in the environmental and fair trade practices arena. Their Farm Friendly Direct™ coffee sourcing program and recent introduction of the region’s first compostable to-go cup, the ecotainer™, were just two of the company’s notable efforts that placed them apart from their competitors.

“Portland Roasting is a leader in the coffee industry as they are changing the way people look at direct trade and sustainability,” explains Connie Blumhardt, publisher of Roast Magazine. “They act as a model for new roasters who want to make inroads into sustainability while roasting excellent coffee.”

In the blind cupping portion of the competition, coffees were judged per SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America) standards on a 1-100 point scale. Judges examined coffee samples for their defects, flavor profile, density, body, aroma and mouth feel, among others characteristics.  In the blind cupping, Portland Roasting scored of 80.5 for its Morning Blend, an 86.50 for its Portland House Blend and 88.50 for its Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Kochere blend.

About Portland Roasting
Since 1996, Portland Roasting Coffee Company has been roasting coffee and espresso for the Northwest community.  The company’s products are available via wholesale, internet and retail channels as well as through corporate, university and specialty venue businesses. Portland Roasting prides itself on its sustainability initiatives such as its Farm Friendly Direct™ program that pays premium prices to its growers to ensure quality coffee while helping to sustain the families and communities that support the coffee farmers. For more information on its coffees and environmental programs, please go to Portland Roasting.