The Hindu Business Line : Italy's illycafe to promote gourmet coffees in India

Prompted by the rising consumption in India, Italian roaster illycafe S.p.A plans to open a branch of its `University of Coffee' in Bangalore to develop and promote gourmet coffee culture in the country.

illycafe, which produces and markets a single blend of Arabica coffee worldwide, runs its own university Universita del Caffe at Trieste, a city in Italy, to spread the coffee culture worldwide. Over six million cups of illy espresso coffee are consumed globally on a daily-basis.

The Chairman and CEO, illycafe, Mr Andrea illy, told Business Line that the University of Coffee would start functioning from January and would train both Indian growers and baristas. "We would like our experts to work directly with growers' community here to enable improvement in methods of harvesting, curing, processing and packaging," he said.

The university would also organise courses for food and beverage industry, professional baristas, coffee shops and restaurant managers and in the future, consumers, Mr illy said.

He added that investment figures were still being worked out. Bangalore would be the sixth branch for the university, which already operates in Italy, Brazil, Holland, China and Korea.

The domestic market, which consumes over 70,000 tonnes of coffee annually, is witnessing interesting times. The gourmet coffee boom, which started in the US a few years ago, is coming to India as well. The increasing disposable incomes, coupled with the growing exposure of the middle class to the Western culture and lifestyle are driving the coffee consumption.

Global presence

Sensing a big market, several global coffee chains such as Coffee World, Costas and Barnies have already arrived in the country, while Starbucks recently announced its entry plans. The homegrown chains such as Café Coffee Day, Barista and Java City, among others, are also seen expanding.

The proposed launch of University of Coffee brings illycafe a step closer to its direct entry into India. illy, at present, has a partnership with Fresh & Honest and Barista to distribute its products in the country. illy is pursuing institutional sales at present targeting hotels and restaurants, where it has seen major growth in the past year. "However, we don't have any immediate retail plans," Mr illy said.

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