Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/673312
April 2016 65 most expansive model, the MOD4, which brews up to four different kinds of tea at the same time. Alpha Dominche is an American company based in Salt Lake City, Utah and Brooklyn, N.Y. Sylvain Oribe, CEO of Groupe Orientis, owner of Kusmi Tea, said, "We are proud to announce the exclu- sive launch in France of the Steampunk brewer in our shop at the famous Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette. This fantastic machine brings in an innovative expertise to Kusmi Tea and we, as the 21 st century tea brand, are excited to be work- ing with the worldwide specialist Alpha Dominche on this project." Ally Coffee Expands Operations plantation, fla. – Ally Coffee, the green coffee importing division of the Belo Horizonte, Brazil-based Montesanto Tavares agricultural group, is growing its specialty and commercial divisions in the U.S. and Europe. In late 2015, Ally Coffee opened a commercial trading office in Lausanne, Switz. and hired Alessandro Llamas as the head of trade. Llamas brings many years of experience working with Massimo Zanetti and managing origin operations in Costa Rica and now sources high qual- ity Brazilian coffees for European clients. In March 2016, Ally established a new office in Brooklyn, N.Y., an exten- sion of the SCAA-certified training lab- oratory and specialty coffee headquar- ters in Taylors, South Carolina. The South Carolina lab, managed by director Ricardo Pereira, regularly hosts SCAA classes and cupping sessions. The New York office will follow that model and serve as a regional hub for education and traceable quality. Ally Coffee warehouses green coffee in Antwerp and nine loca- tions across the U.S. and runs a West Coast trading office in La Crescenta, Calif. The company is vertically integrated in Brazil, owning and operating three estates, four milling facilities, and full export logistics through partner Montesanto Tavares sub- sidiaries Cafebras, Atlantica Coffee, and InterBrasil Coffee. The specialty division sources microlots from Central and South America, East Africa, and Indonesia. The Ally team will be available to meet during the SCAA Expo (Booth 1521). Myanmar Coffee Shatters Records at Cupping Competition pyin oo lwin, myanmar – The top lot earned over 87 points on the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) scale at this year's Myanmar Coffee Association (MCA) cupping competition. Last year's winning coffee came in at 84.25. Quality rose across the board among all entrants with 56 of 60 samples exceeding the 80-point specialty cup qual- ity threshold. The overall winner was a fully washed SL34 lot from Green Land Coffee estate of Pyin Oo Lwin, at 87.08 points. The winning coffee was described by judges as "complex" with grapefruit, sugar cane, tomato, and dried fruit flavors. The num- ber two overall and top dry natural coffee from Ma Mi Nyo small-holder commu- nity of Shan State earned 86.75 for their "clean and balanced" coffee with flavors of pineapple, cherry and apricot. The total lot size of each is five tons and 200 kg, respectively. This event was part of the USAID- funded Value Chains for Rural Development project implemented by Winrock International and organized by the Myanmar Coffee Association (MCA) and Coffee Quality Institute (CQI). It was hosted at the Mandalay Coffee Group cupping laboratory in Pyin Oo Lwin, Mandalay, March 12-16 th . All coffees were collected for the com- petition from a diverse cross section of small-holder farmers and coffee estates, which were evaluated using SCAA pro- tocols for green physical and roasted sensory evaluation. The samples were double-blind coded and separated by pro- cessing method, of which thirty (30) were fully washed and thirty (30) dry natural processed. The top ten (10) coffees from a preliminary round of cupping advanced to the finals, roasted and cupped a second time to establish a ranking order.