The eighth annual CoffeeTea&Water (CTW) event held this past Nov. 2 to 4 in Washington, D.C. was a showcase of office coffee service (OCS) and how it is evolving. Both the opening and closing remarks were made not by coffee experts, but by executives of major tea corporations. Seth Goldman, TeaEO of Honest Tea, talked about his journey of bringing organic, lightly sweetened single serve iced tea to market in a positive and creative way.
Stephen Twining, director of public relations for Twinings Tea, closed CTW with how tea is trending. He presented numbers showing that the ever-increasing workplace consumer group known as Millennials are most likely to drink tea, especially as K-Cups bring good quality tea to the U.S. market in a simplified and convenient format.
Coffee, however, certainly wasn’t ignored. It was featured prominently with research about its popularity and also new brewing equipment and trends. It continues to grow and expand with consumers opting for unique coffee products such as cold brew as well as enhanced single-cup options like bean-to-cup brewers.
An interesting expansion for CTW was the large focus on the business aspect of an OCS operation. Many of the sessions dealt with digital and social marketing; labor issues; customer relations; and beating the competition with service and experience.
NAMA called this year a ‘record breaker’ with the most exhibitors, key decision makers and industry leaders in attendance. There were 13 educational sessions, along with other high-value events like Tech Talks and the WIN Fun Run organized by NAMA’s Women of the Industry group.
CTW 2016 is planned for Nashville, TN, Nov. 8 to 10.
