​It is that time again for reflection on the year that is almost past and on the prospects for the year to come. I think that, all in all, 2015 proved another successful year for most of us in the British coffee industry. Consumers continue to demand their favourite hot, non-alcoholic beverage in ever greater quantity, quality and variety. As the nation’s economy continues to improve, demand should maintain its steady growth in line with generally expanding personal wealth.
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The one somewhat negative factor has been the inability of the world coffee market to advance prices to levels that will incentivise farmers, throughout the coffee growing regions, to maintain production and ensure the quality of coffees demanded by consuming countries. World coffee prices have declined on the NYC by 15% during 2015, although green coffee prices at the roastery door have, to some extent, been inflated by higher differentials and weaker £/$ rates. While a stronger US $ has provided the small farmers in Colombia, Kenya, Indonesia etc., with a short term bonus, long term they see only an ever dwindling income. If farmers abandon their coffee plantations either to work in the cities or switch to more lucrative crops, including narcotics, or through lack of finance neglect necessary husbandry, we will face the prospect of reducing availability, most particularly the availability of the higher grade coffees that have been the driving force for the expanding consumption of roasted coffee enjoyed by us all in the last couple of decades.
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The irony is that as higher quality coffees become scarce, consumption will likely fall prompting a consequential price-lead
scramble for market share. Once price becomes the over-riding factor in a market such as ours, quality and variety will continue to diminish, fuelling a further spiralling downwards of consumption, the serpent swallowing its own tail.

The only real answer to this apocalyptic future for all of us in the worldwide coffee community, is keep our nerve by not giving into the temptation of chasing down prices and quality. In fact, by sourcing and marketing ever higher grades of coffee at prices that genuinely reflect that quality, the farmers earn more, thereby encouraging them to not only continue to provide the wonderful seeds that we roast and consume with such delight, but also continue to strive in producing the very best coffee they can. That way we can continue to roast and sell high quality coffees to an expanding, discriminating market.

The many terrifying, loathsome and barbaric events witnessed this year, not least in that most cultivated and beautiful of cities, Paris, need no further comments from me. Numerous far more elegant and eloquent commentators have already described the repulsion that any individual with the slightest hint of civilisation and humanity must feel. However, it is worth reflecting that no matter how disappointing and incompetent our politicians and administrators often appear, no matter how ludicrous much of our society, with its fascination of the fatuous, the moronic and the puerile can seem, no matter how unjust the earnings and adulation afforded to those such as footballers and “celebrities” are when compared to how we reward veterans of our armed forces and other deserving heroes in society, in spite of all this, we should still give thanks every day for just how fortunate we are, living in a relatively safe, civilised, tolerant and caring society,
something far beyond the reach of so many of our fellow members of the human race.

As has become our custom, we are again making a charitable donation rather than sending cards. Our chosen charity this year is Sightsavers, whom we have championed several times previously. Sightsavers is a UK based charity, for every £1.00 donated, 91.8% goes towards saving the sight of many thousands of the world’s poorest people and supporting those with irreversible blindness.

​Uniquely, this year, we are making a further donation to Macmillan Cancer Support. This is in memory of an old customer
and friend, Laurie Lane, who died in November. He was, as Argosy Coffee, a significant influence in some of the formative years of Masteroast and, through his recommendations, brought other coffee distributors into the Masteroast fold, greatly assisting our growth.

On behalf of everyone at Masteroast, I should like to thank all of our customers, suppliers and all of our friends in the wider coffee world for their support and fellowship during 2015 and wish you all a most happy and peaceful Christmas
and New Year.

L..G. Mills