ASIC announces program categories

The Association for Science and Information on Coffee (ASIC) in collaboration with the Specialty Coffee Association, has announced its presentation and poster categories for its 2018 symposium on coffee science.  The conference, taking place from 16 to 20 September at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, US, is the premier symposium on coffee science in the world.
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Califia Farm’s plant power

In 1980, Greg Steltenpohl bought a box of oranges and borrowed a couple of hundreds bucks to buy a hand squeezing machine so he could sell fresh orange juice out of a van around San Francisco. “That was my first taste of business entrepreneurialism in the beverage industry,” Greg describes.  The small start-up would one day form the basis of Odwalla, a multimillion-dollar US supplier of fresh juice and nourishing healthy beverages, which Greg founded. The brand, later purchased by Coca-Cola, remains one of the fastest growing beverage ranges in the company’s suite of products. “Odwalla was a huge education in the business world of beverages,” Greg says. “I built it from scratch into a medium-size business. We were a publicly-owned company for a while and it became one of the first natural food companies that broke out into American mainstream culture. I’m extremely proud of that.”
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Leo DiCaprio and Jared Leto invest in Califia Farms 

Celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Jared Leto, Karlie Kloss and Shaun White have become offical stakeholders in plant-based beverage company Califia Farms, which secured more than US$50 million in funding on 31 July. The Californian-based company recently launched its range of ready-to-drink almond milk and cold brew coffee beverages in Australia, providing consumers with a healthy, plant-powered alternative to traditional beverages. The new investors comprise a group of actors, musicians, professional athletes and supermodel entrepreneurs who support the values of a plant-based lifestyle.
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