Torani® – Booth #829

Flavor seekers around the globe enjoy Torani® in their favorite beverages every day. And Torani has continued to stay on the creative edge with new product lines and ideas for the last 80 years.

Dr. Smoothie® – Booth #1408

Dr. Smoothie® formulates its beverages with your health in mind to maximize the benefits to your body. Functional beverages are what Dr. Smoothie® is all about since 1997.

Monin®– Booth #1203

Monin®’s sole purpose is to create flavors that people around the world can easily use in their everyday life.  Founder Georges Monin’s motto La Passion de la Qualit® (“Passion for Quality”) became the Monin® slogan.

Pacific® Foods – Booth #1736

Pacific® Foods has one simple goal- to make tasty, healthy foods with integrity. Making foods it can be proud of is as much about the ingredients it uses and the way those ingredients are grown, as it is the actual recipe. And GMO’s? Not on Pacific® Foods’ watch.

David Rio™ – Booth #1536

David Rio™, makes chai because it is inspired by traditional Indian milk tea, and it set out to blend Eastern traditions with Western style to create America’s Premier Chai.

Urnex® – Booth #1409

Urnex® doesn’t make coffee or coffee equipment; it helps make them better. With over four generations of experience, Urnex® is the world leader in specialty cleaning products for coffee and espresso equipment.

Mocafé™ – Booth #429

Innovative Beverage Concepts Inc., creators of Mocafé™, has been a leader in developing award winning cafe beverages since 1996. Come taste and compare the difference real ingredients make.

Vitamix® – Booth #707

Since 1921, The Vitamix® Corporation has been an award-winning innovator in blending technology. It is a quality-based organization creating, producing, and marketing high performance, durable, reliable, and innovative equipment.

Espresso Supply Inc. – Booth #1137

Espresso Supply, Inc. has used its expertise to develop a full line of espresso accessories and small wares designed to facilitate the operation of an espresso bar or coffee business.

Cappuccine® – Booth #813

Many people don’ know that Cappuccine® created the first blended iced coffee mix over 15 years ago. Today, its product line consists of more than 20 gourmet flavors that are proudly served all over the world.

Add a Scoop™ – Booth #1621

The Add a Scoop™ by Smoothie Essentials line of products fits an active life style. Being a powder they travel well – from hikes to back packing to vacations. Add a Scoop™ Blends are a wide range of functional supplements; see which one works for you.

The Frozen Bean – Booth #1808

The Frozen Bean, their passion is to create the finest beverages, using only the highest quality ingredients sourced from around the world.

Zojirushi – Booth #817

Zojirushi Corporation began operation more than 90 years ago with the launch of its first glass-lined vacuum bottle. Improving customers’ quality of life through creation of innovative products remains the heart of Zojirushi’s corporate philosophy.

Straw Propeller Gourmet Foods – Booth #1813

Straw Propeller Gourmet Foods offers 15 flavors of oatmeal and 5 flavors of muesli. All of its artisan products are made with certified gluten-free oats, non-GMO, all-natural and kosher certified ingredients.

Remember, if any of these vendors have hot new products you need in your restaurant or warehouse, call Houston’s to see how we can help.

Credit: All of the above company descriptions were paraphrased from the vendor’s website linked to the vendor name. The logos are also courtesy of the vendors.

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Photo courtesy of Coffee Fest

Coffee Fest, bringing retailers, distributors, and manufacturers together for more than twenty years, buzzed the Portland Metro area this past weekend, offering up everything from demonstrations to samples, cuppings to competitions, trends to education. As described on the Coffee Fest website, “If it looks like coffee, smells like coffee, goes well with coffee, or is coffee, you are guaranteed to find it at Coffee Fest.” This proved to be true as we trekked our way through the 90+ booths at the Oregon Convention Center, tasting our way up and down the aisles in a maybe not-so-orderly fashion.

This year’s highlight for Torani was the utterly amazing Sweet Heat Syrup, which they showcased in a Mango Real Fruit Smoothie…delish! Just enough of a bite to know it’s there, not so much that it’s uncomfortable. While it was great in a mango smoothie, I couldn’t help but imagine other flavors I would love to try! Torani has also rolled out three new sweetener syrups—Agave, Honey, and Cane Sugar—for use in coffee, cocktails, sodas, teas, and more.

Stopping by the Monin booth was a treat. This year they highlighted their Soda Collection with such syrups as Old Fashioned Ginger Ale and Old Fashioned Root Beer, Orange Tangerine, and Vanilla Crème. With fantastic new flavors such as these, they still wowed with sweet concoctions such as lavender vanilla, a floral take on a Crème Soda that smelled and looked as heavenly as you might imagine.

Oatmeal is still as hot as it was in the 2013 show. Straw Propeller Gourmet Foods continues to impress with their innovative oatmeal flavors, and this year’s new addition of a children’s line, with smaller but sweeter portions that appeal to the youngsters hitting the coffee shops with their families. And Umpqua Oats has hit yet another homerun with its amazing Vanilla Almond Crunch, sure to be a coffeehouse favorite!

Dr. Smoothie booth at Coffee Fest PDX 2014. Photo Credit: Christina Graiff

If smoothies and frappes are more your thing, then Coffee Fest 2014 in Portland didn’t disappoint. Cappuccine, Dr. Smoothie Brands, Frozen Bean, Jet, and Ghiradelli chocolate Co. were whipping up decadence in their blenders: frozen concoctions of chocolates, fruits, nuts, and even vegetables were tantalizing the tastebuds of show-walkers. Cappuccine received second place honors in the Best New Product Consumables for their Tart Culture Smoothie.

Manish Shah, Maya Tea Co. Photo Credit: Christina Graiff

It seems as though every year has a top-trending product, and this year was no different. 2014 is sure to be the year of the chai tea, with the aromatic blend of Indian spices and herbs filling the air on every aisle of the show. This tea, prepared black, with or without milk, with or without sweetener, is hitting the market with a force. Oregon Chai continues to offer their tried-and-true concentrate or powder, with just the right amount of spice and sweet. And Maya Chai offers their Original and extra-spicy Devi 11:1 concentrates—just blend with milk and enjoy hot or cold. Stay tuned, too, for Raga, Maya Chai’s unsweetened version of their amazing blend,available in 2015.

Coffee beans, espresso machines, water filtration systems, blenders, teas, chocolates, cup sleeves and other accessories, and even Espresso Supply’s third place winner in the Best New Product Non-Consumable category—Bonavita 1.7L Gooseneck Variable Temperature Kettle, sure to become a favorite in shops across the nation. You name it, and Coffee Fest 2014 had it. A conglomerate of vendors and coffeehouse owners alike mingled the aisles, networking with and learning from one another, swapping ideas and comparing trends, and in general sharing a love of coffee. I will definitely attend next year’s Coffee Fest (again at the Convention Center)…will I see you there in 2015?

The post Coffee, Tea, and Trends: Coffee Fest Portland 2014 appeared first on Houston's Blog.