We just wrapped up a 5 day Q Grader exam at the SCAA Headquarters in Long Beach, California.  It was a great success, with three students completing all of the course work and earning their Q credential.  We'd like to extend our biggest congratulations to Christian Rotsko, Jodi Dowell and Heru Khoe for proving their excellence at the cupping table.  And, after a week in sunny California we return to Boston to prepare for the next one.

Coffee Solutions is announcing a cornucopia of new training dates on all of our most popular classes, including:

February 9th, 2010, Houston, TX - InterAmerican Coffee, a leading specialty coffee importing company and a member of the Neumann Kaffee Gruppe, announced today that it has acquired Coffee Solutions, a Boston based coffee consulting, training and laboratory services company. Coffee Solutions' President, Rob Stephen, will remain at the company as General Manager and will continue to manage the company's key accounts. In addition to his role with Coffee Solutions, Mr. Stephen also assumes the role of Senior Trader, East Coast for InterAmerican Coffee.

Coffee Solutions will continue to offer its services to the industry, which include 3rd party laboratory services, Probat roaster training, Q Grader certification and the SCAA Cupping Judge course. According to InterAmerican President Guy Burdett, "We are very happy to welcome Rob to our team. We look forward to utilizing his extensive experience in the coffee industry to develop our green coffee sales business on the east coast. In addition, our purchase of Coffee Solutions gives us an opportunity to provide an enhanced level of services to the coffee industry. We plan to use the training, lab and professional development services available from Coffee Solutions to enhance the businesses of our clients."

Coffee Solutions founder, Rob Stephen has worked in the coffee industry for over 22 years and has a resume that includes management positions at several well known companies and also a role as Past President of both the SCAA and Coffee Kids. He will bring this experience to bear as he leads east coast operations for InterAmerican coffee. "I have always found both personal and professional enrichment in my work with coffee. I am excited to pass my passion for coffee on to my new clients, and to work closely with them to enable them to be even more successful. The motto for Coffee Solutions is "Creating Success in the Coffee Industry", and by becoming a part of the Neumann Gruppe I feel that I can now help to create that success in a new and more meaningful way."