illycaffe to target upper crust with Espresso

illycaffe, the world's leading roaster of Espresso coffee from Italy, after tasting success by cornering a major chunk of the Indian five-star hotels business, is now looking at tapping high-end homes for its Espresso coffee blends.

Declining to divulge the quantity sold to five-star hotels, Andrea Illy, chairman and CEO, illycaffe, said, "We plan to target high-end homes for our Espresso coffee blends which will hit the market some time in 2007."

"By associating with Fresh & Honest Cafe Ltd, we have cornered a major chunk of the five-star hotel business and now are looking at extending it to cafes and restaurants, apart from corporates," he added.

After selling to and servicing 50 five-star hotels last year, it has now extended its reach to over 150 hotels in the country.

illycaffe, based in Trieste, Italy, produces and markets a single blend of 100 per cent pure Arabica coffee worldwide. Its Espresso coffees are available in more than 40,000 restaurants and coffee bars all over the world, serving over five million cups of illy espresso coffee a day.

illycaffe had roped in Fresh & Honest Cafe Ltd last year with both the companies planning to invest $15 million to $20 million to install 6,000 coffee vending machines across India over the next five years.

According to Andrea Illy, as part of coffee blend sales, illycaffe plans to educate the trade and consumer on the coffee culture and establish Illy brands in major coffee consumption regions in the country.

illycaffe has emerged the single largest buyer of Arabica Plantation A beans from India, having sourced about 35,000 bags (60 kgs each) of green coffee beans from the country in the 2005 coffee crop season.