Costa Express unveiled its five senses machine, serving 250 varieties of coffee at a touch, in Dubai International Airport, last month. Courtesy Costa Coffee
Costa Express unveiled its five senses machine, serving 250 varieties of coffee at a touch, in Dubai International Airport, last month. Courtesy Costa Coffee
Costa Express unveiled its five senses machine, serving 250 varieties of coffee at a touch, in Dubai International Airport, last month. Courtesy Costa Coffee
Costa Express unveiled its five senses machine, serving 250 varieties of coffee at a touch, in Dubai International Airport, last month. Courtesy Costa Coffee

Old coffee idea brewed as new at Dubai airport


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Takeaway coffee from a machine. It's not rocket science, is it? With the involvement of an aeronautical design firm in Costa Express's newly unveiled self-serve coffee machine it almost is.

Costa Express, the vending machine division of Costa Coffee, last month unveiled its five senses machine in Dubai International Airport. A machine that can serve 250 varieties of coffee at a finger touch across a screen.

The swanky new Concourse A of Terminal 3 prides itself on introducing new brands and concepts to the travel retail market and Costa's management thought it the perfect place for the Marlow 200 machine's debut.

Named after the English town where the developers agreed to go ahead with the investment and development plan, the machine is designed to appeal to all five senses and take coffee-on-the-run to a more exalted level.

The array of companies involved in the machine's design is impressive. Pininfarina, the Italian automotive and aeronautical technology company, styled the machine's body. EMixpro, which has mixed sound for bands including U2 and Snow Patrol, created the noises reminiscent of a bustling cafe - spoons clinking china, hissing steam - emitted by every unit. The gaming specialist Atomhawk made the 27-inch touch screen. Givaudan and Scentsy, taste and scent engineers, created the aromas and delivery system. And the coffee is made from Costa's Mocha Italia and the milk is fresh.

Its creators say that in blind tests, drinkers are unable to distinguish a Marlow 200 creation and a Costa barista's efforts. And, of course, the operation is much cheaper than running a manned outlet.

The units also have an inbuilt camera that can recognise a customer's sex as well as his or her age bracket so as to tailor its interactions accordingly. (The camera is not activated in the UAE.)

The Marlow 200 has taken 12 years to evolve. Rewind to 1999 when Scott Martin worked for Unilever and spent two days a week commuting in England. The bane of his life was nasty coffee. In the late 1990s, the days before the proliferation of coffee chains, you paid your money and you took your chance on machine coffee: generally a dark brown shot of sludge dribbled into the cup and topped up with water.

"I thought, why can't you get a decent coffee?" Mr Martin says. "It was hot and wet; acceptable but of poor quality."

He went on to found Coffee Nation and by the time it was bought by Costa's owner, Whitbread, in 2011 for £60 million (Dh341.7m) the venture operated half of the 2,000 coffee machines in the United Kingdom that are found mostly in service stations and supermarkets. Coffee Nation was rebranded as Costa Express and Mr Martin stayed on as the general manager of that division. The Marlow 200 is intended to keep Costa Express ahead in the vending game.

The Marlow is simple to use. On the touch screen, the customer selects his choice of drink, decides whether to add a flavour. The drink is prepared and, yes, you can hear clinking and hissing though you have to lean in close to hear given the general hubbub of the concourse. When the drink is ready, a notice appears on screen.

"Your perfectly prepared regular cappuccino is now ready to drink," it read in this case. Sugar and chocolate for dusting is also available.

As the creators predicted, I could not have differentiated between my machine drink and a barista-made drink.

While this is all very novel, is it not a little more than customers want from a vending machine - especially given the "considerable" amount of money it cost to develop? (The Costa team declined to say exactly how much.)

Jonny Forsyth, a drinks analyst at the market research firm Mintel, thinks so. "I'm not convinced it really enhances people's coffee experience to have the sound of steam and people chatting. I suspect it will be a little baffling, and perhaps even a little annoying."

Mr Forsyth does think the data-collecting camera is useful although "this Big Brother element will not be to everyone's tastes," he says. "Where I can see it delivering ROI [return on investment] is that it collects data on people's age and gender via camera.

"As well as allowing it to modify interface options for a speedier and more relevant coffee experience, it will also allow Costa to collect valuable research data which it can use to improve its self-service business."

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Al Ghaf Honey

The Al Ghaf tree is a local desert tree which bears the harsh summers with drought and high temperatures. From the rich flowers, bees that pollinate this tree can produce delicious red colour honey in June and July each year

Sidr Honey

The Sidr tree is an evergreen tree with long and strong forked branches. The blossom from this tree is called Yabyab, which provides rich food for bees to produce honey in October and November. This honey is the most expensive, but tastiest

Samar Honey

The Samar tree trunk, leaves and blossom contains Barm which is the secret of healing. You can enjoy the best types of honey from this tree every year in May and June. It is an historical witness to the life of the Emirati nation which represents the harsh desert and mountain environments

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  • Grade 3 = between grades D and E
  • Grade 2 = between grades E and F
  • Grade 1 = between grades F and G
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Four reasons global stock markets are falling right now

There are many factors worrying investors right now and triggering a rush out of stock markets. Here are four of the biggest:

1. Rising US interest rates

The US Federal Reserve has increased interest rates three times this year in a bid to prevent its buoyant economy from overheating. They now stand at between 2 and 2.25 per cent and markets are pencilling in three more rises next year.

Kim Catechis, manager of the Legg Mason Martin Currie Global Emerging Markets Fund, says US inflation is rising and the Fed will continue to raise rates in 2019. “With inflationary pressures growing, an increasing number of corporates are guiding profitability expectations downwards for 2018 and 2019, citing the negative impact of rising costs.”

At the same time as rates are rising, central bankers in the US and Europe have been ending quantitative easing, bringing the era of cheap money to an end.

2. Stronger dollar

High US rates have driven up the value of the dollar and bond yields, and this is putting pressure on emerging market countries that took advantage of low interest rates to run up trillions in dollar-denominated debt. They have also suffered capital outflows as international investors have switched to the US, driving markets lower. Omar Negyal, portfolio manager of the JP Morgan Global Emerging Markets Income Trust, says this looks like a buying opportunity. “Despite short-term volatility we remain positive about long-term prospects and profitability for emerging markets.” 

3. Global trade war

Ritu Vohora, investment director at fund manager M&G, says markets fear that US President Donald Trump’s spat with China will escalate into a full-blown global trade war, with both sides suffering. “The US economy is robust enough to absorb higher input costs now, but this may not be the case as tariffs escalate. However, with a host of factors hitting investor sentiment, this is becoming a stock picker’s market.”

4. Eurozone uncertainty

Europe faces two challenges right now in the shape of Brexit and the new populist government in eurozone member Italy.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, which has offices in Dubai, says the stand-off between between Rome and Brussels threatens to become much more serious. "As with Brexit, neither side appears willing to step back from the edge, threatening more trouble down the line.”

The European economy may also be slowing, Mr Beauchamp warns. “A four-year low in eurozone manufacturing confidence highlights the fact that producers see a bumpy road ahead, with US-EU trade talks remaining a major question-mark for exporters.”

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While you're here
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time

Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.

Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.

The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.

The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.

Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.

The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.

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Company profile

Company name: Suraasa

Started: 2018

Founders: Rishabh Khanna, Ankit Khanna and Sahil Makker

Based: India, UAE and the UK

Industry: EdTech

Initial investment: More than $200,000 in seed funding

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
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