Sparkling Tea is a completely new beverage category. The organic low-/non-alcoholic sparkling drink is based on a blend of different teas rather than grapes. It originated in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has in less than two years made it to more than 15 countries.

The beautiful symbiosis between gastronomy and business

The idea originated when a Danish award-winning sommelier found himself in the controversial situation where wine didn’t complement the dessert they served at the restaurant where he worked. He decided to experiment with various blends of teas and realized a great potential in the ancient ingredient.

Meanwhile, the co-founder of Copenhagen Sparkling Tea was in the middle of a successful career, but with a growing urge to start something on his own. It was therefore a match made in the entrepreneurial heaven, when the two were paired up and launched their first batch of Sparkling Tea on the market in 2017.

teas are brewed under different temperatures and time intervals which creates multiple nuances in the taste and renews the world of gastronomy

The organic low-alcoholic complement

The new beverage category taps into two rapidly rising trends – the organic and the low/non-alcoholic – and have made a firm footprint in both. The organic aspect was a no brainer when creating Copenhagen Sparkling Tea Co. They have since then been awarded a number of prizes such as Best Organic Product 2018 at World’s Largest Organic Trade Fair, BIOFACH, and latest the same prize at Hong Kong’s International Organic Fair, LOHAS, in 2019.

Sparkling Tea is sold in more than 50 countries and found on the menu of over 100 international Michelin restaurants worldwide, due to its new and interesting complexity, as well as the low-/non-alcoholic asset, which finally gives restaurants a non-alcoholic option for food pairing.

A cuvée of tea – available on over 100 Michelin restaurants

The secret to Sparkling Tea lies in the selection and management of multiple tea types in one bottle. Up to 13 teas are brewed under different temperatures and time intervals. This allows each of the teas to play an important role and thereby creating multiple nuances in the taste. Finally, with a small base of either grape juice or white wine resulting in either 0% or 5% ABV.

Driven by curiousness and always exploring how to expand the production of eggs and vegetables, today Axel Månsson A/S is one of the most productive organic farmers in Denmark.

While the conventional vegetables still form a substantial part of the exports, 1500 out of the total 2200 hectares of production by Axel Månsson A/S are certified organic, and the company is pursuing a stated goal of 100 percent organic vegetable production. Starting with the eggs, the company began the conversion to organic production in 1998 working from the belief that the healthiest choice for humans and soil alike must be the production which is sustained without the use of chemicals.

the organic production includes more than 200,000 laying hens and more than 1000 hectares of vegetables

Testing and embracing new technology as well as heavy investments in future possibilities has been a driving force when developing and upscaling the organic production. This includes using robot technology in the fields and co-building a biogas plant to become self-sufficient of organic fertiliser, while also engaging in research for alternative ways to provide local high-protein fodder.

Likewise, a large test field for new varieties and sorts of vegetables is a necessary playground for development together with investing in packaging and cooling facilities that matches the goals of a sound and sustainable business. Today, the organic production includes more than 230,000 egg laying hens and more than 1000 hectares of vegetables.

The Danish chocolate brand, Oialla, creates high-end, delicious chocolate bars that not only taste good but provide a vital business opportunity for native people in the Bolivian jungle where the beans are picked wildly.

The Oialla Chocolate brand was founded in 2010 and won its first international award in 2011. But Oialla is not just about organic high-end chocolate bars. It’s also about simultaneous engagement in making exquisite chocolate bars and changing working and livelihood conditions for the local Bolivian community.

A crucial relationship

The result is organic and pure chocolate made from the wild Beniano beans in a close and depending relationship with the local and indigenous people of the Baures community. Besides obvious and positive benefits for the Bolivian cocoa workers the relationship is crucial for the quality due to its reliance on the initial harvesting and handling of the beans.

It is a good example of the benefits of a value chain in which ethical production is considered a prerequisite to high-end quality

In other words, the close connection between the working conditions among the cocoa workers at the initial stage and the chocolate quality in the final package is a good example of the benefits of a value chain in which ethical production is considered a prerequisite to high-end quality.

The Oialla brand helps lift the quality of the industry with their organic high-end chocolate bars sold to Danish and international top restaurants, while also making positive changes in the cocoa community through measures like education of women, forest management and local employment possibilities.

The absence of chemicals in the organic vegetable production causes a greater need for manual work in the fields – or perhaps a gps-controlled self-driving tractor with an automated hoeing machine?

Organic production has for a long time been a Danish agricultural success story in home and export markets alike. Today, Denmark has the largest organic home-market share of any country in the world. An important part of this story is the ability to upscale production to meet the demands for both variation and attractive prices without neither compromising the organic values nor the product quality.

Efficiency is essential

When it comes to organic free-range vegetable production, labour-intensity in the fields is an obvious challenge and unit cost issue. Mechanical weeding has almost entirely replaced the handheld hoe, but the need for efficiency and optimisation remains to reduce pressure on the soil from heavy machinery and to increase the coverage of weeding in a certain timespan.

Mounted to a gps-navigated tractor it makes a futuristic sight in the organic field, working steadily and ruler-straight like only a robot is capable of

A great contribution is the technological innovation within automated mechanical weeding. The Robovator is a prime example. Mounted to a gps-navigated tractor it makes a futuristic sight in the organic field, working steadily and ruler-straight like only a robot is capable of.

Vision-based hoeing

The key is vision-based hoeing using special plant detection cameras for each row of plants. Low in weight and power consumption, the Robovator works with mechanical or even thermal weeding depending on the actual crop, workable in the dark and easily controlled by a smartphone.

An increasing demand for organic products in domestic and foreign markets is challenged by a scarcity of approved fertilisers for certified organic vegetable production. Organic biogas helps fill out the gap.

Biogas is made from degradable waste, garbage, and by-products from private households, industry and agriculture. But the biogas production has more functions than merely being a renewable energy source based on a range of sources of waste in society.

Extending the value chain

The by-product – leftovers from the degassing process at the biogas plants – are used as a green fertiliser in agriculture. This way, the biogas production extends the existing value chains in which slurry from animal husbandry is mixed with other degradable matter, degassed for energy production, and then returned to the farms as a fertiliser far more effective than its untreated original.

Slurry from animal husbandry is mixed with other degradable matter, degassed for energy production, and then returned to the farms as a fertiliser far more effective than its untreated original

First organic biogas

This is a very welcome by-product, especially for organic vegetable production which is facing a scarcity of approved organic fertilisers. To help fill out this gap, in 2018 biogas company Nature Energy constructed the first Danish biogas plant to blend waste from appointed sources in a mix that favors waste from primarily organic certified suppliers.

The degassed, highly effective fertiliser can then be returned to the local organic vegetable production, thus making an interesting perspective of an important contribution the future of organic agriculture.

A new partnership between agro tech company Cordulus and agribusiness company Danish Agro will provide farmers with hyper local and exact weather data for optimising yield. The weather station from Cordulus is the next big thing in agro technology.

Even in a technologically advanced food industry, the weather has an immense impact on agricultural production. For example, in processes such as harvesting and sowing. Mother nature simply has the last word. But better monitoring of local weather can give farmers the possibility to distribute their time and resources better, optimising yields from the fields. Cordulus, an agro tech startup, has partnered with Danish Agro to distribute their smart weather stations. The specs of the weather station are based on a close collaboration between Cordulus and their customers: the farmers.

Farming surveillance

The concept is simple. A weather station – a pole with some electronical hardware on – is easily installed in the field. From there, it sends data about rainfall, soil temperature, air temperature, wind speed, humidity and much more to an app every 10^th minute. The cost is subscription based, so farmers are ensured support and upgrades.

The data is vital in optimising farming. Weather is actually much more local than most people think. When it’s raining near the farmer’s house, it might still be suitable harvesting weather out on the field. It’s just not visible from the house. Denmark, for example, had a lot of rainfall in 2017. Here, better weather data would have proven useful to micromanage the fields, wherever the soil was suitable to be worked despite the weather.

Data is sent every 10 minutes about rainfall, soil temperature, air temperature, wind speed, humidity and more which optimises farming

Collaboration for the best solutions

Partnering with Danish Agro can help the small company by tapping into the customer-base of one of Denmark’s largest agribusiness companies. The cooperation between a small, agile startup and a large established company can lead to weather data of a quality yet unrivalled for Danish farmers.

There are a lot of interesting projects in the pipeline of Cordulus. But one of the dreams is to offer the possibility to share weather data between the farmers’ respective weather stations. Much like the open source movement in the software industry. And farmers are demanding this kind of knowledge sharing, because it is mutually beneficial.

The case of the weather station is in many respects a tale of cooperation. This is very characteristic of the Danish food cluster and one of the ways Danish food innovations and solutions push the boundaries in the international food industry.

Read more about Cordulus and Danish Agro

Denmark is at the forefront regarding optimizing production at all steps of the value chain and when it comes to cattle breeding. The Danish company VikingGenetics is a suitable example of this efficiency. VikingGenetics is a specialist in offering breeding solutions where high milk production are in focus. The company’s breeding goal has made a substantial positive impact on the dairy business. 

High level of productivity

One of the strongholds of the Danish food cluster is the high level of productivity, also in the milk industry. The journey has been extraordinary; 50 years ago, a Danish cow produced 15 litres per day and today, the production per day and per cow is more than double, 38 litres.

There is no doubt that Danish cows are among the most productive ones in the world; the global average yield per cow and per year is 2.200 litres while a Danish cow of the Holstein breed averages 10.300 litres per year. This successful development is due to the high level of specialization in optimal breeding solutions from Danish dairy farmers and companies, such as VikingGenetics, where efficiency plays a significant role.

the global average yield per cow and per year is 2.200 liters while a Danish cow of the Holstein breed averages 10.300 liters per year

Using genetics to achieve a more efficient production

The breeding solutions of VikingGenetics score high when their productivity is measured. The Nordic Total Merit (NTM) index is a unique index that combines different genetic traits that are heritable when matching bulls and cows such as milk production, health, and conformation. VikingGenetics uses the index to offer genetics from bulls that can increase production and health the most. For every ten extra units that a cow scores on the NTM-index, an additional 100 EUR are made in annual revenue. Some score 40+, meaning that they belong to the best 2.5 percent of all cows.

Companies like VikingGenetics are one of the reasons why Denmark can continuously be on top when it comes to innovation and efficiency. When choosing breeding solutions from VikingGenetics, farmers can thus obtain a maximized production.

Safeguarding heirloom species and varieties from extinction is not only a matter of keeping biodiversity. It also promotes diversity in food innovation and exceptional culinary experiences.

Once almost facing total distinction, varieties of the Stevns cherry, named after its traceable origin in a small area in south-eastern Denmark, are now planted and harvested in many parts of Europe.

Unique raw material

Thanks to serious experimental testing of Stevns cherry sorts at the beginning of the Millennium, more than a handful of varieties are now grown systematically in accordance with local growth conditions. These surviving sorts show different unique, innate qualities that are increasingly cherished by growers and wine producers aiming for low-yield, high-quality fruits.

when nurtured by skilled growers, the cherries develop the finest culinary qualities as a raw material, particularly for wine-making

The Stevns cherry varieties, belonging to the sour cherry species, find their ultimate growth conditions along the coastlines of southern Denmark. Here, when nurtured by skilled growers, the cherries develop the finest culinary qualities as a raw material, particularly for wine-making.

Unfolding the quality

The local Frederiksdal Estate has found a way to turn the unique acidity of different Stevns cherry sorts into sought-after wines. The innate tastes and qualities of the fruits are unfolded at the estate in a meticulous work that acknowledges that fruits will show notable differences in taste even in two adjoining fields.

Once the cherries are harvested, the natural wild yeasts on their skin starts to ferment, bringing their flavour to its full intensity. The cherries are then pressed and the juice poured into steel, wood or glass tanks giving a range of different taste profiles. The skins and stones are returned to the plantation to fertilise the soil.

The outcome is award-winning products, just as unrivalled as the cherries.

Using only fruits that are hard to sell otherwise, two gastronomic entrepreneurs turn waste fruit into cider served at top-level restaurants.

The Copenhagen suburbs are full of apple trees that, year after year, are laden with fruit. Back in 2011, two students with a passion for gastronomy realised that most of that fruit went to waste, left to rot on the ground.

Beginning of an adventure

Although their actual interest was directed towards wine, taking up cider production was literally right up their street: they started going from door to door asking garden owners if they could take some of their apples. This first batch of mixed garden windfall apples was the beginning of a real cider adventure.

More than 85.000 litres of cider a year is produced from windfall apples

First year’s harvest made 65 bottles, pressed, fermented and bottled in a small suburb garage. A Swedish Michelin restaurant bought the whole lot and the two entrepreneurs realised their ability to confront traditional French cider production by unconventional methods and supplement the wine lists of gourmet restaurants with a taste profile that matched the New Nordic Cuisine.

Turning waste fruit into gold

Today, their company is called Æblerov (Danish for apple scrumping) and produces more than 85.000 litres a year. Production as well as exports are in rapid growth. The cider is enjoyed in the Scandinavian and German markets so far, and interest is growing from the rest of the world.

Æblerov now produces most of its cider using fruit from organic plantations. Only the apples that are marked or otherwise unattractive to consumers are used. For Danish fruit producers, it is a welcome way to earn money for fruit that is otherwise hard to sell.

Looking ahead for new business opportunities is a prerequisite for a market-relevant and economically feasible agriculture. A new joint research project is mapping an exciting potential and will assist in action.

The balance between financial and environmental sustainability is always a challenge for the food sector. This balance – complying with political demands and structural challenges, alongside the development of economically sound farms – requires innovative and ‘thinking-beyond-the-box’ solutions.

Even in a small country like Denmark, diverse physical and cultural conditions for agriculture is evident. This suggests a potential for new products through a systematic approach to developing provenance foods. That is, location-specific produce and products reflecting the local or regional, distinctive characteristics ­– in short, the Danish terroir.

Mapping the potential

However, key knowledge gaps hindering a coordinated, strategic approach to a provenance food sector development have been identified. As a result, a new strategy is emerging within the Danish food cluster. At Aarhus University, the Department of Agroecology and Department of Management have joined forces with local authorities and private partners in the Provenance DK research project.

Even in a small country like Denmark, diverse physical and cultural conditions suggest a more systematic focus on developing provenance foods

The goal of the project is to address this knowledge gap and to identify potentials for terroir brands to develop by mapping the specific opportunities for a Danish provenance food sector.

From words to action

The project team have produced a report detailing the Danish food atlas – a report that shows the potential for a specific product within a certain area. Further, the report also provides inputs to new business models for local foods and assists the coordination between food networks, producers and municipalities. Find the full report through the link on the right side of this page.