Author Archives: Kraig Kraft

New faces in the Coffeelands team

2016-10-12 Comments Off on New faces in the Coffeelands team

We’re pleased to announce that the Coffeelands team has added some new faces to the team to help the Coffeelands program work towards a more equitable coffee sector in which coffee-dependent populations earn a living income, natural resources are conserved, protected, and regenerated, and coffee communities are resilient and empowered. Let’s start at the top. […]

Wet mills and water use

2016-10-05 Comments Off on Wet mills and water use

  Wet mills.  These are key elements in the coffee landscape.  They are the first step into transforming the cherry into a green bean.  At the heart, these structures can be relatively simple.  They need to receive the cherries, to de-pulp (Some stop here!  We won’t get too much into detail with pulped naturals, naturals […]

Developing the specialty market for robusta with the first “Taza Dorada” in Ecuador

2016-08-16 Comments Off on Developing the specialty market for robusta with the first “Taza Dorada” in Ecuador

The Borderlands project took place on two sides of the Colombian – Ecuadorian border.  In Nariño we know about the hidden potential to produce high quality Arabica coffees.  We’ve shared some of the stories from there previously on this blog.  Less than 100 miles away, while the Andes mountains continue tracing the spine of South […]

Coffee’s role in the future of a peaceful Colombia

2016-07-11 Comments Off on Coffee’s role in the future of a peaceful Colombia

A few weeks ago, some exciting and hopeful news came out of Colombia.  You might have missed it, as It was predictably lost in the news cycle which was dominated by the horrific mass shooting in an Orlando night club; the permissive gun laws in the US; the Brexit and its global economic ramifications; the […]

Price Risk Management revisited: Reality check and back to basics

2016-06-20 Comments Off on Price Risk Management revisited: Reality check and back to basics

If you have been following the Coffeelands blog, you’ll know that Price Risk Management is a topic that if increasing importance to us. I’ve been writing about this topic for the last 9 months and talking about it for even longer.  Finally, this last week, I got to walk the walk. With the help of […]

Beyond the hot take on the Starbucks sustainability bond

2016-06-06 Comments Off on Beyond the hot take on the Starbucks sustainability bond

A few weeks ago, Starbucks made an incredible announcement.  They were going to have nitro cold brew in their cafes!! I think this definitively answers the Symposium question, is cold brew a category or craze?  OK, OK.  I’m joking.  The real earth-shaker is that Starbucks has issued the first US corporate bond for sustainability.  The […]

Incentivizing farmer-led renovation in Guatemala

2016-05-23 Comments Off on Incentivizing farmer-led renovation in Guatemala

A few months ago, in the offices of Anacafé in Guatemala City, the II Cumbre de la Roya was held, 2 years after the initial meeting.  The objective of the meeting was to take stock of what has happened since the first meeting and to see how the Central American coffee sector was recovering from […]

SCAA lecture in review: The Coffee Variety Conundrum:  Does Breeding for Disease Resistance come at the expense of flavor?

2016-05-02 Comments Off on SCAA lecture in review: The Coffee Variety Conundrum:  Does Breeding for Disease Resistance come at the expense of flavor?

This review is for those of you who were not able to make it to the lecture a few weeks ago.  There was a lot of competing lectures held concomitantly with really interesting content.  There is 0 chance of me getting to hear all the ones I want to be at.  Yet when the Expo comes, […]

An in depth SCAA Expo preview: A panel discussion on The Coffee Variety Conundrum

2016-04-04 Comments Off on An in depth SCAA Expo preview: A panel discussion on The Coffee Variety Conundrum

SCAA Preview in Depth:  The Coffee Variety Conundrum: Does Breeding for Disease Resistance Come at the Expense of Flavor? Friday, April 15th, 9AM Room B407,Spanish translation available About this time last year, my first post for the Coffeelands Blog introduced this idea- the coffee variety conundrum – namely, how difficult it is to be a […]

WRAPPING UP THE PRM SERIES

2016-02-25 Comments Off on WRAPPING UP THE PRM SERIES

What have we learned about Price Risk Management from this interview series? We’ve had five very different discussions along the way – perspectives from the point of view of the cooperatives, from the exporters, from estates and from a leading broker of options and futures contracts. It was my hope that by getting diverse opinions […]