Tag Archives: Colombia Sensory Trial

430. The CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings

2014-11-03 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Readers of this blog will know that we have partered with World Coffee Research (WCR) and some of the brightest lights in specialty coffee, research and philanthropy on the Colombia Sensory Trial–a side-by-side sensory comparison of Castillo- and Caturra-variety coffee samples taken from farms in Colombia growing, harvesting and processing both under virtually identical conditions. […]

425. And so it begins

2014-10-01 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

When we published our 2014 New Year’s resolutions back in January, at the top of the list was this: “enlist industry leaders and research institutes in a comparative cupping of two leading Colombian coffee varieties, Castillo and Caturra.” That public commitment set off nine months of frenetic activity during which we collaborated with the International […]

417. The Variety Intelligence Project

2014-07-15 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

I had the honor during this year’s SCAA Symposium of facilitating a panel discussion on the coffee leaf rust epidemic in Central America–a panel featuring some big names in coffee. In the end, some of the most memorable contributions to the conversation were made by folks not on the official agenda, including World Coffee Research […]

416. Colombia Sensory Trial

2014-07-14 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Back in January, I described our plans to stage a side-by-side sensory analysis of Castillo and Caturra samples grown by participants in our Borderlands Coffee Project in Colombia. Originally, we had planned to do this exercise independently. But as we moved forward in our planning and began talking to more and more friends in coffee […]

382. The Castillo-Caturra cage match

2014-01-27 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

At the top of our list of New Year’s resolutions for 2014 is a comparative cupping of leading Colombian varieties. In a snarky Tweet earlier this month that invoked the glorious Latin American tradition of lucha libre, I referred to it as a “steel cage match” between Castillo and Caturra. But this is not a […]

378. New Year’s resolutions

2014-01-07 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

It’s that time of year again — the time we all make New Year’s resolutions that are destined to be broken. So here are three from the coffeelands: Generate more results-based evidence. Help the coffee sector navigate uncharted waters. Borrow a page from the microfinance playbook. Only we plan on keeping these.