Category: Events

262. Counter Culture interview: The social impact of microlots

2012-04-21 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Kim Elena Ionescu probably needs no introduction. The Counter Culture Coffee Buyer and Sustainability Manager has been sourcing great coffee for years for one of the leading brands in specialty coffee. Along the way, she has been steadily moving the company toward more sustainable and transparent sourcing practices, and showing a way forward for other […]

261. Measuring Direct Trade’s impact

2012-04-19 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Later this week, Counter Culture Coffee will present the results of its study “The Social Impact of Microlots” to an audience at the 2012 SCAA Expo. I am excited about the report because it directly addresses two issues that have been the source of much discussion on this blog in recent years: the potential for […]

260. Brewing change: Rick Peyser and the rise of sustainability in specialty coffee

2012-04-18 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Every year the SCAA’s “big event” plays host to countless “small events” — receptions, fundraisers, competitions, press releases, big announcements, etc. One of the “small events” I am looking forward to most eagerly this year is the release of “Brewing Change,” a new book about Green Mountain’s Director of Coffee Community Outreach and Social Advocacy […]

259. “Downstream”

2012-04-17 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Two of my colleagues here in Latin America, one a water resource management specialist and the other an authority on agroforestry and climate change, will deliver a presentation at the 2012 SCAA Expo on Saturday on coffee and water resource management at origin. The presentation, which fills a persistent gap in the SCAA lecture lineup, […]

251. SCAA 2012: The view from the coffeelands

2012-03-12 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

In keeping with an annual tradition started back in 2009, today I publish my third annual preview of “don’t miss” SCAA presentations. This year, I divide my picks into two “streams of enlightenment” — “downstream” presentations that push knowledge of origin toward the marketplace, and “upstream” presentations that bring market intelligence to farmers and agencies […]

175. Alejandro Méndez wins! Viva Espresso wins! Latin America wins!

2011-06-07 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

I have made no secret here of my love for Viva Espresso, an incredible café in San Salvador whose single-serve, single-origin, Cup-of-Excellence estate coffees are the best I have had anywhere in the Americas. So I was delighted to learn that Alejandro Méndez of Viva Espresso brought the World Barista Championship hardware from Bogotá home […]

164. Another home run in Las Sabanas

2011-05-11 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

In keeping with the baseball theme from yesterday’s post, here is another analogy between baseball and coffee quality. Don Jaime Molina of the quality-focused 5 de junio cooperative has hit another home run in Las Sabanas: he placed a winning lot at the Nicaragua Cup Of Excellence from his Monte Cristo farm for the fourth […]

162. Starting with small steps to address hunger

2011-05-06 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

The premiere of the After the Harvest documentary at last week’s Symposium was followed by a breakout session joined by everyone interested in further exploring the issue. The participants — more than 20 in all — included well-known importers and roasters, celebrity estate farmers, non-profits working on coffee, and others more difficult to characterize. Most […]

161. “And the coffee farmers thrived”

Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

I have been reflecting this week on some of what I considered to be the highlights of last week’s SCAA event. One of them came unexpectedly, during the Coffee Kids reception. Mike Ferguson from Batdorf & Bronson, the pioneering specialty roaster and longtime Coffee Kids supporter, offered some perspectives on the lived realities of coffee […]

160. Do development agencies know what they are doing?

2011-05-05 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

There was some engaging plenary discussion on sustainability at last week’s Symposium. During one session, the facilitator broke us into small discussion groups to revisit some of the critical assumptions we make about the sustainability movement in coffee — what we think we know about the issue that may not be true. I particularly appreciated […]