Tag Archives: Colombia

432. The CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings: Tim Wendelboe

2014-11-11 Comments Off on 432. The CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings: Tim Wendelboe

Tim Wendelboe is a former world barista champion and one of the world’s premiere coffee celebrities.  When he is not busy roasting coffee, he may be serving it at the coffee bar that bears his name.  Or sourcing it as a partner in Nordic Approach, the Oslo-based importer promoting transparency in trade.  Or writing books […]

431. The CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings: Counter Culture

2014-11-04 Comments Off on 431. The CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings: Counter Culture

Counter Culture Coffee is a roaster that needs no introduction.  Its innovations in coffee sourcing, quality and sustainability have outsized influence in the coffee industry.  Counter Culture is, in short, a tastemaker.  And Counter Culture likes Caturra. A lot. As part of the CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings, Counter Culture’s QC Director Timothy Hill cupped 22 […]

429. Colombian coffee commission’s 10 key messages

2014-10-27 Comments Off on 429. Colombian coffee commission’s 10 key messages

Late last week I published this post on the preliminary report of the blue-chip presidential commission assigned to analyze Colombia’s coffee institutions and recommend reforms.  The following day, Juan José Echavarría, the former Colombian Finance Minister and  trusted economic advisor to President Juan Manuel Santos who leads the Misión del Café, gave this interview to […]

428. Colombia: The gloves come off

2014-10-23 Comments Off on 428. Colombia: The gloves come off

Last week, in an interview published here, SCAA Executive Director Ric Rhinehart held up Colombia as a shining example of a country in which public investment in the coffee sector has helped to make the coffee trade more inclusive, profitable and sustainable.  This week, a presidential commission in Colombia asked to analyze the country’s coffee […]

427. A conversation with Ric Rhinehart on the future of coffee in Mesoamerica

2014-10-16 Comments Off on 427. A conversation with Ric Rhinehart on the future of coffee in Mesoamerica

Last week I participated in Let’s Talk Coffee, importer Sustainable Harvest’s annual value chain event, for the fifth time.  The content of the event was broader the caliber of the speakers higher than at any other LTC event I remember.  But the best presentation of the event—the one that still has me thinking the better […]

425. And so it begins

2014-10-01 Comments Off on 425. And so it begins

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 […]

424. CQI launches gender initiative

2014-09-29 Comments Off on 424. CQI launches gender initiative

Kimberly Easson has been present at the creation of lots of noteworthy efforts to make the coffee trade more equitable.  She was part of the original team that brought Fair Trade Certification to the U.S. coffee market in 1999 to create new market opportunities for smallolder farmers.  In 2003, she co-founded the International Women’s Coffee […]

422. Women’s work in coffee

2014-09-15 Comments Off on 422. Women’s work in coffee

Last week Root Capital published this issue brief on gender lens investing in the coffeelands.  I posted some reflections on that publication here, and made reference to the fact that men and women experience the world differently as a result of the social construct of their respective gender roles. The data we collected in Colombia […]

417. The Variety Intelligence Project

2014-07-15 Comments Off on 417. The Variety Intelligence Project

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 […]

414. CONPES 3763

2014-07-07 Comments Off on 414. CONPES 3763

CONPES 3763 may sound like the name of a coffee variety, but it’s not. (It’s not a Star Wars character, either.) CONPES is the Spanish-language acronym for Colombia’s National Council of Economic and Social Policy.  It is part of the country’s National Planning Department and advises the government on issues related to economic and social […]