Tag Archives: Intelligentsia

451. Intelligentsia releases first lot from the Borderlands

2015-03-04 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Intelligentsia wasn’t just a charter member of the Advisory Council for our Borderlands project in Nariño, Colombia–conversations with coffee buyer Geoff Watts dating back to 2010 helped shape the project’s design and planted the seeds for the Colombia Sensory Trial, our partnership with leaders in specialty coffee, research and philanthropy on a rigorous comparative analysis […]

441. Getting by with a little help from our friends: The Borderlands Advisory Council

2015-01-07 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Today: how representatives of six leading specialty coffee companies who share our commitment to transform the coffee chain in Nariño, Colombia, are helping us create opportunities for smallholder farmers and developing new sources of extraordinary coffee.

440. Revisiting our 2014 New Year’s resolutions

2015-01-06 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

A year ago we made three New Year’s resolutions on this blog: Generate more results-based evidence. Help the coffee sector navigate uncharted waters. Borrow a page from the microfinance playbook. Today we revisit those resolutions to see how we did on each one in 2014.

438. The CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings series adjourns (for now)

2014-12-17 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Over the past six weeks, this blog has been devoted exclusively to the CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings–a series of comparative cuppings of Castillo and Caturra samples from our Borderlands project involving leading roasters and importers in the United States, Europe and Australia. Even when I took a week off from reporting on the results of […]

434. The variety play (and the future of Caturra)

2014-11-24 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

We interrupt our series on of interviews on the CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings to bring you an important reflection on the future of Caturra. Are its days numbered?

433. The CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings: Intelligentsia

2014-11-20 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Today, a conversation with Intelligentsia QC manager Chris Kornman and coffee buyer Geoff Watts regarding Colombian coffee varieties—the third weekly installment in my series on the CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings. Earlier this month, Chris and QC Lab Assistant Amanda Seaver staged the CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings at the Intelligentsia Roasting Works in Chicago. Six different Intelligentsia […]

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 […]

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 […]

410. What generation gap?

2014-06-09 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

In my travels in the coffeelands, I hear a familiar concern echoed by coffee growers: relevo generacional. All over the Americas, aging farmers are watching their children leave the farm for the city to pursue higher education and employment opportunities. With the coffee leaf rust epidemic, volatile market prices, a changing climate, low productivity, limited […]

383. Stumptown releases Borderlands microlot

2014-02-06 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Stumptown Coffee yesterday released its first microlot from our Borderlands project in Colombia, comprised of small lots from four farms in Nariño. If you are interested in exceptional coffee, where it comes from, or both, we humbly suggest three actions: READ the post below for more detail about the amazing growers behind this amazing coffee; […]