Tag Archives: Sustainable Harvest

371. World Coffee Development

2013-11-12 Comments Off on 371. World Coffee Development

Did I write yesterday in rebooting the blog that I will focus ruthlessly on our work in Colombia and Ecuador?  Yes.  And does this first post address something not directly related to our work in the field there?  Absolutely.  Why?  Because World Coffee Development might be the single most important thing the coffee sector does—or […]

369. Epilogue

2013-07-15 Comments Off on 369. Epilogue

The CRS Coffeelands Blog published perspectives from the intersection of coffee and international development from 2009-2013. We launched the blog because we believe that despite a quarter-century of investment and innovation to get closer to the source of our coffee, “there are still real opportunities for discovery and growth in terms of our understanding of […]

366. Coffee leaders visit Colombia’s borderlands

2013-06-25 Comments Off on 366. Coffee leaders visit Colombia’s borderlands

Nariño is a coffee-growing region on Colombia’s southern border with Ecuador that is renowned for the quality of its coffee but remains the source of relatively few coffees sourced directly by roasters paying premiums  for coffees of extraordinary quality.  The CRS Borderlands Coffee Project has enlisted the support of an Advisory Board that includes six […]

333. Saving Colombia’s endangered coffee

2013-01-30 Comments Off on 333. Saving Colombia’s endangered coffee

Over the past two weeks, I have been writing about the response of Colombia’s coffee authorities to the current coffee leaf rust epidemic – a massive effort to replace the country’s traditional coffee varieties with the disease-resistant Castillo cultivar.  Today we profile a decidedly more modest effort – our support for farmers who are determined […]

314. Robusta on the cupping table

2012-10-24 Comments Off on 314. Robusta on the cupping table

Earlier this month in Colombia, we worked with Sustainable Harvest to stage an event-within-an-event during its annual Let’s Talk Coffee gathering.  Our event, which focused on “the other coffee,” was a three-part program called  “Let’s Talk Robusta” that culminated in a fine Robusta cupping led by the great Sunalini Menon. Video coverage of the cupping […]

313. Robusta: The other coffee

2012-10-23 Comments Off on 313. Robusta: The other coffee

Last October, I wrote the R-word on this blog for the first time.  I was explaining our collaboration with smallholder farmers in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region to explore the emerging market for specialty Robusta coffees. It took us more than a year to re-engage publicly with the idea of fine Robusta, but we think it […]

312. “Robusta is indeed a big deal”

2012-10-22 Comments Off on 312. “Robusta is indeed a big deal”

A lot has been said already in social media about “Let’s Talk Robusta,” a three-part program we sponsored as part of Sustainable Harvest‘s 10th annual Let’s Talk Coffee event earlier this month in Colombia.  I will share more in the coming days about the event, and I am confident that the contested concept of fine […]

311. Big news in coffee

2012-10-10 Comments Off on 311. Big news in coffee

I have been so busy preparing for and participating in Sustainable Harvest’s 10th annual Let’s Talk Coffee in Colombia last week that I am just getting caught up on some recent news in coffee. Here are some of the biggest stories in specialty coffee from the last month.

308. Sustainable Harvest and “Relationship Coffee”

2012-10-04 Comments Off on 308. Sustainable Harvest and “Relationship Coffee”

I am in Colombia this week with 20 CRS colleagues, partners and project participants from Latin America and the Caribbean to participate in Let’s Talk Coffee, the innovative value chain event that Sustainable Harvest created 10 years ago.  I see lots of opportunities for learning in the event’s exciting agenda, which includes a wide range […]

307. Let’s Talk Robusta

2012-10-02 Comments Off on 307. Let’s Talk Robusta

Today I travel to Medellín with 20 CRS colleagues, partners and project participants from Colombia, Ecuador and Haiti for Let’s Talk Coffee – the annual coffee value chain event that Sustainable Harvest created 10 years ago.  The first Let’s Talk Coffee was a groundbreaking innovation, creating an annual space for face-to-face communications among farmer organizations […]