Most deserved of our respect for so many reasons, Ms. Knutsen coined the phrase “specialty coffee” in a 1974 publication of Tea & Coffee Trade Journal in the US. Not only the identifier of our niche in the coffee industry, her verbal capture of this new blossoming sector, along with her own work as a …
ELIZABETH DOERR explores how the Dominican Republic’s largest coffee company seeks to change local coffee culture through baristas in Issue 06 of 25 Magazine. Strong, short, and sweet – made by stovetop with the Greca coffee maker – is deemed “traditional” Dominican coffee. Part of this could be custom, but the sugar could also be …
HORTENSIA SOLIS interviewed three young Latin American coffee professionals from three different countries to better understand their perspective on the future of coffee production, the industry’s most pressing challenges, and the steps they’re taking to resolve or otherwise navigate them. On paper, working in coffee production is an increasingly difficult path – a complicated conflagration …
CARLOS HENRIQUE JORGE BRANDO[i] traces the design changes that have brought water-saving demucilagers to the fore of a conversation about sustainability and coffee quality. As the name suggests, a “mucilage remover” is a machine that removes mucilage attached to parchment coffee either by itself, or in conjunction with fermentation. Generally, mechanical removal of the mucilage …
HEATHER WARD explains another valuable series of ratios – financial ratios – that help coffee professionals understand and develop best practices to keep their roaster/retailer business healthy and financially sustainable in Issue 6 of 25 Magazine. SCA’s 2017 Roaster/Retailer Financial Benchmarking Report includes a series of financial ratios that reflect leading best practices and performance of …
MARÍA ESTHER LÓPEZ-THOME shares her story in Issue 6 of 25 Magazine. All photos by Andres Anaya. In Venezuela, we do not have seasons – we only have sun and rain. A perfect summer, 365 days a year. We have beaches, plains, mountains, and a very fertile soil; planting and cultivating have always been easy …
Despite Sicily’s profound traditional and cultural attachment to coffee, JENN RUGOLO has never harbored any expectation of finding the same concepts applied to coffee. An unexpected encounter – at a traditional bar in a tiny town in the south east of Sicily – made her question those expectations. Once the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Sicily …
MICK WHEELER, past President and former Executive Director of SCAE, reflects on the early days of specialty coffee in Europe and the hurdles a nascent SCAE faced as it sought to build a community-focused organization across geographical and cultural borders. This is not a long, historical account of the SCAE – there are far too …
Above: Erna Knutsen, accepting her second lifetime achievement award from the SCAA in 2014 (her speech begins at around the 9:10 mark). It was with great sadness that we at the Specialty Coffee Association learned of the passing of Erna Knutsen. All around the world, Erna is known as the godmother of specialty coffee. She …