The Impact of Mucilage Removers on Coffee Sustainability and Quality – 25 Magazine: Issue 6
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 …
Benchmarking Your Business – 25 Magazine: Issue 6
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 …
Reinventing Yourself Through Coffee – 25 Magazine: Issue 6
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 …
Subverting Expectations in Palazzolo Acreide – 25 Magazine: Issue 6
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 …
SCAE Celebrates 20 Years – 25 Magazine: Issue 6
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 …
Sustainability Webinar: Coffee Prices and Farm Profitability
Update: Thanks to all who joined us for this second webinar in our Sustainability series on Farm Profitability and Prosperity recorded live on Tuesday, September 25th, at 8:00am PST / 4:00pm BST. Watch the recording above. Over the summer we have watched the coffee commodity futures market drop until on Tuesday, August 21, coffee opened at …
Climate Change & Coffee: Acting Globally & Locally
Excerpt from KIM ELENA IONESCU’s introduction of the newly republished SCA White Paper titled Climate Change & Coffee: Acting Globally & Locally. In the context of global shortfalls, it can feel glib or even disingenuous to applaud the efforts of individuals, but climate change isn’t only affecting the environment – it’s affecting people, and people are …
#24: Re:co Podcast – Vava Angwenyi on Building an Alternative Narrative for Kenya’s Coffee Farmers
On this episode of the Re:co Podcast, Kim Elena Ionescu speaks with Vava Angweni, Founder & Chief Coffaholic at Vava Coffee Ltd, and Co-Founder & Director of Gente Del Futuro. Vava sources coffee from farmers in Kenya and around East Africa, and most recently has worked with Fairtrade Africa to develop and launch two brands …
Vava Angwenyi | Building an Alternative Narrative for Kenya’s Coffee Farmers
Vava Angweni, Founder & Chief Coffaholic at Vava Coffee Ltd, and Co-Founder & Director of Gente Del Futuro, speaking at Re:co Symposium in Seattle in April 2018. Vava sources coffee from farmers in Kenya and around East Africa, and most recently has worked with Fairtrade Africa to develop and launch two brands Zawadi Coffee (the …
Inaugural Leadership Equity and Diversity (LEAD) Scholars Announced
By RIC RHINEHART On behalf of the Specialty Coffee Association, it is my pleasure to introduce the new Leadership Equity and Diversity (LEAD) Scholarship Program. First announced at the Re:co Symposium in April 2018, LEAD is aimed at increasing diversity of leadership within the global coffee community by enabling access to professional development resources to people from …
Presenting Slate of Candidates for the 2019–2020 SCA Board of Directors Elections
Update: Thanks to all who joined us on September 17 to meet the slate during a special webinar. If you missed the webinar, watch the recording above. By JAMES HUMPOLETZ Translations available: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Russian, Spanish. As announced in June, the elections process for the 2019–2020 SCA Board of Directors is the first …
When the Market Drops Again, Who Will Be Left to Speak Up?
By KIM ELENA IONESCU Join us on September 25 at 8 a.m. PST / 4 p.m. BST for the 2nd webinar in our Sustainability series on Farm Profitability. Register here On Tuesday, August 21, 2018, the commodity futures market for coffee opened at ninety-eight US cents after hovering just above a dollar for a few …