A Passage from Out of Africa
by Isak Dinesen Coffee-growing is a long job. It does not all come out as you imagine, when, yourself young and hopeful, in the streaming rain, you carry the boxes of your shining young coffee-plants from the nurseries, and, with the whole number of farm-hands in the field, watch the plants set in the regular …
The Necessity of Being a Producer-Friendly Coffee Buyer
by Peter Giuliano, Director, SCAA The job of coffee buyer is an amazing one. I mean—the job is to taste coffee. What could be better than that? The work of selecting, roast profiling, blending, describing, and selling coffee requires tremendous expertise and dedication, and is one of the most sought-after roles in the industry. Sometimes, …
Basic Plant Biology: Keeping the Coffee Plant “Happy”
By EMMA SAGE, Coffee Science Manager at the SCA. What Plants Need A healthy, “happy” coffee plant is one that is able to produce the greatest number of quality seeds. There are three main factors influencing the “happiness” of a plant: genetics, the environment, and applied agricultural management. Since there is no exact formula to …
Challenges in Coffee Processing: An Opportunity in Disguise to Foster a New Breed of Coffee Growers
by Alejandro Cadena, Managing Director, Virmax Café Every stage of coffee production is important to guaranteeing a high-quality product. What starts with good seed selection, and continues with careful picking, can end very badly at the last stage: processing, or post-harvest (wet milling and drying). Independent of the size of the producer, be it a micro-scale …
What is “The Market” Anyway?
by Ric Rhinehart, Executive Director, SCAA Any time coffee folks are gathered, conversation will inevitably include a reference to “the market.” “Did you get the market today?” or “Where did the market close?” and similar conversation-starters are a mainstay in coffee circles everywhere. There are specialty players who take a particular pride in denying their …
Interview With Andrés Isaías Cotuc Mendéz, Manager, La Voz Que Clama en el Desierto Cooperative
“The Voice that Cries Out in the Desert.” A reference to the town’s patron saint, this is the poetic name chosen by a group of 20 indigenous Tzutujil, Kakchiquel and Quiche Mayan farmers in the district of San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala, for their newly-formed cooperative in 1977. Over thirty years later, what they created …
Food Security: A Critical Conversation
by Carolyn Fairman, Chief of Staff, SCAA For years now, SCAA and its member organizations have been creating greater awareness about the issue of hunger. You might ask, “What does hunger have to do with coffee?” Unfortunately, the answer is “a lot.” 800 million people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger—and many of them are coffee …
Sustainable Coffee and Meaningful Economic Benefit
by Tracy Ging, Director of Sustainability, S&D Coffee Sustainability is a tricky thing to define. Much the like the term “specialty,” the more you try to define it, the more elusive the concept becomes. I’d rather leave it open-ended, and make room for the possibility that even once the right words are found, there will still …
90+ Profiles: Getting to Know Arnulfo Leguizamo
Who are you and what do you do in coffee? My name is Arnulfo Leguizamo. I am trying to be the best coffee grower and to produce the best coffee in Colombia. How and when did you get started in the coffee business? I became a coffee grower early in my youth. My father …
SCAA Honors Project Focused on Linking Coffee Producers with Specialty Segment of Mainstream Retailer in United Kingdom
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), the world’s coffee authority and largest coffee trade association, presents its 2014 Sustainability Award to Twin, a UK-based ethical trading organization, and collaborators for their project Congo Coffee Revival: Regenerating Communities by Linking Remote Farmers to Mainstream Markets. This annual award honors individuals, businesses and organizations in the …
Focus on Quality Could Save Brazil’s Small Coffee Farms
Can the world’s growing appetite for unique coffee save Brazil’s specialty coffee farms? by Aleszu Bajak Brazil, long known for being one of the world’s leading producers of bulk commodity coffee, is now trying to make a name for itself as a country where smallholder farms produce specialty coffees. But low wholesale prices and limited international …
SCAA Releases Candidate Profiles for 2014 SCAA Board of Directors Elections
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has released the official slate of candidates for the 2014 Board of Directors Elections and members should review candidate profiles below prior to voting. Voting will open February 19, 2014; ballots will be distributed through email to all eligible voting members. Voters must be the primary contact for a current …