SCAA Announces Results for the 2014 / 2015 Board of Directors Election
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has announced the results of the 2014/2015 Board of Directors election. Voting ended March 22, votes were tallied, and SCAA can now confirm that the new board members are: Ben Pitts, 2nd Vice President Aida Batlle, Director Juan Luis-Barrios, Director Rachel Peterson, Director Chad Trewick, Director “We are …
SCAA Election Demonstrates Democracy at its Best
By Andrew Hetzel Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all of the others.” Despite its inefficiencies and occasional failings, democracy provides individuals the rights of free expression, equality and the benefits of a peaceful transfer of power between administrations. In short, Democracy works. Democracy is a word that …
SCAA Announces Recipients of 2014 Recognition Awards
Honoring those who contribute their expertise to the coffee industry, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has announced the recipients of its 2014 Recognition Awards. Each year, SCAA honors outstanding achievements in the specialty coffee industry and unique contributions to the association. These leaders have made contributions to the industry, resulting in the development …
SCAA Volunteer Highlight: Spencer Turer
Name: Spencer TurerTitle: Vice PresidentCompany: Coffee Analysts How long have you been volunteering for SCAA? In 2000 I joined an SCAA committee and have volunteered on a committee every year since. Today, I am Chairman of the Technical Edit and Peer Review Committee and a member of the Technical Standards committee What was the first SCAA event …
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 …