The Making of a Global Commodity | Part 1: Out of Arabia
Learn more with exclusive Digital Extra: The Making of a Global Commodity | Part 2: Coffee Comes to the Americas By Dr. Steven Topik, University of California Irvine How did a tree that sprang up in the remote highlands of Ethiopia become a global commodity? In the beginning, of course, was the coffee tree itself. The …
The Coffee Brewing Institute: Setting the Stage for Specialty Coffee
By Emma Sage, Coffee Science Manager, SCA (with special thanks to Randy Pope and Ted Lingle for their contributions) Throughout modern coffee history, one consistently recognized method has prevailed that determines a properly brewed cup of coffee. Of course, this is the brewing control chart. This tool takes something as subjective as the desired taste …
A Somewhat Less Than Concise History Of Coffee
By Timothy J. Castle, Author of The Perfect Cup The history of coffee, the beverage made from the roasted seeds of the coffee cherry, unlike many things in our universe, has been relatively brief and quantifiable, starting at about 615 years A.D. (give or take 50) in the mountains of Ethiopia. In discussing the history …
Coffee’s Volatile Ups and Downs
By Mark Pendergrast, Author of Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World The coffee market has always been volatile. Rumors of Brazilian frosts cause price hikes, while surprisingly large harvests produce dreadful price declines, along with misery for farmers and laborers, trouble for exporters and importers, and challenges for roasters …
The Green Trade
A Retrospective on the Business of Moving Coffee By Andi Trindle Mersch, Atlantic Specialty Coffee “A short article covering 30 years of trading coffee in a world that has changed so much is challenging, to say the least!” noted one of my first mentors in the green coffee trade business, Janis Cutler, Vice President of …
In Search of Meaning | Part 2
By Paul Katzeff, Thanksgiving Coffee, Founding Member of SCAA In Search of Meaning was written in 1983 when SCAA was just a couple of months old. It appeared in the first issue of “In Good Taste.” That publication was SCAA’s first organized communication to its twenty-five charter members. Donald Schoenholt is responsible for the name …
90+ Profiles: Getting to Know Robert Fulmer
Who are you and what do you do in coffee? Robert Fulmer, co-founder and current President of Royal Coffee, Inc. How and when did you get started in the coffee business? In 1976, I was offered a summer job cleaning damaged coffee in San Francisco for $50 a day. I felt like a millionaire and …
Portfolio | Issue No. 4 | Collaborative Design
The LINO Collection presents the optimal marriage of design and function at both the commercial and consumer levels. Subtly ergonomic and biomorphic, the ceramic vessels in this family were designed with and for world-renowned baristas based on an empirical methodology. Each piece was rigorously tested for functionality inside and out. The interior curvature of each …
Portfolio | Issue No. 4 | Every Little Thing
Espresso Supply began distributing coffee specific smallwares to the specialty coffee industry in 1993. Over the past 20 years we have grown into a company whose purpose is to make it better by providing practical and innovative tools and accessories for coffee houses around the world. We offer a full array of quality products, many …
In Search of Meaning | Part 1
Repositioning Our Industry for the Future Grandstanding February 1993 (Reprinted from “In Good Taste” 1983) Read Paul’s current-day follow-up here: In Search of Meaning Part Two By Paul Katzeff In the early days of the specialty coffee industry, we sustained ourselves on the simple, clear objective of bringing great coffee flavor to the coffee lover. …
The Making of a Global Commodity | Part 2: Coffee Comes to the Americas
By Steven Topik Read Part 1: The Making of a Global Commodity | Part 1: Out of Arabia After the advent of a Muslim coffee economy in the sixteenth century and the arrival of Europeans to the world of coffee as described in The Making of a Global Commodity: Out of Arabia, coffee truly flourished in …
SCAA Announces Starbucks as Official Host Sponsor of 2014/15 Exposition and Peru as Portrait Country In 2014
The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) has announced that Starbucks will serve as the Official Host Sponsor of the 26th and 27th Annual Exposition, “The Event,” to be held in Seattle April 24-27, 2014 and April 9-12, 2015. Peru has also been named the Official Portrait Country Sponsor for the 2014 SCAA Event. 2014 …