Sustainability in Coffee: What Are The Main Issues?
Sustainability has become a buzz word in recent years, but the long-term economic, environmental, and social health of the coffee industry are vital considerations. Reduced ...read more
Can We Improve Efficiency & Quality in Coffee Picking?
Do you want to produce high-quality coffee that should result in higher prices? Or do you want to efficiently produce coffee, reducing investment and so ...read more
Disease & Deforestation: The Cost of Coffee in Madagascar
In Madagascar, coffee is the fuel that powers everyone through their day – but it comes at a cost. This island off the Mozambique coast ...read more
What Should We Have Learned From The 2001 Coffee Price Crisis?
When the international price for coffee (or C-Price) fell below US $1 per pound in August, many were alarmed. Even outside of the industry, the ...read more
The Daily Life of Madagascar’s Coffee Vendors
In Madagascar, coffee is a national obsession and a big part of daily life. At its heart are the street vendors who dedicate their lives ...read more
A Broken Coffee Market: Why Specialty Farmers Are Going Bankrupt
Murray Cooper was one of the most famous specialty coffee farmers in Ecuador. I’m using the past tense because he’s now bankrupt. Murray did specialty coffee ...read more
When Producers Roast Their Own Coffee, Green Quality Improves
Endless mountain ranges, coffee trees drooping with ripe-red cherries, and golden coffee beans drying on raised beds: this is what we often think of when ...read more
This Is How Much It Costs to Produce Coffee Across Latin America
Let’s say a filter coffee at your local specialty café costs US $4.00. But how much did the green coffee required to make it cost ...read more
How Can Long-Term Relationships Increase Sustainability at Origin?
“We need to think that the coffee ecosystem is composed of 20 million farmers,” Michele Cannone tells me. As Head of Global Marketing Foodservice at ...read more
Coffee Barometer 2018: It’s Time for Less Talk, More Action
As I read the last sentence of the 2018 Coffee Barometer report, it left me thinking of the Honduran phrase “tilin-tilin y nada de paletas.” ...read more
Volcán De Fuego & How The Coffee Community Can Support Guatemala
75 Guatemalans have died. More are missing. And thousands have been displaced, forced to leave behind their homes and crops. We know Guatemala for its ...read more
3 Things a Coffee Farmer Would Like You to Do
Coffee is not just coffee. Our favorite beverage can be our morning pick-me-up, a precious moment to ourselves after work, a long chat with an ...read more
Green Coffee Pricing Transparency Is Critical (And Complicated)
There are real concerns about the future of specialty coffee. And one of the most pressing is the incredibly low incomes earned by coffee producers. ...read more
Forward vs Spot Coffee Buying: The Pros & Cons
Do you know what coffee you’ll be selling next season? Or will your team be ringing around, requesting samples, negotiating prices, and hoping that you ...read more
What a Coffee Producer Thinks When Harvest Begins
With the approach of the coffee harvest comes mixed feelings. Many producers, like my family, are excited to see the result of our year’s hard ...read more
The Reality of Producing Specialty Coffee on Tiny Farms
Imagine owning a farm so small that you cannot receive practical help – even though, with the low profit margins and high costs of coffee ...read more