I attended the World Coffee Producers Forum in Campinas Brazil on July 10th and 11th.  According to the website, the WCP is "an environment for discussions with an agenda prepared by coffee growers aiming to reach more sustainable ways for global coffee activity".  

There were a lot of brilliant people there and engaged in the conversations.  I break down the main proposed points and give my opinion on them from the perspective of a medium-sized speciality roaster who is doing his best to support the ignored farmers in our supply chain.

Then I try to embarrass Nicky :)

Enjoy the episode and feel free to email me at [email protected]

I sit down once again with Henry Wilson from Perfect Daily Grind to discuss the importance of crop diversification for coffee farmers.    Given the low coffee market prices and the impacts of climate change, this is a very important conversation.   

This was a very impromptu episode with Nicholas and Brianna.  I knew that the only way to get Brianna on the podcast was to guilt her into doing it on Fathers Day :)

I love any opportunity to hang out and chat with my awesome kids, so this was a lot of fun for me.  I hope you enjoy it.

Henry and I sit down to discuss the Producer Roaster Forum, which his team at Perfect Daily Grind organized in Guatemala City, Guatemala.   Mayorga was a gold sponsor, I gave a talk, and we went with 4 staff members and Pedro Romero from Capucas in Honduras.  It was a great experience! 

Feel free to email me with feedback, questions, or topic requests at [email protected] 

In February I was on the Executive Leaders Radio show, which focuses on interviewing leaders and CEO's of companies in the Washington, DC area.  This is a brief interview with rapid-fire types of questions and some quick answers with the hopes of getting insight into what makes leaders "tick" based on their early life experiences.   I hope you enjoy it!

This is the first ever episode in Spanish.  I sit down with Oscar and Francisca Chacón from Finca Las Lajas in Costa Rica.  They produce about 33% of all organic coffee grown in Costa Rica (which isn't a lot).  We talk about the importance of relationships in this industry and the challenges specific to them as proponents of organic coffee production in a country with some of the highest production costs in Latin America.    

Una conversación con Oscar y Francisca Chacón de Finca Las Lajas en Costa Rica.  Ellos producen un 33% de todo el cafe organico producido en Costa Rica (lo cual no es mucho).  Hablamos de la importancia de relaciones directas en la industria y de los retos específicos que ellos encuentran siendo una minoría en la producción de cafe organico en un país que tiene uno de los costos de producción mas altos en Latinoamerica. 

The commodity coffee market is at a 13 year low--at levels below the cost of production for many farmers.  There has been a lot of talk about this issue in the coffee industry as well as the media.   It's not a simple issue nor is it, in my opinion, being addressed appropriately by the industry.

Melanie is Mayorga Organics' Food Safety Compliance Manager.  She's a food scientist whose focus is to ensure that our product quality is of the highest standards while also ensuring that we are in compliance with all requisite and elective auditing bodies.   She's highly skilled and trained in sensory analysis and product development and is a certified Q Grader.   I sat down with her to discuss what it's like to have such highly technical role within a company that's so purpose driven.   Spoiler alert: you'll learn that food safety and compliance can be fun!  Please provide feedback or ask any questions via email to [email protected]