https://www.vqronline.org/essays-articles/2021/12/tasting-notes
June 2021
My latest article in the Sustainability series with Urnex / BioCaf features several ideas about what you can do with your used coffee grounds at home! I feature time-tested ideas from three coffee professionals in Canada, England, Kenya, and share some of things I do with my used grounds now that I’m back in Nova Scotia.
Thank you to Jill Hoff from Monogram Coffee in Calgary; Emma Haines from Caffeina Consulting in London; and Regine Guion-Firmin from Karibu Kahawa Camps in Nairobi for your insights and contributions to this article!
April 2021
In specialty coffee, the term “empowering women” is ubiquitous: Women’s empowerment is featured in the mission of global and local organizations devoted to women’s equality; in associations that seek to unite women to use their voices and band together; and in programs from soil management to latte art that seek to train women.
But is this focus on “women’s empowerment” enough for gender justice to become a reality? Read my latest article from 25 Magazine to find out why ’empowerment’ lacks the “ferocious accuracy” needed for gender justice to become more than words.
“A Business with a Mission”: Chepsangor Coffee in Nandi, Kenya ~ read my latest article with BioCaf!
April 2021
If you’ve heard of the hills of Nandi county, Kenya, it may be thanks to Eliud Kipchoge whose message “No Human is Limited” became undeniable in October 2019, when in Vienna, he became the first person in the world to run a marathon in under two hours. This Kenyan three-time Olympic medalist (bronze in Athens 2004; silver in Beijing 2008; gold in Rio 2016) was born and raised by a single mother in Nandi county, western Kenya, not far from the border of Uganda. Here, the hills and mountains provided the perfect training program for Kipchoge and the group of athletes who continue to break global barriers in running.
But the lush hills generate other gems; namely, coffee. While not completely unknown to specialty coffee connoisseurs, Nandi’s coffee remains mostly unfamiliar to coffee drinkers who are more likely to see single-origin coffee bags that bear the name Nyeri, one of the counties surrounding Mount Kenya.
Recently, Nandi’s luscious soil is being re-imagined for its potential in coffee. Among the recent Kenyan entrepreneurs is Dr. Rosebella Langat, who, alongside her husband, started a coffee estate business called Chepsangor Coffee in 2018.
My article at BioCaf shares more about Rosebella’s coffee estate and how her eco-pulper contributes to their efforts toward sustainability!
April 2020
Whether you drink coffee or not, my article “Certifications 101: An Introduction for Coffee Professionals” summarizes some of the most common certifications on food and beverage products available in North America and Europe. Post published 22 April 2020 on the BioCaf website here!
To read this article from 3 August 2020, click here.
As one of three BioCaf Sustainability Experts (the other two are the wonderful Umeko Motoyoshi & Sierra Wen Xin Yeo), I have been writing a series of essays and articles this year.
A few days before a particular virus was declared a pandemic, I had already been asked by BioCaf to write a short essay that considers what sustainability looks like in times of crisis. On March 12, the day I had allotted time to write this piece, the two co-owners of Point Zero Cafe here in Nairobi –Andrea Moora & Wangeci Gitobu — and I had planned to meet for coffee.
We met at the Tin Roof Cafe in Karen, and never did I imagine that would be the final time we would do something we all take for granted: go to a cafe & meet friends for coffee. The next day, on March 13, the first COVID-19 case was announced publicly in Kenya. The following week, restaurants, cafes, and bars started to close. Weeks later, many people started to wear masks in public places.
How grateful I am that we shared this time together, and how I anticipate when their cafe will reopen and we can all once again share time together. To read my essay, please click here.
P.S. The book on the table is the beautiful novel The Dragonfly Sea by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, my favourite Kenyan writer.
20 January 2020
Today the United States celebrates one of its only national holidays to celebrate a single individual. On the third Monday of every January, the USA honors the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.
But did you know that not only did he regularly drink coffee, but also one of his sermons implores his audience to appreciate coffee farmers!
“We are everlasting debtors to known and unknown men and women. We do not finish breakfast without being dependent on more than half of the world. . . at the table we drink coffee that is provided for us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West African. Before we leave for our jobs we are beholden to more than half the world.”
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
As a special to Barista Magazine online, I summarized some highlights from the legacy of Dr. King, sharing why he consistently reminded his American audiences that before we finish breakfast, “we are dependent on more than half of the world,” and how we might apply these principles as members of the global coffee value chain. Read the full essay here!
10 January 2020
Happy New Year! As we move into a new year and a new decade, I’m joyful that Barista Magazine online continues to publish some of the interviews with women in coffee that I’ve conducted in the past several years!
Today Part One of my interview with Angelique was published online. Part Two is available here. Both parts of our interview took place in Zanzibar, Tanzania, when we reunited at a coffee conference in November 2019.
I first met Angelique first met in 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda, during an anniversary celebration of Rwashoscco. Special thanks always to Fair Trade USA, especially Colleen Anunu & Parker Townley, for introducing us!
Angelique is the Managing Director of Rwashoscco Ltd in Rwanda, and creator of the brand Angelique’s Finest Coffee.
Rwashoscco Ltd is a farmer-owned marketing, exporting, and roasting company that also provides key services to small holder coffee cooperatives in Rwanda. Rwashoscco Ltd is a limited company incorporated in the Republic of Rwanda that is owned by five cooperatives and one family: COCAHU HUMURE, DUKUNDEKAWAMUSAS, COCAGI GASHONGA, KOAKAKA KARABA, ABAHUZAMUGAMBI BA MARABA, and BUFUNDU COFFEE.
26 December 2019
It was a particular honor for me to interview Rebecca Atienza for Barista Magazine online, because it was thanks to the Barista Magazine cover feature of her in 2015, that I first read about her, ultimately leading to our first meeting in January 2016.
Since that first meeting at her inaugural café in San Juan that opened in 2008, Rebecca and I have stayed friends through many conversations at coffee conferences, via text, and through social media.
As my final publication of the amazing year that was 2019, I send a shout of gratitude for Barista Magazine online, which featured our interview in two parts. This conversation was a composite from Rebecca’s and my four years of friendship, with some thoughts expressed by phone in December 2019. Enjoy reading part one here and part two here!
Our talk highlights Rebecca’s and her family’s resilience through two Hurricanes, Georges in 1998 and Maria in 2016, as well as the blessings and challenges of Rebecca’s life in coffee in the last four years. To visit Hacienda San Pedro’s farm in Jayuya or cafes in San Juan, learn more on their website here! To view the video by Lin-Manuel Miranda that Rebecca mentions in our interview, click here!
