Perspective: Insight Into Origin

“There is much to be said about our industry, but one word that I would use to describe last night’s talk is this - Perspective.”

Travelling to coffee-producing countries sounds like a dream for many. We see many videos on social media and YouTube talking about coffee processes, the plant and varietals, and very well-edited footage of producers working on the farms. This is only a portion of the whole picture, and last evening was a deep insight of what the unspoken parts of travelling to origin can be like.

Travelling through coffee farms can take hours as coffee is grown in mountainous regions, some of which are difficult to get to due to road conditions and sometimes poor weather. Some farms have advanced technology that require less intensive labour, whilst many smaller lots require traditional methods to harvest and process coffee. Despite the technology, coffee production is very much manual labour - from planting and growing coffee, creating the optimal infrastructure to get the most natural growth of coffee plantation, all the way to preparing for shipment.

There is much to be said about our industry, but one word that I would use to describe last night’s talk is this - Perspective. A few thought- provoking points I took home were:

• How do we handle coffee once it reaches us? Do we handle coffee with the same amount of care that farmers do?

• Do producers know how their coffee is used once it reaches the us? How can we, as professionals, showcase the coffee THEY produced? Wouldn’t that be amazing?

• Education is absolute key to raise awareness about where coffee comes from and the effort it takes it reach your cup

A huge thank you to Roosa for sharing your journey to Columbia and to the wonderful team who joined last night. It was a humble reminder why I embarked on this journey.