Applications Are Now Open For The Ikawa Giveaway!
We are pairing up with Glitter Cat Barista and Ikawa in giving away a new Ikawa Pro100 sample roaster to support marginalized coffee professionals within our greater community.
Kenya Update 2021
In a normal February — which this is anything but — we would have staff in Nairobi with cupping spoons in hand, spending hours and hours cupping through fresh offer samples in order to put in the season’s buy plan for Kenya.
A Series about Certifications, part 5 – Direct Trade
The mid-to-late 2000s saw the emergence of “direct trade” as coffee-sourcing concept that was designed to be something of an evolution of the certification programs that already existed in coffee at that time, specifically Fair Trade/Fairtrade. The benefits of those certifications seemed evident—organic certs provide environmental protection, Fair Trade provides financial protection—but lacked a component that was especially significant to specialty-coffee companies: cup quality.
A Series about Certifications, part 4 – Non-GMO
This fourth post covers the Non-GMO Project Verified Product certification. While this is not a common certification for coffee products, Cafe Imports has held Non-GMO Project certification since 2016 and we thought it might be valuable to share our reasoning and the requirements for this particular mark.
A Series about Certifications, part 3 – Rainforest Alliance
In the third post of this series, we’ll take a close look at Rainforest Alliance (also known as Rainforest Alliance/UTZ or RFA/UTZ) certification, so you can explore the holistic nature of this program and its in-depth look at the environmental, social, and economic conditions coffee farmers face.
An Update on Sourcing Travel in the Time of COVID-19
To our dearest friends, exporters, cuppers, mill managers, associations, cooperatives and most of all, to the farmers, producers and caficultores of the world — we miss you.
A Series about Certifications , part 2 – Fair Trade/Fairtrade
In the second post of this series, we’ll explore what “Fair Trade” means around the world, the potential benefits and drawbacks, and how to become certified.
Harvest Report: Colombia 2020
At this point, we’re all sick of updates and harvest reports that start with, “What a wild year this has been,” so we won’t make a whole production out of it: Simply put, coffee is never easy work, and these days that’s truer than almost ever before. This year has been a real test of the strength of our relationships, and while there have been a few setbacks, sadnesses, and disappointments, overall we have been shown the true power of commitments, partnerships, and of sticking together—as Cafe Imports founder and green-coffee buyer for Colombia Andrew Miller always says—through sickness and in health, in good times and bad.
Which is to say, yes, there is some bad news—but it’s not all bad, we promise. (Read on.)
Holiday Carrier Update 2020
Well, friends, it’s coming up on the winter holiday season here in the U.S.A., which means two things: One, that we’ve almost made it to the end of 2020 (hooray!), and two, that it’s time for you to mark your calendars with service interruptions from domestic freight carriers, so nothing comes between you and your delicious coffee orders.
A Series about Certifications, part 1 – Organics
If you’re curious about certifications, this series is for you: Over the course of several blog posts, we’ll explore some of the existing certifications that are available for specialty green coffee, including taking a look at their mission, standards, and whatever auditing or other requirements are important for you to know.
Join Us on Zoom for “Cafe Imports Office Hours”
Introducing Cafe Imports Office Hours, a casual regular get-together on Zoom so we can catch up, geek out, and talk about coffee together. Click here to read more and find out how to join us!
Harvest Report: Peru 2020. Coffee finds a way…
If there’s one thing we’ve learned these past few months, it’s that coffee will most definitely find a way.
Along with our producer partners, we’ve learned to adapt to Zoom to meetings rather than zoom from place to place on airplanes, and we’ve found other ways to stay in touch and even cup together (apart). In fact, we’ve been able to find a lot of joy from seeing friendly faces on our screens—especially when they have good news to share.
Harvest Report: Brazil 2020 and Some Good News in This Strange Year (Finally!)
It turns out there has been one good thing that’s happened so far in 2020: Weather so perfect for the most recent harvest in Brazil that we can’t wait to tell you all about the coffee’s we’ll begin receiving shortly.
Introducing the Cafe Imports Customer Portal
a user-friendly account-management platform that we’ve designed just for you. Through this easy-to-use interface, you can do just about everything you need, from shopping for coffee to managing your inventory, requesting samples, viewing invoices, tracking orders, and more.
Harvest Report: Kenya 2020 – Complicated Is Beautiful
When we set out to tell our customers about the most recent Kenyan harvest every year, we realize it’s always a story with many, many chapters: Flavor, of course, is where the action happens, but there’s also lots of history required for the set-up, characters to introduce, and some plot twists along the way. Thankfully, these are just the kinds of stories we love to read, and the ones we love to tell—especially when everything turns out so delicious in The End.
A Project to Increase Traceability through Our Partners at PRODECOOP, Nicaragua
There are lots of great reasons to develop and maintain long-term relationships with producers and producer associations, and our history with the Fair Trade– and organic-certified PRODECOOP in Nicaragua is an amazing example of the power of showing up every year.
Fully traceable and delicious cascara available now (limited quantities)
Hibiscus, rose, dried tart cherry, rooibos tea: These are tasting notes for coffee, but not the way you might think. They’re actually the words we’ve used to describe our fresh-crop lots of completely traceable, meticulously processed, and fully pasteurized cascara, which we’re thrilled to offer in limited quantities for the second year in a row!
Why Don’t My Cupping Notes Taste Like Yours? – A Tale of Cupping and Calibration
It’s probably happened to all of us: After searching and searching you come across a coffee that has the perfect cupping description, and you eagerly request a sample from your sales representative. When it arrives, you can’t wait to pop it into the sample roaster and get it on the cupping table as soon as possible—only to discover that you don’t taste white peach and sugar cane at all, you taste herbs and cocoa. What gives??
Partnership Over Profit: Supporting Your Relationship with Los Naranjos Association
This is a time to put partnerships over profits, and we’re joining our Colombian export partner Fairfield Trading with a matching discount on all currently incoming lots from Los Naranjos Association, including those from Arnulfo Leguizamo’s farms, El Faldón and La Primavera. Fairfield Trading and Cafe Imports have both agreed to a 12.5¢ price reduction, for a total discount of 25¢ per pound.