Editor's Note: A version of this article first appeared in Coffee T&I Magazine, June 2018. Download a PDF here, including fully cited references. Coffee often exists as a routine, a caffeine delivery mechanism, well before any of us begin taking pleasure in its flavor. Like many things in...
I visited Taiwan last winter to promote a book about coffee roasting that I co-authored with Naoki Goto, Tim Wendelboe, and the book’s editor, Lulu Wang. I was excited to experience and learn more about the coffee scene, as well the food scene in Taipei and elsewhere on the island. I heard the...
A few recent shipments from Mexico brought matters of international shipping to our attention once again, but in a very positive manner. These two shipments in particular came in tasting absolutely fabulous. So, how come these coffees came in...
Vava Angwenyi is the founder of Vava Coffee, a Kenyan social enterprise that works with smallholder coffee farmers, women, and youth, utilizing training to provide marginalized community members with an opportunity to move out of poverty. She recently spoke about her endeavors at Re:co Symposium...
Global Specialty Coffee Expo was a hit this year. With over 13,000 domestic and international attendees, the show was just as packed as ever - yet somehow it was impossible not to run into someone you knew wherever you walked. Familiar and new faces alike, it was great to meet you there! This...
Dear Friends, First of all about coffee: We are very encouraged by the initial shipment arrivals from Central America and Mexico. For the past few years the roya fungus has certainly compromised many of our favorite suppliers. We are now cupping some outstanding coffees, in...
Every year the international coffee community comes together at the Specialty Coffee Expo. This event brings together professionals from every step of the coffee supply chain to discuss, learn, and make new contacts. 2018 marks a significant milestone for IWCA as we celebrate the organization’s...
Plastic surrounds us. There’s no two ways about it – just look around you right now and you’ll see how many objects contain plastic. My phone is plastic, that cup is plastic, and my pants probably have some synthetic fibers in them as well. My sandwich is in a plastic bag, and the lettuce I bought...
When viewing the Royal Coffee offering list for Brazil, it has been traditionally dominated by Mogiana and Cerrado FC SS 17/18, with multiple containers arriving and shipping out to us every month. These are the bread and butter Brazils: soft, mild, mellow sweet and nutty (and cheap), used widely...
In the Third Wave coffee market, where the unique qualities of the producer, region, and altitude are popular to tout, the specialty coffee industry has contributed to a romanticized story of how coffee is sourced. The storyline which most consumers understand as 'direct trade' follows a roaster...
Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend Sensory Summit, hosted by the Roasters Guild at UC Davis. This is the third year the Roasters Guild, who hoped to host an event to complement Retreat, has hosted this incredible weekend. It’s designed to “...educate, inform, and inspire the Specialty...
Royal Coffee recently took a trip to Ethiopia, where we met with various exporters and producers, and explored the country from bustling Addis Ababa to remote Gedeb. We visited the production facilities that have brought us such wonderful Ethiopian coffee over the years, and our customers were...
Harar has always held a special place in my heart. One of the very first coffee trips I ever took involved meeting The Man in Harar, Mohamed Abdullahi Ogsadey, quite literally a Somali King with four wives and nearly 50 children. I was seven. For years, Royal Coffee was the exclusive...
If you haven’t recently studied a good map of Colombia, I recommend it. I have a cheap but pretty good atlas I picked up on sale when the Emeryville Borders went out of business a number of years back. I like to study it occasionally; it’s my idea of a good time. Running South to North from the...
As a founding member of the SCAA and continuing member of the SCA, Royal Coffee does not view the Association’s decision to hold competition events in Dubai nor its recently published Deferred Candidacy policy with apathy or disinterest. The future of the Association and our participation in its...
