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Charlie Habegger
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Charlie Habegger

Articles by Charlie Habegger

  • Canopy in western Guji (courtesy of my wife, Melissa Ryan Photography)

    Ethiopia: Coffee’s Heirloom

    Publisher’s note: check out our fresh crop Ethiopias. In December 2018, a small group of us drove the mercifully paved high route from Yirga Alem, in Sidama, to Shakiso, in Guji, arriving in the dark. Early the next morning on our way to the farms we stopped at a café for fatira, a flaky breakfast pancake cut into squares, bowls of honey, and boiling hot macchiatos. The early sun was a disco ball in […]
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  • UC Davis College of Engineering Dean, UC Davis Chancellor, Professors Ristenpart, Batali and Kuhl, unveil the coffee center's new sign

    "Coffee Needs Research"

    The UC Davis Coffee Center Receives its Official Dedication and is Open for Business Friday, June 25th, was the day of the official dedication ceremony for the UC Davis College of Engineering Coffee Center, a 6,000 square foot multi-bay laboratory building currently on its way to becoming the world’s first research and teaching facility dedicated […]
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  • farmgate coffee from Ecuador

    What Does Smallholder Farmgate Coffee Pricing Look Like?

    Editor’s note: This article was first published in Roast Magazine’s July/August 2023 issue, and is reprinted here with permission. Transparency is an act of devotion When you love something (and specialty coffee people love coffee), you’re naturally compelled to want to learn everything about it. And if you believe your coffee has value, you’re more […]
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  • FAF coffee farm in brazil

    FAF, the Environmental Fortress Farm and the Other Brazil

    Publisher’s note: Despite the default impression of Brazil as being dominated by large, mechanized farms, about half of the country’s coffee farmers are small, family-managed operations who process at home and sell to local growers’ organizations to earn their living. This is the story of the Croce Family and FAF – their Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, […]
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  • Ecuador Hacienda La Papaya and view of the valley in Ecuador

    You're Missing Out: the Case for Ecuador Coffee

    The past few years have included, along with the launch of our Crown Jewel program, our first real sustained sourcing effort in Ecuador. Both of these projects reflect Royal’s stance as buyers, or curators, as much as we are traders. All of us here who contribute to the spot position are capable of arguing for […]
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