On September 20-23 in balmy Cartagena, Colombia, 236 people from throughout the coffee supply chain united for Let’s Talk Coffee® Global, the conference bringing together coffee farmers, roasters, NGOs, financiers, and a range of other stakeholders to connect as a supply chain, learn from each other, and strategize solutions to the challenges facing the coffee industry.

The connection provided by Let’s Talk Coffee® is perhaps more needed than ever right now, in what is a challenging time for coffee farmers around the world. C-market prices are hovering around $1 a pound, which is far below the cost of production for most farmers. To compound that, the effects of climate change continue to provide additional challenges in coffee-producing communities, from an increase in diseases like coffee leaf rust to fluctuating weather patterns affecting production.

A program focused on ‘New Models for Success’

– Innovation in the supply chain was also explored extensively, with several inventive ideas presented. These included evolving financial models featuring the use of blockchain, with Dutch NGO Progreso unveiling its blockchain-backed Beyco trading platform; a mini-conference on natural-process coffees with the Coffee Quality Institute’s Mario Fernández sharing knowledge from CQI’s Q Processing Program; and the latest technology in coffee brewing and roasting pushing the industry forward.

– Demonstrating leadership amid the challenges in coffee, and communicating about coffee via storytelling were also covered thoroughly. A panel of trailblazing leaders including reigning World Barista Champion Agnieszka Rojewska, Olga Cuellar Gomez of S&D Coffee & Tea, and Colombian coffee farmers Sandra Palacios and Maria Reyes shared theories on the importance of collaboration and shared goals in the face of challenges. Elsewhere in the program, panels covered the power of communicating stories for the betterment of the industry, including a panel moderated by Ted Stachura of Equator Coffees & Teas addressing marketing farmers’ coffees in non-exploitative ways. Sustainable Harvest also introduced its new GrowerStories platform allowing producers to share stories from their farms to better connect to coffee roasters.

To check out some of the presentations from the event, head to our LTC Talks page.

Cuppings and field trips

A regular part of every Let’s Talk Coffee® event is the cuppings that showcase the latest and greatest coffees from the Relationship Coffee supply chain. This year’s event was no different, with stellar coffees from Latin America and East Africa presented for evaluation, often with the coffee’s producer taking part. Relationship Coffees were highlighted further through a team triangulation competition that paired roasters and producers to identify the odd coffee out of three cups, helping to foster relationships among supply chain peers.

The Let’s Talk Coffee® festivities weren’t relegated to the hotel hosting the event: At the end of the three-day program, attendees got a taste of origin through visits to Colombian coffee farms. One field trip headed to Huila, an emerging region that accounts for 16 percent of the country’s coffee production, while another traveled to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta area to visit the Red Ecolsierra cooperative, a leader in organic coffee production. Still another group of LTC attendees headed to the Popayán area to take part in a Q Processing Course after the event.

Collective action for a better future

One of the differentiators of Let’s Talk Coffee® is that it has perhaps the highest representation of coffee producers of any conference—in Colombia, producers accounted for 37 percent of attendees, and played a key role in many program sessions. Ligia López, a producer from Prodecoop in Nicaragua, says Let’s Talk Coffee® 2018 gave producers vital knowledge. “We learned about new market trends, product innovations, what consumers are demanding, and strategies to make our businesses grow,” Ligia says. “We also tasted coffees from other origins, shared experiences with other producers, and were able to establish commercial relationships face to face.”

At Let’s Talk Coffee® 2018, producers and other stakeholders didn’t just connect and learn together, they also took part in conversations that could lead to positive change in the coffee sphere. To that end, Sustainable Harvest® President Liam Brody posed a challenge to all attendees: At the end of each day, he asked them to write on a Post-In note one action they would take to improve the coffee industry, transforming conversations into definable actions. By the end of the conference, the Post-It notes took up large portions of the hallway, illustrating the tangible difference the supply chain can make when working together.

Want to relive Let’s Talk Coffee® 2018? Check out the highlights—including photos, media coverage, and video of the presentations—here.

Also, check out Sustainable Harvest® Chief Coffee Officer Jorge Cuevas’ thoughts about our host country, Colombia, and its impressive coffee sector here.

 

Thanks to our sponsors for their support of Let’s Talk Coffee 2018!

                

Building ‘New Models for Success’ in Colombia

Thanks to all who joined us at Let’s Talk Coffee® 2018 Colombia! We’re grateful for your contributions to the event dialogue and thank you for investing your time and energy into the Let’s Talk Coffee® movement to create a better future for coffee. We’re happy to make the recap video and live-streamed presentations from the event available to you below. Be sure to also check out photos on our Facebook page.

For those who weren’t able to join us, we hope you enjoy this content from the event. If you haven’t already, sign up for our mailing list so you don’t miss out on any Let’s Talk Coffee® news and upcoming events.

Be sure to also check out this media and industry coverage of the event:

• Daily Coffee News – Walking the Walk at Let’s Talk Coffee in Colombia
• Daily Coffee News – Sustainable Harvest and IDB Announce Three-Year Mexico Coffee Revival Project
• Daily Coffee News – Progreso Launches Innovative Blockchain-Backed Trading Platform Beyco
• Daily Coffee News – A Radical New Social Contract Concept from James Hoffmann
• Barista Magazine – Let’s Talk Coffee 2018 Comes to Colombia
• Barista Magazine – Origin Roundup: New women’s coffee blend, investing in Mexico, COE Colombia
• James Hoffmann YouTube – Let’s Talk Coffee: Risk, Power & A New Social Contract

Lastly, mark your calendars: Let’s Talk Coffee® is heading to Rwanda June 17-19, 2019!

Video and Photos from Let’s Talk Coffee® 2018

Let’s Talk Coffee® 2018 Recap Video

Event Photos

Let’s Talk Coffee® 2018 Opening Video

The State of Specialty Coffee from Three Perspectives

Albert Scalla, INTL FCStone; Helen Griffith, S&D Coffee & Tea; and Juan Pablo Solís-Víquez, Hivos

A New Social Contract (starts at 33:11)

James Hoffmann, Square Mile Coffee Roasters

The Current State of Specialty Coffee Panel

Moderated by Helen Russell, Equator Coffees & Teas, with Brandon Jackson, Brown Brothers Harriman; Andi Trindle Mersch, Philz Coffee; James Hoffmann, Square Mile Coffee Roasters; and Vera Espíndola Rafael, SAGARPA

New Models in Brewing

Moderated by Jamie Pockrandt, Sustainable Harvest, with Eli Salomon, Voga Coffee, Jayson Sarley, Coffee Review and Voga Coffee; and Karla Ly, Cafe Comunion

New Models in Roasting

Moderated by Monica Terveer, Sustainable Harvest, with Joe Behm, Behmor Inc.; Arno Holschuh, Bellwether Coffee; and Jordan Dey, GrainPro

The WBC 2018 Winning Performance

Agnieszka Rojewska, World Barista Champion 2018

Pioneers in Coffee (Starts at 30:15)

Moderated by Olga Cuellar Gomez, S&D Coffee & Tea, with Agnieszka Rojewska, World Barista Champion 2018; Sandra Palacios, Cooagronevada; and Maria Reyes, Coocentral

Story: Explanation or Exploitation?

Moderated by Ted Stachura, Equator Coffees & Teas; with Colleen Anunu, Fair Trade USA; Kelly Stein, COFFEA Podcast; Karla Ly, Cafe Comunion; and Jan Anderson, Premium Quality Consulting

GrowerStories: A New Model for Sharing Producer Voices

Moderated by Robbie Lane, Sustainable Harvest, with Bong Suh, Dynamic Signal; Emel Mosquera, Coocentral; Maria Reyes, Coocentral; and Torrey Lee, Cafe Moto

Making a New Farm Business Model

Juan Pablo Villota, Cafe San Alberto

New Models for Transparent Contracts (starts at 18:08)

Isabel Van Bemmelen, Progreso

Scaling the Lessons Learned from South-South Sustainable Growers Gender Programs

Moderated by Saurin Nanavati, COSA, with Jean Aime Niyonkuru, Sustainable Growers; Ruth Coleman, Sustainable Growers; and Adam McClean, Question Coffee

Practical Lessons in Marketing Your Brand

Dan McCloskey, Premium Quality Consulting; Al Liu, Colectivo Coffee; Vava Angwenyi, Vava Coffee; and McNeely, Sustainable Growers/Branding +

Approaches to Tackling Climate Change – Part 1 (starts at 1 hour 12 minutes)

Representatives from the Anei community of Santa Marta, Colombia

Approaches to Tackling Climate Change – Part 2

Gabriela Calderón, OIRSA

Fifth International Conference on Arabica Naturals

Mario Fernández, Coffee Quality Institute; Manuel Diaz, ONA Consulting; Hernando Tapasco, Café y Procesos; and Marcia Yoko Sh, Connecta Coffee

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Thanks to our sponsors for their support!

    

    

    

    

Look around at a Let’s Talk Coffee® event, and you’ll likely notice something you don’t see at your average coffee event: representatives from throughout the entire coffee supply. Yes, at any Let’s Talk Coffee® session, you’re likely to have coffee producers, baristas, coffee roasters, and representatives from NGOs, government, philanthropy, the impact investment world, and beyond.

Having the opportunity to interact with a breadth of stakeholders is just one of the special experiences presented by Let’s Talk Coffee®. Since 2003, Let’s Talk Coffee® has been the coffee industry’s signature origin event, giving attendees the chance to learn, do business, build relationships, and connect with a like-minded supply chain.

Let’s Talk Coffee® 2018 takes place September 20-23 in Cartagena, Colombia, at the 5-star Intercontinental Cartagena hotel. Here are the top 5 experiences attendees can look forward to at this year’s event:

“One of my dreams is that we’re creating a ‘multi-logue,’” Daniele said at Let’s Talk Coffee®. “It’s been a monologue quite often with information going one way, and sometimes it’s a dialogue where they’re talking back. But a muti-logue involves everyone in the supply chain—the community, the farmer, the buyer, and certainly the consumer—being part of what’s actually going on.”

Daniele’s words rang true at Let’s Talk Coffee®, the annual global supply chain gathering that thrives on collaboration, gathering all stakeholders from the specialty-coffee supply chain to forge inclusive business relationships, learn about pressing issues from top speakers, and become stronger as an industry. Let’s Talk Coffee® Mexico, which took place October 13-16 in Puerto Vallarta, brought together 250 attendees from 20 countries, and it was a group deeply invested in the collaborative spirit of the event.

For those who’ve never been, it’s hard to describe what exactly makes Let’s Talk Coffee® such an electric, almost magical event. It’s truly Relationship Coffee in action, with an intimate setting allowing all attendees the opportunity to connect. Henry Wilson, founder of digital coffee publication Perfect Daily Grind, attended Let’s Talk Coffee® for the first time in 2016 and offered this observation: “What Let’s Talk Coffee® offers that’s different from any other conference I’ve attended is that it invites everyone to participate, and everyone’s voice is heard,” he said. “And that’s rare. It breaks down the entire supply chain and then invites people at every stage to share their expertise.”

Here a few snapshots of some of the memorable moments at Let’s Talk Coffee® 2016:

Roasters and producers paired up to form teams for the Triangulation Cupping Competition, overcoming language barriers and other obstacles to put their tasting prowess to the test. The winning pair was Team Chocolate,—featuring Equator Coffees & Teas associate coffee buyer Nate Breckenridge and Hector Hernandez, a cupper at Mexican cooperative Huatusco.

Helen Russell of Equator delivered a personal story for her Keynote presentation, describing the challenges Equator had to overcome on the road to winning the 2016 U.S. Small Business of the Year honor. Sixty-two percent of the sessions at Let’s Talk Coffee® were either led by or featured women, which Helen says was one of her favorite elements of the event. “When women are more present in the supply chain, there’s more collaboration and working together. To have their voices here at Let’s Talk Coffee®, it just resonated with me so much more.”

At the Sustainable Coffee Challenge workshop, the industry collaboration unveiled its new framework to gauge producer feedback, then led producers in an interactive session that saw them walking to various stations to scrawl their opinions on sheets of butcher paper. It was a great moment not just for the collaborative activity but because it resulted in producers expressing their opinions to a receptive audience.

Hernando Tapasco, expert agronomist for the NGO SOCODEVI, delivered a presentation on the event’s second day offering specific recipes and strategies producers can use to improve the quality of their coffee through processing methods. In light of climate change and other challenges, many producers are seeing their coffee quality ebb despite their best efforts. Hernando’s steps for remedying the problem gave producers concrete takeaways they can test at their farms around the world.

Let’s Talk Coffee® Mexico provided a unique forum for the industry to explore inclusive business opportunities, learn about cutting-edge industry insights from expert speakers, and connect as a supply chain. I’ll leave you with some of the amazing stats from what was truly an unforgettable event.

Let’s Talk Coffee® statistics:

• 250 attendees from 20 countries
• Over 60% of attendees from origin, with producer leaders making up 40% of participants
• A program with 12 LTC Talks and 15 panels, workshops, and interactive sessions, from 33 speakers
• 62% of the program sessions either led by or featuring women
• A total of 39 coffees cupped or tasted over three days—a total of 1,484 cups!
• 46 one-on-one meetings between roasters and producers held during the event, establishing new relationships and transparent business connections

Vera Espindola has worked toward building sustainable, inclusive coffee supply chains for many years, including in her previous role at UTZ Certified and now with SAGARPA, Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture. With Mexico’s coffee industry currently recovering from Coffee Leaf Rust and other challenges that have lowered its production (find out more in our recent blog here), the country’s government institutions like SAGARPA are developing plans to improve coffee production. With Mexico’s coffee industry a major topic at this year’s Let’s Talk Coffee® event, we talked to Vera to find out more about her work.

Q: What are you working on with SAGARPA to benefit Mexico’s coffee industry?

A: SAGARPA is Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture, overseeing livestock, fisheries, food, and rural development. Within SAGARPA, they have set up a new national plan for coffee, which was launched in October 2015, and the goal is to recuperate the lost production of coffee. It’s divided into the following areas: Innovation and Transformation; Community Development; and Sustainability and Shared Value. I’m part of that last area, and my aim is to see how can we integrate certain sustainability developments and issues within the bigger plan. We’re looking at both the production side and the market side to see how we can increase the value of Mexican coffee in general.

Q: Can you tell me a little more about Mexican coffee?

A: We have a wide range of coffee here: Thirteen states produce it, with at least 400,000 producers. That results in both a great number of people relying on coffee for their livelihood, and a great diversity of flavors that come from the different climates and production variables. As a result, one of the things we’re focusing on is the identification and differentiation of regional cup profiles. We want to maximize the production and flavor from specific regions to bring more value to the farmers who produce it.

Q: Mexico is in recovery from disease and other challenges. What’s your outlook on the future of the country’s coffee?

A: I think we’re seeing a tremendous opportunity for Mexico in coffee. On the one hand, we have the producer-centered movements I mentioned, with great potential in differentiating specific regions. But on the other hand, there’s a tremendous opportunity in Mexico within coffee consumption itself. For the first time in history we’re in a deficit of our own coffee production, meaning that as a consuming market we’re drinking more than we produce. And that will not stop. We are working with partners to better understand what are the patterns between now and five or 10 years ago because we do see all these new coffee shops popping up in the city. Because as it is, everybody drinks coffee. So we see a tremendous opportunity for Mexico to build on both the consumption and production side.

Q: Lastly, let’s talk about the event itself. You’ve been to Let’s Talk Coffee® Global events in Colombia, El Salvador, and Panama, and you’ll be joining us in Mexico. Why do you think Let’s Talk Coffee® is an event worth attending year after year?

A: To me, the most exciting thing about Let’s Talk Coffee® is that we’re largely dealing with specialty markets rather than mainstream markets, and in that arena I think there’s a greater chance of achieving certain synergies and collaborations. When you’re dealing in huge volumes, it can be easy to lose the impact of the investments you’re making in your supply chain. And I of course still want to encourage mainstream investments in sustainable supply chains, but at Let’s Talk Coffee® I’ve seen many active collaborations and meaningful investments in specialty coffee supply chains, and to me that is very exciting, rewarding, and worth coming back for.

If you want to connect with and hear from Vera and other leaders in specialty coffee, join us at Let’s Talk Coffee® Mexico! Registration is now open.

What can you expect to see in Mexico? For one, Let’s Talk Coffee® is the industry’s collaborative learning platform, with cuppings, workshops, and revered speakers delivering compelling presentations on topics important to our collective future. Among the speakers at Let’s Talk Coffee® Mexico will be:

• Helen Russell, co-founder of Small Business of the Year Equator Coffees & Teas
• Daniele Giovannucci, president of the Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA)
• Tracy Ging, partner in the interdisciplinary project The Coffeewoman
• Fabrizio Sencion Ramirez, former barista champion and owner of Mexico’s Cafe Estelar
• Todd Carmichael, co-founder of Philadelphia’s La Colombe

Let’s Talk Coffee® is also a leading platform for business. The intimate nature of the event provides ample opportunity to network with other attendees, renew existing business relationships, and forge new lasting business connections.

The event takes place October 13-16 in Puerto Vallarta at the CasaMagna Marriott, an all-inclusive hotel where families are welcome to stay and be part of the Let’s Talk Coffee® experience. Book your hotel room and learn more about travel dates here.

Let’s Talk Coffee® is a special event in large part because of the people who attend it. We hope you’ll join us in Mexico!

Since its launch in 2003, Let’s Talk Coffee® has served many functions for the global coffee industry. It’s been a meeting place, where stakeholders from throughout the supply chain travel to origin to reconnect with colleagues and meet new ones. It has been a platform for knowledge sharing, with attendees taking in compelling presentations and participating in a dialogue with the industry about the issues discussed. And it’s been a place to discover new amazing coffees and meet the producers who grew them.

In each of these instances, Let’s Talk Coffee® has demonstrated its value to the coffee supply chain as one of the industry’s leading platforms for conducting business. The event’s manageable size and relaxed-but-professional setting foster a natural dialogue that leads to important business relationships that galvanize the industry.

This year’s Let’s Talk Coffee® will offer many business-sparking opportunities for the global coffee community. Among them:

• An array of plenary sessions, including one with Helen Russell and Todd Carmichael, co-founders of leading roasting companies Equator Coffees & Teas and La Colombe, respectively, sharing their stories of boundary pushing and innovation in the competitive coffee landscape. Other plenary sessions will cover timely topics such as women’s leadership in the coffee supply chain, the coffee industry’s response to climate change, and market volatility.
• Many technical workshops, including one featuring Hernando Tapasco, agronomist at SOCODEVI in Colombia, expounding on his origin expertise for producing micro-lots, differentiating quality through processing, and creating more value from coffee.
• Cupping sessions each afternoon, allowing attendees to discover innovative coffees, calibrate as a supply chain, and meet producers.
• Networking opportunities throughout the conference where attendees can connect with other stakeholders.

We hope you’ll join us for this unique industry event and its myriad business chances. Registration is open now!

Mexico is not just the producer of some of the world’s best coffees; it’s also a country that has played an important role in the history of Let’s Talk Coffee®. The event launched in Mexico in 2003, and the country hosted the first three incarnations of Let’s Talk Coffee®. In 2016, 11 years after the last Let’s Talk Coffee® in Mexico, we’re thrilled to take the event back to where it all started. As we gear up for Let’s Talk Coffee® Mexico, let’s take a closer look at our host country and its important role in the coffee landscape.

Mexico is the eighth-leading producing country by volume, according to the International Coffee Organization (ICO); in 2015 the country produced 4.5 million bags (almost 500 million pounds). The majority of the country’s 400,000 coffee farmers are smallholders from regions in the southern part of the country such as Oaxaca and Chiapas (the latter of which will be the destination for a field trip during Let’s Talk Coffee®).

Mexico’s history of coffee production began when Spanish colonists brought coffee plants from Antilles to Veracruz in the 18th century. Soon after, the crop became commercialized, but the Spanish were focused on the country’s more profitable mineral deposits, leaving coffee as an afterthought; Mexico never became a “Banana Republic” like many Central American countries. With little Spanish investment in coffee, the indigenous farming communities retained their small farms in remote mountainous locations and the isolated countryside for years after colonialism ended.

INMECAFE, or the National Coffee Institute of Mexico, provided credit and technical aid to producers. The government promoted coffee production for indigenous farmers through this program and coffee production grew during the 1970s and 1980s. The ICO then ended its price controls and the government’s support began to fade. When INMECAFE was dismantled, producers struggled to find buyers for their coffee. This period of time in which both quality and quantity suffered is known as “the coffee crisis.” In 2005, Mexico exported only 1.7 million bags of coffee, its lowest exported shipment of coffee in history. Many smallholder farmers were solely invested in their coffee production and had to find a remedy. They formed collectives to fill the void left by INMECAFE.

Although Mexico’s current production of 4.5 million bags is a rebound from its 2005 numbers, the country is still struggling with significant challenges—among them coffee leaf rust (also known as Roya), an airborne fungus that suffocates the plant and prevents fruiting. In the past couple of years, some farms lost 70% of their anticipated harvest. But just as before when confronted with a challenge to their crop, Mexican producers are working to improve and innovate. SAGARPA, essentially the Secretary of Agriculture in Mexico, is investing resources to revive the industry. One of its programs focuses on planting Roya-resistant varieties, while another trains farmers on best practices for working with the environment, rather than farming for yields alone. Though it will take a few years for these trees to mature, the government believes that it is a necessary investment, as production is expected to be lower in 2016 than it was in 2015. Despite diminished yields, Mexico has much potential to return to its former powerhouse producing status: The country’s topography, soil conditions, climate, and altitude all contribute to its ability to produce top-quality coffee.

Mexico’s coffee production and strategy for combating Roya will be among the topics discussed in the Let’s Talk Coffee® program. We hope you’ll join us to take part in this important discussion and explore collaborative solutions. Registration is open now!

If you’ve ever met Fabrizio Sención Ramírez, there’s a good chance you remember his trademark mustache that flairs handlebars at its ends. His look may be memorable, but his accomplishments are what have truly made him stand out in the specialty-coffee world. In addition to being a multi-time winner of the Mexico Barista Championship and the second-place finisher at the the 2012 World Barista Championship, Fabrizio is the owner of Guadalajara’s Cafe Sublime and the Cafe Estelar roasted brand. This expert on Mexico’s specialty-coffee scene will play an important role in our Let’s Talk Coffee® Mexico program, exploring his nation’s emerging coffee culture. We spoke to Fabrizio about his history of attending Let’s Talk Coffee®, his feelings on coffee in Mexico, and much more.

Q: How many Let’s Talk Coffee® events have you been to?

A: This year will be my fifth. I started with Nicaragua in 2009, where we went to Selva Negra and a group of us baristas competed in the Seed to Cup Challenge. We lived on the finca—sleeping in the same rooms as producers, eating the same food, harvesting ripe cherries, and planting seedlings. It was a very interesting experience. I remember waking up at five in the morning to work in such a beautiful environment. After that one I attended Peru in 2010, Colombia in 2012, and El Salvador in 2013. They’ve all been amazing experiences.

Q: Why do you think LTC is worth attending?

A: It’s the most complete coffee event I’ve attended. Although it’s hosted at origin, it features people from different parts of the planet and has topics that concern baristas, roasters, and everyone in coffee. I remember having many conversations with farmers and co-op leaders, both formal and informal. I’ve had amazing coffees on the cupping tables at Let’s Talk Coffee® and cupped them with the world’s top cuppers. I’ve also learned so much at the event. For example, I learned about Roya and how producers adapt to changes that disease brings to their farms. The LTC in Peru really opened the spectrum for me: There were many opportunities to see production and a lot of eco-sustainability that I didn’t know existed before. The idea of bird-friendly was completely new for me.

Q: Are you excited that Mexico is hosting this year’s Let’s Talk Coffee®? Do you see Mexico as an emerging market in specialty coffee?

A: Very excited, and Mexico is a great place to host it because of the coffee scene here. It’s absolutely true that it’s growing—10 or 15 years ago, coffee was only for those of a certain age. Now, our main market is made up of young people who drink more coffee and care about the final product. It is an emerging market and we must educate consumers about what they’re drinking. In Mexico, we have fresh products for most of the year. I would love to have coffee from around the world, but given import restrictions, we make do with what we have, which is plenty: We feature 16 different coffees at Sublime. The different climate conditions and many varieties make for a diverse spectrum of flavors from south to north. I’m excited for all the people who come to Mexico for Let’s Talk Coffee® 2016 to taste our amazing coffees here.

If you want to connect with and hear from Fabrizio and other leaders in specialty coffee, join us at Let’s Talk Coffee® Mexico! Registration is now open.

At the last Let’s Talk Coffee® Global event in 2014, the famed Geisha variety played a key role in the program. It was only fitting, as the event’s host country that year—Panama—produces some of the world’s best Geisha coffee that has fetched incredible prices at auction. To tackle the amazing story of Geisha, we turned to Hanna Neuschwander, author of the 2012 book “Left Coast Roast,” who has since become Communications Director at World Coffee Research. She took the audience through the complete story of Geisha, from how the variety earned its name to its flavor, reputation, high prices, and much more. Now with Let’s Talk Coffee® Mexico right around the corner (October 13-16 in Puerto Vallarta), we sat down with Hanna to discuss her experience in Panama, her feelings on coffee in 2016, and what this year’s Let’s Talk Coffee® theme, “Prospering in the New Reality,” means to her.

Q: What was your experience with Let’s Talk Coffee® and what impact did it have on you?

A: I heard about Let’s Talk Coffee® long before Panama. Despite not working in coffee years before, it was always an event I wanted to go to, but seemed out of reach. I was invited to LTC for my work on the Geisha varietal just as it was rediscovered in Panama; this made the trip seem like a good fit for me—I was excited. However, I was pregnant at the time and was going to have a 4-month-old baby during the conference. I brought this up to the LTC team and without skipping a beat, they said, “Bring your baby! And bring your husband too!” Immediately then, I understood what distinguishes this event from others. From the beginning my experience was personal; it was a family affair. We call my daughter the Geisha baby, as if she were steeped in it.

Essential to the experience is the event’s size, tone, and atmosphere. It feels like a personal, deeper experience than a standard conference. In fact, no other event I’ve been to since has achieved that level of intimacy: We stayed in the same place, ate meals, danced at Sevan’s Grill, swam in the pool, and got muddy on the farm—all activities done together. These peripheral activities that complement the program itself help to break otherwise insurmountable boundaries between those in different corners of the supply chain. On a personal level, this was why it was a wonderful experience. On a professional level, I credit the event as a catalyst that formed my current future. I connected with many coffee people who not only helped me get the job I have today, but also with people around the world, many of whom I engage with from time to time today.

Q: This year’s LTC theme is “Prospering in the New Reality.” We’re looking at a host of issues, from climate change and Roya to consolidation, and many more. What does this theme mean to you?

A: Climate change is nothing new. … It is more of a trajectory or continuum. But we’re gathering at a new consensus. Weather is pressuring people directly, forcing quick shocks and risks that are not being accounted for by coffee prices. Again, the price issue isn’t something new, either, but there seems to be more of a consensus about the reality of the issue. For years now, there has been an emphasis on mitigating climate change to help farmers adapt and weather the storms of the future—literally. However, what we aren’t seeing is as much weight put on responsibility on the consumer’s end.

Want to know something really interesting? Out of the total carbon footprint of coffee, 50% or more comes from the café itself. That’s even without roasting—simply boiling hot water, etc. How do we take responsibility on the consumer end and find a way to get consumers engaged with sustainability? It certainly is an uncomfortable space to be in.

Q: What are other points of tension in the industry?

A: Coffee is a luxury product: It isn’t essential to life. Too few consumers look hard enough at what is happening on the farm. We need to help farmers answer the problems. Look at the other major food crops like rice, corn, wheat, and soy. There is a lot of money invested, both public and private, for research, development, and innovation on the farm level. However, in coffee, it’s an embarrassingly low amount. It is easy to take the plant for granted, but it’s actually the most important piece of technology in the industry: Without it, there would be no grinders, roasting machines, or espresso makers. There is not enough innovation at the plant level. Those are some examples, but the list goes on: We must confront the hard limits of climate change, generational gaps on farms, and the treatment of farmworkers on plantations.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: LTC is great. If you have the opportunity to go, you must. A thought that remains with me is the number of producers I was able to interact with. When 50% of the audience is made up of producers, it’s memorable being a minority for once in this value chain.

If you are interested in discussing specialty coffee’s new reality and ways in which we can collaboratively prosper in it, join us at Let’s Talk Coffee® Mexico! Registration is now open.