Catalyst Trade started out scrappy, the way you start a band with your friends pretty much based on who’s got what gear. Got a drum kit? Okay, you’re the drummer. You get the kit and the bass stack and your...
I wanted to title this piece, “this is SCA”, but then as always my mind began to extrapolate. Yes, I was at SCA last weekend with a bunch of other coffee folks from around the world, but the experience was...
What is responsible coffee buying? It’s a highly personal definition, and every buyer and company needs to make their own decisions. For Catalyst Trade, responsible coffee buying has a lot of elements. One of these elements is expanding our purchases...
What is responsible coffee buying? It’s a highly personal definition, and every buyer and company needs to make their own decisions. For Catalyst Trade, responsible coffee buying has a lot of elements. One of these elements is expanding our purchases...
Reaching Getinet Ambelo’s coffee farm requires fording a busy stream after winding through increasingly rough roads for kilometer after kilometer. Once you’ve inched over the stones and pulled onto solid ground, the road narrows and leads into the farm, past...
Plum / apricot / coffee flower tea / cascara tea / watermelon juice “GENALEM GEWYERO” – GOD IS GOOD! (The motto which hangs on the entrance to Dinkalem’s dry mill, across the road from the Wush Wush washing station) Dinkalem’s...
Are you wondering, “how do I win the Golden Bean award?” WHILE WE CAN ONLY OFFER SUGGESTIONS AND SUCCESS STORIES, HERE’S YOUR ANSWER: SOURCE GREAT COFFEES, AND ROAST THEM WELL. The TL;DR version: Leaning on his relationship with Michael at...
Recently my friend Ashley Tomlinson (The Little Black Coffee Cup + De Mello Palheta Coffee) reached out and asked me if I’d contribute my thoughts on the topic of trust in the coffee industry. Given a number of recent circumstances...