Continuing our 2024 Year in Review, here are some highlights from our ongoing “Three Questions With” series, which features people doing amazing work in all corners of the coffee world.
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[Editor’s note: We’d like to extend a special thanks to freelance writer Jen Roberts, whose reporting made this collection possible. Find out more about Jen and her work here.]
Three Questions with Vikram Patel of PNG-Focused Benchmark Coffee Traders
After passing the Illinois state bar, Vikram Patel practiced law for two years. During that time, he was also sowing the seeds of a green coffee business that has since transformed the reputation of Papua New Guinea coffees among scores of United States roasters… read more
Benchmark Coffee Traders Founder Vikram Patel. Courtesy photo.
Three Questions with IWCA Executive Director Blanca Castro
When International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) Executive Director began her job years ago at the Guatemalan coffee association Anacafé, she knew next to nothing about coffee… read more
IWCA Executive Director Blanca Castro. Courtesy photo.
Three Questions with Gabriela Parfait of The Good Sourcing
Parfait’s new venture is intentionally small, although its ambitions are sizable — to build a community of people motivated by what is best for coffee producers and the environment in which coffee is grown. … read more
Gabriela Parfait. Courtesy photo.
Three Questions with Firaol Ahmed of Moii Coffee
On Friday, April 12, as thousands of coffee professionals were gathered in Chicago for the Specialty Coffee Expo, Saint Louis University junior Firaol Ahmed was lacing up his track shoes in Southern California… read more
Ahmed launched Moji Coffee from his dorm. Courtesy photo.
Three Questions with Ben Carlson of Long Miles Coffee Project
Responding to past injustices in Burundi’s industry and building upon their own careers in coffee, Ben and Kristy Carlson started Long Miles Coffee Project in 2011… read more
Long Miles Coffee Project Community Development Officer and coffee farmer Cyriaque Ndabishurire with Long Miles Co-Founder Ben Carlson at the Heza Washing Station in Kayanza, Burundi. Photo by Joy Mavugo, courtesy of Long Miles Coffee Project.
Three Questions with Francis Kungu of Kenya-Focused Jamii Coffee
Francis Kungu can recall his younger days sitting with his friends at a pub across the street from a coffee farm in rural Kenya… read more
Jamii Coffee and Elixior Coffee Founder Francis Kungu. Jamii Coffee courtesy photo.
Three Questions with Coffee and Beverage Expert Piper Jones
Anyone spotting Piper Jones at the recent International Women’s Coffee Alliance convention in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, likely found her genuinely listening, deeply engaged in a one-on-one conversation, almost in awe of the person in front of her… read more
Piper Jones (right) and Derek Lanter of Waialua Coffee. Courtesy photo.
Three Questions with Denis Mialocq of Belco
Denis Mialocq spends most of his days teaching others about the complexities of coffee, from gustatory explorations to environmental, economic and social issues… read more
Denis Mialocq. Courtesy photo.
Three Questions with Lina Granados of Racafé in Bogotá
When Lina Granados sat down to talk with DCN, she had recently returned home to Armenia, Colombia, from Trieste, Italy, where she was completing the residential requirement for her master’s degree with the Ernesto Illy Foundation… read more
Lina Granados. Courtesy photo.
Three Questions with Swelter Coffee Roasters Founder Stephanie Welter Krause
Stephanie Welter-Krause was first inspired to roast coffee while thumbing through the home roasting section in the influential 2012 book, The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, written by James Freeman, Caitlin Freeman and Tara Duggan… read more
Stephanie Welter-Krause. Courtesy photo.
Three Questions with Coffee and Bakery Consultant Erica Escalante
Erica Escalante has always been motivated by curiosity, a desire to know why things work the way they do… read more
Courtesy photo.
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