SCA Expo 2022 in Boston is just one week away, and we can’t wait to see you — and our producing partners — after such a long time apart! In that spirit of connection, we’re hosting Office Hours all weekend long, giving our customers the opportunity to say hello and get to know some of our producers and exporter partners, including producers who work with our sister company Atlas Coffee Importers.
It’s always a treat for us to see colleagues from Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG) export sister companies who have rich, personal experience with the coffees we’re able to offer you.
Andreas Kussmaul, from Exportadora de Café California, is a coffee trader and the head of ECC’s new specialty division. It’s thanks to Andreas, for example, that we have NKG Bloom Zongolica — both because he helped bring this specialty coffee together, and because he’s the artist behind the bag design! (To be completely fair, he’s the artist behind so many of ECC’s most-loved bags, including El Jaguar, Tecolotl and Agata.)
Diego Guardia, Specialty Trader at Ceca and a second-generation caretaker of Hacienda Sonora, will also be with us. Diego is a proud (and clear-eyed) advocate of Costa Rica and the special lens this environmentally focused country offers on coffee and coffee production. Diego has been integral in the development and promotion of a number of the specialty lots we’re proud to offer, like the delicious Sonora Honey Natural, produced on his family farm. Plus, he’s a fantastic resource about the Palmichal micromill, which is involved in coffees including Romelia and Los Santos Diez Pueblos.
Some of our favorite ECC coffee logos, designed by Trader Andreas Kussmaul.
A rare treat, Tsion Taye – our NKG representative in Ethiopia – will also be joining us. Tsion is integral to our sourcing in Ethiopia. She has a network of trusted suppliers who she works with to help us find the cup qualities and profiles we’re searching for (and we trust her cupping lab and palate to help guide us). She’s also a tremendous source of information regarding the harvest, producer sentiments, changes to the ECX and local regulations, and practical logistics. Moreover, Tsion is simply smart and interesting and lovely to have a coffee with!
We are also excited to reconnect with Cooperativa Capucas Limitada (COCAFCAL), a cooperative in Copan we’ve been working with and visiting for well over a decade. We’re big fans of their carefully produced coffees and of their environmental advocacy in their community. (They once hosted an environmental film festival for local school children, host by “The Lorax”!)
ASOPEP, from South Tolima, Colombia, is another cooperative that it’s our real honor to work with and whose coffees we’re thrilled to offer. The co-op represents 162 smallholders who are certified Organic and Fairtrade and who are consistently focused on quality. (Some have produced microlots with SCA cup scores of 89!)
Our colleagues at Atlas specialize in developing new origins and supply chains, and they’ve additionally invited producers from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Atlas, InterAmerican and our third U.S. sister company, Rothfos Corporation, will all be in Booth 425. Please screenshot the schedule — and come say hello to all of us! •
