tonx.org

Compelled to put the jumper cables to this blog engine to share a quick sip of some of what I experienced at this year’s Specialty Coffee Association of America gathering in Anaheim.

I was privileged to attend day 2 of the Symposium which preceded the show. I could say a lot about the cast of characters of coffee’s old guard and new school rubbing elbows, the visible familial camaraderie that spans from genuine love to old simmering grudges, the positive vibes and the visible posturings. But for now I’ll leave you with my major take away, which is that people in the industry are beginning to discuss and debate the right things with the right stakeholders increasingly given more of a place at the table.

I will share more about the announced Global Coffee Quality Research Initiative in a future post or two.

The US Barista Competition is a whole ‘nother compelling beast of awesome. A sort of ad-hoc coverage of the event emerged spanning streaming, twitter, flickr, and multiple blogs. (I did my part via the twitternets). The gist is that in spite of the lingering absurdities of the premise of these things, the caliber of the competitors has become truly astonishing and compelling to witness. More to say about the competition for sure, probably through flickr as I sort through my mass of images. I hope to don a judges apron myself when regionals kick up again.

All of this is prelude to the point of this post which is the people. Specialty Coffee is made of people! And there are many of them, more with each passing year, amplifying and refining each others enthusiasms, digging deeper into the mysteries of the bean and chipping away at the persistent challenges of the trade. A big thanks and shout out to the many friends and allies, old and new whom I feel deeply privileged to have connected with this past weekend.

The pixels had barely dried on my previous post before I received word from someone involved in the unfolding SCAA negotiations with the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange. The short of it is that there was solid reasoning behind keeping a low profile on the sensitive dialogue with the ECX, that significant progress was being made, and that the SCAA is striving to improve its public relations activities.

To that end, the SCAA blog shares some very positive news from Ethiopia about acceptance of a number of proposals that will advance the interests of quality coffee growers and buyers, including a proposed “2nd window” that will incorporate traceability and allow for premium prices paid directly to growers.

Direct Specialty Trade (DST) Platform: The ECX will also establish a 2nd window within its system, to allow for traceability and direct exchange. Within this system, any farmer or cooperative may submit their coffee to the ECX for quality evaluation and grading, and the coffee will be available for sampling to registered buyers. The ECX will then make available a venue for price discovery via an auction. ECX only facilitates the transaction, and is not a party to the transaction. A resulting FOB contract will be made directly between the overseas buyer and the farmer or farmer group, with the inclusion of a farmer-elected Services Provider, who may provide services to the farmer such as milling and exportation. The ECX will assist in the transaction by providing guidance on contracting and fee structure.

I encourage anyone interested in these complex issues to read the full report, detailing additional specialty level grading at the exchange using SCAA cupping protocols, proposed expansions of the ECX geographic indications, increases in the number of certified Q graders, and an overview of some of the underlying issues and remaining obstacles.

Today I got a rare communique in my inbox from the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America), the big trade group that promotes specialty coffee, sets standards, and holds our industry’s annual trade show. Currently a delegation from the SCAA is in Addis Ababa meeting with representatives of the controversial new government run Ethiopia Coffee Exchange which has disrupted and created an uncertain future for much of the quality focused, direct trade coffee partnerships that have cropped up in recent years. Everyone who has come to love Ethiopia’s coffees has an interest in how this plays out.

But that’s not what this morning’s press release was about:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Former SCAA Executive Sentenced to Prison for Embezzlement from Association

Long Beach, CA. U.S.A. (October 21, 2009) – The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) announced today that former Chief Operating Officer, Scott Welker, has been sentenced to federal prison for embezzling in excess of $465,000.00 from the association.
…

I get at most maybe 2 or 3 pieces of email per year from the SCAA, so it surprises me that this is appropriate subject matter for one of them. I can only assume that they’d like me to write about this “news” and share it with all 14 of my blog readers. But since I don’t feel qualified to explain their embezzlement scandal, how it happened, who was minding the store, or what measures have or have not been taken to assure it could never happen again, I’ll take a pass.

Why no press release about the important talks underway in Addis Ababa? Who is in the delegation? What are their stated objectives? What is the SCAA’s position on the ECX? The SCAA is involved in something important and (presumably) positive. Would it not benefit them to go in armed with a publicly stated position or goal, maybe with the eyes of the press and awareness from its own membership? Even sensitive closed-door diplomacy would seem to benefit from at least an open window or two.

I don’t want this to come off as inflammatory, it just strikes me that as an industry we don’t always make the best PR judgments. I’d much rather see press releases in my inbox from the SCAA about the serious work they’re apparently doing on behalf of quality coffee partnerships, not irrelevant news about old scandals they’ve yet to live down.