Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/66983
The busiest (and best) time of year FROM THE EDITOR F rom about February to June each year, the schedule suddenly becomes jam-packed for many in the spe- cialty coffee industry. In that period, you can usu- ally find two Coffee Fests, the SCAA show, and the U.S. and World Barista Championships, not to mention countless other regional and smaller-scale events. At Fresh Cup, we are not spared from the busy season. In the midst of these myriad events, we produce the Coffee Almanac, our annual June issue you now hold in your hands. It's always a chaotic time in which we must balance meeting people with meeting deadlines, but it's also one of the more exciting and rewarding periods of the year. Coffee trade shows and events are a flurry of activity, and we're constantly absorbing new informa- tion that gets the creative juices flowing. Having the opportu- nity to channel that energy and learning process into one of our special issues is something we're constantly excited about. And there's much cohesion between what is covered in these pages and the various issues people were abuzz about at this year's SCAA exhibition in Portland. One of the chief ones is the fair-trade debate, the volume of which has reached new levels as various parties have joined the discussion that started when Fair Trade USA parted ways with its former parent organiza- tion, Fairtrade International. Associate editor Dan Leif spent much of the SCAA show hearing from various coffee profes- sionals about the issue, and his analysis can be found in our "Trends" section (p. 18). One of the principles of fair trade is paying coffee producers a just price for their coffee, and that sentiment of increasing the livelihood of farmers is at the heart of another article in this issue. "Global Swarming" (p. 36) looks at how producers are using honeybees in several different ways, from selling a good-for-you resin that bees collect to using the pollination to help grow other crops. Beekeeping is becoming more and more common at origin, and though it offers many benefits, what resonates most with me is its ability to give farmers another revenue stream—and potential food source—during periods between harvest. A few years ago I attended a food-security forum at Sustainable Harvest's Let's Talk Coffee event in Nicaragua. There, farmers packed the room to tell their tales of food scarcity and then talk about possible solutions. Beekeeping was discussed that day as one of those options, and it has been encouraging to see the practice picking up steam in places where coffee is grown. This Coffee Almanac also dives into topics that are more applicable to the day-to-day occurrences of specialty shops. "Protect Your Neck" (p. 54) outlines five areas in which owners can safety-proof their cafés to ensure they're covered if disaster strikes. And in the article "Thinking Inside of the Box" (p. 48) Steven Krolak explores some of the plusses and minuses of putting a TV in your shop, as well as the creative ways some owners have employed the idiot box. It continues to be an exciting time in the specialty coffee industry, as we keep working to improve our relationship with origin, and as the hard work done there filters down into the cups you serve. We may experi- ence hectic times of the year, but it's gratifying to know that the chaos is in service of a greater good: a better product. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Fresh Cup welcomes letters to the editor at comments@freshcup.com. Letters must be 250 words or less. Authors must provide verifiable phone number and city and state of residence. 12 COFFEE ALMANAC 2012