(Condé Nast Traveller) The Brazilian punk-and-DJ-turned-superchef who brought the food of the rainforest into the mainstream shares his shopping list. Condé Nast Traveller, December 2018
Moveable feast: Alex Atala
Category: Coffee
Colombia’s coffee revolution
(Selector) As we survey María del Carmen Toro’s fertile coffee, banana and avocado farm, the sun has started to lower and mist is slowly gathering in the valley. “The conflict was intense here,” she recalls. “Bombs went off all the time and ‘they’d’ come here at 1am, demanding we prepare them food.” The ‘they’ to […]
Former Farc child soldiers benefiting from Illy investment in Colombia
“The stories behind the beans are only just emerging: landmine victims, women and former Farc guerrillas have set up co-operatives, teaming up for their bite of the cherry.” Check out page 22 of Barista Magazine for my article on how Illy Caffè is contributing to Colombia’s peace process.
Colombia’s ex-Farc guerrillas are training as coffee growers in Cauca
(The Independent) “I want Colombia to be different,” says Jhon Benavides, an aspiring barista and, from the age of 14 until last year, a guerrilla in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). He’s just prepared a brew, carefully weighing out freshly ground coffee beans before making some cups of arabica grown here in Popayán, […]
Wake up and smell the coffee 4
CAUCA, Colombia — Plenty of positive coffee-related stories are coming out of Colombia; this one, however, pre-dates the start of November 2016’s peace process. The meeting-place has been set but for our own safety, we won’t be gathering at Luis Fernando’s homestead in the department of Cauca. Instead, this group of journalists and a team […]
Wake up and smell the coffee 3
CAUCA, Colombia — The landscape that makes up Colombia’s fourth-largest coffee-producing department wildly varies from that of Paraná and São Paulo states in south-west Brazil (Buenos Aires Herald, July 7 and July 14, 2017). Scattered across a rolling altitude that soars up to 2,100 metres above sea level, Cauca has the Andes to thank for […]
Wake up and smell the coffee 2
JACAREZINHO and SÃO PAULO — Did you accept my suggestion and try your daily caffeine injection naked: no milk, no cream, no sugar or sweetener? Any surprises beyond the aromas of actual coffee? When it comes to cupping, or tasting, coffee, it’s a complex ritual. Preparation is elaborate and assessment involves more than a simple […]
Wake up and smell the coffee
PARANÁ, Brazil — “When people think of Brazilian coffee, they think of a dark-roasted drink but the truth is, that heavy roasting covers up a lot of defects, starting with the fact that unripe beans are being used. We’re trying to change that perception, microlot by microlot.” Former diplomat Edgard Bressani, a co-founder from boutique […]