Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/686001
86 barista magazine #caffeinecrawl Facebook /caffeinecrawl Twitter @caffeinecrawl Instagram @caffeinecrawl TWIN CITIES T W N IN IN I N IN IN N IN IN N C S T W TW TW T W TW TW T W TW TW W TW TW W IN IN N IN IN CI CI C I CI CI IT IT T IT IT IT IT I T IT IT TI TI T I TI I TI TI IE IE IE IE IE IE I E IE IE ES ES E S ES ES ES ES ES S TWIN CITIES JUNE 24 3 25 Year 2nd annua l A special thanks to our Twin Cities Platinum Sponsor: was in Hawaii: I started to do these coffee tours, to try to connect people who hadn't ever traveled or who hadn't ever experienced coffee at origin. I mean, there's estate farming, and then there's the small farmer, with the dirt-floor home. Those were the kind of people that even [legendary coffee importer] Erna Knutsen had never been to visit until she went on a tour that I led with Karen Cebreros, which was really the start of the International Women's Coffee Alliance [IWCA]. It just became apparent that there was an opportunity to connect women in the industry and elevate the stature of women and the awareness of the role that women play. That really became the roots of the IWCA. EM: Let's talk a bit about your work with gender equality in coffee, first with the IWCA, and now with the Partnership for Gender Equity (PGE) through the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI). What inspired you to focus your attention on women's issues? KE: Anybody who's an educated, caring person can realize that women around the world have been oppressed and need to have a seat at the table. The whole purpose of IWCA was trying to shine the spotlight on [the fact] that there are women in this value chain that are not being paid, appreciated, recognized, trained for the kind of skills that they need. So let's find a way to make that happen. My work has always been part of the specialty-coffee industry, and a lot of my focus has been around development issues, and from the NGO perspective, so coming into CQI, one of the things that I realized early on was that the mission of CQI being that quality of coffee enhances the quality of life Rwandan coff ee producers chant, "Komera Komera bagore bahinzi ba kawa!" which translates to "Greetings and praise for strong coff ee women!" during this moment of fun a er a mill visit in Rwanda on behalf of Equator Coff ees.