As the NCA Next Gen Council transitions to the next wave of coffee leaders, we wanted to collectively introduce each council member and allow them to tell their coffee story. For our first Next Gen spotlight, Bent Dietrich from American Coffee Corp. sat down with Jasmine Murphy, Assistant Manager of Green Coffee Trading with The J.M. Smucker Company, to discuss her industry experience and what makes a career in coffee so great.
Bent Dietrich: How did you get started in coffee? What is your current role?
JasmineMurphy: I have always been fascinated by the complexity and diversity of the coffee industry and was lucky enough to get my start in coffee by chance. After college, I landed a job in a lab working on ready-to-drink milk-based products. When a position opened on the coffee team, I jumped at the opportunity. With the help of an amazing mentor, I quickly learned the ins and outs of the business, from cupping to logistics.
Since then, I’ve had the privilege of working on some incredible projects and contributing to the coffee industry in meaningful ways. In my current role at The J.M. Smucker Co., I lead the sustainability work for such iconic brands as Folgers and Bustelo.
BD: What is your favorite aspect of working in the coffee industry?
JM: One of my favorite aspects of working in the coffee industry is the opportunity for learning and growth. I love the way that coffee brings together so many different disciplines from agriculture and chemistry to finance and hospitality. It’s an incredibly dynamic and diverse industry and I feel fortunate to be a part of it – the passion and community within the industry is exceptional.
BD: As an NCA Next Gen-er, where do you see the industry heading? Are there any exciting developments, products, or innovations that really capture your interest?
JM: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the developments and innovations in the sustainability space are the most exciting and relevant to me and my role. It is crucial that we as an industry — and the Next Gen specifically, as up-and-coming industry leaders — highlight and prioritize sustainability at every aspect of the supply chain. I am thrilled to see the progress and commitments consistently being made by the industry and cannot wait to see what comes next!
BD: One of the best things our industry does is provide the opportunity to travel. Whether it be to an NCA Convention, an origin trip, or visiting customers, do you have any memorable experiences that come to mind?
JM: One experience that comes to mind is when we were driving through Colombia with some colleagues to visit a coffee farm. The roads were treacherous (at least from this Ohioan’s perspective), and our car was struggling to make it up a steep switchback. Eventually, we got out and decided to watch and try to help the driver navigate without rolling off the hill. It reminded me of the dedication that goes into producing every cup of coffee and the challenges that producers face to bring us this amazing beverage. Experiences like this make me grateful for the opportunities the industry provides.
Jasmine Murphy in Colombia
BD: Speaking of conventions, I have to say the NCA Convention has really become a highlight of my year. It feels almost like a family reunion at this point. How has your experience been attending NCA Conventions?
JM: I fully agree — it feels like a family reunion! Being in the industry for 10+ years at this point, you get to know so many amazing people that you do not get to see face-to-face anywhere other than at the conventions. I always enjoy attending and it is honestly one of the highlights of my professional year too.
BD: How did you originally get involved with the NCA Next Gen?
JM: I first got involved by participating in NCA Next Gen events at the NCA Convention and SCA Expo.
BD: What has been your favorite part of working with the Next Gen group?
JM: It is difficult to pick one favorite part, but I would have to say it’s working with such a passionate group of people! The Next Gen has amazing ideas and solid plans to put those ideas into action.
BD: What is something you would like to see Next Gen focus on to help young professionals in the coffee industry?
JM: In my opinion, the Next Gen group can play a crucial role in creating a strong and supportive community that helps young professionals navigate the coffee industry. Spoiler alert: We are already hard at work creating a mentorship program to help foster a new generation of coffee leaders.
BD: Let’s say it’s the NCA Convention and we are hitting a cool, local coffee shop to catch up over a cup of coffee. What is your go-to order?
JM: Depending on the offerings at this cool, local coffee shop, I would either do a pour-over Ethiopian coffee, black, or a vanilla latte with oat milk.
Interview content does not necessarily reflect the views or position of the National Coffee Association or NCA Next Gen.
Mike Rosa, Commodities Manager at Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee, and NCA Next Gen Council Member, recently had the opportunity to talk with Emilio Medina, founder and CEO of Becamo S.A. Formed in 1983, Becamo has become widely known as one of the top coffee-exporting companies in Honduras. Mike and Emilio were able to spend some time together during Mike’s travels in Honduras where he observed some of the sustainability work being done first-hand. The following is their conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Emilio and Mike Touring a Farm
MIKE:Emilio, it’s been a volatile few years for the industry as a whole, and exporting coffee is especially tricky. What challenge has stood out to you?
On the export side, the biggest challenge has been dealing with the inverted market. This has made projections and planning much more difficult (but important), and it has become increasingly hard to keep added costs from quickly snowballing.
On that note, what are some of the other recent challenges from an overall planning or strategy perspective?
Shipments and logistics have become much more difficult to manage, with the quality implications and cost headaches they can bring. The margin for error has decreased. Resources required for functions like document management have increased by 100%.
One recurring comment seems to be the challenge of getting the next generation of coffee farmers in Honduras engaged. Is this an area of focus for Becamo?
We had identified this as an emerging issue all the way back in 2002. It was clear that the youth’s lack of participation would become critical to address. This is when we started our first sustainability initiative in a small village near San Juan. One month later, we had already seen significant progress, and the effects on the economy and happiness within the town were evident.
The next generation needs to see that when things are done properly, there is optimism for a better future. Showing what can be possible with the right tools and education is key to demonstrating the opportunities in coffee to young people.
To that end, we created a brand called Coffee Youth – a program supporting and marketing coffee produced by the next generation of farmers. After seeing the success of this program, we created Women Coffee, a similar concept of exporting coffee labeled as being produced by women. In all our projects, the succession to the next generation of coffee is kept in mind.
Producer with daughter
Are sustainability programs finding success in getting youth engaged in coffee? What sort of messaging or education have you seen success with through Bloom/NKG Verified?
Our programs emphasize access to biodiversity in farming and continuous improvement of the quality of the coffee. This motivates producers, as they can clearly see the potential improvements to their income. We cannot lose sight of the basic truth that income is the main motivating factor for the producer. If the producer is not seeing good returns on their coffee, that is when the risk of migration becomes higher.
For young people, we need to pass along knowledge of effective agronomy practices for producing coffee. We’ve seen success with the rollout of our Ecopil technology – a key benefit to these seedlings is that they lead to well-yielding coffee trees in 18 months, instead of 3 years. To the producer, especially the young producer, seeing income starting to flow in earlier is an incentive. On top of this, the actual bags weigh less than the traditional system, so there are transportation cost savings observed.
Producer receiving Ecopil Seedlings
Outside of youth engagement, we hear about many challenges the Honduran farmer faces – availability of coffee pickers, leaf rust, etc. Where do you think the biggest areas of focus need to be to ensure the long-term health of the coffee industry in Honduras?
The focus we need to have is on the improvement of the producer’s income. All the supply chain actors have a role to play in ensuring that the price to the producer is fair, motivating, and sufficient to cover their basic needs.
One other aspect of our programs is strengthening the education and health programs in the local community. This can motivate youth to stay in the coffee areas/where they were born, because they have essentials like good health and education. Having these needs met ensures they don’t need to look elsewhere like the United States in order to find those opportunities.
With these initiatives continuing to grow in scale, do you feel there is a notable upside to the current Honduran production levels we have seen? Or is steady production with better farmer profitability a more reasonable target?
Sustainability initiatives need to grow much larger to negate the trends of migration and abandonment of farms. In my opinion, Honduras will not be able to return to 10 million quintals (7.7M 60kg bags), due to factors such as lack of labor, climate change, and costs. If costs increase, there will be a strong demotivation for producers, so we need these initiatives to help producers in advance. To maintain or increase production in Honduras, we must work together. Producers, exporters, roasters, NGOs, etc. to improve the producer’s income.
Looking to the future, what is your vision for Becamo’s continued development and its identity?
Becamo has been and will continue to be highly committed to coffee growers. Every day, we try to bring more allies to our producer’s sustainable services unit, to bring knowledge and better income to the producer. Right now we are about to sign into a large collaboration program with USAID, among others, reinforcing our end goal of assisting the producer.
On a personal level, which skills do you think were most valuable for you when coming up and navigating the ups and downs of the coffee world?
I always kept a focus on seeking efficiencies, efficiency in the marketplace, and then within my company. Nowadays, that focus on efficiencies has moved towards sustainable coffee growing projects, as they are the key to the future of the coffee industry. Without a theme of efficiency embedded in these programs, costs can run out of control and threaten their success or farmer adoption.
If there was a piece of advice you would tell your younger self, as you were growing in the industry, what would it be?
Stay disciplined. Respect the rules and set risk limits. Attention to quality and best practices will always guide you in the right direction.
What do you want the broader coffee community to know about the Honduran producer?
They are heroes. They are persistent, hardworking, and want to stay committed to continuing to produce. With that said, those of us in a position to do so must continue to support and guide.
Tampa, Florida is home to many things: a robust cigar industry, the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team, and piping hot restaurant scene. The broader coffee industry found a temporary home in Tampa from March 9th through March 11th, 2023, as the city served as host for the 2023 National Coffee Association Annual Convention. Sunshine and warm temperatures made our time in Tampa a breeze, but it was the NCA community, reunited for the first time in 3 years, that made Tampa feel like “home.”
Despite the beautiful “beach-ready” weather, there was no time to waste! Next Gen Council leadership got to work bright and early on day one with a strategic planning meeting with NCA President & CEO Bill Murray, NCA Vice President of Operations Kellem Emanuele, NCA Sr. Manager of Education, Research, and Digital Media Matthew Cariani, and Rob Menos, Chair of the NCA Board of Directors. If this strategic planning session was any indication, there is no doubt that you should expect big things from the NCA and NCA Next Gen over the coming year. Be sure to follow the NCA Next Gen LinkedIn page to stay on top of important updates.
NCA Next Gen Council and NCA Leadership following the conclusion of the 2023 strategic planning session.
Members of the Next Gen Council meet at their first annual NCA Convention dinner.
They don’t call us “Next Gen” for nothing! This photo marked the start of the annual Next Gen Council selfie.
For the full Next Gen membership, the convention kicked off with a wonderfully informative session featuring Ryan Delany of Coffee Trading Academy. With a talk that featured statistics, a lesson on expected value, and a healthy dose of dad jokes, Ryan laid the groundwork for all participants to develop a better understanding of risk in the coffee market.
Next Gen members network ahead of Ryan Delany’s session on risk in the coffee market.
“I was impressed and happy to see that so many young coffee people gathered at the NCA and especially at the Next Gen [session]…The presentation from Ryan was well-put together — and as part of the SCTA Next Gen Council, we try to achieve something similar. Overall, it was a great success!”
Max Schneider, Trader at Hamburg Coffee Company
The day of Next Gen activities didn’t stop there; the afternoon continued with many Next Gen-ers taking part in the NCA Coffee Gives Back Day of Service. We spent that afternoon working at “Starting Right, Now” a home for students who are supported by the organization Starting Right, Now, a program that is dedicated to ending youth homelessness in Tampa. Throughout the day, we painted the students’ bedrooms and central living area, deep cleaned the kitchen, washed the windows, and refreshed the garden area while getting to know our colleagues from areas across the coffee industry.
Coffee Gives Back Day of Service participants line up preparing to serve the community.
Day of Service participant paints the common area.
“I was teamed up with several great people as we painted one of the bedroom areas. While painting, we got to know each other, talked about our respective roles in coffee, shared our tastes in music as we agreed on the music station, and chatted about our other hobbies. The work and contributions that we made were meaningful to start, but having spent time with this group at Day of Service also carried great value as I now have more friends and connections in the industry and look forward to again connecting with them at future events.”
Nora Johnson, Sr. Manager, Commodities, Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA
Thursday night was rounded out with the Next Gen Networking and Social Event at Armature Works. The event had a great turnout and allowed for many Next Gen-ers to build relationships that would further develop over the next few days of the convention – and hopefully for the many years to come!
“I have been in the coffee industry 2 years, but because I joined amid the global shutdown, NCA 2023 was my first in-person show; and what a great experience it was! From Bill Murray kicking things off to Scott Clemons simplifying complex economic issues, all presenters did a fantastic job educating and conveying their message in a purposeful manner. A special shout-out goes to the Next Gen team for organizing several events. I was fortunate to have met some of the Next Gen members through the communications committee. The events offered myself and others the opportunity to meet future leaders in the coffee industry and develop long-lasting relationships. Cheers to Nashville 2024!”
Mike Vilarino, Business Integrations Manager at Baronet
Next Gen-ers networking at the Next Gen Networking and Social Event in Tampa, FL.
Next Gen raffle winners show off their prices!
#NCATampa23 marked the triumphant return of the in-person NCA Annual Convention, and nothing was left on the table! NCA Next Gen is already back to the grind and hard at work to bring the membership more opportunities over the next year. Get ready now – NCA Nashville 2024 is going to be another convention that you won’t want to miss!
Mike Vilarino, Business Integration Manager with Baronet Coffee, continues his conversation with Wim Abbing, President and CEO of Probat. Probat is a multinational coffee equipment manufacturer headquartered in Emmerich, Germany. In case you missed Part I of Mike’s interview with Wim, be sure to check it out here!
Vilarino: Things must’ve really changed since you began in coffee. In what ways has the business changed since you started.
Abbing: There has been so much change since I entered the business two decades ago. What I sensed in the ‘90s was that coffee was just warm brown “stuff.” I always give Starbucks a lot of credit; they really expanded our perception of coffee beyond that of habit. With that, the industry evolved to how it is today, where consumers have so many options, something that I didn’t feel was present in the 90s.
I always hear, ‘Your company is 150 years old, and you build roasters that last 40 to 50+ years, why are you still selling roasters? There MUST be enough roasters in the world to roast all the coffee?’ What I always say to that is this: for Probat it is important that coffee habits change. As habits evolve, customers need new roasters, new controls, and new technology. All those things are crucial to our industry but especially to Probat. We are seeing those shifts now, continuing throughout the pandemic.
You mention the pandemic, what has that been like as the leader of Probat? How have you navigated these unprecedented times?
Abbing: I was in China in January 2020 and came home sick. My wife thinks that I had Covid-19 in Jan 2020!
My last business trip before the pandemic was the NCA Convention and at that time things were starting to feel different. When I got back to Germany, I had a meeting with my management team to discuss what our next steps would be. We sent everyone home, started shift work (something we had never done), and reduced the density of people that were working in person.
To be honest, throughout this time, we either had to try something new or go out of business. And at the end of the day, it ended up working out pretty well. Of course, the first few weeks and months were a bit shaky, but things ended up stabilizing. Only 150 out of the nearly 500 people in Emmerich were required to be in person. The rest were engineers who can work remotely. We are lucky that we had that type of flexibility.
Our biggest challenge during this time, however, was managing our service network. We are a company with customers all over the world, which proved difficult to manage during a time when travel was restricted. We decided to take a couple different approaches. First, we hired regionally-based service engineers. That gave us the ability to continue to service our customers while minimizing travel for the team. Second, we utilized technology to assist us with installations. Our in-person staff would wear a camera while speaking with a remote engineer who would be giving them live step-by-step instructions as the remote engineer was able to see exactly what our in-person technician was seeing. Essentially, we did things we never thought we would have needed to do.
While we seem to be finally moving on from the pandemic, there is another crisis at the forefront of European minds. How are you dealing with the gas crisis and the unrest in Eastern Europe?
Abbing: If you’re a CEO you must be optimistic. What is happening right now is, however, a bit frightening. On the business side, we wrote our processes to account for the scenario where we were out of gas and power. At Probat, everyone knows what the contingency plans are if they need to be executed.
Tensions are escalating in Europe, which makes you realize how fragile of a time it is.
We all hope that this is not coming but we are prepared if it does.
Switching gears, when did you become involved in the NCA? What is your current involvement?
Abbing: I’m fairly new to the NCA, at least to the NCA Board. I have been attending the NCA conventions for almost 2 decades now. This was one of the first objectives of my time as President at Probat.
I think organizations like the NCA are necessary for what I would consider a fragmented industry. We have so many small and medium-sized companies! And because of that, the research in coffee falls behind that of other industries. In order for the coffee industry to grow and develop, we need associations like the NCA to bring together all small, medium, and large-scale businesses. The NCA does a great job of doing just that.
Did you have any mentors starting out in the business?
Abbing: I would’ve loved to, but no, I didn’t! While I might not have had an active mentor, there are several people in coffee that made a sizable impression on me. Mr. Nabeiro of Delta Coffee in Portugal, for example, is 91 and still involved in the business! He is such an amazing person; he built an educational center about coffee in his village, and I admire him deeply.
Outside of him, we really have so many great people in coffee. I could keep going, but Mr. Nabiero is just one of several people that made a lasting impression on me.
What advice would you give yourself that maybe you didn’t get when starting out in the business?
Abbing: Listen more. Don’t be so quick in making decisions!
What advice would you give to the ‘next generation’?
Abbing: Meet as many people as you can! The more diverse the better. I would say, go to Mongolia and learn what they do there! Go to Tanzania and experience how they plant coffee trees!
Another piece of advice I would give to the next generation would be to learn from other players in the industry. And don’t forget, you can learn from people you might not see eye-to-eye with as well. There is a saying in Germany: ‘there is nobody that is so bad that would serve as a bad example.’ For me now, I believe the worst way to run a company is running it from a desk. I try and get out and see people as much as possible, and I implore the younger generation to do the same.
Final question, a little bit of a goofy one. You and 3 open seats at a dinner table, who are you sitting with?
Abbing: I try to understand why people act like they act. Therefore, I would love to sit together with President Trump, Borris Johnson, and Angela Merkel. More political than business right now! Of course, I would love to understand more about Elon Musk and everything he has going on as well.
A different, fun table would include Ru Paul and President Obama. I think that table would be great!
Thank you again to Wim Abbing, President and CEO of Probat, for graciously sharing his thoughts on the industry and advice to the next generation!
It’s not every day you come across an 18-year-old who has been brewing and cupping coffee since the age of three, but that’s exactly who we have with us today. Keely Thomas is a University of South Carolina student and the co-founder of Grand Strand Coffee. Like many others, Keely’s family is deeply rooted in coffee, but her active involvement from such a young age makes her Next Gen story one that you cannot miss! Bent Dietrich, Next Gen Council Member, and Trader at American Coffee Corp. sat down with Keely to learn more.
Let’s start at the beginning of what is a truly “Next Gen” story! Tell us a little bit about who you are.
My name is Keely Thomas, and I recently turned 18. I was born in Gastonia, NC, but I have lived in Salt Spring Island, BC, Vancouver, BC, Seattle, WA, and Fairfax, VA. I am a co-founder/barista of Grand Strand Coffee in Myrtle Beach, SC, and a full-time student at the University of South Carolina, majoring in International Business and Operations and Supply Chain. I am also heavily involved in the University of South Carolina’s School of Music where I play music in the Bassoon Studio and University band.
Some of us may be familiar with your story due to the Barista Magazine highlight, but for those who are not, how did you get started in coffee? And what are you up to these days?
Due to my parent’s long coffee history, it is practically in my blood. I’ve grown up in coffee shops, coffee roasting plants, and QC labs. I started cupping around age 3, but mostly just tasting the coffee. By age 6, I had learned how to make great coffees on V-60 pour-overs and made my parents coffee in bed for years (that stopped when I became a full-time barista). When I was around 10, my father started teaching me to roast samples on Probat sample roasters, and at that point, I began to learn how to cup for defects and descriptions. This came in handy during the pandemic.
When I was 13, I wanted a job, but I was too young to begin working as a barista, so I decided to open a small cold brew stand at the farmers market with the help of my mother. We ran the cold brew booth for two years before we got the opportunity to have an actual brick-and-mortar store. We opened our first store in March 2020 (right at the beginning of the pandemic). It was a challenge opening in that environment, but we had a significant following already. Plus, we were so specialty-focused that we didn’t have much competition. There were other coffee shops in the area, but no one was focused on specialty coffee like we were. Customers quickly understood that we were a coffee family, and we were focused on high-end specialty and telling the story of the coffee all the way back to the farmers that grew it.
How is the transition going from being in high school and working at Grand Strand Coffee to being a full-time college student? Have you scoped out your favorite coffee spots at the University of South Carolina yet?
Transitioning from high school to college is very different from what I expected. In high school, Covid allowed me to go virtual and work full-time at Grand Strand Coffee. After going back in person for my senior year, I had enough credits to go to school for only half the day, which also allowed me to work at the store. Now that I’m in school three hours away from home, I cannot go in and pick up barista shifts, but I still help with social media and special projects for GSC. During our holidays, I am lucky enough to drive home to work at Grand Strand Coffee! Thankfully, I have found a great coffee shop in Columbia. They are a small, quality-focused, family-owned coffee roastery in Cottontown, Columbia, called Indah Coffee Co., and I enjoy a cortado from them every weekend.
You’ve helped your father out with samples and seen his work at home. As an importer for Intercontinental Coffee Trading, he helps connect roasters to coffee producers all over the world. Despite your young age, you’ve actually had a lot of exposure to various parts of the business. Between the roasting side and importing side, what are your favorite aspects of the industry?
Currently, I enjoy being a barista. I enjoy creating classic and new drink combinations to serve my customers, such as the sweet and spicy latte, a blend of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, and allspice. I also enjoy educating people about specialty coffee. These traits are some of which make working at Grand Strand Coffee a lot of fun. Since moving to Columbia for school, I have been attending barista competitions and would eventually like to compete in the US Barista Championship.
As you mentioned, I have spent much time helping my father since he works from home. We have a Probat sample roaster here, so during the pandemic, when the ICT office in San Diego was closed, my father and I had to help with QC. Most of the samples from Origin would come to us to cup and we would then let the team know the results. I would roast the samples, set up the tables, and cup five days a week with my father. As much as I love cupping and roasting, I would still prefer to go into trading at some point.
Are you planning on staying in the coffee industry after you graduate from college?
I definitely plan on staying in the coffee industry after I graduate. I want to become a Specialty Coffee Trader and eventually start my own importing company.
For the industry as a whole, how do you view the future of the industry?
As a whole, I feel that the coffee industry will continue to see a shift toward specialty. We’ve been seeing this trend in the US for a while, and after talking to my father about some of the next-generation coffee producers, I feel origin is moving in that direction. In Myrtle Beach, real specialty coffee is a bit new; most coffee shops are still trying to copy Starbucks by selling sweet and milky drinks. We’ve noticed that at our store, people will drive across town and pass dozens of coffee shops to come to GSC to get classic-style espresso drinks and nice specialty coffee from us. Knowing how far people drive to get a cup of coffee from us is the best compliment we could receive. I genuinely believe this is the future of coffee.
What kind of change or progress do you see the Next Generation of coffee bringing to the industry?
I think technology and social media will play a significant role in the next generation. Social media is already a great way to teach people about coffee and the whole process from seed to cup. You’ve got amazing baristas like Morgan Ekroth (Morgan Drinks Coffee) and next-generation coffee growers like Sara Corrales (Finca Los Pinos) putting out great content. This content shows younger people that coffee is more than just a way to get “cheap energy” to help them study all night; coffee has history and lots of passion behind it.
What advice would you share with your fellow Next Gen-ers or people looking to get involved in the coffee industry?
I want to share some advice with people trying to get into the coffee industry: just go for it! If you enjoy a favorite coffee shop/roastery, submit an application. There are so many opportunities in the coffee industry and so many amazing people and cultures; there is something for everyone to enjoy.
The future is certainly looking bright with passionate coffee lovers like Keely coming up in the industry! On behalf of the Next Gen Council, thank you to Keely for her time and involvement.
With much built-up excitement and anticipation, Sintercafe made its triumphant return from November 9th through November 12th, 2022 at the Los Sueños Marriott in Costa Rica. The first event of its kind since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was welcomed with open arms and boasted record attendance with over 600 attendees! The attendee list included many National Coffee Association members and representatives, including our very own Bill Murray, President and CEO of the National Coffee Association (NCA), who delivered a keynote entitled “Consumers, Coffee, and Change: The Evolving U.S. Market.” He also served on a panel of coffee association executives to discuss global challenges facing coffee and how association are uniquely positioned to help.
Janet Colley Morse and Kyle Bawot
In addition to providing a platform for many great lectures and customer/client interaction, the event saw the inaugural launch of a collaboration between NCA Next Gen, SCTA Next Gen, and Sintercafe Next Gen with a beach cleanup and paddle boarding experience. The NCA Next Gen Council is looking forward to building upon this initiative and collaborating more with our Next Gen coffee counterparts around the world!
Hear from some of our NCA Next Gen Council members below regarding their experiences at Sintercafe 2022:
“What a great feeling to be back amongst colleagues and friends at Sintercafe 2022! The dynamic of finally being able to attend an in-person event was truly wonderful. Our very own NCA Next Gen Council members were lucky enough to be invited to participate in a “beach cleanup and paddleboarding” event on Thursday afternoon! This creative and inclusive activity gave us the opportunity to begin to explore the synergies between our Council and other established and blossoming Next Gen groups developing across the globe. Attendance was high, moods were even higher, and we are very much looking forward to seeing even more familiar faces in Tampa!
Further, it seemed that there were more and more new Next-Gen-aged participants. This is great to see, and we look forward to bringing more and more young coffee professionals into the fold of the NCA Next Gen!”
-Janet Colley Morse (NCA Next Gen Chair) & Kyle Bawot (NCA Next Gen Vice Chair)
“The event was very well attended by an extremely diverse group of industry members. Producers, exporters, cooperatives, importers, and roasters all flocked to Sintercafe in droves. To me, this is what makes Sintercafe unique in our industry. Nowhere else can you have almost every member of the coffee supply chain, sitting down together, in a meeting, talking about our lives and experiences, negotiating additional business, or making new friends.
It connects roasters to producers, exporters to warehouse keepers, and CEOs to first-year attendees. This was my first Sintercafe and most certainly will not be my last, particularly for that reason.”
Mike Vilarino, Business Integration Manager with Baronet Coffee, sat down with Wim Abbing, President and CEO of Probat and current NCA Board Member. Probat is an industry-leading coffee plant and machinery equipment manufacturer headquartered in Emmerich, Germany. Because of the length of the conversation with Mike, this will be a two-part interview. Part one will largely focus on Wim’s early years and his initial time at Probat. Part two will focus on his experience in the coffee industry and his advice to the next generation.
Vilarino: To jump right into it, let’s rewind to before you began your career. Tell me a little bit about your education, — did you attend university? If so, what did you major in?
Abbing: For the full story, I went to high school with the youngest daughter of Hans Von Gimborn (then CEO of Probat). We met briefly in kindergarten and were from the same town, Emmerich, Germany. We ended up getting married and having children together!
To answer your question, though, I was drafted into the German military following my high school graduation. I spent about 18 months serving as a soldier prior to enrolling in university.
I attended a university in the northern part of Germany. Unlike the US, German students begin with classes in their major instead of initially focusing on general liberal arts studies. My major was in economics, which had me studying financial markets and learning concepts in monetary policy. Naturally, I set my sights on a career in banking and eventually landed at a German commercial bank, where I worked for the first six years of my career. Near the end of my time at the bank, I found myself unhappy with what I was doing. I felt that I was unfulfilled, and I remember thinking to myself ‘I really don’t want to die in this job.’
Coincidentally, around the same time, I was talking to my father-in-law, Mr. Von Gimborn. He knew that I was unhappy at the bank and said to me ‘Well, Wim, we don’t have any family members at the company’ (Probat). It was now 1999 and Mr. Von Gimborn had retired from his position as CEO of Probat but remained chairman of the board. I remember him going on to say, ‘it would be nice to have a family member at the company again.’
I decided to take my father-in-law up on the not-so-subtle offer and joined Probat in the treasury department in 1999. Because of my background majoring in economics and working at a bank, it was natural for me to start out in an area that focused on the finances of the company. I quickly moved up the ranks in the finance department at Probat, moving from analyst to controller and ultimately rising to CFO within two years.
So, what was your day-to-day like at this point?
Abbing: To be honest, Mike, it was a nice, quiet office job. The year was 2000 and my fourth child was just born. At work, my day-to-day was consistent with any other CFO of a midsized German company. We had just acquired a Brazilian business, which took me on the road quite a bit, but not nearly as much as I would be in the future. What was clear, however, was that I did not want to have any face-to-face time with our customers. I was happy being in the background and enjoying a more back-office role. I had my spreadsheets and numbers and was content giving those numbers and my opinions to someone else to make decisions.
I was now 35 years old and two or so years had gone by. Out of the blue, my then-boss, the CEO of Probat, left the company.
I remember my father-in-law, still chairman of the board, saying to me, ‘This is your chance. Do you want to step up and run the company together with Stephan Lange (then CSO)?’ Before he and the board looked for a replacement as CEO, they decided to offer a Co-CEO position to both me and Stephan, a position which we both accepted.
I started as CEO in 2002 and was 35 years old, which at that time seemed very young. I remember various partners, customers, and vendors commenting about my age – and to be frank, I was very young for a CEO. But, as I said earlier, the business was structured differently than it is today, so leadership was split between myself as CEO in Germany, and Stephan, who ran the United States operations. It was clear from the beginning that I was the introvert, happy to be in the background. And Stephan was the opposite, a man who enjoyed attending shows, visiting customers, and traveling around the world. That type of outward-facing role was a role that I had not even begun to think about as a position that would make me happy.
Stepping into the CEO position, I would have assumed that you would be forced to be much more customer-facing. Is that not a fair assumption?
I still tried to hide a bit in the background. I was happy to concede the client-facing responsibilities to my colleague in the US.
While he continued to drive the sales side, I had quite a bit to do internally back in Germany. Unfortunately, at this time there were some HR issues primarily driven by the generational change taking place within our company. One of the challenges that ultimately arise from family businesses is that people tend to stay forever. Especially where I was from, most people who entered the business never left. And because of that, Probat was unable to offer the next generation the ability to grow, sometimes waiting until lifelong employees either retired or died! When I joined the company, my task was fixing this and figuring out a path forward. We changed a lot of these types of situations, and as a result, many people left.
Several years went by until the financial crisis in 2008-2009 hit. Stephan ended up leaving Probat and the board ultimately gave me full responsibility to not only take over his role but to run the entire global business as the sole CEO, a change from how we had structured the company over the past 7 years. My first thing to do now? Go out and see customers.
After Stephan Lange left the company in 2009, Wim Abbing became the sole CEO of Probat
So that was a big change for you?
Abbing: Oh yes! The bright lights were now on me. And to tell you the truth, Mike, it was amazingly interesting! Probat’s customers are extremely diverse. Our equipment can be found anywhere from shops with small shop roasters all the way up to big corporations like Nestle. What really makes it fun, however, is the mid-sized companies. I was now traveling the world to see customers big and small and to tell you the truth, it was an eye-opening experience. My travels took me from Japan and South Korea all the way to the US and Africa. Maybe even surprising myself, I was having fun meeting customers, talking to people, and ultimately learning what it took to be CEO and run a company.
So, you started running the company in 2009, and I assume you learned a lot at that point. It was basically a new role for you. What did you learn about yourself? To bring the conversation towards coffee, what did you learn about the coffee industry as the now sole CEO?
Abbing: What I learned about myself was that it is important to try new things. I learned not to be afraid of making mistakes; I’ve made mistakes just like everybody does. As far as I saw it, customers accept mistakes. And adding onto that, the industry itself is one big family. I learned how important it is to talk to people across the industry, from customers to competitors. While talking to competitors, I never talk about prices, customers, etc., I talk to learn, and I talk to understand!
Another thing I learned was that Germans tend to have an issue with their language skills. You always hear a German! Our accents are strong, and Germans sometimes shy away from speaking English or other languages. Traveling across the world and speaking with customers, I learned to not be afraid of that. There’s no need to hide your heritage, language, or nationality. You should be proud and embrace everything that comes along with those parts of you. To summarize, I learned that our market is so amazingly international, diverse, and understanding.
There are many markets that Probat is involved in that are so much narrower than coffee as well. As an example of how expansive the coffee market is, about a month ago we held a symposium in Emmerich, where one of our customers spoke about his coffee business in Mongolia! It was eye-opening! Coffee only began being sold in Mongolia in 1992. Securing green coffee in a landlocked country was just one of many challenges our customers faced. These and other obstacles are overcome daily by members across our industry. It makes our industry so unique.
Thank you again to Wim on behalf of the NCA Next Gen Communications Committee. Please stay tuned for part two with the CEO of Probat, Wim Abbing, to learn more about his experience in the coffee industry and advice to the next generation!
Michael Rosa, Commodities Buyer at Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee and NCA Next Gen Communications Committee member, sat down with Matthew Daks, General Manager of Volcafe Specialty, for a deeper look into his journey throughout the coffee industry. Matt’s unique experiences in many industry roles give him a valuable and noteworthy perspective on the industry that you won’t want to miss!
Matthew Daks (photo courtesy of Pacific Coast Coffee Association)
Tell us about yourself! How did you find your way into coffee?
My coffee career started while I was in school, and I was working as a barista at a small independent shop in northern California, deep within the redwoods. While working in the coffee shop, I would regularly stop into our roastery which was just across the alley to geek out with the roaster; asking as many questions as I could before he began to grow tired of my inquisition. I couldn’t help it; I was so intrigued by the process of turning green coffee brown. There was a sense of magic and alchemy to it, and I needed to understand it more…
Years later, I found myself in the Bay Area and took a job as a barista and shift lead at Peets Coffee & Tea. Peet’s is really where my job as a barista began to transform into a career as a coffee professional. My fervent passion for coffee, and desire to learn more about it put me in a position to grow and take new opportunities to share my passion with others. By the time I left Peet’s in 2008, I was one of two Training Partners, responsible for coffee, tea, and barista training for the company.
From Peet’s, I managed to take a volunteer consulting position with TechnoServe in its burgeoning East African Coffee Initiative. In this role, I worked with a team across Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Ethiopia to improve quality across the region by training cuppers and providing in-season feedback to cooperatives and their member producers. The team was also out in the field leading cuppings at the wet mills, training producer members how to taste their product and better understand the quality of the coffee they were producing and tie it back to harvesting practices as well as wet milling.
Green coffee sorting tables in Tanzania
The next step in my coffee journey brought me into the coffee trade, where I spent 2 years as a junior trader with Volcafe’s operation in Kenya, called Taylor Winch. At the time, I was considering a couple of different career moves, some more financially rewarding than others, but ultimately, I chose to begin learning the trade because I felt it really helped to deepen the breadth of my experience and understanding of coffee. The decision still stemmed back to those conversations in the alley, trying to better understand the magical process of turning this hard, green seed into a brew that could instantly bring a smile to people’s faces and brighten their day.
I spent the next 5 years working with Volcafe both in Kenya, and then back in the US at Volcafe Specialty where I am today. This broadened my understanding of the trade by having a working knowledge of the processes it takes to procure and export coffee as well as the factors that impact the cost to the roaster from an importing perspective. As things go, the more I understood about the production and trade of coffee, the more I realized there were so many factors of the industry I still knew fairly little about.
That led to my next move, where I left Volcafe and took a job with the National DCP (Dunkin’s purchasing cooperative), where I was responsible for buying all of the coffee and tea for Dunkin’s 9600+ stores. I remember growing up as a kid in New Jersey, and my dad drank Dunkin’ every day. Other memories as I grew older, working as a lifeguard at the community pool, every morning heading to Dunkin’ before opening the pool, and ordering a large iced French vanilla latte. Don’t judge me 😃 And now, I was going to be responsible for sourcing all of that coffee. Little did I know how much more I would be doing. My first months were spent learning and understanding the various contracts we had with several of the nation’s greatest toll roasting operators. Not only was I learning about the contracts, and developing relationships with our roasting partners, but simultaneously I had to begin negotiating new versions of the contracts. Talk about jumping into the deep end with both feet…
I was part of the Dunkin’ strategic supply chain for three and a half years. My understanding of the process of turning that green bean brown expanded in ways I never would have imagined. Together with the Dunkin’ team, we became one of the largest supporters of coffee genetic research in the world overnight, through our commitment to supporting World Coffee Research. We deepened our connections in the supply chain through annual meetings with all participants, from producers to exporters, importers, roasters, and Dunkin’ Brands in Costa Rica, with the support of Sintercafe. We launched a brewed in-store Cold Brew program that was more successful than we could have imagined.
cupping coffee at RWACOF
Then in 2019, Volcafe Specialty reached out to me, asking me if I would be interested in coming back to the green side of the business and helping in developing the team along with the relationships with roasters. Today, I am the General Manager of our business in the US and work with my team to continue to grow and develop the strategic partnerships we have with roasters of all sizes across North America. It’s been a wild ride the last few years, stepping back into the trade months before a global pandemic changed our world forever. Today, as we all know, we continue to deal with the lingering effects of Covid; the global logistics quagmire, imbalanced supply and demand, market inversions, runaway inflation, and the rapidly increasing interest rates imparted as a means to try and slow it down while trying to not trigger a recession. Back into the deep end!
What does a typical day in the life look like for you these days? Or is “typical” itself a misnomer?
Typical may be a stretch, but my days are typically spent supporting my team and our partners. That could mean Teams or Zoom calls with clients looking at implementing responsible sourcing strategies. These could be calls about how to find alternatives to coffees that seem to be stuck in various transshipment ports around the world. Often, I am speaking with our traffic and logistics team, proactively finding solutions to prevent the previously mentioned conversations. I spend more and more time with our Finance team. Not sure many folks outside of the green side of things realize just how much of a financial facilitation role the trade plays, but that tends to be a big part of the day. I try to start my day, every day, with a cup of coffee before I get things going though. Some days it could be me making a pour-over with my Kalita wave, a v-60, or a Chemex. Other days, after dropping my son off at school, I’ll stop by one of the many local coffee shops in my area. Either way, this helps center me back in the passion for coffee…
Being on both sides of the fence – trader and buyer, I feel you have a unique insight into the tools that help to succeed in either capacity. To start, which skillsets helped you as you launched your career in the trade?
By far, I think the skillset which helped me throughout my career has been the unyielding desire to learn. This can come in so many different forms, but I try to remain humble in the fact that there are so many people out there who know more than me about so many different topics. I am always looking to gain others’ perspectives and insight. I am always looking for mentors to learn from. These days I find myself listening to a lot of audiobooks. I never used to like audiobooks, because there is something special about the tactile sensation of reading a paperbound book. I have found though, between life and work commitments my time is limited and audiobooks are just a more convenient way to feed that bug inside me that needs to be learning something. Right now I am listening to Howard Schultz’s book, Onward, and reading Conscious Leadership by John Mackay.
The other skill set that I think is critical to success is empathy. The ability to see things through others’ perspectives is so important. It will help you uncover new solutions, often it will help you prevent issues from arising, and also, having empathy can help clear the path to do new and better business.
Learning from those experiences, which strengths helped you make the transition over to the buy side? Which challenges came along with that move which you weren’t anticipating?
Again, empathy, I think, was a big one. Having been on the trade side, I knew the costs and the pressures that were associated with what I was trying to accomplish in my buying role. Obviously, the understanding of supply and demand constraints or levers, having spent years as both an exporter and an importer helped me develop better strategies as a buyer.
What vision do you have for the longer-term direction you hope to steer Volcafe Specialty towards?
At Volcafe Specialty, we are fortunate to have an extensive network of operations that provide us with amazing access to great coffees, but also to a wealth of coffee knowledge and expertise. Over the last 20-plus years, we have done a great job of connecting that origin network to our strategic partners at destination. I don’t see that aspect of our business changing.
One of the factors we are seeing across the industry is the developing outlook and ideas around sustainable supply chains and responsibly sourced coffee. Our extensive network of exporting operations with agronomists implanting the Volcafe Way program, along with our dedicated teams in destination countries, allows us to be agile and adapt to consumer and client needs. Whether that be understanding, reducing, and mitigating carbon output or regenerative agriculture farmer profitability, I think in the years ahead, Volcafe Specialty will continue to be a leader in this work for the North American market.
Personally, are there industry challenges that you feel a connection towards that you want to address moving forward in your career?
I think as an industry we have a lot of work to do in several areas. Two areas that strike me as of particular importance are helping to improve the viability of the smallholder farmer and increasing access and equity in the industry. Selfishly, I hope that smallholder farmers will not only survive but thrive in the years ahead, so we can ensure that we continue to see the uniqueness of their terroir and keep drinking the amazing coffees the specialty world has grown to love. Coffee farmers are not getting any younger, and we need to find a way to incentivize and inspire the next generation of coffee farmers.
From a less selfish place, I think we also need to find ways to increase access, equity, and participation in the coffee industry. I love seeing the growing communities of underrepresented folks filling space, making their voices heard, and driving influence and innovation in the industry. As a whole, we are better served when there is a greater diversity of thought and perspective in all aspects of our business. I am grateful that there are people out there like the Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity and the IWCA etc. that are moving these issues forward.
Which trends in the coffee space do you have your eye on that maybe aren’t getting the mainstream attention they should be commanding? Looking at consumption trends, market movements, sustainability, etc?
As mentioned before, I think the industry is continuing to develop the way it looks at, talks about, and promotes sustainability. I think this will continue, but I think this is something that we are already seeing and are aware of.
This is a tough one to put into a couple of sentences. One of the areas that I think will see the most movement in the years ahead is how we talk about quality. We are coming from a period of time that has seen exponential growth in the quality of the coffee we are drinking, both from a production side (varietals, fermentation, etc.) and the consumption side (third wave, single serve, e-commerce, etc.). I think the way we talk about coffee quality is ripe for another quantum leap.
For someone trying to break into coffee, or looking to work on some personal development to succeed in the industry – what advice would you have?
I would tell people looking to find a way into the industry to lead with their heart and follow their passion. Be humble, and be ready to take opportunities that present themselves, even if they may be a step backward or sideways in some regards; if it provides a new opportunity to learn something you haven’t had before, go for it. Don’t get caught up in titles or just look for the biggest pay bump. The world of coffee is vast and deep and the path is not always straightforward. Zig. Zag. Try something different. Speak to someone you’ve never spoken to. Take opportunities to volunteer your time. The NCA Day of Service is an amazing way to meet people from different segments of the coffee world. It can be an incredibly bonding experience.
–
A special thanks to Matt Daks for his generosity and willingness to share his story with the NCA Next Gen community!
Stephanie Alcala speaking at the Association for Science and Information on Coffee
Imagine having the chance to take a course dedicated to studying the coffee supply chain while in college. What an opportunity that would be!
Well, RGC Coffee’s very own Stephanie Alcala created that opportunity for students at Whittier College in California. In addition to her role at RGC, Stephanie, a “Next Genner” herself, also works as an adjunct professor. Alongside her former advisor, Dr. Cinzia Fissore, Stephanie worked to create a course dedicated to the study of sustainability across the coffee supply chain.
NCA Next Gen’s Nora Johnson recently had the opportunity to sit with Stephanie and discuss her experience in creating and presenting this course, and the key takeaways from students who we hope to see join us in the industry down the road!
Nora Johnson: Tell us about yourself. Who do you currently work with? what does your role look like on a day-to-day basis?
Stephanie Alcala: I was born in Whittier, California. I have five older siblings and two incredibly kind and supportive parents. I work for RGC Coffee, a family-owned importing company as the Sustainable Sales Director. I work across the sales, trading, communication, and sustainability departments, which means no two days are alike! But ultimately, my main priority is to ensure our clients and customers are receiving the coffee and information they need to best operate their business. And since my role and specialty are in sustainability, my daily efforts are driven by my desire to grow and develop our in-house sustainable sourcing program, RGC 3E. Outside of work, I am also an adjunct professor and industry liaison at Whittier College for the department of Environmental Science, and in my free time, I love to eat, spend time with the people I love, and ride bikes.
NJ: We understand that you are the co-creator of a coffee-centric college course titled, “Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains: Coffee.” From where did the idea to pursue such a program come? How did you get involved?
SA: The story of how this class came to be really begins and ends with Dr. Cinzia Fissore, Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Science, Coordinator for the Environmental Science Program, and my former undergraduate advisor at Whittier College.
Stephanie with Dr. Cinzia Fissore
I first met Dr. Fissore during my freshman year, I had enrolled in her “Intro to Environmental Science,” as my chosen elective course. From day one, I knew I had discovered my passion and soon thereafter Dr. Fissore became my academic advisor. My love for coffee followed a couple of years later when I signed up for a sustainable business class (also co-taught by Dr. Fissore) that included a study-abroad component. As a class, we traveled to the Netherlands and visited various businesses (one of which was Heikkinen!) to learn about their sustainability initiatives and corporate social responsibility practices. It was my first international trip and it was the in-between moments where I first discovered my love for coffee, the cappuccinos, the European café culture, and the free wifi – I was consumed by all of it. After returning home, I immediately got a job as a barista.
Once I graduated from college, I was set on studying sustainable food systems. While I was trying to figure out how I could apply my studies towards a fulfilling career, I found myself back behind the bar, this time at Groundwork Coffee in downtown Los Angeles. It was there, with the support of my colleagues and management team, that I made the realization that coffee is a plant, it is a multibillion-dollar global commodity, and has a world of interdisciplinary social, environmental, and economic challenges and opportunities. I was sold. In 2016, I decided I was going to pursue a career in coffee.
I was then granted an incredible opportunity, to pursue a master’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan with my research to focus on studying the genetic diversity of the Gesha coffee plant variety grown in Panama. Although I had no business trying to become a geneticist, I saw this as a great way to build my vocabulary and knowledge of agricultural sustainability and climate change resiliency. I spent the next two years reading, learning, teaching, and developing a true passion for sustainable coffee production. I graduated from Michigan with an even clearer pathway, to seek a career in agricultural development in coffee supply chains.
Then after a few outstanding career opportunities 1) receiving the Leadership Equity and Diversity Scholarship through the Specialty Coffee Association and 2) working for Tartine Bakery’s Coffee Manufactory as a Sustainability Specialist, I found myself back at Whittier College, sitting in the office of my former advisor, Dr. Cinzia Fissore.
You see, she too had spent the past few years discovering an interest in coffee. Dr. Fissore, a soil scientist whose research specializes in carbon sequestration, had begun to work with a group of farmers in California who were growing coffee plants in their existing avocado orchards. Dr. Fissore wanted to understand how these efforts impacted the health of the soil and its ability to sequester carbon. With positive feedback from preliminary data, Dr. Fissore applied for and received a three-year grant from the Arthur Vining (A.V.) Davis Foundations. With this grant, Dr. Fissore, not only received funding to support her research but also received resources to design and develop an array of academic and professional opportunities for students and the community, all to be centered around coffee studies. It was at this point that Dr. Fissore and I formed a collaborative partnership to advance a coffee studies program at Whittier College.
Since I had prior teaching experience as a graduate student, Dr. Fissore offered me an opportunity to develop and pilot a short 4-week course centered around coffee sustainability. Because I was still green to the industry, I thought, “what am I most interested in and how could I use this opportunity to deepen my knowledge in the subject?” This is ultimately what led me to develop and pilot the course, Sustainable Agricultural Supply Chains: Coffee. After a successful year of piloting and receiving positive feedback from the students, I was invited back to further develop the course and support Fissore in expanding opportunities for students and the broader community.
When it came time to reimagine the course for the second year, I had just joined RGC Coffee as a junior trader and this is what really propelled the course development and material forward. Working for a coffee importer with an impressive sustainable sourcing program granted me the ability to create a more thoughtful and informative experience and ultimately resulted in the course becoming what it is today, a fully developed, semester-long core curriculum course, offering students a unique educational experience to learn how coffee trading has the ability to facilitate sustainable development.
NJ: Can you walk us through the structure of the course? What were the learning goals/outcomes for the students taking the course? What kind of activities were involved?
SA: The most important factor I had to consider when developing this class as a semester course was, how could I best deliver a clear and concise narrative regarding the importance of sustainability in coffee supply chains to a diverse group of students with no prior experience in coffee. With this, I knew I had to create an inclusive and engaging experience so that all students would be able to confidently navigate the semester. This resulted in two noteworthy decisions 1) to organize and deliver the course in 3 modules – The Fundamentals, The Coffee Supply Chain, and Creating Shared Value Chains and 2) to host a Coffee Speaker Series and invite industry and academic leaders to give guest lectures. Thanks to the support of Cinzia and funding from the A.V. Davis Foundation, we were able to host nine speakers last semester. Each of the lectures not only helped reinforce the material being learned but also served as a way to highlight the variety of pathways and careers of those working in the coffee sector. To give a greater glimpse into the class, I have provided a brief overview of each module below.
Peter Guiliano giving a guest lecture
The first module, The Fundamentals offered students an introduction to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, (SDGs), had them explore various definitions and interpretations of sustainability, we learned about agriculture and trade, and finally, we explored the coffee industry – its size, impact, and importance.
During the second module, The Coffee Supply Chain students learned the numerous steps and people involved in coffee’s journey from farm to cup, emphasizing that not only does coffee physically move from point A to point B, but during its journey, it undergoes a complete biochemical transformation. We concluded this section by emphasizing quality and consumer preferences are the two most important factors that guide and influence the industry.
The final module, Creating Shared Value Chains had students connect the lessons learned from modules 1 and 2 to examine the importance of and the ways in which the coffee sector can contribute to sustainable development. We began the section by first learning about the main challenges and priorities facing the industry, the goal was for students to realize that everything in this world is interconnected and for that reason, real sustainability solutions require a design thinking approach that works in partnership with the communities they aim to support. The module concluded with students putting theory into practice, with each of them using the Global Coffee Platform (GCP) Sustainability Framework to guide them in conducting a scientific investigation to further explore how coffee can positively contribute to a better future for people and the planet. The semester concluded with students presenting their final projects during a scientific poster session, which was held at our on-campus coffee research farm!
NJ: Do you think that any of the students who participated in the course may pursue future careers in the coffee sector or a related industry? I hope that we may have a few new recruits out there!
SA: One of my main goals for the semester was for students to realize that sustainability is a mindset, it is a way of thinking and navigating this world. For that reason, the ideas and concepts of sustainability can be applied towards any career. Therefore, I really encouraged the students (both through conversation and their weekly connection journal assignment) to continuously connect what we were learning about to topics outside of class, towards their interests and passions! So, I’m not sure if any of the students will pursue a career in coffee, but I am confident that many of the students will end up working in the field of sustainability.
NJ: Were there any comments from students throughout the semester that really stuck out in your mind as an interesting takeaway regarding the coffee industry?
SA: One thing I love about teaching is how much you learn from the students. The students always offered such a unique curiosity and insight towards the topics covered. Additionally, since Whittier College is a liberal arts school, I had a range of majors in my class, from Art: Digital Art and Design to Philosophy, to Business Administration. I have included below, 14 of my favorite quotes gathered from the student’s assignments this past semester.
“In this course, despite only talking about coffee, you can also observe different realities between societies. I really like learning about the different lives of farmers and seeing gender equality in agriculture.”
“So far one of the things that have stood out is the community that coffee creates. The idea of community is a major part of what I study in Philosophy how individuals can come together to work towards a common goal. The fact that it’s around coffee proves that any group can prosper if their goal is clear, and their purpose is shared.”
“In a very competitive and crowded industry like coffee, it’s important to have a feature of the product that truly makes it stand out among others.”
“As far as sustainability, if one understands the supply chain process and its players, there is an ability to work towards mitigating climate change, creating a beautiful ecosystem, and helping workers to profit along the way. This is the goal, but within the chain exist a number of inequities that need to be addressed and improved. The best way to start is by understanding the chain as a whole.”
“There are so many people involved throughout the process of the coffee supply chain, it’s crazy to think they all get paid somehow from people buying cups of coffee only.”
“Quality is everything”
“One thing she covered that I found interesting was discussing the roles of a coffee importer. One big aspect importers cover is risk mitigation, encompassing who owns the coffee and when. Importers buy coffee from farmers and are responsible for finance and logistics of that coffee, then sell to the roaster.”
“One thing I’m starting to realize is super essential throughout the coffee supply chain and business as a whole is the relationships between the people in each part of the process.”
“I found it very interesting to learn that when coffee makes its way to a cup it has 1000 chemical compounds. Coming from chemistry last semester to learn something like that was very shocking. You would never think that one coffee bean can have such an impact and chemical change throughout its cooking process.”
“This lecture was very connected to spirituality, and I appreciated this addition to our very interdisciplinary approach to coffee.”
“Finally, I learned that the biggest issues facing women in the agricultural sector are the distribution of wealth, income, ownership, leadership, and decision-making. Even though women make up most of the agricultural sector, they get little to no compensation for the hard work they put in every day.”
“One last concept I learned about was that the wet milling process is one of the leading ways that local water resources are being contaminated. Wet milling creates wastewater that is often not treated meaning that water goes to waste and even more water is needed in these communities”
“Without money to help with coffee solutions in production what do smaller farms do?”
“How long will it actually take for the coffee sector to become sustainable?”
NJ: What segment of or topic covered within the course did the students enjoy most or find most engaging?
SA: There are three aspects the students seemed to like the most. First, spending time in our campus coffee orchard. The students said being able to see and experience coffee as a plant, really changed the way they thought about the drink and helped them gain a greater appreciation and understanding of the supply chain. The second was the Coffee Speaker Series, a student commented, “I think the speaker series was also an incredible aspect of this course because we were able to learn from people directly involved in what we were learning about at the time… This made the material relevant to us and showed us the real-world application of what we were learning.” And third, the final capstone project (which I had previously mentioned) in which each student was able to further explore a topic of sustainability they found most interesting and presented their findings during a community showcase. It was truly incredible to see the diversity of topics students chose to focus on. In case of interest, I have included all of the students’ scientific posters here.
Students in the campus coffee orchard
Students with their scientific posters at a community showcase
NJ: Are there plans to continue this course or to potentially expand upon it in the future? (I would have loved to take a class like this in college!)
SA: Absolutely! Dr. Fissore and I are so excited to continue to offer students and the community opportunities to learn, research, and work in the field of coffee. Not only have we spent the past three years developing course material, but Dr. Fissore has been spearheading several other campus-related coffee projects which include a reoccurring coffee speaker series, industry internships, research fellowships, and maintaining an on-campus Coffee Research Farm (which just had its first harvest this year). Since all of these efforts were made possible by the A.V. Davis Foundations grant (which is in its final year of funding), we are now taking time to evaluate the next steps and see how we can continue to build and expand our efforts! We know there are many schools with emerging and expanding coffee programs and are very interested in connecting and sharing knowledge regarding how we can best use academia to foster sustainability in coffee.
For now, I have been inspired to take the lesson learned from my teaching experience and apply them towards my job at RGC. This past summer, we partnered with a Los Angeles-based college preparatory school to provide students an opportunity to learn and explore Climate Action in Coffee Supply Chains. I developed a month-long student internship program and hosted three high school seniors. The main goal for students was to learn (and be able to articulate in conversation) the relevancy and importance of climate action in coffee supply chains and offer an insightful analysis regarding a company’s existing efforts. And this fall, I plan to develop an in-house Educational Training Program so that my colleagues can also participate in learning about and exploring the ways in which coffee can contribute to sustainable development.
NJ: What was your greatest takeaway from this experience?
SA: This experience has shaped and defined my understanding of sustainability. I now realize sustainability is not a goal, it is an ongoing journey toward continuous improvement.
NJ: As a “next gen-er” in coffee yourself, what excites you most about the future of coffee?
SA: Right now, I am most excited about the increasing consumer demand for responsibly sourced products.
NJ: Is there anything else that you would like to share regarding the course and/or your experience? Perhaps anything that wasn’t covered in the questions above but that you found meaningful or interesting?
SA: I just want to say thank you. Thank you, Nora, for providing me with a platform to share my experience and work. And thank you to everyone who made it all possible. It really does take a village and I have been so incredibly lucky for the support and mentorship I have received throughout my academic and professional career. I’d like to especially thank my two current mentors, bosses, and collaborators Dr. Cinzia Fissore at Whittier College and Nathalie Gabbay at RGC Coffee.
On behalf of the Next Gen Council, we extend our sincere thanks to Stephanie Alcala for her time and willingness to share her experience. Stephanie’s work to educate and promote the coffee industry and sustainable coffee supply chains to the current generation of college students is of utmost appreciation as she is truly cultivating and engaging the next generation!
“I consider working for the coffee industry a privilege. Having been part of the industry for as long as I have, it gives you such a deep appreciation for your colleagues, others in the business, and the business as a whole. You appreciate it more and more the longer you work in coffee.”
– Rob Menos
Approaching 30 years in the coffee industry, Rob Menos, Director of Business Development at Sucafina, is no stranger to coffee and all that comes with it. In addition to his role at Sucafina, Rob is the current Chair of the National Coffee Association (NCA) Board of Directors.
Nora Johnson, Commodities Manager at MZB-USA and Next Gen Council Member, had the opportunity to chat with Rob about his background in the industry and his current outlook on the NCA. The statement quoted at the start of the article was made by Rob during his interview, and while it not only reflects Rob’s character and passion for the trade, it truly represents the extraordinary qualities of our industry and the many, many individuals behind it.
Tell us about your background and career development. How did you get your start in coffee?
Rob Menos
In 1993, I started my coffee career working for Wechsler Coffee Corporation out of Moonachie, New Jersey in a green coffee procurement role. A very good friend of mine at the time was working for Wechsler in a sales role in the city, and he set me up for the interview. Initially, I interviewed for an accounts receivable job, but the HR manager felt that I was overqualified and suggested that I may be a better fit for a green coffee procurement role that they hadn’t even posted yet! After 7 years with Wechsler, I joined Rothfos Corporation as a trader, and after 7 years with Rothfos, I went to Coex where I spent 13 years. Now I am with Sucafina where I have been for 2 years.
Before this role in coffee, I was going to school and working in collections at a medical office, dealing with insurance companies. Talk about a way to develop thick skin in life! The amount of times that I have had people hang up on me…It prepared me very well to learn how to work with other people; it was truly a life lesson!
What did you think of working for a roaster versus a trade house?
Going from roaster to trade house worked well for me as I had a good appreciation of the challenges that roasters deal with because I lived through those challenges myself. I was able to communicate this internally when needed, and it provided me with a strong foundation.
However, making the transition over to importing opened up a totally different side of the world. Suddenly, you have this direct exposure to origin. Having the ability to connect those dots and developing relationships with exporters, cooperatives, and producers – it completes the picture in a way. Living and breathing manufacturing as a roaster and then working as an importer and in trading gave me an understanding of the whole spectrum, which I appreciated.
What made you want to stay working in coffee as opposed to moving to another commodity or industry?
For me, its two-fold. First off, it’s the complexity of the coffee business itself. Think about all of the work that goes into the supply chain from tree to cup; think about all of the players who are involved and all of the hands who touch it. Secondly, and this was important to me personally, it’s the comradery and the sense of community. I have many friends outside of coffee who have met many of my industry friends over the years, and the one comment that I have consistently heard is how amazing it is that you can have competitors in a room enjoying each other! You don’t see that anywhere else! Early on, I saw the relationships had by others in the industry, and I found it so impressive; it made me want to stay!
Tell us about your current role as Director of Business Development at Sucafina.
Aside from the trading aspect and the day-to-day roaster interaction, I am responsible for coordinating supply chains and trading opportunities for Sucafina’s global network and bringing them to the North American roaster community. For example, let’s say that a roaster has a new customer, and to service them, you will need to develop a new supply chain out of Papua New Guinea (PNG) that meets certain requirements. I will work with our team out of PNG to get the supply chain off the ground and to guarantee that it will fulfill the roaster’s needs as our customer. In doing this, we utilize Sucafina’s global network to see how we can incorporate it into our existing customer base organically or to potentially develop it with new customers.
What is your most memorable coffee experience?
It had to be my first origin trip which was to Guatemala. Once again, it really helped me to connect the dots and develop a better understanding. There is a big difference between what you hear versus what you experience for yourself and visualize. You take that personal experience and later apply it to other origin countries in comparison. It gave me such a high level of appreciation for what we do as an industry and as a business and of course, a great understanding for the high level of work that is done at origin. It really helped me in my career development.
What piece of advice do you wish someone had told you early on in your career? Is there anything that you would do differently if you went back and could do it over again?
I consider myself very fortunate because I had two mentors very early on in my career. Mentorship is such an important point to highlight. In this case, both of my mentors were in coffee, but they help me on so many different levels, not just related to coffee, but to life in general. To have people who are genuinely looking out for you, and who can provide you with that kind of guidance, is priceless.
Looking back, if I were to do it over again, I would spend some time working in origin on the export side to have exposure to that part of the supply chain. I certainly would have benefited from that experience.
What is your favorite origin for coffee-drinking purposes and for travel purposes?
For travel, Guatemala. Guatemala was my first origin trip, so I have always had this emotional connection to it, and I have lots of good relationships there. I also love Colombia – Colombia has so many different producers, yet it is amazing to see the consistency in the quality that they export as a country in addition to the different profiles that they can offer as well.
How did you first get involved in the NCA?
Apart from attending the conventions over the years, I really was more engaged once I joined the NCA Board around 7 years ago. Looking at it now, there are so many great opportunities that the NCA offers today. A perfect example is the Next Gen Council – I wish I had that in my day, to be honest with you! Talk about a great platform for younger professionals to not only meet and network, but to develop for a future role on the NCA Board down the road. It is a huge benefit for a young professional to have that opportunity. The NCA Annual Conventions also provided me with great opportunities in terms of networking and the chance to meet with customers, attend different sessions, and participate in the Day of Service, but my involvement level really changed when I joined the Board.
For anyone who might not know, what is the role of the NCA and can you share some of the benefits of NCA membership for both companies and individuals? Are there any “hidden gems” in terms of benefits?
For companies, the NCA acts as a leading voice for the industry in terms of regulatory and industry matters in addition to providing market research and a platform for coffee education. The NCA keeps the membership well informed of anything important that is occurring at the time and impacting the industry in any way. There is also tremendous work done by the Scientific Leadership Council. This is a group of very smart people – 100 times smarter than me! – but they do such great work to benefit the membership and us as an industry.
From an individual perspective, there are many opportunities on the education side, from webinars to other on demand resources, in addition to great networking. As far as “hidden gems,” I think that in many companies, not all employees have a good understanding of what is available as a member. From webinars to market research to other data, distribution of the availability of information to employees is critical.
If you had to describe the NCA in one word, what would it be and why?
Advocate.
In my mind, the NCA is an advocate in many different ways. The NCA highlights the many positive benefits of coffee, and it tackles all kinds of issues from labeling laws to tariffs and beyond. The NCA takes the lead role in that, acting as the leading voice for the industry and advocating for its members. Frankly, at this stage, because Bill Murray and his staff have done such a great job, they have set the level of expectation so high that the industry automatically looks to the NCA to deal with an issue or for guidance and education.
On behalf of the Next Gen Council, we extend our sincere thanks to Rob for his time and dedication to not only this interview, but to the NCA and the industry at large. Rob emphasized the importance of comradery and relationships in coffee several times throughout the interview, and this environment that we all cherish throughout the industry would not be the case without so many strong, established industry leaders such as himself and many others who are willing to support the industry and the “Next Gen” of coffee leaders.
If you are interested in learning more about the NCA Next Gen Council, check us out here!
National Coffee Association Blog 