Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1297489
Glatfelter DYNAGREEN ® is a complete sustainable and renewable solution for your tea product portfolio. All our tea bag filter solutions are manufactured with renewable fibers such as Abaca, cellulose and FSC® certified (FSC® C041205) wood pulp. For sustainable, heat-sealable applications we use compostable and GMO-free certified Polymer. TEA IN OUR CERTIFIED FILTER SOLUTIONS. PACKAGE YOUR CERTIFIED Choose Glatfelter DYNAGREEN® for your environment-friendly needs and send your request to sales@glatfelter.com. www.glatfelter.com NEWS For Peace was established as a brand to unite producers and coffee buyers around the basic message that every bean of traceable specialty coffee can help to sustain the peace process in Colombia. We are proving the message that the production and sales of traceable specialty coffee can beat the economics of coca-narcotics. Coffee For Peace was born from my desire to create a fundamental impact on the livelihoods of farmers. Ultimately, peace and coffee have a lot of things in common. Peace is considered a universal right, while coffee leads to almost universal enjoyment. STiR: Your lab at Boot Coffee offers many educational opportunities, including Q-grader certification courses. Why do you think the Q is a valuable certification to pursue? Boot: I've been a Q-instructor for many years. The "Q" provides students a once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience a week filled with highly intensive training sessions and in-depth exams. It's challenging, humbling, and memo- rable all at the same time. The major benefit is the strengthened confidence you'll feel after the Q. It also offers the best opportunity to rethink your quality standards and protocols. It's both fun and frightening because the Q requires you to train and test your sensory skills. By the way, don't underestimate the 100-question theory exam! STiR: You also offer online courses. How are those going, and what makes it possible to offer online education successfully? Boot: At our campus in California, we have trained many students who traveled to our facility from countries around the world. Some years ago, I realized the importance of offering courses to a less privileged audience though digital media. We launched our online coffee education program, Coffee Pro, in 2014. Recently, we also started teaching coffee webinars featuring live instruction by our campus director Marcus Young, who is a coffee expert pur sang [to the utmost degree]. The secret to success of these online programs always depends on our ability to teach the subject matter in a profound and entertaining manner. STiR: What do you think of all the experimentation going on in coffee today, particularly in processing? Are the anaerobics and yeast-fermented coffees a passing fad, or are they here to stay? What are some other promising experiments you see coming in the future? Boot: Actually, I love these processing experiments, and I also like to conduct trials myself at our new farm La Cabra in Panama. With these experiments, the conscientious producer strives for repeatability, which is a fundamental rule in coffee processing. I am sure that these experimental coffees are here to stay. Our most rewarding experiments focused on the drying process of the coffee beans by blocking out most of the UV light and by extending the drying process significantly. I expect that more producers will start focusing on drying solutions. STiR: As a coffee drinker, what is your favorite origin outside of Panama? Boot: Ethiopia! I adore their coffee! STiR: What are your thoughts about California as a growing region? Boot: Romantically, it's a great idea; economically, it's a bad idea. Overall, the quality of California coffee is quite good, but I prefer, by far, a good glass of red wine from our beautiful Golden State!