STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 15 NEWS some task forces where we want to grow and she's advising on that. She'll move to a consulting role as early as this sum- mer. That's the plan. I wanted something gradual. I joke about having big shoes to fill and it's true. There's so much history and knowledge [with Susie]. There's also mutual respect. STiR: Has the organization's mission changed much in 18 years? Are the basic phi- losophies and goals the same? Daniel: Having spent the last month picking Susie's brain as much as I can, I'm getting all this history. I can't say that it's changed that much. What's changed is the market around it. North America is a good example. We had so many ear- ly adopters that grew with CoE. At the core, it feels the same to me. I used to be a bidder and I think the core of this is the same, the mission is the same. I think the competitive landscape has changed with the marketplace but I don't think that's us. That's the market demanding what it can bear. That's good for the countries that want to participate. It's also good for the emerging markets. What hasn't changed is that drive that the farmers have to try to produce the top- quality coffees. And, beyond the sale are the good practices, the agronomy, the in- formation sharing. It's moving everybody up and that was the original intent. That's been the mission from the beginning. STiR: The Alliance often uses the word "transparency" in its literature. What does transparency mean to you and why is it so im- portant? Daniel: To me, it's all hinged on transparency as verification. Is that cof- fee grown the way you say you grew it? Is that coffee what you say it is? As an industry, we talk about worker welfare, price discovery, supply chain, and who's getting what. Our auction is the final say about value. I can't say ACE is the clear- ing house for all things but certainly transparency is at our core mission. Farmers wouldn't enter if they didn't think there was transparency on their side. The industry has layers. The industry is relying on verification and authentication of coffee. We need to make sure our supply chain is transparent. That means going out and looking at the program's smallholders and more. That's going to mean years of work. Companies are very aware of the role they need to play but they know they must go deeper. They haven't seen some of the conditions and obstacles toward improve- ment. In a commodity market, that's resonating in larger ways than it was 10 years ago. ACE is always trying to raise the bar on the premium side. The win is for the farm- ers and consumers who can say "I'm tasting the best coffee in the world." STiR: The Alliance is known for the Cup of Excellence and the Cupper Camp training pro- gram. Where do you envision ACE moving these efforts? Daniel: We want to make sure we're developing the program so we want to go into prospective countries and develop a cache of new cuppers. We want to introduce our [cupping evaluation] form, introduce the CoE experience. The camps run four to five days as we educate cuppers on how to be a cupper in the CoE environment. We're getting anywhere from 15 to 22 people for each camp. We don't want these camps to be too big. Farms also want their cuppers to be better trained. We're also developing cuppers as prospective bidders. We're giving people insights to what these coffees can be so if they decide they want to buy coffee within our auction platform they are calibrated and ready. We had very ambitious ideas about expanding [CoE] globally but we don't want to outsource it. Sherri Johns [ACE's training and events director] will oversee that. We will grow it. We'll do more than two countries. We're looking at Singapore. We have a pilot program in Peru. We'll continue to see growth in Asia as well as markets like Brazil. There's a push into Asia but we want to do this globally, any place where people want to do it. STiR: Has ACE been able to play a role in helping improve the quality of life for farmers? Daniel: We've seen the in-country dollars increase. That's what happens after the auctions. Farmers are able to make connections with other buyers and look at larger amounts of coffee that are coming from their farms. Those coffees are at a higher premium. But I look at specific people who are farmers. They say they can't even fathom what has happened. Winning was great, they say, but the influx of new prospective buyers has been able to garner a whole new range of clients. That's the unspoken thing that has happened. I think there's a ripple effect. There are coffees that didn't make the cut at auction but we've been able to create a platform for those coffees to be sold at a really good base price. Photos by Dan Shryock

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