Last week we spent several days with Cesar of Chacra D’dago, the certified biodynamic award winning coffee growers from the Villa Rica area of Chanchamayo. What an interesting place! Continue reading Real People, Really Good Coffee: Point of Origin – Chacra D’dago
This past weekend, we journeyed to Chanchamayo for the first of a series of workshops to promote good harvest and post harvest techniques with the local coffee growers. We met with representatives from Edegel, non profit AVSI, and Tostaduria Bisetti of Lima. We also had the good fortune to be accompanied by world renowned food critic & prolific author Ignacio Medina. Ignacio is well known for his discerning palate and is an expert on Latin American cuisine . Continue reading Curibamba Workshops, A Conversation with Ignacio Medina
Charles Hugh Smith is one of todays most prophetic and insightful writers. He often writes on the theme of our current healthcare system. His latest post is a home run, Please read the following excerpt, and click on the article source for the full article with charts:
Continue reading Charles Hugh Smith-How Healthcare Is Dooming the U.S. Economy (Three Charts)
As I’ve said in these pages often, Health Care costs in the US are so inflated that it’s much less expensive for non emergency care & routine surgery to go outside of the country. Recent proposed insurance premium increases are startling, especially after the last few years of steady increases. While for some, subsidized care is a boon, however for the majority of users, costs have far outpaced inflation even doubling in many cases. Thanks to Karl Denninger of the Market Ticker for the following heads up on upcoming increases & ideas on how we might change things:
Continue reading Rapidly Rising US Health Care Costs Will Lead to more Medical Tourism, Here’s Why
This week we travel to Chanchamayo for the first in a series of workshops for the coffee growers there. This year world coffee prices are low, so our focus will be on coffee quality above all else. Our direct market philosophy doesn’t pay any attention to the bulk wholesale price of coffee, but to a sustainable, equitable pricing that allows for the growers to receive a just price for their coffee. Rather than have some good years, and then years of low prices and economic stagnation for the farmers, we pay a higher, consistent price every year. When prices are low like now, we can insist on better quality and attention to care of the new crop because we’re the best option that actually pays an ethical price. When prices are high though, we’re still able to get great coffee because we’ve built an actual relationship rather than just being another buyer.
Continue reading First Coffee Workshops for Curibamba Growers This Week
A long dreamed railroad connecting the Atlantic coast of Brazil to the Pacific coast of Peru may finally become a reality. Meanwhile economic news is mixed in Peru. The dollar has remained relatively stable vs the Peruvian Sol lately, but it may just be a pause before the dollars rise again according to Charles Hugh Smith of the Of Two Minds Blog.
Continue reading Peru Economic News Mixed, A Railway from Atlantic to Pacific?
This week in our ongoing blog series, “Real People, Really Good Coffee,” we visit Glenn & Stefanie Frank of Frankly Good Coffee in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Franks are dedicated coffee lovers, and are committed to producing the freshest most flavorful coffee. You can find them at Farmers markets around town.
It’s May and in Peru it is the beginning of the coffee harvest season. Soon, we’ll be heading to Lima and from there to the eastern Andes & the rainforests of Chanchamayo. It’s exhilarating and exciting, yet fraught with uncertainties and that uncomfortable background feeling that one gets when faced with the unknown.
We’re still uncertain how many of the small communities of growers were affected by the massive flooding this year & how the coffee quality will be this year. (see Torrential Rains & Mudslides Continue to Plague Peru.)
Continue reading Real People, Really Good Coffee May 2015
Here’s an update on some recent articles that I’ve seen on farming & coffee production in Peru. This year Peru is slowly climbing back from the coffee rust which decimated production in 2012. Even last year, coffee production was still less than half of 2011.
The dollar has risen considerable vs the Peruvian Sol (currently S./ 3.14 to $1 USD.) Export prices are down, so there should be a good market, but with coffee prices low, it will be a hard year for many & difficult to cover costs.
In the farming country in the south of the country there have been clashes between police and protesters over a proposed copper mine, meanwhile the government is providing fertilizer and aid in other areas.
Our coffee travels lead us to meet some of the most interesting and helpful people in the trade. Ron Cortez of the Cortez Coffee Company in Tempe, Arizona has an amazing story & Ron is extremely supportive of our work with Peruvian farmers. Here’s more about this true coffee hero.
Continue reading Real People, Really Good Coffee – Ron Cortez, Cortez Coffee Company
