“Worlds Apart” tells the stories of the World Coffee in Good Spirits Championship and the World Brewers Cup, two competitions that take vastly different approaches to growing the specialty coffee community. Along the way, co-host Kimberly Yer leads us through stories of unlikely inspiration, the value of setting expectations, the push and pull of subjectivity and objectivity, and the shape of things to come through interviews with Dave Jameson, Cheryl Lee Su Yin, Nick Cho, Chad Wang, and Kristina Jackson. Learn more about this episode of the World Coffee Championships Podcast, made possible with the support of Victoria Arduino and Licor 43, including a full transcript and credits at sca.coffee/sca-news/listen/wcc-podcast/06-worlds-apart

“Turn It On” tells the stories of the World Coffee Roasting Championship and the Cezve/Ibrik Championships, two competitions with incredibly close-knit communities at their heart. Along the way, co-hosts Anna Oleksak and Sara Al-Ali lead us through stories about navigating subjectivity, all kinds of development, and the lengths we go to for coffee (and love) through interviews with Trish Rothgeb, Sylvia Gutierrez, Lee Yiming, Yuan Jingyi, Sergey Blinnikov, and Turgay Yildizli. Learn more about this episode of the World Coffee Championships Podcast, made possible with the support of Victoria Arduino and Loumidis Papagalos, including a full transcript and credits at sca.coffee/sca-news/listen/wcc-podcast/05-turn-it-on

“But I Need It!” continues the story of the World Barista Championships from where we left off in Episode 03, nearly halfway through the competition’s journey, to today. Along the way, co-host Roukiat Delrue leads us through stories of evolutionary meetings, competitors who played in the grey areas of the rules, wildcards, and the drive to “bring the trophy” through interviews with Carl Sara, Federico Bolanos, María Esther López-Thome, Martin Shabaya, Innocent Niyongabo, and Annet Nyakaisiki. Learn more about this episode of the World Coffee Championships Podcast, made possible with the support of Victoria Arduino, Scotsman, and URNEX, including a full transcript and credits at sca.coffee/sca-news/listen/wcc-podcast/04-but-i-need-it

“We Were the Punks” traces the early days of the World Barista Championships from a rag-tag group of volunteers looking to raise specialty coffee awareness to a powerful, monetizable stage grappling with questions of scale and professionalism. Along the way, co-host Sonja Bjork Grant leads us through stories of spit buckets, snakeskin boots, backstage woes, intensifying competition preparation, and devastating debriefs through interviews with Tone Elian Liavaag, Emma Markland-Webster, Simi Benzadon, Paul Basset, and Heather Perry. Learn more about this episode of the World Coffee Championships Podcast, made possible with the support of Victoria Arduino, including a full transcript and credits at sca.coffee/sca-news/listen/wcc-podcast/03-we-were-the-punks

“Paint a Picture” traces the history and evolution of the World Latte Art Championship through the medium itself, from early etchings to the innovative realistic pours that grace the competition’s stage today. Along the way, co-host Rie Moustakis leads us through stories about the role of the rules, the value of art, and family dynamics through interviews with Carl Sara, Daniel Acosta Busch, and Um Paul. Learn more about this episode of the WCC Podcast, made possible with the support of Victoria Arduino and URNEX, including a full transcript and credits at sca.coffee/sca-news/listen/wcc-podcast/02-paint-a-picture

“It’s a YES!!” traces the history and evolution of the World Cup Tasters Championship through stories about rule-breakers, phone calls home mid-competition, and backstage ballet. Co-hosted by Gloria Pedroza, this episode features interviews with Alf Kramer, Kim Staalman, José Joaquín Ordoñez, and Chloe King. Learn more about this episode of the WCC Podcast, made possible with the support of Victoria Arduino and DaVinci Gourmet, including a full transcript and credits at sca.coffee/sca-news/listen/wcc-podcast/01-its-a-yes

Meet the newest podcast series from the Specialty Coffee Association: the World Coffee Championships podcast. Where did they come from? How did things go wrong? How were they fixed? What changes do you want to see in these competitions? In each episode, we're going to hear from people who came together every year to celebrate specialty coffee and push the industry forward.

Today, with help from presenter Chad Trewick, you’ll learn about the inception of and future plans for the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide, a project housed at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The Guide uses donated contract information about industry pricing behaviors that are anonymized and aggregated to create tables to serve as a guide to help both sellers (producers) and buyers (exporters, importers, roasters) land on pricing that does not rely on the volatile commodity price as a baseline. Full show notes and relevant links: sca.coffee/sca-news/podcast/93/specialty-coffee-transaction-guide-as-a-new-tool

With producers facing issues of climate change, migration of the younger generations to urban areas, and fluctuating coffee prices, it has become increasingly difficult for smallholder farmers to be successful and sustainable. Here, a panel discussion featuring Jörn Severloh, Christopher Mujabi, Karina Orellana, Sara Morrocchi, and Kathrine Löfberg brings together coffee industry leaders and farmers to discuss these critical issues to find common understandings and a path forward. Full show notes and related links: www.sca.coffee/sca-news/podcast/92/an-unequal-pair-coffee-industry-leaders-and-farmers-discuss-needs-and-alignment-woc-lectures-2019

This week, we're taking a break from the 2019 World of Coffee lecture series to share Recap's fifth episode. In Recap #5: the COVID-19 outbreak continues to have a devastating impact on the coffee industry; the SCA has postponed World of Coffee and the World of Coffee Championships; World Coffee Research continues important work on the future sustainability of the coffee supply chain; Colombia invests in a newly-launched coffee stabilization fund; Folgers, the leading brand of ground coffee in the US, adopts blockchain technology. Full show notes and relevant links: https://share.transistor.fm/s/d0f21ef1