Find us in the upstairs main lobby, just outside the expo entrance and right across from registration. Click above to put these cupping events on your calendar, and reply to set up a private meeting with someone from Crop to Cup ...

Yup, Robusta, you read correctly.  Come to our Brooklyn cafe - a place we surely consider to be a specialty coffee establishment - and drink some Robusta.  For those of you lost in the land of pourover stations, cortados  served as macchiatos and cappuccinos that are no different from lattes, and who may not know much about Robusta, know that Robusta is a commonly reviled, denegrated and maligned bean which causes coffee snobs across the specialty coffee world to scoff, sneer and turn away with a conspicuous uplift of the nose.  Coffea Canephora, commonly known as Robusta coffee, is one of the two main coffee varietals that is commercially grown (the other is Arabica; there are others such as Liberica, but they are not common)....

CUP MEETS CROP - Crop to Cup is bringing coffee home this October. YOU ARE INVITED 2012 HARVEST -  BURUNDI & UGANDA OCTOBER 20th - NOVEMBER 1st Open Invite Origin Trip We are organizing a guided trip to Burundi and Uganda this October. We will meet with farmers, help with the harvest, and have fun too. A group of us coffee lovers are visiting farmers in Burundi to provide feedback on last year's harvest, and to break ground on a community coffee tree seedling nursery, called the Bukeye Seedling Project . Then we travel to Uganda during harvest to provide input on harvesting, washing, drying and lot separation through the dry mill. We will provide valuable feedback to farmers, strengthen our (and your) relationships...

Taylor here.  Based in Shanghai workin' on a few coffee projects this year, I took advantage of my proximity to Japan and hopped over for a bit of touring.  My trip wasn't necessarily coffee focused, but it's hard to avoid.  Japan is a special place for coffee lovers (assuming you don't need espresso everyday), and included are a few pics of what I came across. Highlights of the trip were: - Stumbling upon Nao Coffee in a Kyoto alleyway, Aneyakoji Dori, just east of Kawaramachi Dori.  True minimalist Japanese design and a perfect cup of light roast Bolivia off a Kalita dripper.  I wish my photography skills were better, so I could give a fair shake to the space's design. According to the...

The Crop to Cup Brooklyn Crew had a blast this past weekend at Mid-Atlantic/Northeast (MANE) Artisan Coffee Conference in Providence, RI. Alexis and Dan plus our two fabulous baristas, Woody and Conor, joined a great group of roasters, coffee professionals, café owners and baristas to take part in classes focusing on analyzing green coffee, the art of cupping, alternative brewing education, espresso technique, machine maintenance and much more. As usual, the conference participants were extremely friendly and encouraging, and we had great opportunities to exchange helpful ideas and experiences with other coffee people from the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast area. We feel fortunate to be part of this rapidly growing specialty coffee community and we look forward to seeing everyone next year. Thanks to...

Welcome to Shanghai.  The weather is cooling down and coffee is back in season (not much of an iced coffee culture here). I’m here in China working on a Crop to Cup project for more reliable and better quality coffee supply, so I’ve had a lot of time to survey the market - from roasters to cafes to supermarket shelves.  Shanghai is a city full of comforts, offering most anything you could want (except parks with grass you can actually sit on, or a government who doesn’t bury crashed trains in the dirt).  [note to self: get back on topic, try to stop complaining about the government].  Coffee!  Shanghai is full of it.  Starbucks. Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.  Gloria Jeans....

C2C's travel season is upon us, and this year will see Taylor (normally based in Brooklyn) travelling during most of 2011.   Taylor and others will be posting here from time to time and often posting photos to his picasa page. Up on Picasa now are both coffee-related and random fun pics from trips in Hong Kong and New Zealand. For the entire month of April Taylor and Dan will be visiting coffee origins in Burundi and Uganda, and he'll be posting lots of pics!  Make sure to follow the photostream, learn more than you could imagine about coffee origins and processing, and meet the farmers who are growing those awesome beans you brew. Post comments and questions either to this...

Did you know that coffee farmers can earn as little as four cents per pound of coffee sold in the US? (1) While partly due to high costs and the presence of many intermediaries, the effects of this are felt by you, the person who ultimately drinks the coffee. If farmers are stuck in poverty, or being paid the same shoddy price no matter what they grow, then farmers simply will not make the effort necessary to produce high quality coffee. We are working on a quality-driven solution to this problem by paying 20% premiums above market prices to reward farmers for their efforts in producing premium coffees. More, we put 5% of every coffee sale we make back to good...

"McDonald's began a national advertising campaign Tuesday to promote its McCafe program, hoping its cappuccinos and lattes will draw customers from Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. Starbucks is fighting back with deals on iced coffees. And Dunkin' Donuts has cut latte prices in some cities." The Chicago Sun Times did a report on these three giants and their marketing campaigns to try to undercut, overbrand, and "out-cool" the other guys. The Sun Times did a taste-test with three Chicago residents, comparing the different fast-food, speedy-coffee giants. While the taste test was using too small a sample of people to justify any accuracy, we found it to be a fun commentary on the various giants in the world of American coffee. http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/food/1560077,CST-NWS-coffeetest06.article...