A Time to Reflect - 25, Issue 12
Hello, reader! Welcome to the digital release of Issue 12. When we first started work on this issue all the way back in October 2019, we never would have imagined where we are now. As the situation has continued to evolve—global lockdowns shuttering the doors of our printer and postal routes as well as necessitating changes to how we prioritize spends as a nonprofit association in the middle of a pandemic—we’re not entirely sure if, or when, this issue will ever make it to print. (And, to be honest, having seen the final design: It’s more than a little heart-breaking! You would have loved it.)
We’re excited to release these features digitally for now, months in the making, to showcase the hard work of our authors. And we’d especially like to take this moment to thank the companies who supported this issue of 25: Pacific Foods, Bellwether Coffee, BWT Water + More, Cropster, Wilbur Curtis, iFinca, Pentair, and TONE Swiss.
At the time of writing (March 2020)—in the face of COVID-19 and a rapidly changing landscape—we find ourselves waiting to understand the full impact of the pandemic on our industry.
When we first started work on Issue 12 all the way back in October 2019, we never would have imagined where we are right now. Coffee communities around the world have been greatly impacted by closures to mitigate the spread of the virus, and we are watching with great concern as it begins to reach coffee-growing communities. In each case, the precarious position of laborers, from baristas to pickers and packers, has never been more apparent.
In this issue, we’re taking a step back and focusing on some big questions that could shape the future of our industry. Some—like those posed by Dr. Ilja Croijmans in Spotlight—are about the importance of language and how it connects us, both professionally and generally. Others—posed in Noa Berger’s Insight and Ever Meister’s Viewpoint—are a little more abstract in nature: What does it mean to be authentically specialty? What are the unseen costs of selling coffee with stories?
And, in both Research and Sustainability, we are reminded of the complexity underlying global markets and systems that drive our day-to-day work in specialty coffee: What drives growth, and why is it important? What is value, and who creates it?
All these questions are incredibly complex and difficult to answer, but there’s no better time—when we are all examining the systems that surround us—to start asking them.
JENN RUGOLO
Editor, 25
Special Thanks to Our Issue 12 Advertisers
This issue of 25 is supported by Pacific Foods, Bellwether Coffee, BWT Water + More, Cropster, Wilbur Curtis, iFinca, Pentair, and TONE Swiss.