Rebuilding Our Foundations | 25, Issue 13

A year has come and gone since the magazine was last in print, and what a year it’s been.

Despite the four major crises we now face—a pandemic, a deepening global recession, an escalating climate crisis, and structural racial inequality—I continue to be astounded by the displays of resilience I’ve seen across our vast and complex coffee system. But I am also reminded of Erika Koss’ caution in Issue 10: resilience is only possible when there is “a firm foundation from which to bounce.” Throughout the year, the cracks and crevices were not only in the spotlight; they grew.

And so, in some ways, this issue is all about rebuilding our industry’s foundations: Dagmawi Iyasu’s Spotlight reclaims the long history of Ethiopian coffee as told by others, while Professor Lourival Carmo Mônaco’s story—as told to Jonas Leme Ferraresso in Viewpoint—reminds us of how others came to tell those stories in the first place. In Research, the team at the UC Davis Coffee Center builds on one of our core fundamentals, while across Sustainability and Insight, Lisa Antoshak, Evie Smith, Nicole Lin, and Charley Biddle all seek to help us better understand the foundations of topics likely to dominate our industry in the coming years: climate change, labor migration, and the growing Chinese market. Even in Destinations, Jessica Hernandez’s exploration of Oaxaca’s culinary roots led her beyond the triumvirate of corn, chile, and cacao to its indigenous roots.

We look forward to bouncing back with you.

JENN RUGOLO
Editor, 25

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We hope you are as excited as we are about our return with the release of 25, Issue 13. A return to print and the availability of these features across sca.coffee/news wouldn’t have been possible without our generous underwriting sponsors for this issue: Bellwether Coffee, DaVinci Gourmet, and Pacific Foods. Thank you so much for your support!  Learn more about our underwriters here.