![]() – Do you have another passion or a hobby besides coffee? I worked as a waiter, did landscaping/gardening, but coffee has been the main career. – Have you always been into the coffee industry? If not, what was your previous job? – How would you qualify yourself as coffee drinker (occasional, heavy, addict…)? – How do you like your coffee? Black, sugar and milk, iced, vietnamese style,…? Various methods but I tend to use kalita wave, chemex or a bona vita electric drip. – Do you prepare coffee at home ? If yes, what method do you use? He had never formally ever cupped coffee, but he knew exactly what his coffee tasted like. One visit in particular (around 2013) I remember cupping coffees in the village at Nano Challa and we were doing trainings tasting their very own coffees and this older gentlemen came up and cupped some random samples, of which one was his village’s coffee and he immediately knew that the coffee he liked was Nano Challa. We were visiting Nano Challa and Duromina Cooperatives and we would sit a the washing stations and eat fresh bread with locally made honey and drink coffee. Most likely that happened while in Ethiopia traveling to the western Agaro region. The place, Coffee Corner, had a lot of single origin coffees and remember loving Guatemala, Yemen and Kenyas. ![]() I remember my first cup of specialty being a Sulawesi wet hulled coffee that I made in a french press. – How/when have you discovered about specialty coffee?Īround 1985 I began working with a small roastery in Eugene, Oregon and was working as a barista. I think it was canned coffee Yuban and I remember scooping it up and making coffee out of her auto brewer in Chico, California. I remember making coffee with my Grandmother, who loved coffee. I have a knack for being able to find great producers and the coffees they produce. A lot of my efforts were in copious amounts of time examining farms, regions, and the coffee that are being produced. This was especially true with my time at Stumptown Coffee. I have put much of my career into being a greater sensory professional along with working at origin with cooperatives, estates, lab and wet and dry mills to help the supply chain realize the coffee qualities that are in any given area where we were sourcing. – What’s your specialty and what makes you different? By creating the CoE, we are able to put together a competition and then later an online auction, to be able to reward producers through the direct trade (before the term was even created) via the winning roaster being directly connected to the winning farmer. George Howell and Susie Spindler, the founders of CoE, realized that many producers around the world were not able to be even identified for their farms and the flavor and quality that represented who they were as producers. The Cup of Excellence began in 1999 in Brazil and the vision then is the same as to day Discover and Reward Excellence. – When did the project Cup of Excellence begin and what is the story behind? Much of my last 15 years has been specifically working with producers to create enlightened buying mechanisms that assist the farmers in higher prices for their coffee. I have been in coffee for 30 years, working as a barista, roaster, technician, educator, tea buyer and finally quality control and procurement of green coffee. I formerly worked as a coffee buyer for Whole Foods Market/Allegro Coffee and also as Head Green Coffee Buyer for Stumptown Coffee Roasters. – What’s your story in the coffee industry? My name is Darrin Daniel and I am the Executive Director of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, which owns and operates the Cup of Excellence in Portland, Oregon. – Can you please introduce yourself in a few words.
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