For many years now, we have had good American customers and moved coffee directly from origin to the United States. Through our new US office we aim to better serve the needs of our customers across the pond.

New York has always been the epicentre of business creation and innovation. As a hub for finance, global and inclusive culture, with a rather it only seemed as the natural choice to start.

All the way from Melbourne, Australia, Sam began his coffee career in the central highlands of Vietnam. Lured by the bright lights of New York City, and the even brighter prospect of joining Europe's premier specialty merchant, List + Beisler, Sam is responsible for gearing-up L+B's sure-fire expansion into the North American market.

When not chasing the sun, waves, or playing golf, you'll find Sam hamming-it-up in the Hamptons social scene, tending his manicured lawn, or passionately explaining the difference between Rugby and Australian Rules Football - the actual game played in heaven!

What is an SCA Premier Training Campus?

In short, an SCA member company or organization that has met all the requirements set forth by the SCA, and is thus certified to impart SCA-approved coffee education.

Campuses are located all over the world, with more being added to the list of campuses each year. In Germany, we are proud to be the first added to the list! As a campus, we strive to offer a unique experience when it comes to coffee education —all while showcasing commitment to standards of the educational experience.

As part of the certification process, we had Owen Thom visit our training facilities who shared his feedback with us:

keyboard_arrow_right"The classroom makes a very unique set up but one that is perfect and something that can be taken advantage of. Students have the chance to relax, as well and learn in a surround of peace, comfort and atmosphere."

keyboard_arrow_right"Overall List and Beisler have a great premise for green and sensory [Premium Training Center] status and meet all the necessary standards to have this."

If you would like to know more about Premier Training Campuses, you can check out the SCA website for more info on it.

Why did we decide to become certified?
At List + Beisler we believe in fostering high coffee quality standards both within and outside. What that means is an explicit commitment to quality standards within the company, all whilst taking an outward and active approach to coffee education and its promotion. We want to equip ourselves so that we can empower others.

We do not play the part: we are serious about coffee and becoming certified was our way of materialising and publicly acknowledging our commitment to high coffee quality standards and education.

Back in February 2018, we visited the Sidamo coffee producing region together with our Ethiopian Partners, Moplaco. During this trip, besides visiting producers, we were introduced to one of the projects that Moplaco has developed in this region in collaboration with the local community: The Sergera Elementary School.

This school was built over 8 years ago and its intention was to create an environment that would encourage children to attend classes. Year by year, attendance has improved and now about 2000 children attend the school. Since its early beginnings, the school has significantly improved but as the people at Moplaco put it, "it is an ongoing feat".

The school operates on two shifts, morning and afternoon, in which 1000 children attend at a time. Currently, it has 10 classrooms of which only 2 have concrete floor, the remaining have a sandy dirt floor covered by wood straps. This type of flooring, although cheap is the perfect environment for fleas to nest, which represents a problem to already overcrowded classrooms.

At List + Beisler, we believe in fostering sustainable communities within the coffee industry. On this occasion, we have decided to collaborate with Moplaco and the Community of Sergera to help renovate further classrooms, improve the floors and walls as well as provide them with furniture, with the aim of creating a safer and healthier environment for the children; a space where they can learn and work in better conditions.

The project will span from March 2018 until December 2018 and during this time, we are tasked with managing the overall project design. Moplaco will collaborate as manager of the overall project while the community of Sergera will be involved as workers.

We believe that bettering the overall existing infrastructure will give children the opportunity to learn in proper conditions.

Stay tuned for updates on the project.

Machare Estate, Kilimanjaro. Starting off in the Kilimanjaro region, we were welcomed with unusual sunshine for these times. Machare Estate allows you to have a cup of coffee with a direct view onto Kilimanjaro. The farm is surrounded by two rivers and nestled on the lush slopes of the Kilimanjaro Mountain. Bente, the owner of Machare, aims to cultivate 100 % organically certified coffee in a few years. She has quite some talent to teach herself things that go beyond her in-depth knowledge of coffee: an irrigation system that supplies the whole plantation with only one pump and a Tanzanian-tailored organic fertilizer are only two of the projects she successfully executed in the past years. Imagine a farm that has experimented with so many best practices from all over the world, that it is considered state-of-the-art coffee processing in East Africa. This results not only in a unique set-up involving much of the surrounding communities but also in a high-quality cup that constantly convinces with beautiful aromas and high complexity. Machare's coffees are full of tomato, bergamot and berries that play with smooth citric acidity. We have had these coffees for several years now and can only support her engagement that reflects these colorful aromas in one cup.

During our visit in August, parts of the Machare Estate had ripened much earlier than in previous years. Picking in lower altitudes had already begun. Not only on Machare, but also on the many surrounding smallholder farms, people had started to pick the first ripe cherries. Samples should come to our lab in November, first coffees should reach our warehouse in Germany by March.

Last year, we entered a joint project to strengthen Machare's surrounding communities. To us, a strong coffee community with established infrastructure enables synergies as well as stable supply from the region. The goal of the project was to imrpove coffee processing for Machare's neighboring Central Pulping Units (CPU's). These CPU's are owned and operated by the surrounding smallholder farmers to depulp, ferment, wash and dry the parchment of many in one facility. Together with Bente, we decided to supply the CPU's with shade nets and plastic canvas to support their drying processes on African drying beds. Originally, shade nets were used in olive processing, covering the olives and drying them in a more gentile way. Farmers at the Kilimanjaro already dry their parchment in the shade of many trees. Nevertheless, these nets still come in handy. Drying the parchment involves regular turning to ensure constant quality. Placing the parchment on nets rather than directly on wire has several advantages:

keyboard_arrow_rightThe wire is hard to replace or repair as the material is rising in price

keyboard_arrow_rightHandling becomes easier, no beans are missed out on or fall through the wire, parchment can be poured all at once

keyboard_arrow_rightAlready tucked in nets, parchment can be quickly wrapped in canvas in order to protect from rain and humidity at night

The CPU's range in size: the biggest one in the area gathers 74 farmers while others collect the cherries of 10 farmers only. A total of 158 shade nets and 100 plastic canvas were given to 13 CPU's neighboring Machare. Using the shade nets means another step to professionalization and towards a more consistent quality. Easing the work of coffee farmers supports keeping the farm job attractive for generations to follow. Ensuring a stable coffee infrastructure usually creates greater coffees for roasters and coffee lovers. Thank you Bente for your support!