1:3 — Breaking the mould, and who run the (coffee) world? Girls!
Edition No. 30
1 Fun Thing
The 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter is a 175 year old sourdough starter! Sourdough enthusiast Carl Griffith kept his family recipe alive, offering it to whoever asked and only charging them postage, until his death in 2000 at age 80. A group of people now known as ‘Carl’s friends’ decided not to let such a good starter die and continued the tradition of sending it to whoever, funded only with donations. During the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown, requests went up to 300 per week!
3 Coffee Facts
A washed coffee is where the cherries are de-pulped, pressure washed to remove all the mucilage then dried. A natural coffee is where the entire cherry is dried, and a honey processed coffee is de-pulped and then dried with the mucilage intact.
Koji fermented coffee is one of the newest emerging trends in processing which involves fermenting green beans for several days using koji spores — an ancient Japanese mould.
Women are vital to coffee, but breaking it down reveals how concentrated it is at the field and farm level (c. 70%), dramatically falling off further down the value chain (c. 10%), where there is more money at stake. Making it more equitable for women is key for coffee’s future.