If I hadn’t realized it before, the impact was crystal clear at the Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Boston. We are all members of a coffee community, and working together, we achieve great things. I am still buzzing from the ideas and energy of hundreds of conversations over those three days.
JNP Coffee has a lot of thank yous to share, as well as some good news.
We are grateful for the baristas on loan from roasters Barrington Coffee, Fazenda, Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle, Boon Boona Coffee and Elm City. They all stepped up to showcase our delicious Burundi coffees at our booth in the Roaster Village. And thanks to Treeline for their many bags of coffee shipped out from Montana.
Many thank yous to Equator Coffees for supplying the IWCA Breakfast with our Burundi Women of Kinyovu Coffee for hundreds of attendees to enjoy.
We were thrilled to be featured in the show’s Daily Edition magazine on opening day, in the article “Building Community through Collaboration.”
I continue to learn about the impressive potential held by the SCA professional association. As the new Northeast regional coordinator, I am grateful for your support. The brand-new leadership of the restructured US chapter of the SCA has an abundance of exciting new ideas and plans for events. I will be reaching out to you in the coming months with more news and opportunities to connect with each other.
Mid-May will see me heading back to Burundi for the first harvest reports. JNP Coffee’s Quality Manager has visited many producers and wet mills already, and indications for this year’s harvest are looking quite positive.
I can’t wait to return to my homeland and visit with the women coffee farmers responsible for the coffee served throughout the Boston Expo. Their stories stand at the heart of our mission to empower women. We are guided by the belief that we are here to make a difference.
Warmly, Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian