Coffee business and women
Gender equality in the coffee business
Like many fields, the coffee world struggles with gender equality and we should be aware of it and help to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities.
On the land where coffee is grown, it is often women who take care of the harvest and other seemingly unimportant work. Their contribution is crucial to coffee production around the world. In Ethiopia, women's work on farms accounts for up to 75%.
Despite this, they usually have little control over the yield from the harvest and the structure of the coffee business.
International Alliance of Women in Coffee
The International Women's Coffee Alliance also supports women in the coffee industry in various ways. They are particularly committed to leadership development, strategic partnerships and increased visibility in the market.
Women on coffee farms
Most women in the coffee chain are found at the beginning of the coffee chain. As I mentioned above, in many countries, especially those in Africa, women are a large part of the workforce. In addition, they also look after the family and the running of the household.
The country where you most often see coffee grown by women is Rwanda. A prominent figure in the local coffee culture is Epiphanie Mukashyaka, owner of several coffee processing stations.
She inherited the coffee farm from her husband, who died during the Rwandan genocide. She then invested the money from the coffee she harvested and sold in buying coffee cherries from other farmers and selling them on the domestic market.
In 2000, Epiphanie partnered with thePartnership to Enhance Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages (PEARL), a project that aims to create better economic conditions for farmers, which PEARL also hopes to achieve by building a niche coffee sector. By improving the quality of coffee, it is possible to get more money for coffee.
Epiphanie has helped bring electricity and water services to towns, distributed cows as a source of milk, built a kindergarten for the children of farmers and workers at the washing stations, and provided jobs and income for thousands of people. Her son Sam is now helping herbuild her company , Buf Coffee.
Girls Who Grind Coffee
In addition to controlling the coffee, many women can be found in the roasters. Here, too, the work is often physically demanding. But nowadays there are many machines to help with the heavy bags and the efficiency of the work.
Women have their say at19grams, Drop Coffee Roasters and Square Mile Coffee Roasters. But Girls Who Grind Coffee Roasters supports women a little more. In addition to being an all-female roastery, theysource their coffee exclusively from women producers, farmers, or producers who support women in farming.
In addition to equality, the roastery also supports fair-trade coffee and is behind the cheek to cheek initiative, where an extra 10% of all retail coffee orders go directly into the pockets of women farmers.
Founder of the Specialty Coffee Association
Erna Knutsen:
- first used the term "specialty coffee" (1974 in an interview with Tea & Coffee Trade Journal)
- was a leader in the coffee world for many years
- Founded the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)
This woman is a great asset to the coffee industry and not for nothing is she known as the queen of specialty coffee.
Her coffee journey began when she joined the American Molasses Company where she was secretary to the Vice President of Coffee. However, she didn't see anything interesting in coffee at the time. Her journey continued with Bert Fulmer, at B.C. Ireland. It was there, over time, that Erna recognized that there was an opportunity to sell small batches of coffee to small roasters that would not otherwise fill a container.
Gaining equality, trust and attention cost Erna a lot of effort. In the beginning, men would not let her come to the cupping table and roast.
In 1985, when B.C. Ireland celebrated its 100th anniversary, Erna bought the company and renamed it Knutsen Coffee, LTD. The purchase of the company was preceded by another major milestone, the formation of a coffee roasters' association whose name could not be without the word specialty, or choice.
Important baristas in the world
World Championships, Brewers Cup and other coffee competitions are also where women are successful in the coffee world.
I'll start first abroad. Agnieszka Rojewska, three times Polish champion, four times Polish latte art champion, became the first woman to win the World Barista Championship in Amsterdam in 2018.
Filtered coffee from V60 by Agnieszka Rojewska
You will need:
- V60 dripper ideally metal
- 15 grams of coffee ground to make V60 (medium coarseness)
- 250 ml of water
- barista pot
- paper filter
- barista scale with stopwatch
- Prepare the paper filter for the dripper and rinse the dripper.
- Pour the coffee into it and level the coffee bed.
- Pour 150 ml of water over the coffee in a circular motion.
- Pour the remaining 100 ml into the centre. You should be finished pouring in 1 minute.
- Now all you have to do is serve. Enjoy.
Czech women in the coffee business
Which women have topped Czech coffee competitions? Who represents the Czech coffee scene in the world?
Petra Veselá
Without a doubt, the coffee scene in the Czech Republic cannot be imagined without Petra Veselá, whose life was changed by coffee back in 2004.
Petra participated and twice became the champion of the Czech Republic in coffee preparation. She has also represented the Czech Republic at the world finals and other coffee competitions. She also sat on the jury at the World Barista Championship finals several times. Shepasses on her knowledge and experience at their coffee training courses and in her Big Book of Coffee, which has sold more than 30,000 copies.
A few years back, she and her husband Gwilym Davies (winner of the 2009 World Barista Championship) decided to expand their scope in the coffee world to include roasting coffee. They roast coffee in Jílové near Prague under the name The Naughty Dog.
Tereza Balá
Tereza Balá is the Czech Barista of the Year 2010. And thanks to her win, she represented the Czech Republic at the World Barista Championship in London. Since 2014 she has been mainly training new baristas and baristas. She has alsojudged theBarista of the Year and Coffee in Good Spirit.
Petra Střelecká
Her specialty is filter coffee, as evidenced by her three wins at the Czech Brewers Cup and 6th place at the World Finals in London (1st among women). Petra has also recently published abookabout filter coffee , which is a complete guide to its preparation.
Enjoy coffee according to Petra Střelecka's recipe
Eliška Jandová
Cupping and also the Czech Cup Tasters Championship is Eliška Jandová'scup of coffee. She won the CCTCH competition in 2017 and 2018. Currently, Eliška works as a barista and roaster at the Dos Mundos roastery in Prague.
Women in SCA ČR
Inaddition to Tereza Balé, Education Coordinator, there is another woman in the team of the Selected Coffee Association - Marie Jirásková from Jedno Kafe in Liberec. She works as a Community Coordinator and is thus mainly involved in increasing the base of the Czech coffee scene.
Until recently, Adina Bálkováwas also part of the team , working as SCA Czech Coordinator, and currently Ondřej Hurtík is the SCA Czech leader.
Women in Lázeňská
You will find many women in Lázeňská as well. In our café in Luhačovice our Anet prepares coffee for you every day. Míša takes care of packing the package with coffee or coffee accessories. And we owe it to Mirka that you have the freshest coffee newspaper in your mailbox and on our blog.