In addition to visiting the coffee triangle areas around Pereira, Lisa, Alice and I attended the IWCA convention in Bogota. This was the 4th bi-annual IWCA event, and it was held in conjunction with the ExpoEspeciales de Café, one of Colombia’s largest coffee events.
ICT has a long-standing commitment to promoting gender equity in the coffee trade, both at origin and at home. Lisa Colon was one of the co-founders of the Women in Coffee Microcredit Union, and ICT is always sourcing outstanding women-produced coffees from around the world. As such, the IWCA event was one of the most important of the year for us.
The IWCA was concerned with more than gender equity issues, however – there were discussions about the state of the specialty industry throughout the world, sustainability and climate change, as well as barista and cupping competitions. Since 30% of Colombian coffee is produced at women-owned farms, it was a fitting host for the event. It was truly inspirational to meet and hear from so many knowledgeable and passionate industry professionals in Bogota.