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Posted on February 6 2018
Clients from four countries joined us on our annual Colombia residency this year. Since Mercanta set up our office in Medellin in 2012, we have sought to highlight the wonders of the marvellous Colombian Department of Antioquia to a wider audience: in a coffee sense, a city tour sense, and a social sense. The networking opportunity for
Posted on September 10 2016
September 10 2016
Mercanta North America’s Megan Rindt visited this year’s Canadian Tea & Coffee show – and here’s what she saw!!! The Canada Coffee & Tea Show was a great event. Toronto is a beautiful city full of wonderful people and great roasters. Spending a few days at the show and a day café crawling gave me
Posted on September 6 2016
September 6 2016
Grant Rattray and Leah Warren visit Papua New Guinea and tell us about their search for quality green coffee in this unique origin.
Posted on September 1 2016
September 1 2016
Mercanta’s Stephen Cornford takes a journey to Peru: 11,265 km long and, 2,500m high.
Posted on August 5 2016
August 5 2016
Pedro Echavarria and Leonardo Hennao from Antioquia's Santa Barbara Estate joined us in the UK, visiting friends and talking about FERMENTATION!
Posted on August 4 2016
August 4 2016
From July 9 – 17, 2016, Mercanta was honoured to be invited to Rwanda by our good friends, RWASHOSCCO, to help them celebrate 10 years of producing specialty coffee. Mercanta’s Raphael Prime and Jamie Marler were joined by our guests, Andrew Tolley of Taylor St., Diana Palmer of Red Roaster, Jorge Alberto from Origin South Africa and Steve Leighton of Has Bean.
Posted on August 2 2016
August 2 2016
Mercanta celebrated our 20th anniversary in style during this year's SCAE World of Coffee show in Dublin.
Posted on July 8 2016
July 8 2016
On May 16-20, Mercanta North America’s John Curry attended the 2016 Guatemala Cup of Excellence (COE) International Jury as an observer. He shares his experiences.
Posted on July 6 2016
July 6 2016
Mercanta's ability to link and create relationships between producers and roasters highlighted and praised by Sustainable Restaurant Association
Posted on June 10 2016
June 10 2016
Mercanta Medellin's Juan Cano recounts his recent visit to the Antioquia's Best Cup prizewinning La Falda del Centro.
Posted on February 1 2016
February 1 2016
Mercanta kicked off the beginning of 2016 by celebrating with our friends and partners in Colombia! For the month of January, Stephen Hurst and many other Mercanta staff welcomed friends from around the world to Antioquia and Huila to better know this beautiful country that is home to some of the world's finest coffees.
Posted on August 1 2013
August 1 2013
Our Head of Asia, Grant Rattray reflects on a trip to Asia’s fastest-growing coffee hotspot, Korea. In the country that brought us the hit TV show – ‘The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince’ – it’s no surprise that the fascination for all things coffee shows little sign of abating. The first impression of Seoul and
Posted on April 16 2013
April 16 2013
We had a fantastic time at the 25th SCAA in Boston last weekend with cuppings, interviews and lots of time spreading the quality coffee word! Mercanta were out in force at 25th SCAA in Boston last weekend and it was a success all round. We got share our love of quality coffee with a lot
Posted on March 20 2013
March 20 2013
12th – 14th April will see thousands of people from more than 75 countries descend on Boston to discover the world of specialty coffee. The 25th Annual SCAA Exposition will feature hundreds of exhibitors from the coffee world as well as educational sessions covering a wide array of topics. It promises to be a spectacular
Posted on March 17 2013
March 17 2013
While farmers across Colombia have been blocking roads and causing general disruption in a widespread protest over low prices, Mercanta are getting to know the growers in order to offer them a viable outlet for their specialty product. After establishing a sourcing office in Medellin, Colombia in 2011, Mercanta has spent the past 18 months
Posted on November 28 2012
November 28 2012
On Friday 23rd November we held our first off site invitational cupping day at one of the UK’s leading specialist coffee shops, Colonna & Small’s in Bath. We had a great turnout from roasters based in the South West and I’m sure that everyone enjoyed this opportunity to put faces to names and companies. We
Posted on December 2 2011
December 2 2011
Despite having de-commoditised the specialty coffee business many years ago, Mercanta does not exist in a vacuum. Events in the wider commodity coffee world are coming to visit the specialty coffee world, and they are coming quickly. Commodity coffee prices at $2.50/lb are the highest in 13 years. This, in itself, is a newsworthy item.
Posted on July 28 2011
July 28 2011
It seems the specialty coffee revolution is spreading further than we thought possible! Despite snow, sub-zero temperatures and a real lack of local cafés, the team at South Africa’s base in Antarctica are enjoying some very fine coffees this winter. Thanks to Cape Town based specialty roaster, Origin Coffee Roasting, some of Mercanta’s coffees have
Posted on March 17 2011
March 17 2011
On my recent visit to Blackburn Estate in Tanzania I was delighted to visit the nearby primary school in Mangola Juu village. In partnership with South African roaster Origin Coffee Roasting and with the assistance of Blackburn’s owner Michael Gehrken, Mercanta has sponsored repairs and building materials for the school. The school’s headmaster, Peter Genda, showed
Posted on March 11 2011
March 11 2011
While in Tanzania for the EAFCA conference I took the opportunity to visit Michael and Tina Gehrken at Blackburn Estate. This extraordinary farm is perched high on the slopes of the Ngorongoro Crater – reached from Arusha via a vertiginous ascent of the Rift Valley wall and a final spine-jarring half hour along a dirt
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