In his welcome address for the 2013 Symposium, Peter Giuliano starts at the beginning. The idea of Symposium came from the ancient Greeks, who recognized the power of coming together to drink and discuss ideas and views. The beverage consumed at the Greek symposium- wine- had some negative effects on the tradition, and the Greek
Dr. Aaron Davis has quickly become one of the most compelling coffee figures in the world. Davis is a botanist, and for over a decade he’s worked in the field, seeking out and describing coffee species in East Africa and Madagascar. He’s responsible for the discovery of 20 new coffee species, previously unknown to science.
By Hanna Neuschwander Collaboration, Cowboys, and Breaking Bread The morning began by picking up a thread from last year’s Symposium: Pathological collaboration. Shauna Alexander Mohr introduced the fledgling Coffeelands Food Security Coaltion (CFSC), a collaborative effort of major specialty coffee companies inlcuding Starbucks, Green Mountain, CBI, and Sustainable Harvest, as well as NGOs such as
By Hanna Neuschwander In its fifth year, Symposium began with a quick exegesis on the meaning of the word “symposium”: From the Greek, sym = together, pos = drink, ium = setting, or, as director Peter Giuliano put it, “It’s about sitting around drinking together.” Indeed. A short introductory lesson from Giuliano suggested caffeine—as a
About the Tasting Experience With Symposium’s close look at coffee genetics this year, we felt it would be a unique opportunity for us to also create a sensory experience for attendees. This is being provided as part of Symposium in the Sensory Experience Room, translating the program into an engaging, interactive activity. The coffees selected for
By Peter Giuliano, Director of Symposium Symposium isn’t just a conference. It’s a community that exists to grapple with the most pressing issues of the day. When the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange debuted on the world stage, the first place ECX leaders and coffee professionals came together to debate was Symposium. Cutting edge climate science, consumer
Are the media doing a good job telling the story of coffee? Is the story we as coffee people want to tell too complicated to tell the way we want it to be told? What are the obstacles to better coffee stories in the media? This is an excerpt from a session at Symposium 2012
Analogies are important, but how appropriate is the oft-used “Coffee is Like Wine” analogy? Our experts discuss the importance of analogy, language, and perception. This is an excerpt from a session at Symposium 2012 titled Media Perspectives on Specialty Coffee. To view accompanying videos, please visit the Symposium Video Gallery.
A continuation of Nick Cho’s Media Perspectives panel, which can be found here, with discussion about intent, and what’s interesting about coffee.
How can specialty coffee craft a more compelling story and reach broad audiences? At Symposium 2012, we explored this question and examined what information is getting through, what’s getting lost, and what stories are yet to be told. With insights from several influential writers who each follow trends in specialty coffee, Nicholas Cho of Wrecking Ball Coffee