Articles by Mike Ferguson

Within the coffee industry, complex and specific tasting notes are an important part of buying and selling at transaction points along the supply chain. But what about the last link in that chain? What words work for coffee drinkers?

When the word Quaker came into use to describe under-roasted coffee beans it happened because their color resembled the color of clothing that many Quakers were wearing at the time. 

“If a customer doesn’t leave with a good story,” he said, “we haven’t done our job.”

Above all else, a coffee trader’s job is to know stuff, a lot of stuff, while keeping both sellers and buyers happy. 

This blog is about the future of coffee but it's not about AI robots and coffee, a combination of current realities and future certainties. What isn’t a certainty is the future of growing coffee. Sorry about the clickbait photo.

Once upon a time in specialty coffee, robusta was verboten, the enemy, bad bad bad. If robusta’s reputation hasn’t been exactly rehabilitated over the years, at least it’s no longer a dirty word.

Personal meanderings about The Most Interesting Man in the World and maybe coffee too because, who knew, one of our greatest fears is the fear of being boring.

Originally named the National Coffee Roasters Traffic and Pure Food Association, obsessing over who is drinking coffee and how much has been on the NCA to-do list for over 100 years.

One green coffee trader, called to testify before the New York State Assembly in 1976, openly dismissed the questions he was asked as a "joke," saying the committee lacked a basic understanding of commodities markets.