Part 3 of 5: In Part 3, the cooperatives explain when repeated payment delays became something more serious and how they were drawn into Benecke Coffee’s insolvency process. The episode follows the promises of payment, the October 2025 insolvency communication, the process of becoming recognised creditors in Germany, and the cooperatives’ growing questions about transparency and the treatment of their unpaid coffee.
Read MorePart 2 of 5: In episode 2, the series follows the coffee from the farm in Peru through the cooperative, the port of Callao and into the international trade process with Benecke Coffee. The conversation explains the cooperative’s financial exposure, the payment expectations under the contracts, the retention-of-title issue, and the point at which Ubiriki Valley began recognising that something was seriously wrong.
Read MorePart 1 of 5: Peruvian coffee cooperative managers Emerson Carrasco and Anabel Barrientos join lawyer Óscar Inocente to explain how their commercial relationships with Benecke Coffee developed and what they say remains unpaid. Episode 1 establishes the cooperatives, the producers they represent and the substantial financial risk sitting at origin before the series follows the coffee into the Benecke insolvency process.
Read MorePart 5 of 5: Lee Safar and Matthew Thornton conclude their series by exploring why so many coffee technology products struggle to gain adoption. They discuss trust, incentives, product development and the practical lessons every coffee technology founder should understand before building their next solution.
Read MorePart 4 of 5: Lee Safar and Matthew Thornton examine coffee technology from the producer's perspective, questioning whether today's digital tools are solving problems at origin or simply meeting the needs of buyers further down the supply chain. They explore trust, incentives and why meaningful adoption begins with creating real value for producers.
Read MorePart 3 of 5: Lee Safar and Matthew Thornton explore the largest technology gaps still affecting the coffee supply chain. They discuss why fragmented information, weak incentives and disconnected systems continue to hold the industry back despite rapid advances in digital technology.
Read MorePart 2 of 5: Lee Safar and Matthew Thornton explore what separates successful coffee technology from products that never gain traction. They discuss why adoption depends far more on solving genuine business problems than building impressive features.
Read MorePart 1 of 5: Technology is reshaping parts of the coffee industry, but its impact is far from evenly distributed. Lee Safar and Matthew Thornton explore where digital tools are genuinely changing coffee today and why understanding those differences matters before we start building the next generation of solutions.
Read MorePart 5 of 5: Can coffee quality ever be objective? Lee Safar and Ian Fretheim conclude their series by exploring the relationship between standards, sensory evaluation and the human judgements that shape how quality is defined.
Read MorePart 4 of 5: Language doesn't simply describe coffee, it influences how coffee is bought, sold and valued. Lee Safar and Ian Fretheim explore why the evolution of coffee descriptors is changing the way the industry thinks about quality.
Read MorePart 3 of 5: What should quality education look like after the CVA? Lee Safar and Ian Fretheim explore whether today's sensory education is preparing people for real commercial environments, or simply producing more certificates.
Read MorePart 2 of 5: What does "specialty coffee" actually mean in 2026? Lee Safar and Ian Fretheim explore how the industry's defining term has evolved, and why its meaning may no longer be as clear as many people assume.
Read MorePart 1 of 5: How the coffee industry defines quality is becoming increasingly complex. In this opening episode, Lee Safar and Ian Fretheim explore why different parts of the supply chain often require different definitions of quality, and why that matters more than ever.
Read MorePart 5 of 5: Lee Safar challenges the coffee industry’s claim that trade shows, competitions and public cuppings are enough to constitute real community. She explains how smaller, problem-solving business communities could help coffee professionals build stronger relationships, healthier businesses and a more resilient industry.
Read MorePart 4 of 5: Lee Safar explains why coffee businesses across the supply chain often set prices without accounting for their full operating costs. She examines how producers, importers, roasters and cafés all become price takers—and why better supply-chain knowledge is essential to building responsible pricing models.
Read MorePart 3 of 5: Lee Safar explains why many coffee businesses appear successful while their owners remain unpaid and their margins remain dangerously thin. She examines the difference between revenue and profit, coffee’s low barrier to entry and the surrounding industries that often make more money than the people handling the coffee itself.
Read MorePart 2 of 5: Lee Safar examines why cafés, roasters and other coffee businesses routinely fall behind on supplier payments. She explains how fragile margins, weak cash-flow planning and irresponsible pricing transfer the cost of one struggling business to suppliers, employees and the rest of the supply chain.
Read MorePart 1 of 5: Lee Safar examines the rise of branded coffee producers and asks whether the industry has started valuing visibility and hype over sound business fundamentals. Branding can create value, but it cannot replace a responsible business model or responsible pricing.
Read MorePart 5 of 5: Weather isn't the only challenge facing coffee. Jonas Leme Ferraresso explains how fertilizer supply, geopolitical instability, global logistics, and changing trade relationships are creating a new era of uncertainty for coffee producers and the businesses that depend on them. It's a powerful conclusion to a series exploring why managing uncertainty may be more important than predicting the future.
Read MorePart 4 of 5: How early is too early to predict a coffee harvest? Jonas Leme Ferraresso explains why El Niño, disease, rainfall, and heat stress all have the potential to reshape Brazil's 2027 coffee crop long after flowering begins. It's a timely reminder that agriculture is driven by biology, not certainty.
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