News

As communications director for World Coffee Research, I have weekly conversations with people—from roasters to producers to bankers to everyone in between—about what the organization does. Almost uniformly, people are curious about our work, and express a sense of its importance, but few seem to feel as if they truly understand what we do.

The coffee industry cannot single-handedly reverse climate change. Our best hope for sustaining the supply of high quality coffee in the 21st century is to focus on making the coffee plant more resilient. The creation of new, highly adaptable coffees, supported by a vibrant new seed sector, will result in major global productivity and quality gains in the next 10-20 years. In 2015, WCR achieved a number of milestones toward this goal.

Christophe Montagnon, a world renowned coffee geneticist, has been named Scientific Director for World Coffee Research.

Compass Group, the world’s largest foodservice company, along with Foodbuy (their procurement arm) is the first foodservice company to commit to a sustainable future for coffee where coffee begins—with the seed. Foodbuy is the newest member and the only foodservice sector supporter of World Coffee Research.

An article in Global Coffee Report talks about the forthcoming World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon.