The coffee world has been turned upside down since the Covid pandemic. Delayed shipments, high coffee prices, challenges for producers, traders and roasters. Add to that frost and drought in Brazil — nothing is as it was just recently. This podcast is meant to be a compass for everyone in the coffee industry to navigate the coming months.
In this episode: Mark Bolliger, Finca Rosenheim, Villa Rica, Peru
In this special edition of our Coffea Maker podcast, I talk with people who are analyzing the current situation, clarifying questions, and asking important new ones. Everyone who works with coffee in any capacity is already feeling the changes, or will certainly feel them in just a few weeks.
In this episode of Coffea Economica, I'm speaking with Mark Bolliger from Finca Rosenheim in Villa Rica, Peru.
Mark Bolliger, Finca Rosenheim, Peru
Mark Bolliger is a coffee producer in Peru and runs Finca Rosenheim. With Philipp Schallberger, Mark talks about things that sometimes seem trivial to him because they're so everyday — but for his customers, who are green coffee traders and roasters, this information is anything but self-evident. Coffee production is occasionally reported on romantically and often in clichés. Mark talks about the daily challenges, rising prices for fertilizer, poor roads, and why he doesn't produce organic coffee.
- On organic coffee: "I make coffee for economic reasons. If someone would pay me what I need for organic coffee, then I would do it, and do it really well."
- "I often think about leaving coffee production behind. But I don't do it. Making coffee takes hold of you. But I also don't want to grow old and still be making coffee and always facing the same problems."
- "Picking coffee is tough work. People who do it well can earn good money. But there are other jobs here, and I have to compete with these jobs. I have to make the job attractive."
