[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":792},["ShallowReactive",2],{"item:\u002Fcentral-america\u002Ftransforming-the-mountaintop":3,"platform:site":278,"more:\u002Fcentral-america\u002Ftransforming-the-mountaintop":728},{"id":4,"title":5,"aiRevisedAt":6,"authors":7,"body":12,"canonical":199,"category":200,"categorySlugs":211,"cid":212,"cover":213,"description":215,"extension":216,"featured":217,"language":218,"meta":219,"navigation":220,"noindex":217,"ogImage":221,"path":222,"publishedAt":223,"readingMinutes":224,"recipe":199,"related":225,"revisedAt":199,"seo":259,"seoDescription":215,"seoTitle":5,"sortKey":199,"sources":260,"stem":265,"tagSlugs":266,"tags":269,"translations":274,"type":275,"url":276,"__hash__":277},"platformItems\u002Fplatform\u002Fitems\u002F54263.md","From Pasture to Prosperity: How Two Americans and a Mountain Community Built a Coffee Farm Together","2026-10-20T11:20:56.000Z",[8],{"name":9,"slug":10,"role":11},"Riley Lee","riley-lee","author",{"type":13,"value":14,"toc":188},"minimark",[15,20,24,27,31,34,37,40,49,55,61,65,68,71,74,82,88,91,94,98,101,104,107,113,117,120,123,126,129,135,141,146,150,153,156,159,162,169,173,176,179,182,185],[16,17,19],"h2",{"id":18},"a-retirement-dream-takes-root","A Retirement Dream Takes Root",[21,22,23],"p",{},"Bill Bayer and Mike Pannell, longtime friends, once believed they had a straightforward recipe for their later years. “We figured we would buy a beautiful piece of property in Costa Rica, grow some coffee on it, and make a bunch of money. How hard can it be?” Pannell recalls. “If only we had known how wrong we were.”",[21,25,26],{},"Affectionately called the dos locos gringos by friends and family in both the United States and Costa Rica, the pair launched their coffee venture with grand ambitions and scant understanding of what lay ahead. Their chosen site was a striking stretch of land in the Cerro Turrubares mountains, looking out over the Pacific on Costa Rica’s western side. The fifty-one hectares had served as cattle pasture and were largely abandoned, yet the property sat in the middle of a small mountaintop settlement named La Potenciana. “We immediately fell in love with the location when we saw how breathtaking it was,” Bayer says, “but we stayed in love with it because of the people who call Potenciana home.” The residents and the character of that isolated community reshaped the Americans’ plans, turning a simple income scheme into a broader effort to revive rural life.",[16,28,30],{"id":29},"a-place-apart","A Place Apart",[21,32,33],{},"Costa Rica is often associated with high-profile micro-mills and with tourism infrastructure that meets certain standards. Potenciana fits neither image. The settlement, made up of a handful of families and fewer than fifty residents, clings to a mountain crown in a genuinely remote spot. Electricity did not reach the community until the last decade, and as recently as twelve years ago there were no proper roads, so no one owned a vehicle. Horses remained the means of traveling up and down to the nearest bus stop, several miles away.",[21,35,36],{},"Luis Angel Venegas, a central figure in La Potenciana’s story, recounts the community’s near-mythic beginnings. “Fifty years ago, which is how old I am, when my dad came, it was just mountain. There was barely any cleared area for houses and the ranchos for animals. These all used to be ox paths, back when everyone had oxen. And the rest was mountain on all sides. The story of Potenciana, supposedly, is that a couple of newlyweds were on their way up to what is now Potenciana. The bride was named Ana. As they were climbing, it was so steep she didn’t think she would make it. So her new husband kept telling her, ‘potencia, Ana,’”—strength, Ana—“so that’s where the name comes from. Potenciana.”",[21,38,39],{},"Before Bayer, Pannell, and their company, Potenciana Café, arrived, the tiny community had no paid jobs. With no steady income, the few families there were steadily losing members to larger towns and cities in search of work. Young women had the fewest options. After sixth grade at the local primary school—whose teachers from other towns came and went unpredictably—few families could afford to send their daughters to the nearest high school two hours away and cover uniforms, books, and meals. Young men were slightly more likely to continue studying because they could sometimes find labor work while in school.",[21,41,42],{},[43,44],"img",{"alt":45,"height":46,"src":47,"width":48},"Truck",576,"\u002Fuploads\u002Fad0db93c0834bd0a4fa3.webp",1014,[21,50,51],{},[43,52],{"alt":53,"height":46,"src":54,"width":48},"Neighbors","\u002Fuploads\u002Fe0143526de7ebbb0acfb.webp",[21,56,57],{},[58,59,60],"em",{},"Alberto Venegas, Jefry Lopez, Olman Rodríguez, Jeudy Trejos, foreman Luis Angel Venegas, and Juan Baptiste Venegas.",[16,62,64],{"id":63},"hard-ground-harder-lessons","Hard Ground, Harder Lessons",[21,66,67],{},"Local education was not at the top of the list of challenges Bayer and Pannell planned to tackle. When they acquired their mountain farmland they were faced with problems of extreme erosion due to degraded soil after decades of poorly managed cattle farming, roads that were nearly impassible during the rainy season, electricity that regularly shorted, and they had no idea who to trust for reliable coffee seed stock. Other landowners on different sides of the mountain were growing coffee, but with different degrees of success and at varying levels of quality.",[21,69,70],{},"Any of the complex natural, bureaucratic, or financial strains that accompany agriculture could have been reason to abandon the project. For expats as much as for nationals, discouragement and frustration with the uncontrollable can be the biggest obstacle to launching an agricultural enterprise. Compounding these difficulties, Bayer and Pannell still worked full time in the United States. (Bayer retired from the Air Force and works for a defense contractor in Florida. Pannell is an industrial hygienist currently working at NASA.)",[21,72,73],{},"Soon, though, Bayer and Pannell were infused with the same spirit of determined strength that gives the community its identity. They were not deterred by the low prices offered by the only buyer in the area; they lobbied for over a year to convince a cooperative, Coopeatenas, to build a receiving point to buy coffee from the Turrubarres region. When their vehicles were stuck in several feet of mud, the locals demonstrated the towing strategies they have developed to survive the rainy winters. The gringos used local building strategies to keep zinc roofs attached in extreme winds, and they learned the ways to effectively car pool and communicate in order to make every trip up and down the mountain count, always remembering to keep an extra couple gallons of gasoline on hand and to choose wisely the vehicles in which to make the assent in the first place. They adopted the kind of creative problem solving that Potenciana residents have employed from the beginning to adapt to life on the steepest, farthest peak of the mountain.",[21,75,76],{},[43,77],{"alt":78,"height":79,"src":80,"width":81},"FarmFromBelow",1000,"\u002Fuploads\u002F05295c7ddfe487eb5c2b.webp",764,[21,83,84],{},[43,85],{"alt":86,"height":46,"src":87,"width":48},"Cherries","\u002Fuploads\u002Fba5cbc0e1bb7c3278062.webp",[21,89,90],{},"Year by year, Bayer and Pannell turned obstacles into progress. Neighboring farms recommended quality nursery plants, which they bought, and in the following years they germinated their own. To hold back erosion, they replanted especially fragile sections with native trees and put up barriers. As coffee producers, they qualified for agronomy services from the national coffee institute, ICAFE, and they drew on its expertise. They supplied their own labor to shore up utility infrastructure.",[21,92,93],{},"At every stage they depended heavily on local workers, but they also did something crucial that many foreign ventures overlook when trying to bring change to another country: they secured their own oxygen mask before securing those of others; they made sure their own business was operable before trying to make any sort of social change.",[16,95,97],{"id":96},"a-business-first","A Business First",[21,99,100],{},"Potenciana Café’s later philanthropic and community efforts grew not from a wish to save the world or to give things away but from the opposite impulse. The owners worked to build a business that would generate reliable revenue. There are countless instances of aid to the coffee lands, be it donations to support food stability or healthcare and medical screenings or computers or construction of schools and community buildings. Unfortunately, one characteristic shared by so many of these well-intended projects and initiatives is that they show up suddenly, and disappear quickly.",[21,102,103],{},"Aid projects are often established with two- to five-year timelines for pilot phases, which then never make it past reevaluation. Because Potenciana Café arrived as a business, it began with the long-term in mind. Growing coffee is slow, but Bayer and Pannell were in no particular rush because they were building something they intended to enjoy for the rest of their retirement. Aid often has to answer to multiple donors or funders, and quickly. The Dos Locos Gringos had the luxury of time.",[21,105,106],{},"Even with that luxury, they very quickly saw that investments in reforestation and quality seed stock were far from enough; for their business to thrive they had to invest in the people who would make their business function. It would be years before either Bayer or Pannell could end their careers and live full time at the farm. In the meantime, they needed to hire people they could trust.",[21,108,109],{},[43,110],{"alt":111,"height":46,"src":112,"width":48},"MountainsWPickers_main","\u002Fuploads\u002F5d1fb4c0c9b84cddee62.webp",[16,114,116],{"id":115},"the-people-who-make-it-work","The People Who Make It Work",[21,118,119],{},"It is a much repeated fact that coffee often sells for prices well below the cost of production. Farm owners who are from developed countries, and who are not reliant on coffee production for survival have access to the financial tools that, luckily, allow them to manage that kind of risk. Local growers rarely have access even to credit, never mind more sophisticated hedging tools, and a bad harvest can mean watching their families go hungry. Being a coffee producer is rarely a stable position, but being a full-time farm employee is.",[21,121,122],{},"Luis Angel Venegas, who told the story of Potenciana, has been the company’s most reliable presence. He started as a worker, rose to assistant manager, and is now the farm’s mandador, the foreman, the one who makes the decisions about what to do and when. After the harvest cycle finished this season, he set workers to trimming branches to prevent plagues and rotting caused by excess humidity among the bases of leafy coffee trees.",[21,124,125],{},"He has the quiet wisdom of someone who has spent the majority of his life immersed in the mountain calm. His deeply tanned and lined face breaks into a grin whenever he tells a story of the antics of his bosses, and he rattles dates and numbers into the wind as I scramble to keep up behind him as he takes me between lots to showcase his favorite corners of the property. His expertise is in coffee, but he has slowly grown into his role as manager. When I arrived this February, it was the end of the work day and he was diligently recording the employee’s hours into a log book and making a list of their shoe sizes to order new black rubber work boots. He is the sole driver of the four wheeler, dubbed “Malacrianza” after the famed bull, used to haul people and products around the farm.",[21,127,128],{},"Alongside Venegas are seven core employees. Jefry Lopez, twenty-five, has spent the past year as a farmhand and driver for Potenciana Café and recently bought a motorcycle for the daily twenty-five-minute ride up to the farm. Jeudy Trejos, twenty-eight, commutes up the mountain from his home in another small rural community. In addition, more than twenty seasonal workers are employed, all of whom gain Costa Rican social security benefits through the work.",[21,130,131],{},[43,132],{"alt":133,"height":46,"src":134,"width":48},"Nov-2013-Geisha-Nursery","\u002Fuploads\u002F90fb31a21e64d2bfa296.webp",[21,136,137],{},[43,138],{"alt":139,"height":46,"src":140,"width":48},"TheTwoDudes","\u002Fuploads\u002F9ca2550b012c65b87a5f.webp",[21,142,143],{},[58,144,145],{},"Laura Venegas, Maria Guadalupe Venegas, and Salazar Marii Venegas, all members of the Potenciana community, after receiving Saplings scholarships to continue their education. Behind them stand Saplings board member Deborah Ziska, Potenciana Café owners Mike Pannell and Bill Bayer, and Barbara Jimenez Coble.",[16,147,149],{"id":148},"educating-the-next-generation","Educating the Next Generation",[21,151,152],{},"Beyond building a retirement nest egg and creating jobs for their neighbors, Bayer and Pannell had another goal that may matter even more to them: they wanted to shape a community where they would want to live. “I saw the young women here having babies of their own in their teens, without ever having a chance to experience education or even explore what they might want to do in life,” Bayer says. “Mike and I each have sons and grandchildren, and we kept thinking about what their lives would be like if our families never had the means to educate them beyond sixth grade. We knew we had to do something.”",[21,154,155],{},"That something became Saplings, a nonprofit that provides scholarships for girls in Potenciana to attend high school, support for the local primary school, and assistance for community infrastructure. Bayer and Pannell as individuals, along with Potenciana Café as a business, ranked among the most enthusiastic donors, and supporters from across the United States contributed eagerly to the mission. Guadalupe Venegas, the third of Luis Angel’s four daughters, was one of the first four scholarship recipients. In December 2014 she graduated from high school and has since completed her first two college courses.",[21,157,158],{},"“When they first told us we’d be receiving scholarships, you have no idea how happy we were! I showed that I was passing my classes and graduated in 2014,” says Lupe, as she is known. “Now I’m studying business administration. I would like to run a business . . . preferably a big one. You can only learn so much from school. I’m ready to work because that’s how you learn how to actually solve problems.” Alejandra Porras, another scholarship recipient, said the scholarship came at the perfect time; it allowed her to finish her studies and prepared her for a position as an executive secretary at Banco de Costa Rica.",[21,160,161],{},"Lupe’s first job was picking coffee for Potenciana Café, working among the bushes with her parents during school vacations. Later she helped manage accounting during harvest, making sure the twenty-plus seasonal pickers were paid—many of them, she notes, local women with families who cannot travel far from home and have no other income in their community.",[21,163,164],{},[43,165],{"alt":166,"height":79,"src":167,"width":168},"Mug","\u002Fuploads\u002F8e6edba8d4971edabf95.webp",667,[16,170,172],{"id":171},"reversing-the-flow","Reversing the Flow",[21,174,175],{},"Potenciana Café also produces a result that stands in contrast to a regional trend: it draws people back to the mountain rather than pushing them away. Costa Rica, like the rest of Central America, faces a crisis of urban migration. A lack of rural jobs that offer living wages drives people to cities looking for work. Bayer and Pannell came to Costa Rica ready to invest in starting something. They, like other foreign investors, could have chosen to buy a condo in the suburbs or rent office space in a new urban high rise. Coffee offers the chance—in Costa Rica and in every producing country—to invest in the middle of nowhere and draw people back to sustainable rural livelihoods.",[21,177,178],{},"It is possible to create reasons for families to stay in rural communities, but it requires patience and a readiness to endure trial and error. Bayer and Pannell first planted their farm with red and yellow catuai and caturra varieties; to diversify, they have also raised over 10,000 geisha plants from seed. Their investment in sustainable practices, consistent care at the microbial level in the soil, and in the people has been remarkably productive.",[21,180,181],{},"I walk with Luis Angel Venegas as he points to where thousands of one-year-old geisha plants already reach past my waist. “We have about 60,000 coffee trees planted on the property right now. About 4,000 plants per hectare. It’s pretty amazing,” he says. “I was telling my wife the other day, ‘Did you ever think you would see the mountain like this, with clear roads and so many orderly plants of coffee after it was just forgotten cow pasture for so long?’ She could never have imagined it either. But, we keep going from here. The world gives many turns.”",[21,183,184],{},"Potenciana Café is expanding the farm steadily, with another 20,000 plants growing from seed this year, and will continue until they reach 120,000 plants. That will allow them to keep 100,000 plants in full production at all times.",[21,186,187],{},"Bayer and Pannell have plans to build a wet mill and eventually sell their coffee more directly. I ask Lupe, Luis Angel’s daughter, whether she would ever want to manage a farm that grows and processes coffee. “Administer a coffee company? A big coffee company?” She pauses, then beams. “Coffee is what I grew up with and what I know; that would be a dream come true!”",{"title":189,"searchDepth":190,"depth":190,"links":191},"",2,[192,193,194,195,196,197,198],{"id":18,"depth":190,"text":19},{"id":29,"depth":190,"text":30},{"id":63,"depth":190,"text":64},{"id":96,"depth":190,"text":97},{"id":115,"depth":190,"text":116},{"id":148,"depth":190,"text":149},{"id":171,"depth":190,"text":172},null,{"slug":201,"name":202,"path":203},"central-america","Central & North America",[204,207,210],{"slug":205,"name":206},"coffee-tea","Coffee & Tea",{"slug":208,"name":209},"coffee-origins","Coffee Origins",{"slug":201,"name":202},[205,208,201],54263,{"src":134,"srcset":214,"width":48,"height":46,"alt":133},"\u002Fuploads\u002Ff03ea517b7773d77aa98.webp 400w, \u002Fuploads\u002Fc4a5acecb17dd35e5356.webp 800w, \u002Fuploads\u002F90fb31a21e64d2bfa296.webp 1014w","Bill Bayer and Mike Pannell set out to plant coffee on a remote Costa Rican mountaintop. With help from residents of La Potenciana, the venture became a lesson in rural revitalization rather than a quick path to retirement.","md",false,"en",{},true,"\u002Fuploads\u002F8e9b550f037ce61e52c5.jpg","\u002Fplatform\u002Fitems\u002F54263","2026-09-22T09:24:20.000Z",11,[226,235,243,251],{"url":227,"title":228,"cover":229},"\u002Fcoffee-origins\u002Fbe-our-guest-coffee-farms-day","Sleeping Among the Coffee Trees: How Growers Are Turning Plantations into Inns",{"src":230,"srcset":231,"width":232,"height":233,"alt":234},"\u002Fuploads\u002F576ff5537fe61e9bbeb8.webp","\u002Fuploads\u002F57209e043cb8811e3e5a.webp 400w, \u002Fuploads\u002F576ff5537fe61e9bbeb8.webp 800w",800,419,"Visit to a Coffee Farm",{"url":236,"title":237,"cover":238},"\u002Fcentral-america\u002Fcosta-rica-part-3-innovating-together","How Collaboration and Experimentation Shape Costa Rica's Coffee Sector",{"src":239,"srcset":240,"width":232,"height":241,"alt":242},"\u002Fuploads\u002F5841752575205052a680.webp","\u002Fuploads\u002F9c12d87be4adbfd79d8e.webp 400w, \u002Fuploads\u002F5841752575205052a680.webp 800w",453,"Costa Rica, Part 3: Innovating Together",{"url":244,"title":245,"cover":246},"\u002Fcentral-america\u002Fpuerto-ricos-coffee-revival","Rebuilding Puerto Rico's Coffee Identity from the Ground Up",{"src":247,"srcset":248,"width":232,"height":249,"alt":250},"\u002Fuploads\u002F4b4bcdbee6107802690a.webp","\u002Fuploads\u002F7c9dc9f94500cb8f8a6f.webp 400w, \u002Fuploads\u002F4b4bcdbee6107802690a.webp 800w",600,"Puerto Rico’s Coffee Revival",{"url":252,"title":253,"cover":254},"\u002Fcentral-america\u002Fexperiments-with-tradition","A Border Farm's Test: Rust, Tradition, and a Women-Led Micro-Lot",{"src":255,"srcset":256,"width":232,"height":257,"alt":258},"\u002Fuploads\u002F3177a2550b7c44861b79.webp","\u002Fuploads\u002Fc66e97ccf3bb78822b92.webp 400w, \u002Fuploads\u002F3177a2550b7c44861b79.webp 800w",375,"Experiments with Tradition",{"title":5,"description":215},[261],{"url":262,"title":263,"publisher":264},"https:\u002F\u002Ffreshcup.com\u002Ftransforming-the-mountaintop\u002F","Transforming the Mountaintop","Fresh Cup","platform\u002Fitems\u002F54263",[267,268],"coffee","origin",[270,272],{"slug":267,"name":271},"Coffee",{"slug":268,"name":273},"Origin",[],"article","\u002Fcentral-america\u002Ftransforming-the-mountaintop","xwhcUo3HlO5UCZoFMKH0UfEzyQuoBYfJIX-KpHYpy8Q",{"id":279,"categories":280,"extension":639,"meta":640,"pageSize":553,"rootCategory":205,"site":641,"stem":644,"tags":645,"total":282,"__hash__":727},"platformSite\u002Fplatform\u002Fsite.json",{"coffee-tea":281,"coffee-shops":296,"cafe-openings":307,"cafe-design":316,"cafe-profiles":325,"cafe-business":334,"cafe-operations":345,"cafe-staffing":354,"cafe-marketing":363,"baristas":371,"barista-competitions":381,"barista-skills":389,"roasting":397,"roasteries":409,"roasting-craft":418,"roasting-equipment":427,"coffee-origins":435,"central-america":445,"south-america":453,"africa":462,"asia-pacific":471,"coffee-sustainability":480,"farmers-labor":491,"climate-environment":499,"coffee-prices-trade":507,"brewing":515,"brewing-methods":525,"coffee-drinks":534,"coffee-science":542,"coffee-culture":551,"opinion":563,"coffee-history":571,"coffee-around-world":579,"books-media":587,"coffee-industry":595,"company-news":607,"coffee-chains":615,"coffee-events":623,"industry-people":631},{"slug":205,"name":206,"description":199,"count":282,"url":283,"pages":284,"parent":199,"children":285,"path":294},274,"\u002Fcoffee-tea",14,[286,287,288,289,208,290,291,292,293],"coffee-shops","cafe-business","baristas","roasting","coffee-sustainability","brewing","coffee-culture","coffee-industry",[295],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":286,"name":297,"description":199,"count":298,"url":299,"pages":190,"parent":205,"children":300,"path":304},"Coffee Shops",24,"\u002Fcoffee-shops",[301,302,303],"cafe-openings","cafe-design","cafe-profiles",[305,306],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":286,"name":297},{"slug":301,"name":308,"description":199,"count":309,"url":310,"pages":309,"parent":286,"children":311,"path":312},"Openings & Closures",1,"\u002Fcafe-openings",[],[313,314,315],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":286,"name":297},{"slug":301,"name":308},{"slug":302,"name":317,"description":199,"count":318,"url":319,"pages":309,"parent":286,"children":320,"path":321},"Cafe Design",5,"\u002Fcafe-design",[],[322,323,324],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":286,"name":297},{"slug":302,"name":317},{"slug":303,"name":326,"description":199,"count":327,"url":328,"pages":309,"parent":286,"children":329,"path":330},"Cafe Profiles",18,"\u002Fcafe-profiles",[],[331,332,333],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":286,"name":297},{"slug":303,"name":326},{"slug":287,"name":335,"description":199,"count":336,"url":337,"pages":190,"parent":205,"children":338,"path":342},"Café Business",38,"\u002Fcafe-business",[339,340,341],"cafe-operations","cafe-staffing","cafe-marketing",[343,344],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":287,"name":335},{"slug":339,"name":346,"description":199,"count":347,"url":348,"pages":309,"parent":287,"children":349,"path":350},"Operations & Menus",15,"\u002Fcafe-operations",[],[351,352,353],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":287,"name":335},{"slug":339,"name":346},{"slug":340,"name":355,"description":199,"count":356,"url":357,"pages":309,"parent":287,"children":358,"path":359},"Staffing & Labor",12,"\u002Fcafe-staffing",[],[360,361,362],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":287,"name":335},{"slug":340,"name":355},{"slug":341,"name":364,"description":199,"count":224,"url":365,"pages":309,"parent":287,"children":366,"path":367},"Marketing & Branding","\u002Fcafe-marketing",[],[368,369,370],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":287,"name":335},{"slug":341,"name":364},{"slug":288,"name":372,"description":199,"count":373,"url":374,"pages":190,"parent":205,"children":375,"path":378},"Baristas",34,"\u002Fbaristas",[376,377],"barista-competitions","barista-skills",[379,380],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":288,"name":372},{"slug":376,"name":382,"description":199,"count":347,"url":383,"pages":309,"parent":288,"children":384,"path":385},"Coffee Competitions","\u002Fbarista-competitions",[],[386,387,388],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":288,"name":372},{"slug":376,"name":382},{"slug":377,"name":390,"description":199,"count":327,"url":391,"pages":309,"parent":288,"children":392,"path":393},"Skills & Education","\u002Fbarista-skills",[],[394,395,396],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":288,"name":372},{"slug":377,"name":390},{"slug":289,"name":398,"description":199,"count":399,"url":400,"pages":401,"parent":205,"children":402,"path":406},"Roasting",48,"\u002Froasting",3,[403,404,405],"roasteries","roasting-craft","roasting-equipment",[407,408],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":289,"name":398},{"slug":403,"name":410,"description":199,"count":411,"url":412,"pages":190,"parent":289,"children":413,"path":414},"Roasteries",29,"\u002Froasteries",[],[415,416,417],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":289,"name":398},{"slug":403,"name":410},{"slug":404,"name":419,"description":199,"count":420,"url":421,"pages":309,"parent":289,"children":422,"path":423},"Roasting Craft",13,"\u002Froasting-craft",[],[424,425,426],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":289,"name":398},{"slug":404,"name":419},{"slug":405,"name":428,"description":199,"count":318,"url":429,"pages":309,"parent":289,"children":430,"path":431},"Roasting Equipment","\u002Froasting-equipment",[],[432,433,434],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":289,"name":398},{"slug":405,"name":428},{"slug":208,"name":209,"description":199,"count":436,"url":437,"pages":190,"parent":205,"children":438,"path":442},32,"\u002Fcoffee-origins",[201,439,440,441],"south-america","africa","asia-pacific",[443,444],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":208,"name":209},{"slug":201,"name":202,"description":199,"count":446,"url":447,"pages":309,"parent":208,"children":448,"path":449},8,"\u002Fcentral-america",[],[450,451,452],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":208,"name":209},{"slug":201,"name":202},{"slug":439,"name":454,"description":199,"count":455,"url":456,"pages":309,"parent":208,"children":457,"path":458},"South America",7,"\u002Fsouth-america",[],[459,460,461],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":208,"name":209},{"slug":439,"name":454},{"slug":440,"name":463,"description":199,"count":464,"url":465,"pages":309,"parent":208,"children":466,"path":467},"Africa",6,"\u002Fafrica",[],[468,469,470],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":208,"name":209},{"slug":440,"name":463},{"slug":441,"name":472,"description":199,"count":473,"url":474,"pages":309,"parent":208,"children":475,"path":476},"Asia-Pacific",10,"\u002Fasia-pacific",[],[477,478,479],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":208,"name":209},{"slug":441,"name":472},{"slug":290,"name":481,"description":199,"count":482,"url":483,"pages":190,"parent":205,"children":484,"path":488},"Sustainability & Trade",33,"\u002Fcoffee-sustainability",[485,486,487],"farmers-labor","climate-environment","coffee-prices-trade",[489,490],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":290,"name":481},{"slug":485,"name":492,"description":199,"count":473,"url":493,"pages":309,"parent":290,"children":494,"path":495},"Farmers, Labor & Equity","\u002Ffarmers-labor",[],[496,497,498],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":290,"name":481},{"slug":485,"name":492},{"slug":486,"name":500,"description":199,"count":420,"url":501,"pages":309,"parent":290,"children":502,"path":503},"Climate & Environment","\u002Fclimate-environment",[],[504,505,506],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":290,"name":481},{"slug":486,"name":500},{"slug":487,"name":508,"description":199,"count":473,"url":509,"pages":309,"parent":290,"children":510,"path":511},"Prices & Trade","\u002Fcoffee-prices-trade",[],[512,513,514],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":290,"name":481},{"slug":487,"name":508},{"slug":291,"name":516,"description":199,"count":298,"url":517,"pages":190,"parent":205,"children":518,"path":522},"Brewing & Knowledge","\u002Fbrewing",[519,520,521],"brewing-methods","coffee-drinks","coffee-science",[523,524],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":291,"name":516},{"slug":519,"name":526,"description":199,"count":527,"url":528,"pages":309,"parent":291,"children":529,"path":530},"Brewing Methods",4,"\u002Fbrewing-methods",[],[531,532,533],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":291,"name":516},{"slug":519,"name":526},{"slug":520,"name":535,"description":199,"count":224,"url":536,"pages":309,"parent":291,"children":537,"path":538},"Coffee Drinks & Food","\u002Fcoffee-drinks",[],[539,540,541],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":291,"name":516},{"slug":520,"name":535},{"slug":521,"name":543,"description":199,"count":544,"url":545,"pages":309,"parent":291,"children":546,"path":547},"Coffee Science",9,"\u002Fcoffee-science",[],[548,549,550],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":291,"name":516},{"slug":521,"name":543},{"slug":292,"name":552,"description":199,"count":553,"url":554,"pages":309,"parent":205,"children":555,"path":560},"Culture & Opinion",20,"\u002Fcoffee-culture",[556,557,558,559],"opinion","coffee-history","coffee-around-world","books-media",[561,562],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":292,"name":552},{"slug":556,"name":564,"description":199,"count":527,"url":565,"pages":309,"parent":292,"children":566,"path":567},"Opinion","\u002Fopinion",[],[568,569,570],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":292,"name":552},{"slug":556,"name":564},{"slug":557,"name":572,"description":199,"count":190,"url":573,"pages":309,"parent":292,"children":574,"path":575},"Coffee History","\u002Fcoffee-history",[],[576,577,578],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":292,"name":552},{"slug":557,"name":572},{"slug":558,"name":580,"description":199,"count":446,"url":581,"pages":309,"parent":292,"children":582,"path":583},"Coffee Around the World","\u002Fcoffee-around-world",[],[584,585,586],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":292,"name":552},{"slug":558,"name":580},{"slug":559,"name":588,"description":199,"count":464,"url":589,"pages":309,"parent":292,"children":590,"path":591},"Books, Media & Art","\u002Fbooks-media",[],[592,593,594],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":292,"name":552},{"slug":559,"name":588},{"slug":293,"name":596,"description":199,"count":597,"url":598,"pages":190,"parent":205,"children":599,"path":604},"Industry News",21,"\u002Fcoffee-industry",[600,601,602,603],"company-news","coffee-chains","coffee-events","industry-people",[605,606],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":293,"name":596},{"slug":600,"name":608,"description":199,"count":190,"url":609,"pages":309,"parent":293,"children":610,"path":611},"Company News","\u002Fcompany-news",[],[612,613,614],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":293,"name":596},{"slug":600,"name":608},{"slug":601,"name":616,"description":199,"count":190,"url":617,"pages":309,"parent":293,"children":618,"path":619},"Coffee Chains","\u002Fcoffee-chains",[],[620,621,622],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":293,"name":596},{"slug":601,"name":616},{"slug":602,"name":624,"description":199,"count":473,"url":625,"pages":309,"parent":293,"children":626,"path":627},"Events & Trade Shows","\u002Fcoffee-events",[],[628,629,630],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":293,"name":596},{"slug":602,"name":624},{"slug":603,"name":632,"description":199,"count":464,"url":633,"pages":309,"parent":293,"children":634,"path":635},"People","\u002Findustry-people",[],[636,637,638],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":293,"name":596},{"slug":603,"name":632},"json",{},{"slug":642,"name":643,"domain":643,"language":218},"coffeelocalnews-com","coffeelocalnews.com","platform\u002Fsite",[646,649,652,657,662,664,669,673,675,679,681,685,689,693,697,700,704,708,712,716,719,723],{"slug":267,"name":271,"description":199,"count":647,"url":648,"pages":455},136,"\u002Ftags\u002Fcoffee",{"slug":286,"name":297,"description":199,"count":650,"url":651,"pages":527},77,"\u002Ftags\u002Fcoffee-shops",{"slug":653,"name":654,"description":199,"count":655,"url":656,"pages":401},"coffee-roasting","Coffee Roasting",58,"\u002Ftags\u002Fcoffee-roasting",{"slug":658,"name":659,"description":199,"count":660,"url":661,"pages":190},"barista","Barista",28,"\u002Ftags\u002Fbarista",{"slug":268,"name":273,"description":199,"count":553,"url":663,"pages":309},"\u002Ftags\u002Forigin",{"slug":665,"name":666,"description":199,"count":667,"url":668,"pages":309},"coffee-news","coffee news",17,"\u002Ftags\u002Fcoffee-news",{"slug":287,"name":670,"description":199,"count":671,"url":672,"pages":309},"Cafe Business",16,"\u002Ftags\u002Fcafe-business",{"slug":208,"name":209,"description":199,"count":284,"url":674,"pages":309},"\u002Ftags\u002Fcoffee-origins",{"slug":676,"name":677,"description":199,"count":224,"url":678,"pages":309},"places-and-culture","Places and Culture","\u002Ftags\u002Fplaces-and-culture",{"slug":289,"name":398,"description":199,"count":224,"url":680,"pages":309},"\u002Ftags\u002Froasting",{"slug":682,"name":683,"description":199,"count":446,"url":684,"pages":309},"education","Education","\u002Ftags\u002Feducation",{"slug":686,"name":687,"description":199,"count":446,"url":688,"pages":309},"specialty-coffee","specialty coffee","\u002Ftags\u002Fspecialty-coffee",{"slug":690,"name":691,"description":199,"count":455,"url":692,"pages":309},"tea","Tea","\u002Ftags\u002Ftea",{"slug":694,"name":695,"description":199,"count":464,"url":696,"pages":309},"chicago","Chicago","\u002Ftags\u002Fchicago",{"slug":602,"name":698,"description":199,"count":464,"url":699,"pages":309},"coffee events","\u002Ftags\u002Fcoffee-events",{"slug":701,"name":702,"description":199,"count":464,"url":703,"pages":309},"new-york","New York","\u002Ftags\u002Fnew-york",{"slug":705,"name":706,"description":199,"count":464,"url":707,"pages":309},"roasters","Roasters","\u002Ftags\u002Froasters",{"slug":709,"name":710,"description":199,"count":318,"url":711,"pages":309},"colorado","Colorado","\u002Ftags\u002Fcolorado",{"slug":713,"name":714,"description":199,"count":318,"url":715,"pages":309},"industry-trends","Industry Trends","\u002Ftags\u002Findustry-trends",{"slug":717,"name":364,"description":199,"count":318,"url":718,"pages":309},"marketing-and-branding","\u002Ftags\u002Fmarketing-and-branding",{"slug":720,"name":721,"description":199,"count":318,"url":722,"pages":309},"sustainability","Sustainability","\u002Ftags\u002Fsustainability",{"slug":724,"name":725,"description":199,"count":318,"url":726,"pages":309},"the-coffee-almanac","The Coffee Almanac","\u002Ftags\u002Fthe-coffee-almanac","xTt_DFjKBK96fnTViZjyPPc8FRtu0K0d1NlWGA8D0uo",{"items":729,"total":791},[730,744,760,775],{"url":731,"title":732,"description":733,"cover":734,"publishedAt":738,"category":739},"\u002Fasia-pacific\u002Fyunnan-coffee","A Farmer's Legacy: The Rise of Yunnan Coffee","Hu XiXiang's journey from rubber and tea technician to coffee cooperative leader illustrates the perseverance and community focus driving Yunnan's coffee sector.",{"src":735,"srcset":736,"width":48,"height":46,"alt":737},"\u002Fuploads\u002Fb6fc8169e6c0aef0be78.webp","\u002Fuploads\u002Fc248faaeb9ceff0eed1a.webp 400w, \u002Fuploads\u002F624b429d6379b28b0aa3.webp 800w, \u002Fuploads\u002Fb6fc8169e6c0aef0be78.webp 1014w","Yunnan Coffee","2026-10-19T08:42:13.000Z",{"slug":441,"name":472,"path":740},[741,742,743],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":208,"name":209},{"slug":441,"name":472},{"url":745,"title":746,"description":747,"cover":748,"publishedAt":754,"category":755},"\u002Fsouth-america\u002Fhow-the-worlds-largest-rainforest-became-brazils-new-coffee-frontier","Rondônia’s Robusta Revolution: How Amazonian Coffee Grew Without Clearing Forest","In Brazil’s Rondônia state, public breeding programs, agroforestry and Indigenous-led quality projects turned canephora coffee into an economic engine while planted area shrank — a model that challenges assumptions about farming in the Amazon.",{"src":749,"srcset":750,"width":751,"height":752,"alt":753},"\u002Fuploads\u002F076160de0b8126a6a63a.webp","\u002Fuploads\u002F2ef2656158b7e7a0f6f5.webp 400w, \u002Fuploads\u002F4be7148dc7c78b01f74d.webp 800w, \u002Fuploads\u002F076160de0b8126a6a63a.webp 1037w",1037,646,"How the World’s Largest Rainforest Became Brazil’s New Coffee Frontier","2026-10-17T15:43:18.000Z",{"slug":439,"name":454,"path":756},[757,758,759],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":208,"name":209},{"slug":439,"name":454},{"url":761,"title":762,"description":763,"cover":764,"publishedAt":769,"category":770},"\u002Fsouth-america\u002Fon-the-shoulders-of-a-coffee-giant","Cultivating Specialty Coffee on Brazil's Industrial-Scale Legacy","FAL Coffee is blending high-tech farming and meticulous processing to draw nuanced flavors from Brazil's volume-driven coffee heartland.",{"src":765,"srcset":766,"width":767,"height":232,"alt":768},"\u002Fuploads\u002Fbfaf64b1c917ea192a51.webp","\u002Fuploads\u002Facff44880f3040d0f355.webp 400w, \u002Fuploads\u002Fb0a2e8e3be01ae0af26a.webp 800w, \u002Fuploads\u002Fbfaf64b1c917ea192a51.webp 1200w",1200,"On the Shoulders of a Coffee Giant","2026-10-17T10:42:55.000Z",{"slug":439,"name":454,"path":771},[772,773,774],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":208,"name":209},{"slug":439,"name":454},{"url":776,"title":777,"description":778,"cover":779,"publishedAt":785,"category":786},"\u002Fcentral-america\u002Forigin-finca-la-mula","Geisha at the Top of the Hill: Notes from Finca la Mula","A climb through Panamanian rain to a geisha farm, a cup poured from airpots, and a question about whether wildness should ever be tamed.",{"src":780,"srcset":781,"width":782,"height":783,"alt":784},"\u002Fuploads\u002Ff026fa0d7d23e1e53406.webp","\u002Fuploads\u002Fbacfc09cb2ab2d9b40fc.webp 400w, \u002Fuploads\u002F4a48be8bd7999dad983b.webp 800w, \u002Fuploads\u002Ff026fa0d7d23e1e53406.webp 1366w",1366,911,"Origin: Finca la Mula","2026-10-13T19:50:23.000Z",{"slug":201,"name":202,"path":787},[788,789,790],{"slug":205,"name":206},{"slug":208,"name":209},{"slug":201,"name":202},27,1792497121971]