The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by MAP IT FORWARD

Advertising SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Cropster, technology built by coffee people to help coffee businesses manage more of their workflow, from contracts and costs to inventory, roasting, quality control, fulfillment, and café intelligence. Learn more at: https://hubs.la/Q04w4bKG0 Episode DescriptionThis is part 3 of a new 5-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward, hosted by Lee Safar. Our guest on the podcast for this series is George Howell, founder of George Howell Coffee, returning for the 2026 edition of our annual series, “The Coffee Industry According to George Howell.”In this episode, we explore the growing tension between quality and economics in today’s coffee market.Coffee prices have risen significantly, producers are becoming more involved in determining what their coffee is worth, operating costs remain high, and coffee businesses are having to decide how much of those increases they can absorb before passing them on to customers.For George Howell Coffee, however, the starting point remains the same: quality comes first.George explains that the coffees he buys are selected from samples based on flavour, sweetness, cleanliness, and whether they meet the standards he is looking for. Only then does the conversation about price begin.We discuss why higher coffee prices can change the incentives around producing exceptional quality, why some farmers remain driven to produce extraordinary coffees regardless of market conditions, and why George values relationships with producers who approach coffee as artisans.George also explains the economic reality of developing deeper relationships with farms. Supporting producers with visits, infrastructure, and long-term collaboration requires resources, meaning even a successful coffee company can only invest meaningfully in a limited number of those relationships at a time.The conversation then turns to one of the biggest misconceptions about high-end specialty coffee businesses: that quality-focused companies must be generating enormous profits.George reflects on the early years of both The Coffee Connection and George Howell Coffee, including long periods of breaking even, costly mistakes, the challenges of growth, and why building a sustainable artisan coffee business is a long game.We also discuss why growing too quickly can threaten quality, how investment expectations can change the priorities of a business, shifting consumer behaviour, and why coffee businesses need to understand the risks involved in the economic environment ahead.Connect with George Howell Coffee:https://georgehowellcoffee.com/https://www.instagram.com/ghowellcoffeehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/george-howell-95646b2If you found this episode valuable, make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast and follow along for the rest of this 5-part series. ***************************************About Map It Forward The Daily Coffee Pro is produced by Map It Forward, supporting coffee professionals globally across the supply chain.Website: https://mapitforward.coffeeMailing list: https://mapitforward.coffee/mailinglistPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforward‘The Coffee Report’: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforwardInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mapitforward.coffee/CoffeeListing: https://www.CoffeeListings.comContact: [email protected]

Advertising SponsorThis episode is brought to you by CoffeeListings.com, by Map It Forward - the marketplace where the coffee world does business.Find or list coffee, equipment, services, jobs, businesses, wanted ads, and other opportunities across the global coffee industry. www.coffeelistings.comEpisode DescriptionThis is part 2 of a new 5-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward, hosted by Lee Safar. Our guest on the podcast for this series is George Howell, founder of George Howell Coffee, returning for the 2026 edition of our annual series, “The Coffee Industry According to George Howell.”In this episode, we ask George a deceptively difficult question: What is good-quality coffee?For George, quality begins at the farm.He explains how location, coffee variety, processing, harvesting decisions, ripeness, drying, labour, climate, and the level of care invested by the farmer all contribute to the quality ultimately found in the cup.But understanding quality intellectually is only part of the process.George describes the immersive consumer education events he has been running for decades, where customers move between presentations and carefully structured coffee tastings designed to demonstrate what quality actually tastes like.Participants compare freshly preserved coffee with stale and aged coffee. They taste ripe coffee against coffee harvested unripe. They compare washed, natural, and anaerobic processing. Finally, they taste coffees from different origins in an intentionally structured sequence that makes the differences easier to recognise.The goal is not simply to tell consumers what quality is.It is to give them a sensory reference point.George describes this as “calibrating” the customer. Once consumers understand what quality tastes like, they can take that knowledge into cafés, choose coffees more intentionally, and improve the coffee they brew at home.We also discuss why George Howell Coffee freezes its green coffee, how coffee changes as it cools, why consumers often underestimate the cost and risk involved in producing high-quality coffee, and what coffee businesses can learn from creating more immersive and meaningful education experiences.Connect with George Howell Coffee:https://georgehowellcoffee.com/https://www.instagram.com/ghowellcoffeehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/george-howell-95646b2If you found this episode valuable, make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast and follow along for the rest of this 5-part series. ***************************************About Map It Forward The Daily Coffee Pro is produced by Map It Forward, supporting coffee professionals globally across the supply chain.Website: https://mapitforward.coffeeMailing list: https://mapitforward.coffee/mailinglistPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforward‘The Coffee Report’: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforwardInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mapitforward.coffee/CoffeeListing: https://www.CoffeeListings.comContact: [email protected]

Advertising SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Arcadia Green Coffee, Colombian coffee exporters taking fresh green coffee from Colombia to the world, farm to roastery, direct. New office now open in the UK.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arcadiagreencoffee/WhatsApp: https://wa.me/353877871523Episode DescriptionThis is part 1 of a new 5-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward, hosted by Lee Safar. Our guest on the podcast for this series is George Howell, founder of George Howell Coffee, returning for the 2026 edition of our annual series, “The Coffee Industry According to George Howell.”This year marks George’s 50th year in the coffee industry, and we begin the series by asking a deceptively simple question: What does George Howell Coffee actually do?George traces the answer back to the philosophy behind The Coffee Connection: “In search of the ultimate cup.” That pursuit remains at the heart of his work today, particularly through single-farm coffees, close attention to producers, an uncompromising approach to quality, and the challenge of reconciling that pursuit with the realities of running a business.But the conversation quickly moves into a much bigger question about how specialty coffee communicates quality.George explains why George Howell Coffee has reconsidered the traditional handful of tasting descriptors printed on coffee bags. Customers looking at several coffees can quickly become overwhelmed by words like orange, plum, nuts, strawberry, or floral when many of them are simply looking for what George calls a “coffee coffee.”That realisation has influenced the company’s new visual approach to communicating flavour, giving customers a clearer indication of how much of the experience will taste recognisably like coffee and how prominent the secondary flavour characteristics will be.George’s argument is ultimately about making specialty coffee easier for consumers to understand and giving them the information they need to confidently choose the coffee they actually want.We also discuss customer trust, consumer education, brewing, service, the growing home coffee market, and why George believes the performance around making coffee should never become more important than delivering quality in the cup.Connect with George Howell Coffee:https://georgehowellcoffee.com/https://www.instagram.com/ghowellcoffeehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/george-howell-95646b2If you found this episode valuable, make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast and follow along for the rest of this 5-part series. ***************************************About Map It Forward The Daily Coffee Pro is produced by Map It Forward, supporting coffee professionals globally across the supply chain.Website: https://mapitforward.coffeeMailing list: https://mapitforward.coffee/mailinglistPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforward‘The Coffee Report’: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforwardInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mapitforward.coffee/CoffeeListing: https://www.CoffeeListings.comContact: [email protected]

Advertising SponsorThis episode is brought to you by CoffeeListings.com, by Map It Forward - the marketplace where the coffee world does business.Find or list coffee, equipment, services, jobs, businesses, wanted ads, and other opportunities across the global coffee industry. www.coffeelistings.comEpisode DescriptionThis is part 5 of a new 5-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward, hosted by Lee Safar. Our guest on the podcast for this series is Pedro Manga, Sustainability and Impact Advisor.In this final episode, Lee and Pedro turn to one of the biggest long-term sustainability challenges facing coffee: climate risk and farm resilience.Pedro argues that coffee is still largely valued according to the quality and volume available today, while far less attention is given to the investments required to make sure that coffee can still be produced tomorrow.That raises an important question: should farm and environmental resilience become part of how the industry values coffee?Lee and Pedro discuss how climate shocks can affect multiple harvests, why securing future supply is not simply the responsibility of farmers, and why roasters, importers and other downstream businesses have a commercial interest in helping origin partners become more resilient.They also explore the uneven distribution of sustainability investment across producing regions. Major sourcing areas can receive significant support because of their commercial importance, while smaller or less strategically important regions may receive far less investment despite facing equally serious environmental risks.Pedro argues that the industry needs to move away from short-term, project-based approaches and toward systems that consistently support resilience across supply chains.The conversation also looks at investments such as wastewater treatment, soil protection, shade trees, ground cover and agroforestry — practices that may not increase coffee quality or volume immediately, but can protect the resources that future production depends on.The series concludes with a broader vision for coffee sustainability: supply chains where accountability, information, value and responsibility are more genuinely shared between origin and consuming markets.Connect with Pedro Manga here:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedro-manga-5802b8170/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_pedroplanta_/If you found this episode valuable, make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast and follow along for the rest of this 5-part series. ***************************************About Map It Forward The Daily Coffee Pro is produced by Map It Forward, supporting coffee professionals globally across the supply chain.Website: https://mapitforward.coffeeMailing list: https://mapitforward.coffee/mailinglistPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforward‘The Coffee Report’: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforwardInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mapitforward.coffee/Contact: [email protected]

Advertising SponsorThis episode is brought to you by CoffeeListings.com, by Map It Forward - the marketplace where the coffee world does business.Find or list coffee, equipment, services, jobs, businesses, wanted ads, and other opportunities across the global coffee industry. www.coffeelistings.comEpisode DescriptionThis is part 4 of a new 5-part series on The Daily Coffee Pro Podcast by Map It Forward, hosted by Lee Safar. Our guest on the podcast for this series is Pedro Manga, Sustainability and Impact Advisor.In this series, Lee and Pedro examine the gaps in sustainability across the coffee supply chain and ask whether the systems we have built are actually creating more prosperous coffee communities.In this episode, the conversation turns to the relationship between transparency, compliance and impact — and why the coffee industry may have undervalued the importance of simply doing what sustainability frameworks require.Pedro argues that traceability and transparency can help reduce exposure to corruption, poor business practices and unhealthy supply-chain relationships. But that responsibility exists across the entire supply chain, including at origin, where businesses and cooperatives also need systems for understanding where their coffee goes and what happens after it is sold.The conversation then examines the difference between compliance and impact.Pedro explains that compliance establishes the systems, practices and behaviours required to address identified risks. Impact comes later, when those practices can be shown to have actually changed conditions over time.That distinction matters because sustainability initiatives are often presented as impactful before enough time has passed to demonstrate whether the intervention actually worked.Lee and Pedro discuss EUDR, B Corp, carbon sequestration, tree planting, offsetting and insetting to illustrate why one-off sustainability projects are different from building systems that repeatedly produce better outcomes.They also ask whether businesses need to wait for an external certification or regulation at all — or whether organizations can establish their own internal sustainability standards and hold themselves accountable to them over time.Connect with Pedro Manga here:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pedro-manga-5802b8170/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_pedroplanta_/If you found this episode valuable, make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast and follow along for the rest of this 5-part series. ***************************************About Map It Forward The Daily Coffee Pro is produced by Map It Forward, supporting coffee professionals globally across the supply chain.Website: https://mapitforward.coffeeMailing list: https://mapitforward.coffee/mailinglistPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforward‘The Coffee Report’: https://www.patreon.com/mapitforwardInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/mapitforward.coffee/Contact: [email protected]