Moyee Chats

Kilil Mesfin is one of those people who are really getting their hands dirty on the ground in coffeeland. He’s not just some guy who sits behind a computer all day in hip European offices and cafes writing dispatches. No, not Kilil. For more than 20 years, he has been working directly with smallholder famers at grassroots level in Ethiopia. An agronomist, a Q grader, a lobbyist and an all-around coffee champion – there are few people on the planet who knows more about Ethiopian coffee than Kilil does. For this episode, we track him down in Addis Ababa to find out what precisely makes Ethiopian coffee so special. But also to ask why, as the birthplace of arabica, Ethiopia farmers aren't killing it on the international market. Shouldn't the world be singing Ethiopia's praises and paying a premium for giving us the gift of coffee? 

In 2016 Killian opened up Moyee Coffee outposts in Ireland and the UK. Since then, he's helped introduce FairChain coffee to some of the biggest, coolest and most impact-driven corporations on the planet. For this week's micropodcast, we thought we'd ask Killian why most companies continue to serve their employees really, really bad coffee. And why is it that people are so stingy when it comes buying quality coffee for home consumption? As a man on a mission to transform coffee into a weapon for positive change, Killian answers these questions and a few more in his typical sing-song Irish accent. Enjoy!

COVID-19 is shining the spotlight on everyday heroes, but why isn't anyone praising farmers?! In our newest Moyee Chats podcast we speak with Carlo Ruiz of the UNDP's Inclusive Economic Development, Innovation and Livelihoods program. In 10 quick minutes we dream of a future full of equal value chains and brands led by moral compasses, not profit.  

Coffee and chocolate go hand in hand. So it's not surprising that the farmers of both commodities share poverty, as well. Last year the FairChain Foundation teamed up with the UNDP Ecuador to launch The Other Bar, a chocolate bar that comes with a ‘digital passport’ (tracks cocoa from bean to a bar) and an impact token that allows consumers to reinvest in farmers and communities who brought them the bar. In this case, farmers in the Zamora province of Ecuador. The Other Bar is an ambitious experiment tests the hypothesis that consumers will reward sustainable business practices and brands (over non-sustainable ones) and are likely to pay a premium price on a product. This episode, produced by UNDP Ecuador, the Fairchain Foundation, John Weich and MOST studio in Amsterdam, tells the story of the inception of the project in the voices of their agents in the Zamora province, in the southern Amazonia of Ecuador.  This podcast was originally published as a United Nation's Colour of Innovation. 

How is the global corona pandemic affecting the farmers at the very front of the coffee chain? Is corona even on their agendas and, if so, are they as farmers able to do anything about it? For answers, we turn to impact and blockchain agent Emanuele Celani. As part of his master’s project at the University of Copenhagen, Emanuele spent the last 3 months working at a washing station in Limu, Ethiopia. In our very first micropodcast, he gives us a personal dispatch from the field.