Allison Aubrey writes for NPR’s The Salt blog, who today published this feature on four East African coffee producers visiting DC as part of a trip funded by the International Women’s Coffee Alliance and the International Trade Centre’s Women in Coffee Project. The four women are representatives of Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Kenya, and their stories are fascinating.

Mbula Musau of Kenya holds one of the most coveted titles in the coffee industry: certified Q-grader. This means buyers know that she knows her stuff when it comes to grading the quality of a coffee bean. And she’s also served as a sensory judge at the World Barista Championship competition.

She now works on the trade and marketing side of the industry, but as a “sister of coffee,” as she calls herself, she wants to help empower women involved at all levels of coffee production in her country. “The majority of labor is women,” Musua explains. By connecting them with women around the world, “it creates hope.” And, she hopes, opportunities, too.

Read Allison Aubrey’s excellent feature here via NPR.org, and while you’re at it, spend some time with Laetitia Mukandahiro, who hopes to someday become “the Rwandan Katie Carguilo.”

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The International Women’s Coffee Alliance are now accepting registration for their third-annual International Convention, which happens from February 7th-9th in Guatemala City. The organization is offering extensive educational pre-tours from February 4th-6th, cupping roundtables, and a chance to discuss a variety of themes throughout the conference programming, including:

• Alternatives within the Production of Coffee
• Business and Commerce Trends
• Financial Education
• Social and Environmental Sustainability, Climate Change
• The International Market
• New Trends for Global Coffee Consumption

Here’s lots more info from the IWC Convention website:

The International Women’s Coffee Alliance
 invites you to participate and expose your brand, products and services during the III International Women in Coffee Convention, which will take place in Guatemala City next February 7 – 9, 2013.   Also available before the convention will be the Educational Coffee Pre-Tours from February 4 – 6, a great opportunity to know more about coffee production at origin (requires previous registration, limited space available), which will take place in different coffee regions of Guatemala.

Majestic landscapes, a variety of microclimates and the exceptional coffees of Guatemala are a few of the highlights of the International Women in Coffee Convention of 2013.

One of the offered tours includes a visit to the renowned Finca El Injerto in Huehuetenango! Learn more about the IWCA here.

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San Francisco’s community food space 18 Reasons will be hosting a program called “Women In Coffee: Their voices, lives and dreams from farm to cup” with Equator Coffees‘ Kimberly Easson and Helen Russel. This program will feature a lecture followed by a tasting. More from Brown Paper Tickets:

The class will begin with a talk by Kimberly, widely recognized for her knowledge about coffee and social justice.  Through stories and photographs we will learn about women farmers in South America, Africa, and the USA who are changing the landscape of coffee production, processing, and marketing.  In the course of our conversation, we will explore sensitive and critical topics as food security, housing, health, maternal care, domestic violence, wages/income, and land ownership.  After a Q&A with Kimberly and Helen Russell, we will taste a selection of Equator’s excellent coffees produced by women and poured by Caitlin McCarthy-Garcia, Roaster. Join us!

About Kimberly Easson
During more than fifteen years working in the arena of sustainable trade and development, Kimberly Easson has dedicated herself to making trade work better for women and small-scale farmers, particularly in coffee.  After 12 years working for social justice alongside Equator Coffees co-founders Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, she now works with Equator Coffees serving as Relationship Manager building partnerships with coffee farmers and coffee communities worldwide.

She is co-founder of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) and served as its President for five years. Kimberly has also served as Director of Producer Services and Relations at Fairtrade International in Bonn, Germany and on the Board of Directors of the Specialty Coffee Association of America.  She started JavaVentures, a company that fosters better understanding between roasters and farmers by bringing coffee professionals on tours throughout Latin American and Africa.

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What isn’t often discussed is Tharpe’s role in popularizing latte art design, a trend that didn’t take hold in the mainstream public until thirty years after her death. The term “rosetta” bears Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s namesake, and is still used today to describe the classic latte art design seen in high end cafes worldwide. Sister Rosetta’s love of coffee was only matched by her love of gospel, and the two would often fuse, as in this classic collection of mid-60s singles:

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