Education in the time of COVID has been a difficult proposition. With just about everything moving out of the classroom and to the online space, the closest thing anyone can get to hands-on training is hands-on-keyboard, with webinars acting as the pedagogue de jour in these truly strange times.
One such company that has made the online pivot in a big way is Oakland’s Royal Coffee. The green coffee importer who previously relied heavily on their Bay Area lab, The Crown, to host their training sessions has moved much of their curriculum online. And Royal has just announced their webinar series for fall/winter, and the focus for last leg of 2020 will be on green coffee and bolstering their Spanish language content.
With four webinars on the books between taking place every Thursday between now and the beginning of December, Royal is splitting time between nuts and bolts green coffee discussions and coffee- and brewing-focused learning sessions for a Spanish speaking audience. The fall lineup starts on October 29th with Cafés del Menú de The Crown, or Coffees on the Menu at The Crown, which will “share recipes and brew methods” for coffees “produced and processed based on [the] Crown Jewel analysis as well as the roast that [Royal] decided on for each coffee,” hosted by The Crown’s Tasting Room Director Sandra Elisa Loofbourow and Crown barista Doris Garrido. Loofbourow states:
There aren’t many resources in Spanish for those of us who work in the coffee industry in the US, even though we make up an important part of this industry. With these webinars, we hope to include the Spanish-speaking community in the current conversations happening in the world of specialty coffee while raising the visibility and representation of latinx folks in our industry.
Then the next Thursday, November 5th, the conversation turns to East Africa, with an English language discussion of Burundi and Rwanda. Joining Royal for The Heart of East Africa: Burundi & Rwanda will be Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian of JNP Coffee and Furaha Umwizeye Teuscher of Kivu Belt Coffee, who will be discussing women in coffee, supply chain challenges, and the people and coffee of the two countries.
The following week will see The Crown Jewel Quarterly, a recurring deep dive in Royal’s offering sheet hosted by The Crown’s Education & Lab Manager Chris Kornman, Director of Roasting Candice Madison, and Sales Associate Spencer Ford. Then, to finish out the series on November 19th is Como Hacer Café de Olla, or How to Make Café de Olla. Just in time for the holiday season, this Spanish language webinar will include Royal’s recipe for café de olla as well as the beverage’s history in parts of Latin America.
And the best part is, all the Royal webinars are free to attend. All you need to do is sign-up for the event you want to attend, which can be done via Royal’s website. Webinars take place every Thursday at 11:00am PST.
For more information on the upcoming online events or to view any previously-recorded webinars, visit Royal Coffee’s official website.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
Disclosure: Royal is an advertising partner on Sprudge Media Network.
