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Posted on February 6 2018
Clients from four countries joined us on our annual Colombia residency this year. Since Mercanta set up our office in Medellin in 2012, we have sought to highlight the wonders of the marvellous Colombian Department of Antioquia to a wider audience: in a coffee sense, a city tour sense, and a social sense. The networking opportunity for
Posted on February 15 2017
February 15 2017
2017 marked the second year of Mercanta’s Jantioquia (January in Antioquia) – an event inspired by my own experiences in Antioquia some years ago. When I first began visiting Antioquia in 2010, the department (Colombia’s largest administrative subdivision) had long been overlooked with regards to both coffee and tourism. At the time, Huila held distinction
Posted on August 2 2016
August 2 2016
Mercanta celebrated our 20th anniversary in style during this year's SCAE World of Coffee show in Dublin.
Posted on May 23 2016
May 23 2016
In March of 2016, the Financial Times featured an excellent piece on Stephen Hurst, Founder and Managing Director of Mercanta, Ltd. highlighting his role as a pioneer of specialty coffee in Europe. You can read the post below by clicking on pop-out icon on the embedded PDF below.
Posted on May 10 2016
May 10 2016
In honour of our 20th anniversary, the African Fine Coffee Association has chosen to highlight Mercanta's ongoing commitment to quality coffee in Africa by publishing a profile piece on our approach to sourcing and client care. The piece will appear in AFCA's April-June 2016 Newsletter.
Posted on July 17 2014
July 17 2014
Welcome to Brazil June / July 2014 OK, the World Cup was on but I did not really notice that too much. Somehow I found myself at England versus Uruguay and England versus Costa Rica matches by coincidence. Joking aside, Brazil as a country did an excellent job with this World Cup despite the reservations,
Posted on December 17 2013
December 17 2013
“We have drawn a line in the sand which not many have dared to do. All our business is done on a fixed price, above the cost of production.” For the everyday high street coffee trader, the matter of coffee pricings is a minefield… indeed, probably something to stay well away from. And yet, nobody
Posted on March 17 2013
March 17 2013
While farmers across Colombia have been blocking roads and causing general disruption in a widespread protest over low prices, Mercanta are getting to know the growers in order to offer them a viable outlet for their specialty product. After establishing a sourcing office in Medellin, Colombia in 2011, Mercanta has spent the past 18 months
Posted on April 26 2012
April 26 2012
Mercanta was delighted to attend the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) event in Portland last week. This was our first time exhibiting at the show and we had an excellent few days meeting friends old and new. Our booth was staffed by our Mercanta North America team of Leah and Katherine (Hartline), who are
Posted on December 2 2011
December 2 2011
Despite having de-commoditised the specialty coffee business many years ago, Mercanta does not exist in a vacuum. Events in the wider commodity coffee world are coming to visit the specialty coffee world, and they are coming quickly. Commodity coffee prices at $2.50/lb are the highest in 13 years. This, in itself, is a newsworthy item.
Posted on December 7 2010
December 7 2010
An interview with Stephen, Mercanta’s managing director, was published today in a World of Coffee report in The Times newspaper. The report is quite advertising-heavy, but still definitely worth a look. Everything that helps spread the word about specialty coffee is good publicity in our opinion! To view the report click here. Stephen’s interview is
Posted on March 3 2010
March 3 2010
Flori, Christian and Stephen recently took Mercanta to the third International World Coffee Congress, a three day event in Guatemala City where we decided to run an exhibition booth. Christian made the local arrangements and Flo and I arrived the day prior to the show to add the Mercanta ‘feel’, which in this case resulted
Posted on November 24 2009
November 24 2009
I have just returned from Brazil where I attended the 10th Brazil Cup of Excellence as one of the international jurors. I am not certain, but it may have also been my 10th Cup of Excellence jury and I must now have participated on 7 or 8 competitions in Brazil, 1 in Nicaragua, and 2
Posted on October 6 2009
October 6 2009
Mercanta has been an exhibitor at the regional Coffee Fest Show in Seattle for the past 3 years. This is a good ‘manageable’ event – about 300 exhibitors and 6000-7000 visitors. For our new North America business it is the ideal opportunity to meet new customers and to keep in contact with existing customers. Seattle
Posted on July 5 2009
July 5 2009
At this time of year (northern summer, southern winter), no trip to Brazil is complete without mention of the weather cropping up in every conversation and this visit was no exception… I was going to visit my farm near Poços de Caldas, and also catch up with many of the good friends that I have
Posted on April 27 2009
April 27 2009
Eleven of us gathered in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for our 7th Coffee Hunter Field trip. Our host was José Ureña from Regiomontano. Mercanta has been working with José for more than 8 years. Our annual purchase of specialty Dominican Republic coffee has been stable at about one container per year. We feel that the
Posted on April 13 2008
April 13 2008
Of course, I also wanted to catch up with our very good friends Bourbon Specialty Coffee (BSC) in Poços de Caldas and also Raymond Rebetez from Astro Lambari, another estate group with whom we have been working for many years. The size of next Brazil crop is very much in the news – perhaps
Posted on October 25 2007
October 25 2007
I originally visited Sumatra for the first time in Aug 2004, just 4 months before the devastating tsunami hit Aceh. Although the upland coffee areas were not at all affected directly by this disaster, the country as a whole suffered considerably. Strangely enough, the tsunami may have jump started the peace negotiations to end the
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