Cumpa Year in Review 2024 

This year, we welcomed exciting new partnerships. One highlight was our visit to Panama in January 2024, where we were able to welcome our new partner Kiva with its Specialty Canephora. Our new partners SCPNCK from the DR Congo have also been impressing us with their Organic Specialty Arabica since the start of 2024. This means we have doubled our range from 2 to 4 origins right at the start of the year. You can find out more in our blog posts.

The team also grew: Victor and Nadine joined us in April, and by year’s end, our Peruvian partner Jimmy had explored a new origin for cumpa. Stay tuned for more exciting news! 

The World of Coffee (WOC) in Copenhagen was a very special event. Together with our long-standing partner Jimmy from Finca Cascadas Peru, we had an inspiring time as a complete team in the Danish capital. At the Detech Coffee Vietnam stand, we were able to present our coffees and have a great time together. A special highlight was the presentation of Fine Robusta at the CQI stand. We met up with old acquaintances and made new contacts.

Following the festival, our Peruvian partner Gino Marin from CEPRO Yanesha visited us in Germany, and we spent a wonderful time together before he returned to the Amazon rainforest. 

At the same time, we were confronted with a special challenge: Rain damage at our warehouse service provider in Hamburg damaged parts of our coffee. We knew we were facing difficult months ahead. Nevertheless, we looked ahead with confidence.

In September, we reached an important milestone in our team: our employee Paul passed the Q Grader Robusta in Vietnam – congratulations! Certification as a Q Robusta grader is relatively rare compared to Q Arabica graders, as the focus of the specialty coffee scene has traditionally been more concentrated on Arabica coffees. There are only a limited number of certified Q Robusta graders worldwide, as this certification requires special training and testing by the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI).

The courses and examinations only take place in certain regions and on fixed dates, often in countries with high Robusta production such as Vietnam, India or Uganda. The exact number of active Q Robusta graders varies, but is in the low three-digit range globally. This makes expertise in this area particularly valuable, especially for companies that specialize in Canephora.

Another highlight was Canephorum V3 in October – a complete success and an impressive sign of how vibrant the Canephora community is. In the inspiring surroundings of Communal Coffee in Berlin, coffee importers, roasters, Q graders, cupping champions, scientists and enthusiasts from all over Europe came together to explore the potential of Canephora coffee. Two days of exciting discussions, captivating presentations and intensive cupping sessions impressively demonstrated the role Canephora can play in the future of coffee. Special thanks go to our co-organizer Gloria Pedroza and NKG Quality, who were instrumental in shaping this event. Canephorum V3 was not just an event, but a further step on the way to raising awareness and appreciation for Canephora coffee.

The year 2024 once again highlighted the serious consequences of climate change. The climate phenomenon El Niño led to extreme weather conditions worldwide, particularly in South America and Southeast Asia. South America experienced severe droughts, which had a significant impact on agriculture and reduced food production. At the same time, unusually heavy rainfall in Southeast Asia caused flooding and landslides that affected numerous communities.   

These extreme weather events had a direct impact on global markets. The price of coffee rose to USD 3.48 per pound, its highest level since 1977, and price volatility was further exacerbated by the destruction of harvests and disruption to supply chains.

At the same time, EU Regulation 2023/1115 on deforestation-free supply chains comes into force. This regulation obliges companies to ensure that certain raw materials such as soy, cattle, palm oil, wood, cocoa, coffee and rubber and their products are not associated with deforestation and forest degradation before they enter the EU market. This presents companies with the challenge of making their supply chains more transparent and sustainable, which is a mammoth task when working in particularly disadvantaged regions and with smallholder structures. 

Despite these global challenges and political uncertainties, we remain committed to our mission: We remain committed to sustainable and fair partnerships to meet the environmental and social demands of our time.

A special highlight for our team was Lukas’ participation as an observer on the international jury of the Cup of Excellence Peru in November. The Cup of Excellence (CoE) is the world’s leading competition for top coffees, in which exceptional coffees are identified and awarded prizes through strict evaluation procedures. The winners are sold in online auctions at premium prices, providing small producers with direct financial benefits and building long-term relationships with buyers.

Lukas took the opportunity to calibrate himself with international experts and further develop his sensory skills. His commitment was recognized and he is now a fully-fledged jury member.

In addition to promoting quality, the CoE focuses on transparency: award-winning coffees can be traced back to the farm, which benefits both consumers and producers. During his stay in Peru, Lukas met our local partners and tasted some exciting micro-lots, which we will be sharing with you soon.

The Cup of Excellence is not just a competition, but also an important step towards a fairer and more sustainable future in the coffee industry – a commitment that we at cumpa support with passion.

At the end of the year, we have to say goodbye to Victor, who left us at the end of November. At the same time, we are delighted that our intern Dede, who has been with us since August, will be staying on as a working student from January. New to the team is Clara, who has been supporting us as a working student in marketing since December. We ended the year with a team event in Karlsruhe, which gave us renewed energy for the challenges ahead. Despite the challenges, we are pleased to have a positive, forward-looking attitude in the team. Together, we are passionate about our friendly network and the role of Specialty Canephora in the future!

Now we can take a deep breath and look forward to 2025. We wish you all a peaceful and relaxing time.

We would like to thank you, our friends, partners and supporters, from the bottom of our hearts. Your enthusiasm and trust have carried us through this challenging year. Together, we have reached milestones, learned from mistakes and broken new ground.

The year 2025 will certainly be no less exciting – and we look forward to continuing on this path with you. Let’s work together to make the world of coffee a little better and more sustainable. 

Now we wish you a peaceful and contemplative time, filled with relaxation, warmth and good coffee.