Get a peek into our world.
This is where we share stories, interviews and articles about our experiences in the coffee world.
This Side Up and the EUDR - tackling the new EU Deforestation law.
By Lennart Clerkx
February 29th, 2024
It’s the talk of the town. Europe wants all coffee coming into the continent to come from land that is not deforested. Overall, by far the largest carbon footprint of coffee is the (often native) forest that was sacrificed to produce it, so the EU stepped up and decided to police the felling of trees. Here’s what we think about it - and what we’re doing about it.
Our Year in Numbers - 2023
By Lennart Clerkx
January 31st, 2024
Sadly, most of our industry’s transparency reports end at origin, with the publishing of FOB prices or in rare cases, farmgate prices. But what of the company’ own income, expenditures, behaviour and structure? Transparency is not just about buying responsibly, it is about showing that we as a company make choices that are in line with the vision and mission.
Serious Farmers - AN ORigin trip to India
By Lennart Clerkx
October 12th, 2023
On our website we state that we “partner with serious farmers” and that anyone who is just a coffee farmer because there are few other possibilities should do all to get out of it as soon as they can. My trip to India proved this point more than I could have known.
the year of Treacherous rains.
By Adri Yahdiyan
April 25th, 2023
The effects of global warming are deeply harming farmers in Indonesia. With some producers dealing with a yield reduction of up to 100%, we couldn’t be more concerned about our role as middlemen and as citizens of the world. Our friend and partner from Ontosoroh wrote about this alarming situation. Read along!
COFFEA TRAVENCORENSIS: ONE OF INDIA’S NATIVE COFFEA SPECIES.
By Komal Sable and Akshay Dashrath
April 12th, 2023
The most incredible news from our partners in India that will cause all known coffee books to have to print new editions: India has its own coffee species!
Komal and Akshay have been researching "coffea travencorensis" for some time and wrote this blog piece about it...
AN INTERVIEW WITH JUAN PABLO ARGOTE.
with Juan Pablo Argote and Milena Solot
March 14th, 2023
This Side Up, MVO Nederland, the GPDPD, and Argote Specialty Coffee joined forces in a unique partnership to create a training hub for farmers in Nariño - one of the most affected departments in Colombia by illicit crops presence. We recently sat down with Juan Pablo to discuss how this project is coming about.
We commemorate by coming together.
by Milena Solot
March 8th, 2023
Our role as middleman is not merely to bind the creators of green and roasted coffee to one another. Our role is to create a form of trade that is based on empathy - and no better way to create empathy than through conversation. Read along to discover what came out from four different conversations, between roasters and producers in our network.
the path to an Intimate value chain.
by Milena Solot
March 3th, 2023
In 2016 our then-partner in Nicaragua, Francisco, executed a scam that affected over 16 coffee producers, their families, us, and our partner and social lender, Progreso. Of the 16 farmers we worked with, most returned to conventional coffee. However, a small group kept working and is now proving strong and united. This year Lennart and Milena traveled to Nicaragua to see how to work directly with this outstanding group of farmers. Read the story of this trip.
our year in numbers: how, and where we spend our money.
By Lennart Clerkx
February 1st, 2023
We dove into our numbers and decided we should share it with you. It feel right to keep on pushing the boundaries of transparency, raising the bar for what a good middleman should show. We need to think how to invest our profits to create more far-reaching impact and this only feels like the start of a bigger journey.
an Interview WITH aggrey chombe.
with Aggrey Chombe and Milena Solot
January 11th, 2023
The work our partners from Zombo do every day intrigues us; how has the micro-station model evolved and become a thriving economic motor in Uganda? Aggrey Chombe, one of Zombo’s founding members, next to Andy Carlton, recently shared a little bit more on how this model already benefits farmers in the region.
AN Interview WITH FUADI PITSUWAN.
with Fuadi Pitsuwan and Milena Solot
October 12th, 2022
We recently held an interview with our partner from Beanspire, Fuadi. He shared about who he is, where he comes from and his take on some hot topics that worry us all.
Regenerative coffee for climate resilience.
August 28th, 2022
By Margo Potma
Margo took a trip to Peru to meet our partners from Churupampa, after days of carful examination she reached a few conclusions.
PRICING WHAT HAS NEVER BEEN VALUED.
July 11th, 2022
by Maarten van Keulen
When Brazil sneezes, the coffee world gets a cold. And last year, Brazil got a decent cold: the frost waves that hit the coffee fields killed on average 10% of the coffee trees. The markets got extremely nervous. This year, we’re looking at a worldwide shortage of coffee that’s already resulting in higher prices in the coffee industry as a whole. It sounds like the great news farmers have been waiting for - or is this too simplistic?
What is regenerative agroforestry?
May 3d, 2022
by Lennart Clerkx
Far from straightforward, one of the main goals of the 2022 Producer Crossover is to gather a common understanding of this concept…
A tribute to the richest agroforestry system on Earth.
April 21st, 2022
by Lennart Clerkx
15 years ago, Nihal inherited a piece of land close to Kandy, in the heart of Sri Lanka. His grandfather was a local village chief of sorts. As is often the case with higher castes, after privileged schooling Nihal’s next of kin moved to the city and weren’t interested the remote and rural place they inherited….
