Back in September 2019, I received an email from someone telling me about his company and how it sources coffee from conflict zones in Colombia. Conflict zones? I was never familiar with that term but I was a little familiar with the history of Colombia's problems with guerilla's and drug cartels. My assumption of coffee coming from areas where this kind of turmoil exists was right on. That's how I was introduced to Luis Carlos Sossa, or how he introduced himself. Luis is the founder of Cosecha Traders, a company that exports specialty coffee grown from regions in Colombia that are known conflict zones. On this episode of "Coffee Chronicles: Stories Over Coffee", I interview Luis with the curiosity of...
Late on the release of this episode but I wanted to interview a friend of ours that we met during our trip to Colombia last year. Juan Diego Zuluaga is the quality control expert at our coffee partners at Cafe Tio Conejo. We met him for the first time on their farm and my family bonded with him greatly and my son gave him the name "Juan Bagel" because of how my son pronounces "Diego". June is Pride Month and from speaking with Juan, he couldn't wait to experience it for the first time because he knew there was a good chance he would be in New York during Pride. Juan told me his story of how it was like...
When the cases of COVID-19 rose in New York City in early February, EMT Marc Krokowski was attending the FDNY's paramedic school in Ft. Totten, Queens. The number of emergency calls flooding the 911 system for assistance overwhelmed first responders. His fellow EMT's were also out of work after falling sick to COVID-19 symptoms. Marc's class would be put on hold and all of his classmates would return back to their EMS stations to respond to the numerous COVID related calls. Protests began hitting New York City in late May after a series of deaths of African Americans by police officers occurred nationwide. With Marc's EMS station in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, there was a tension in the air as they continued...
After their 2nd date, Matt and Khani decided on a more adventurous 3rd date. They would book their travel tickets and fly to Costa Rica for a few days. While they were enjoying getting to know each other in the tropical paradise, the COVID-19 pandemic grew resulting in travel restrictions. Costa Rica would close its borders and airlines would cancel flights in and out of the country. What would result is a love story that can be told over coffee. A story that tells us that there is a possibility in finding love despite that the feeling that the world is burning around you. Their story was picked up by different news and media agencies. We got to speak with...
Season1, Episode 2: Jose Piniero - New York Paramedic When the first reports of COVID-19 in China and Europe, Jose Piniero didn't realize how quick it would make its appearance on Long Island, NY. Jose has been a paramedic for 26 years and nothing could have prepared him for what he was to experience in the next few weeks. As a lead paramedic for a fire department in Long Island, Jose has been helping run the EMS section of the fire department. From hiring other paramedics to ordering supplies, Jose helps keep homeostasis in a well-oiled machine. When in March, COVID-19 began to dwindle in supplies. Jose tried to reach out to his usual vendors and found many to...
