Dana Andrews, a trader in our San Diego office, was nominated for the role of Community Coordinator, in the Specialty Coffee Association's (SCA) inaugural USA Chapter Committee. Elections will be open to SCA USA Chapter members Monday, March 11. We hope, of course, that you’ll vote for this fantastic human. But at the very least, her nomination is a terrific excuse for a quick chat and to introduce her to more of you.
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InterAmerican Coffee: We’ll start with an easy one: What are you drinking now?

Dana Andrews: Right now I’m drinking a Kenya from Corvus, in Colorado. They travelled to Kenya to visit with our sister company Ibero and sent us a thank you for helping them import it. It’s stellar.

IAC: Digging in now: You’ve been nominated for the position of Community Coordinator. What about this role excites you?

Dana: This role is brand new, so still very much in the exploratory phase—there’ll be 15 Community Coordinators across the country. Once everyone’s elected, the first step will be identifying our communities. But what excites me about it is the potential to be in a pivotal role, in a new position that has a lot of room to be creative, with real value for the coffee community.

Working for the Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG), a global leader in the coffee market, and having more than a thousand clients across the U.S., I can offer a different perspective and access to global market information. Not only do I get to be part of the supply chain, I am also a voice that can represent many customers in different areas of the country. And that feels great. I care a lot about coffee, people in coffee and its impact on the local community. I want to be a voice for people to expand the relationships between coffee and its communities.

IAC: Your colleagues know well that you’re a person of action, who isn’t content to sit back and hope a change will happen. This seems like a great fit for you.

Dana: Well, thank you. And, yeah, I think unfortunately the role of an importer sometimes lacks clarity. We have a perspective that could really help increase awareness of specialty coffee in our communities and therefore increasing quality of life for everyone in the chain. Everyday we work directly with a variety of farmers and exporters. On its own, NKG has 50 companies in 27 countries! We also work closely and have strong relationships with 1,000+ roasters of all sizes in North America. We can help make connections that foster a more sustainable coffee economy.

IAC: Tell us a little about your coffee journey, since it speaks to what you’d bring to the role.

Dana: I was very green when I got into coffee (ha ha). I’d really just had one summer job as a barista when I was hired as a receptionist who would also sample roast and set up cuppings. I fell in love with it. I did quality control for four years and then transitioned to trading, which I’ve done for the last four.

I’ve been with InterAmerican for more than 8 years and it has been an amazing experience. I love all of my customers and coffee friends, traveling to origin and all the knowledge I get to soak up from the amazing people at our company, both NKG and InterAmerican. There is so much to learn!

IAC trader Dana Andrews, among the microlot samples at Ibero Kenya.

IAC: I have to point out for readers that you’re being pretty modest. There’s a super Cat & Cloud podcast where you talk about your early years, and it’s clear that a lot of that learning was driven by your voracious appetite for learning and personal improvement.

Dana: I used to hand draw these little origin maps, and make lists of the coffees we bought and map them out, because all the information I wanted wasn’t in a handy pamphlet or something. At the time, I lived in the Bay Area, and I’d go to public cuppings just to try and learn as much as I could. There was a lot of information available to me, at work and in the coffee community, and for me it was about taking the initiative. It was a way to feed my passion, or to address the part of me that being a college athlete had satisfied. It gave me the same sense of joy.

IAC: Ok, here comes the speed round. Your favorite coffee process:

Dana: When I’m cupping coffee, I really love washed coffees, because it shows off its bright crisp acidity. But when I think about that question more, there’s something beautiful about a natural coffee. It’s this perfect scenario where something can totally go wrong and yet it can be so good. I love the idea that it’s literally more “natural,” and uses less water, and takes so much work to make sure that there are no problems. Seeing how much work goes into it has made me a bigger fan of natural process. It’s also the coffee I can put in front of a non-coffee-drinker to make them go: Wow, what is that?! Because it’s so vastly different from other coffees.

IAC: What’s the most ... underrated anything in coffee?

Dana: Lol, the most underrated anything… How about the sound of the little bubbles that the crust makes before cupping? That makes me happy.

Really, though, how much work it takes, and will always take, to produce coffee. How many hands it goes through. And while some people are starting to get it, I think that will always be underrated and never receives the credit it’s fully due.

IAC: What coffee do you most look forward to every year?

Dana: I’m definitely biased, after visiting, but I have to say Kenyas. After watching the process of all the samples that go through the auction, and how many washing stations are involved, and how many cooperatives, and how there are always stellar coffees on the table. I get excited every year, because I know how hard Ibero works on their microlot program—it makes me so excited for those coffees.

IAC: What’s the best deal on your list right now? Is there a coffee that makes you think: If I were a green buyer I would totally buy this coffee right now?

Dana: One that comes to mind is the Colombia Organic Bombo. We sold that container really fast last year—it’s a beautiful coffee from Huila, with gorgeous acidity, and it’s really competitively priced, not only for the quality but for being certified and having such a great story behind it. Sometimes these organics can be relegated to just being valued for being organic. It’s easy to forget about the also great-scoring lots that happen to be organic. •

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If you’re an SCA member, we hope you’ll vote in the upcoming elections! And, if you have a question for Dana, please do get in touch: dana.andrews@nkg.coffee.