The International Women’s Coffee Alliance has teamed up with coffee shops around the country to host latte art competitions—buy-ins will be donated directly to the IWCA!
BY ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Starting this week, a number of cafés across the country will be hosting latte art competitions in support of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA). Money raised at the competitions—the first two of which will be hosted tonight by Temple Coffee Roasters in Sacramento, Calif., and at the Hops & Hearts Mixer hosted by Dead Hippie Brewing in Sheridan, Colo.—will go directly to the IWCA, which works to empower women in the international coffee community, from the café to the coffee farm.
The IWCA works globally, with over 22 chapters in countries including Tanzania, Honduras, and Indonesia (the IWCA’s newest chapter, founded in August 2017). The organization works to give women more power, profit, and visibility in the specialty coffee industry, and supports projects like the buying of a new washing station in Burundi, hosting competitions for female coffee grafters in Guatemala, and building bridges between government agencies and speaking on behalf of the coffee sector in India and El Salvador. Women historically make up over half the labor force in coffee, but are often cut out of the profits; the IWCA works to give women a voice and help women profit from their labor, including helping women get their names on the deeds of their farms. Donations, including entrance fees for the competition, will go toward supporting other IWCA projects.
Winners of the latte art competitions will earn prizes from sponsors like Baratza, Marco Beverage Systems, notNeutral, and MAHLKÖNIG. (Disclaimer: Barista Magazine is also a sponsor.)
