Candice Madison, Areli Barrera de Grodski, Kavi Bailey, and Chi Sum Ngai are a few of many WOC roasters making waves in the industry.
BY EMILY JOY MENESES
SPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Though the coffee industry as a whole is filled with many vibrant, hard-working, and visionary women, it still isn’t very common to see women roasters—especially women of color. That’s why today we’re highlighting Candice Madison, Areli Barrera de Grodski, Kavi Bailey, and Chi Sum Ngai: four coffee professionals who, throughout their careers, have shown that women of color have an incredibly important role to play in the industry. And the best part? They’re getting better and better every day.
Candice Madison
Candice Madison has been blessing the coffee industry with her presence for over a decade, and throughout the years, she’s played almost every possible role in the field, from barista to roaster to quality control manager to instructor. Currently, she serves as the director of roasting at The Crown, an open-source coffee education center, laboratory, event space, and tasting room based in Oakland, Calif.
A proponent of fairness and equity throughout all facets of the industry, Candice describes what fuels her work: “As my career has progressed over the years, I realize that I am only interested in work that I feel directly impacts the lives of farmers and producers at origin—the unnamed and un-storied ones, not the few chosen ones who are highlighted for the work that many others also do. I don’t want to build a school at origin. I want to dismantle and rebuild the entire supply chain, transforming it into one that is fair and equitable. I want for people to be paid fairly, for the producers to set their prices and never, ever have to debate the quality of their coffee without cause. I believe coffee is for everyone, and that each person along the supply chain relies on everyone else.”
Areli Barrera de Grodski
Born in Mexico and raised in San Antonio, Texas, and Cherokee, North Carolina, Areli Barrera de Grodski recounts that when she first ventured into coffee, she had just $75 to her name and no access to credit. However, that didn’t stop her from transforming the industry with her passion for community, fair working conditions, indigenous rights, and sustainability.
Today, Areli and her husband, Leon, run Little Waves, a Durham-based roastery, along with three brick-and-mortar locations of their café, Cocoa Cinnamon. The couple proudly leads a diverse team of over 40 individuals, and they’ve made it a top priority to pay every worker a living wage. In addition, they strive for sustainability and energy efficiency in every facet of their work. Their Loring S15 Falcon roaster has an 80% reduction in energy usage compared to traditional roasters, and in 2019 alone, they diverted approximately 52,172 pounds of compost to be used in local community gardens.
When asked what drew her to coffee, Areli says she adores the communal aspect of it. “For me, coffee has always been a beautiful teacher; a beautiful, reflexive product,” she states. “Through coffee, you really get to learn so much about yourself and how you’re in relationship with everything on this earth.”
Kavi Bailey
Kenyan-born Kavi Bailey is the founder of Grand Paradé Coffee, a socially conscious and inclusive farm-to-cup coffee company dedicated to vertically integrating the supply chain. Through Grand Paradé, Kavi focuses not only on sourcing and roasting specialty coffees, but also on empowering women and youth. An ex-Wall Street worker, Kavi drew from her investment background to build Grand Paradé Coffee into a farmer-centric company—one that pays farmers above fair price and supports them both pre- and post-harvest.
Kavi states that her social lens was shaped at an early age, by a prominent unionist father who fought for workers’ rights and a humble mother who taught to empower children at schools in Kibera. Placing the farmer at the heart of the company, Kavi states that “the ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and empowerment of human beings.”
An avid coffee connoisseur, Kavi sources the company’s specialty coffee and oversees its roasting in Berkeley, Calif. When she’s not cupping, she can be found in Kenya supporting community projects like modernizing washing stations and building dorms and classrooms in local schools. In recent years, Kavi has been advocating for Kenyan coffee farmers, speaking at the International Coffee Organization (ICO) in London and Nairobi, and meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta. Through her work, she’s proven to be a prominent leader in the next generation of voices advocating for a more inclusive and sustainable coffee industry.
Chi Sum Ngai
Last November, I had the pleasure of visiting Coffee Project New York, a cozy and bustling café in the heart of Manhattan. The secret behind this gem? Chi Sum Ngai and her partner, Kaleena Teoh. Five years ago, the two quit their day jobs and opened their shop in NYC’s East Village. Two more locations, a roastery, an SCA training campus, and thousands of pourovers later, their community passion project has captured hearts worldwide.
Sum, a Q Grader and Roaster Championship competitor, roasts all of Coffee Project New York’s coffees herself. In fact, many of these coffees are developed for and used in competitions, then made available to the public. Carefully selected for quality, social impact, and terroir, each of the café’s offerings reflects the company ethos of contributing to one’s community and sharing a love for coffee. All coffee beans are chosen with the intention of supporting small farms and cooperatives, experimental varieties and processes, and fair pricing in the coffee supply chain.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emily Joy Meneses is a writer, musician, and cat mom based in Los Angeles. You can regularly find her at Echo Park Lake, drinking a cortado and journaling about astrology, art, Animal Crossing, and her dreams. Explore her poetry, short stories, and music on her website.
