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I said: "We're going to give this a year. I mean, there are different milestones we have to achieve, and this doesn't happen fast." So, we went back and forth over that year, and we hit the problem of land ownership. They asked if they could get an exception because of their cultural and religious situation. And I thought about that, but then I was like: "No, because that's the point of Cafe Femenino. It's that you do all the things, that's the hard part, that's what creates changes."

We start with the expected small talk. We introduce ourselves, give some quips and chuckles to ease into the dynamic before getting started. Despite all my initial research, all of the complicated questions I cooked up, I become aware that I’m about to learn more than any academic article could ever teach me. This inspirational powerhouse of a woman has stories to tell.

“There is a time and a place for decaf. That time is never, and the place is the trash.” Yeah, that quote is a really funny saying, but it isn’t entirely true. The truth of the statement relates to the type of decaf itself. Why? Because, sadly, decaffeinated coffee has a long standing love affair with chemicals.

Want the coffee crisis in a nutshell? Scientists anticipate that over 50% of coffee species—both domesticated and wild—are in serious danger of extinction. In Latin America, the world’s largest coffee producer, the area suitable for growing coffee will be reduced by up to 50% by 2050. And, looking to Africa, only 45% of the land will suit coffee’s growing conditions by 2080. What’s worse: scientists acknowledge these predictions are made using optimistic models.

If you’ve spent any amount of time either reading about coffee activism or wandering around the Ampersand Coffee website, you’ve no doubt come across an organization by the name of The International Women’s Coffee Alliance—or the IWCA for short. The IWCA is an expansive, ambitious organization. It uses the coffee industry to empower women at large, starting with those who grow, harvest, and produce the coffee beans. The alliance has an exceptionally unique structure: while most outreach organizations identify the problem from afar and concoct their solution in board rooms, the IWCA takes the opposite approach.

In the 1970s, as demand for coffee grew, a new process was brought into practice; sun-grown coffee provided higher yields and was, obviously, more appealing to producers. The process brought heavy amounts of deforestation along with it, effectively damaging the birds’ ecosystem. Smithsonian Bird Friendly Coffee is all about reversing this devastating practice.