Coffee specialist off to China for training

IN ORDER to maintain and preserve the quality of the Jamaican coffee and protect its Jamaica Blue Mountain and Jamaica High Mountain Supreme trademarks, a coffee specialist from the Coffee Industry Board (CIB) will be assigned to China for a year, to learn the art of producing quality Jamaica Blue Mountain products.

The training programme is aligned to the 2010/2011 mandate to facilitate the diversification of the international market for Jamaican coffee.

Patrick Pitterson, who has been selected to participate in the programme has been employed to the CIB since February 1, 2007 as a quality-assurance inspector. He is a graduate of Knox College, and holds an associate degree in agriculture and a degree in environmental science from the College of Agriculture, Science and Education.

As a quality-insurance inspector, he currently monitors and maintains the integrity of the CIB quality standards and protects and preserves the image and integrity of Jamaican coffee.

While in China, Pitterson will be stationed in Beijing, and will be the commercial attaché for the Jamaican embassy in China, providing expertise in the area of storage, roasting, packaging and quality assessment of Jamaican Coffee.

In addition, he will also assist in the development of a quality network for Jamaican coffee. As commercial/agricultural attaché, Pitterson will also explore possible business opportunities between Jamaica and China, as China is a new direct market for Jamaican coffee products.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the CIB executed a contract with Zhejiang Dunn's River Import and Export Limited to ship coffee to China, with the first batch of coffee shipped to that country in April.