Yimara Martinez Agudelo to Manage CQI’s Post-Harvest Processing Program

The nonprofit Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) has named professional coffee taster and quality control expert Yimara Martinez Agudelo as the manager of its growing post-harvest processing program.

The Southern California-based group said that Martinez Agudelo will be responsible for the vision and implementation of the program, which currently involves 12 different 100- to 400-level educational courses, plus CQI’s Post-Harvest Processing Expert certification.

The post-harvest processing expert certification is a sibling program to CQI’s other well-known certification focused on coffee evaluation, Q Grader certification.

Martinez Agudelo, a certified Q Grader, CQI Post-Harvest Processing Expert and past CQI instructor, was most recently the quality control specialist for Portland, Oregon-based coffee trader Sustainable Harvest.

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Over the past decade, post-harvest processing has become an increasingly prominent means through which producers can build and control the quality of their coffees, thereby potentially increasing value and income. Simultaneously, post-harvest processing designations — such as natural, washed or anaerobic honey — have become increasingly used by green coffee buyers and roasters to add value through product differentiation.

“Being involved in developing education for producers while increasing access is a meaningful way for me to take the next step in my coffee journey,” Martinez Agudelo, who hails from Colombia, said in an announcement from CQI. “While I have been working in coffee in the United States for many years, I grew up in a coffee producing community. I have experienced first-hand the positive impact that good education can have on outcomes, and I am really glad to be a part of the CQI team.”

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