"We are different from the customers, because we live in the aroma of coffee all day long. We smell all the different aromas: the aroma of the pulp, the aroma of fermentation, and the aroma of flowers blooming on the coffee trees. We smell the roasting coffee in our offices and the drying coffee on the patios. We smell all these different aromas 10 hours a day. But the consumer, who buys and drinks a cup of coffee, has only 15 minutes to feel the aromas of coffee, only 10% or less of the aromas that we live with. So we are affected in a way that is very different from the consumers. We have the magic of coffee within us all the time. So it is a pleasure to be here with all of you magicians."

"Four years ago, these were compacted soils, open treeless pastures, and now just look," she says, smiling at the red coffee cherries under the banana leaf shade, "You see in Miraflor todo es mierda. It takes 40,000 pounds of compost to fertilize this coffee; do you know how much cow manure this is? So we live following the cows around and waiting for them to. . . "

"First, coming on this trip made me realize that everything is possible. I had no idea there were coffee cupping laboratories, cooperatives, and organic coffee in Nicaragua before this trip. I know now that all this is possible in Rwanda, and it will happen. Second, I feel that the organic coffee production system can be a perfect fit with Rwanda's existing conditions."

"The most beautiful laboratory is not this one, nor is it any other laboratory. The most beautiful laboratory is the one filled with human compassion, with culture and the desire to continue the lucha (lucha is a Spanish word that represents a long-term commitment and struggle for a better world). Thank you for the invitation to come to Rwanda. We don't only accept the invitation, but it is our dream that one day we will come to your country."