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.

Yimara Martinez Agudelo. CQI courtesy photo.

“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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