Puerto Rico's coffee industry and its wage practices are under scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Labor: starting this month, the agency will target this sector to verify that employers are in compliance with the federal minimum wage.
The third edition of the Puerto Rico Coffee Expo is bumping up its offering this year, integrating chocolate products and suppliers, organizers said Thursday.
As part of its plan to revitalize the island’s coffee industry, Puerto Rico Coffee Roasters has launched an online store on its website to sell Puerto Rico’s premium coffees to the world. Some of the most familiar brands — Yaucono, Café Crema, Café Rico, Café Rioja, Café Encantos, Alto Grande and Yaucono Selecto — will be sold, company officials said Wednesday.
Puerto Rico landed itself yet another Guinness world record Sunday, with the certification of the world’s largest cup of coffee, an 11-foot aluminum vessel that held 2,750 gallons of the aromatic beverage and served more than 50,000 people during this weekend’s Puerto Rico Coffee Expo event.
Puerto Rico’s coffee industry is marking its 275th anniversary this year, a milestone to be celebrated during the second edition of the “Puerto Rico Coffee Expo,” slated for Oct. 8-9, at the Puerto Rico Convention Center, the event’s trio of organizers said during a news conference Tuesday.
The island’s declining coffee industry got a shot in the arm Wednesday with the opening of Puerto Rico Coffee Roasters’ new $15 million roasting and distribution facility in Ponce that pursues revitalizing the sector and increasing manufacturing capacity to export the product.
Local coffee production has dropped by half in the last five years as the sector considered a jewel of Puerto Rican agriculture has battled against natural disasters and a lack of people interested in taking on the arduous task of picking beans.
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