Over the last couple years Farmer Brothers has participated in the National Restaurant Association Trade Show (best known as the NRA Show) - the biggest foodservice trade show in the country. Now that we have our blog, we would like to share this year's experience with you.

Farmer Brothers Company hosted its second-annual charity golf tournament during April, raising $50,000 to benefit two non-profit organizations – Grounds for Health, focused on saving women’s lives threatened by cervical cancer in coffee producing regions, and the Children’s Bureau of Los Angeles, providing resources to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect in Southern California. Each organization received a check for $25,000, earmarked for the continuation of their important work.

Absolute silence. That's exactly what a hotel sounds like at 4:30am. In the middle of it all was Jose, Patricia, Steve, and myself preparing ourselves for a 7:15am flight back home. So why the extra early time? The hotel shuttle had the convenient airport shuttle times of 5:00am, 7:00am and 9:00am. But no worries, we all were a bit anxious to head home after traipsing the coffee fields for the last week and see our families. It was amazing how many people were actually up and moving about the city at 5:00am on a Saturday.

Prior to going to bed, we had agreed to meet for breakfast at 7:30 am as we were going to have a long day of driving - coffee areas are at least a couple hours out from Managua. Everybody seemed refreshed after a good few hours of sleep and ready to start the day. Henrik Bang, a trader from the Exportadora Atlantic S.A. (ECOM Division), met us for breakfast. Henrik has been working in the Managua office for several years and is very well versed in the culture and especially the coffee industry.