I myself find this to be a great time. True, we have to work long hours and taste a lot of coffee in one day, but at the end of the day, seeing the farmers go home happily, makes it all worthwhile.
These days, I like to start my day walking along the queue in the morning, greeting our regular suppliers, some of which have become old friends, and getting to know our new suppliers. Like the previous years, also this year we see a lot of newbies, especially small-scale farmers, and I like to take a moment to learn about them, their family, where they come from, their farm, etc. To me these personal contacts are an important part of the linkage of the farmers to our program, and I praise myself lucky I have a good memory for faces, so next time I meet one of our farmers, I know who they are and where they come from, which they think is great.