Coffee, Climate and Sustainable Choices: CHOICE Engages with Visitors at Cauca Sabe a Café in Colombia
How can a simple game spark meaningful conversations about climate change and sustainable coffee production? At the Cauca Sabe a Café fair in Colombia, the CHOICE project demonstrated how interactive activities can bring sustainability closer to local communities and encourage greater awareness of climate-conscious practices.
Held on 18–20 September, the fair brought together coffee growers, traders, roasters, buyers, baristas, government representatives, and organisations from across the coffee industry. With 16,565 attendees, the event provided an opportunity to connect with stakeholders, share knowledge, and promote sustainable practices within Colombia’s coffee sector.
Bringing CHOICE closer to the coffee community
As part of its dissemination and engagement activities, CHOICE participated in the fair on 18–19 September with a dedicated stand introducing visitors to the project’s objectives and ongoing campaigns.
The stand attracted visitors from across the coffee community, creating opportunities to exchange ideas, raise awareness of climate-related challenges and explore the connections between sustainability and coffee production.
Visitors were also invited to complete outstanding questionnaires from previous CHOICE campaigns, contributing to the project’s ongoing engagement activities.
Spinning the wheel for climate awareness!
A highlight of the CHOICE stand was “The Climate and Coffee Wheel,” an interactive activity designed to make sustainability topics more engaging and accessible.
Equipped with a television screen and a prize wheel, the stand invited visitors to test their knowledge by answering questions related to CHOICE campaigns.
The concept was simple: spin the wheel, answer a question and win a prize!
Participants who answered correctly received small gifts, while the activity introduced concepts addressed in the Colombian pilot and encouraged conversations about the environmental challenges facing coffee production.
By combining educational content with gamification, the experience offered an approachable way to explore climate-related issues while strengthening connections with visitors.
Supporting sustainable coffee production in Colombia
CHOICE’s participation was closely linked to its Colombian pilot, which focuses on supporting women coffee producers in the Cauca region in adopting more sustainable agricultural practices.
Working with local partners and the Association of Women Coffee Growers of Cauca (AMUCC), the pilot explores approaches such as shade-grown coffee, agroforestry systems and the use of coffee husks as biofertilisers.
These practices have the potential to strengthen the resilience of coffee-growing communities, reduce environmental pressures and support more sustainable production methods.
By participating in events such as Cauca Sabe a Café, CHOICE connects its research and engagement campaigns with local stakeholders, creating opportunities to discuss practical approaches to climate-conscious agriculture.
Small interactions, meaningful change
CHOICE’s presence at Cauca Sabe a Café highlighted how creative and participatory activities can make climate-related knowledge more accessible.
Through interactive games, conversations and campaign participation, the project connected with a diverse audience and strengthened its visibility within Colombia’s coffee community.
The experience reinforced a central message of CHOICE: building more sustainable food systems requires collaboration, accessible knowledge and the active involvement of local communities.
As the project continues its activities across its pilot countries, initiatives like this help bridge the gap between scientific research and real-world practices, encouraging more informed and climate-conscious choices.
