ATLANTIC SPECIALTY COFFEE - Key Persons
Ali has performed many roles in the coffee industry: barista, roaster, quality analyst, and now Coffee Merchant for Atlantic Specialty Coffee on the east coast. She has served on various Cup of Excellence juries, received Q-Arabica and Q-Robusta certification, and facilitated cupping calibrations with supply chain partners in places such as Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, and Sumatra. In addition to connecting roasters with their ideal coffees, Ali is responsible for collaborating with Atlantic Specialty's exporting and producing partners to document the story of each coffee.
Carlos arrived to Atlantic Specialty with a background in accounting. He currently serves as Atlantic Specialty's Accounting/Inland Logistics specialist handling the Invoicing and Delivery Orders of ASCI coffees to the clients. He is also cross -training with the Logistics group in order to better serve ASCI clients. From invoicing to delivery order to setting up the actual transport of green beans from public warehousing to the client's plant is Carlos' area of expertise.
Erica joined the specialty coffee community when she joined Atlantic Specialty Coffee. Since joining ASCI as a part-time assistant in the quality control lab in 2009, Erica has since been promoted to Coffee Lab Manager. Erica is responsible for running our quality control operations on a daily basis, including roasting, cupping facilitation, customer communications, and all outbound sample management.
Maurico is passionate about coffee and the science behind it. He started with ECOM in 1997 in his native Costa Rica where he grew up surrounded by coffee plantations and mills. After experiencing the origin side of the supply chain and to complement his training, he joined Atlantic USA New York as a Coffee Merchant in 1999. He returned to Costa Rica to accept the role of Commercial Director at Cafinter and be part of the leadership team. Mauricio joined Atlantic Specialty as the Managing Director in July 2017 and chairs the ECOM Specialty Committee. He is the father of three lovely boys, and with is wife Victoria they enjoy outdoor activities in Northern California.
Tim has been in the coffee industry since 2002, starting as a barista and then doing pretty much every job possible on the roasting side of the business. The last decade Tim has been focused on purchasing green coffee and setting up supply chains, particularly in East Africa. Tim Co-authored the book, A Reference Guide to Ethiopian Coffee Varieties, a book that shed great insight on one of the most complex coffee origins in the world. Tim came to Atlantic Specialty Coffee in 2018 and is our first remote employee working on the East Coast. Tim‘s role is part trader, part buyer, and part quality developer- focused on developing our East Coast presence and offerings.
Tina's coffee roots span back to 1981 when she joined Berard Trading, her father's commercial coffee importing firm learning her craft in all capacities from quality control, logistics, marketing, purchasing, and sales. In 1992 she organized under Berard Corporation as its COO.
Tina Berard has served as vice president of Atlantic Specialty Coffee since its inception in 1996. She assists in the overall management, development, and direct of the company with special emphasis on trading sustainable coffees and the implementation of certification programs within the organization.
In Tina's 28 years she's been an active member of the National Coffee Association (NCA), a board member of The Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) and has served on various SCAA Committees. Tina is currently celebrating her fifth year as a board member of Grounds for Health, a non-profit organization bringing health care to women in coffee growing communities.