You get The Great Coffee Debate: a first-of-its-kind, frank, often surprising conversation about premium coffee’s present and future, held October 28 at The International Culinary Center in New York City, hosted by illycaffè, the premier Italian coffee brand and The International Culinary Center. Debate topics spanned farm to cup: growing and harvesting; purchasing and certification models; roasting and packaging dynamics; preparation methods; coffee at cafes and restaurants; consumer education.

Three hours of spirited discussion found broad agreement on how direct purchasing relationships among growers and roasters are the best path to increasing growers’ profits, and on a renewed interest in brewed coffee, as equipment and consumer understanding continue to improve.

And there were healthy differences. Intelligentsia’s Doug Zell pledged strong allegiance to single origin coffee, citing the unexpected pleasure they deliver, while illy’s Andrea Illy touted the consistently high quality that blends can provide. Packaging methods and approaches to food at coffee bars were among other flash points, with Blue Bottle Coffee’s James Freeman coining a phrase for standard coffeehouse offerings: Perfunctory Bran Muffin, or PBM for short.

Dorothy Cann Hamilton, The International Culinary Center Founder and CEO, and Andrea Illy, illycaffè’s Chairman, co-hosted. Corby Kummer, Senior Editor, Atlantic Monthly, and Editor, The Atlantic Food Channel, moderated.

“For the sake of our industry’s health and growth, we need more discussions like today’s—candid and open, about the critical issues and opportunities before us,” said Illy. “My deepest thanks go out to my exceptionally talented and expert co-panelists, and to our moderator, Corby Kummer. Each contributed such generous thought and time to today’s program. Quite literally, this idea couldn’t have become reality without them.”