Welcoming back Buena Vista, Damian Bolaños 😍 ☕️ — Espresso
Lemonade 🍋 • Black Current 🍇 • Black Tea 🫖
Colombia 🇨🇴
Caturra, Washed
Damian’s farm, Buena Vista, which translates to ‘Beautiful View,’ is aptly named for the breathtaking views of native oak forests and natural springs surrounding it ⛰️ Situated at 1,840MASL near the village of La Muralla, framed by the Central and Eastern ranges of the Andes. This region of the mountains is known for its subtropical ecosystem, humid mountain forest, rich soil, and cooler temperatures, which allow the production of exceptional coffees of incredible quality.
We spoke with Damian from @monkaaba and shared these words with you!! Bueno quisiera decir a los consumidores que estoy muy feliz que tomen mi café, que disfruten esas tazas tanto como nosotros disfrutamos y amamos el proceso y cultivo de café, gracias por apoyar a pequeños productores que soñamos con salir adelante cada día y buscamos poder mejorar cada día nuestros cafés para que sean mejores, que disfruten mi café, con un fuerte abrazo desde Buena Vista ❤️☕
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english translation
Great, I’d like to tell consumers that I’m so happy they’re drinking my coffee, that they enjoy those cups as much as we enjoy and love the coffee growing and processing. Thank you for supporting small producers like us who dream of getting ahead every day and strive to improve our coffees so they’re even better. Enjoy my coffee! With a big hug from Buena Vista ❤️☕
Thank you ALWAYS to our stellar importer pals over at @semillacoffee ☕️💚🙌
Learn more about processing at Buena Vista, Damian Bolaños and the Monkaaba Producer Collective through the product tag 🏷️
This is Edil Quinayas, the producer behind our newly released Colombian Washed Pink Bourbon ⭐
Edil’s coffee is widely regarded as exceptional in San Agustín. For years, he sold his harvest as en-verde parchment coffee. (this is coffee fresh out of the de-pulper so it was quite fresh and wet). This became a source of quick but lower income. But that changed when he gained access to a solar dryer through a family friend. With this, he could process his Pink Bourbon as a washed coffee.
This, alongside working with Monkaaba, has not only enhanced the cup profile but also dramatically increased the income he receives for his coffee 💫
#specialtycoffee #producer #colombia
Leidy Marcela Cruz Trujillo and Maida Tatiana Quisabony Osorio are two of the only female coffee producers in Rica Brisa on the outskirts of Tarqui, about a 3 hour drive from the Monkaaba lab in San Agustin. Two of the youngest members of the group there, they are part of a new generation of coffee growers excited and dedicated to push forward, implementing new varieties and learning about fermentations and processes.
They manage their farms together with their husbands, Héctor Ramos and Sergio Nuñez, a dynamic that is still unfortunately quite rare. For anyone who knows smallholder families, women are heavily involved not only in coffee production, but also are the linchpin to the whole family unit - ensuring everyone is fed, clothes are washed, and all needs are met. Still, they’re rarely recognized for their work. In a male-dominated world, men are the de facto managers of all household business affairs, meaning coffee is usually sold under the men's names and payment is usually made to their bank accounts.
Here, Leidy and Tatiana talk about those dynamics and the many roles they tackle as women in coffee growing families, and the wishes they have concerning the involvement and role of women in coffee production.
For any roasters looking to start relationships with either of these 'berraca' women, we have just received their coffees at Schwarze in Hamburg, Roast Works in Belfast and Continental in New Jersey! Reach out to learn more.
This is Julián and Yisela Burbano, the producers behind our newest release: a Colombian washed Caturra.
Julián and Yisela come from a family of coffee growers. Their farm, passed down from their father, sits at a high altitude. This brings colder weather conditions that make farming more challenging. The farm’s viability was also threatened by a failed financial investment, compounded by the growing conditions.
Despite this, their hard work, determination, and warmer temperatures in recent years, have allowed them to continue their father’s legacy and produce a truly remarkable washed Caturra. Being part of Monkaaba has also supported them in improving yield, quality, and overall income from their coffee.
#specialtycoffee #producers #colombia
Marleny and her husband Augusto Ortega are lifelong coffee producers and pillars of San Agustin’s coffee growing community. They met in 1990 when Marleny was just 19 years old, and since then they’ve been managing their farm side by side.
At the start of their journey together, they had little chance but to sell their coffee conventionally on the local market, a reality that never sat well with them. Seeking a way to agitate for better prices and better relationships, they became founding members of the Los Naranjos Association, putting their collective weight together to build a better alternative to the conventional offering.
This was a good first step, as it brought them differential prices and connected them to an export market, but their coffee still was typically sold only as a regional blend. By 2015, Marleny achieved the sale of her coffee as a microlot under her own name but even then, she still felt separated from her clients and without any feedback or knowledge of how the coffee was received.
Their shared history of struggle for a better future played a direct role in the creation of Monkaaba, as during the pandemic, they decided they had enough and committed to this fledgling group of smallholders seeking to push new barriers.
Since then, a lot has changed, and Marleny’s Gesha lots have become a favorite for clients around the world. In place of dropping off a coffee and losing the thread, she now forms a vital and valued part of a collective that is directly connected to her buyers, many of whom have come to support her year over year.
Representing Marleny and Augusto has always been an honour for us, and they are a source of great wisdom and insight for the whole Monkaaba team. Their story proves that far from being victims, the engaged smallholder can create and demonstrate a system that they lead, and does justice to them both as people and as growers.
Our friends Holm Coffee in Revelstoke have been keen supporters of Monkaaba since the beginning, and they are currently offering Marleny’s Gesha now. Bright and floral, they don’t have a lot so you should go grab a bag while it's around.
Empezamos la temporada de cafecitos de @monkaaba con el caturra lavado de Buena Vista ⛰️
Un café muy bien trabajado en la vereda de La Muralla en San Agustín (Huila) por Damian y su família. La variedad Caturra es ampliamente conocida en el mundo del café especial debido a su productividad y adaptabilidad. 🌿
Para este lote Damian prepara un proceso lavado con una fermentación controlada. Tras una recolección en el punto óptimo de madurez, las cerezas se dejan oxidar durante 12-18 horas. Posteriormente se despulpan y se fermentan en tanques sellados durante unas 72-80 horas hasta que se decide terminarlo probando la acidez del mucílago. Finalmente se lava y se deja escurrir y secar. 🌞
El perfil sensorial del caturra es dulce y reconfortante, encontramos un cuerpo pronunciado con una acidez moderada y tiende a expresar fruta cuando se produce con mimo. En este microlote encontramos una manifestación perfecta del varietal con una ejecución del cultivo y proceso que fue perfecta :) Rico en matices, envolvente floral y un dulzor afrutado sin igual. 🍑🫐🍮
👉🏼Ideal para filtros de tragar y tragar, espressos afrutados o bebidas con leche bien dulces!
Con este café empezamos la temporada de cafecitos de Monkaaba (1/4 😁) os recomendamos probarlos todos y seguirlos con mimo porque son verdaderas joyas de finos lavados, con mucha expresión varietal y lejos de las tendencias adulteradas de hoy en día 🫠
Ya disponible en la web y las mejores barras! 🌐
Y como bien dice Monkaaba, el café es mejor entre amigos! 🫂
La compra y llegada de estos cafés es posible gracias a proyectos como @semillacoffee , ejemplo de ultra trazabilidad y responsabilidad a la hora de adquirir cafés, gracias chicxs! 💚
Pd: las primeras bolsitas que salgan del taller llevan un mensajito de Damian! Corre! 🤫
Gracias a Semilla @semillacoffee , Monkaaba @monkaaba y Jaleo @jaleocoffeeroasters mañana estará en Sitio @somossitio Damián Bolaños @damian_2b , un pequeño productor, con más de 10 años de experiencia, de la finca Buena Vista en San Agustín, Huila.
Les esperamos!
Damian, a long-time family friend of Esnaider Ortega Gomez and Didier Gomez who helm Monkaaba, joined the group at the end of 2023 - he became a roaster in the Monkaaba lab and is now an essential part of the bodega, and we're excited to see his hard work to improve his coffees pay off and gain the support he's been seeking.
Right now, our friends @vonandvonnie and @jaleocoffeeroasters have some wonderful roasts of his coffees on offer, and we have some big and exciting news to share with you this week, so stay tuned!!
Until then, you can see a short insight into Damian's daily routine here!
Jhon Jairo Gomez in many ways exemplifies the kind of producer Semilla seeks to work with and advocate for. Despite having some of the best quality coffee we’ve encountered in Colombia, he sold his coffee entirely en verde (de-pulped and not dried, sold wet) until the 2019/2020 main harvest. At that time, we purchased one 70 kg bag from him, which was all he could afford to set aside and all he could effectively process due to a lack of infrastructure.
Jhon, previously having cultivated long beans, acquired Tabi seeds and transitioned fully to coffee production after his health started deteriorating aggressively due to the heavy use of pesticides needed for long bean production. Adding to his challenges, Jhon is managing his production all by himself, as he does not have any immediate family members supporting him on the farm as is typical in coffee-growing families in Colombia.
Ever since meeting Esnaider and processing his first bag of coffee, Jhon has become a crucial part of the Monkaaba group and the bodega. He started staying in the bodega after the work of the day was done to learn more about processing, cupping and all the steps coffee goes through before exporting and has since begun to work in the bodega, too, helping with cupping and organizing as well as becoming the person in charge to visit the group in Rica Brisa, Tarqui and setting up a bodega there. He has also made significant investments on his farm and beneficio, buying a new depulper (as before he was depulping manually without a motor), a new tiled washing basin (previously, he was washing his coffee by hand in a small wooden tub) and recently a new covered secadora with multiple raised beds to dry his coffees.
Jhon is exactly the type of producer Semilla was created to support, and we are proud to be his partner. Right now, you can find a beautifully floral rendition of his coffee at our friends @goodlifecoffeeroasters , who are showcasing it on the Nordic Coffee Fest right now.
Here are just some of the 30 small holder producers that contributed to La Colmena, which James had the pleasure of meeting during his recent trip.
While in San Agustín, he heard stories about how they had previously been taken advantage of by buyers. Coffee sold below its true value. Zero recognition for their work. Bodegas closing their doors as prices rose.
This was the reality for many before Monkaaba - a project that exists to create a new normal. One where producers are paid fairly, recognised properly, and supported with knowledge and skills that allow them to access the global specialty market on their own terms.
Meeting these producers, who now feel valued, informed, and confident in the future of their farms, showed the real impact of the project in a way no report or contract ever could and we’re incredibly thankful that this is the kind of work we get to be involved in.
#colombia #coffeefarm #project
Meet Esnaider Ortega-Gomez and Didier Ortega, who run Monkaaba, a smallholder coffee grower empowerment initiative. They are two young producers, sons of generational coffee farmers, who have built this project from the ground up to support smallholders in San Agustín.
They’re not outsiders looking in. They are brothers, sons, friends, mentors. Deeply embedded in the community they serve.
At its core, Monkaaba is a project run by producers, for producers. And you feel that immediately.
There’s a closeness here that’s hard to describe. They refer to each other as family - and after spending time with them, it’s easy to see why. This isn’t just about coffee quality. It’s about trust, belonging, and building something better together.
#colombia #coffeeproducers #SanAgustín
