Matriarch Series, Colombia - ASMUCAFE
ORIGINALLY RELEASED
January 2022
HIGHLIGHTS
Matriarch Series: Spotlights female coffee producers
Origin: Colombia - El Tambo (ASMUCAFE)
Available as a Medium or Dark roast
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
This is a highly crushable Colombian coffee, perfect to throw in your everyday morning ritual lineup. Both the medium and dark roasts take on flavors of caramel and toffee. For more keen palates, the medium roast may also exhibit soft citrus flavors. I’m getting hints of chocolate-dipped orange jelly candy, and contrary to what Destiny’s Child may suggest…I DO think you’re ready for this jelly.
ORIGIN STORY
Our MATRIARCH SERIES highlights coffees produced by female farmers. These beans come from ASMUCAFE (Asociación de Mujeres Agropecuarias de Uribe). ASMUCAFE is a Colombian organization of female coffee farmers and female landowners in El Tambo, Cauca. ASMUCAFE’s mission is two-fold: First, to improve their members’ families’ quality of life through coffee farming and second, to contribute positively to their community of female farmers by sharing resources, knowledge, and support.
These beans are part of my supplier La Bodega’s Women Coffee Producer program, which means the women of ASMUCAFE were paid a premium for these beans in order to better support their goals and aspirations as a group. The entire production chain for these beans is linked by a team of passionate and hardworking women. From coffee growing and harvest, to fermentation and drying, women are responsible for this cup.
In almost all major coffee producing countries, women have less access to and control over resources compared to men. In Colombia in particular, gender roles in agricultural families have been clearly carved out for decades. Society expects for men to do the “productive” work (physical manual labor on the farm), while women should focus on “reproductive” work (bearing and raising children).
The Colombian women responsible for this coffee have not only shattered gender stereotypes in their own families, they’ve also helped open more doors for women locally and worldwide to enter the field of coffee production.
MORE ABOUT THE MATRIARCH SERIES
Our Matriarch Series exclusively highlights coffee from female producers worldwide. Women play a major role in coffee production, often performing the hardest and most critical manual labor, while juggling their responsibilities of managing the household. These superwomen not only rarely get the spotlight, they also lack the same access to capital and resources as their male counterparts. Our intent with this series is to not only celebrate the amazing women in the coffee supply chain, but also to ensure they are paid a premium for their hard work and to work directly with organizations that have committed to improving equity for women in the coffee value chain wherever possible.
