Most our team lives year-round in the region where we source coffees, which allows us to be in constant interaction with the farmers we work with. Every week we drive up to the farms to share a traditional sancocho lunch and chat all things coffee. Farmers also visit us in the lab in Pitalito to discuss their coffee’s quality, get feedback from international clients, or join a cupping session.
As a roaster, what are the advantages of working with specialized, origin-based coffee sourcing companies?
We can bring you genuine, constantly updated context to each coffee. The traceability we offer is based on our year round presence in a small geographical region that allows us to be in constant interaction with the producers we buy coffee from.
Since we pay producers directly, we fully control the farmgate prices and can guarantee how much producers get for each coffee.
Finally, being immersed in this coffee culture allows us to understand the intricacies of coffee production, and the uniqueness of each harvest, thus developing empathy and sympathy for the people who grow our beloved morning brew; after all this is all about people and this should be why specialty differentiates from commodity.
In just a couple of weeks, one producer can have several lots to sell. If you don’t have a team onsite in the lab, those small lots often get blended blindly, resulting in inconsistent blends and missed opportunities for producers and roasters.
Being on site in the lab every day of the harvest means we can individually cup each lot and provide valuable feedback to producers so they can adjust their processing, decide what varietals works best for them, etc.
Cupping all those small lots makes us specialists of this region’s cup profiles. Each lot delivered get evaluated and allocated either to the microlot category, or to one of our blends according to its cup profile. This meticulous QC allows us to offer consistent profiles season after season and safe forward contracting.
Sourcing isn’t just about visiting farms and cupping coffees. There are many steps to coordinate until we can export: drying, dry milling, bag printing, vacuum packing, storage, ground transportation from farm to warehouse, mill, and port, and fiscal compliance and logistics administration.
Being based in Colombia year-round means we work directly with reliable service providers at every step. It’s not the most glamorous side of the supply chain, but any misstep here can jeopardize the coffee’s quality or export process. Choosing the right partners is key to ensuring the quality producers bring us arrives intact to roasters worldwide.
Originally from Colombia, has spent 20 years working as a professional cupper and export manager across various Latin American countries, starting his career at just 17.
He co-founded Minga and leads the sourcing in his home region. What he loves is connecting with coffee producers, find them a better market for their coffeeand building trusting relationships with them.
Since sipping her first tasty coffee back in 2011, Laura has explored every part of the supply chain, working in cafes, roasteries, mills, and export companies.
As Minga’s co-founder, she manages logistics and sales, bringing coffee producers and roasters together. She loves working within diverse cultures and sees her role as a bridge, bringing together the unique perspectives of where coffee is grown and where it is consumed.
Floro is William’s younger brother. He is from a coffee growing family in Huila and started working in a coffee lab at 20 years old.
After analysing, roasting and cupping coffees every day in Huila, Nariño and Santander for the past 11 years, he is now Minga’s lab master in Huila and you will always find him near his favorite Probat sample roaster.
Deeply rooted in Huila, his home region, is the backbone of our coffee operations. He combines his extensive local connections with a knack for problem-solving, making him our field coordinator.
From sourcing unique coffee profiles and ensuring milling standards are met, to coordinating shipments to the port or arranging custom-printed jute bags, he takes care of every detail and we can always count on his resourcefulness to ensure everything runs smoothly.
