If you’ve been around a while (or maybe you’re just observant?), you might notice that we feature a Limited Release coffee on our website and in our shop.
As part of our partnership with Unblended Coffee, we receive small batches of coffee from places like Colombia, South America –in the heart of the coffee-growing world. Along with a more fresh and complex coffee, each of these batches gives Enderly the opportunity to work directly with farmers to ensure that a fair price is being paid for their crop.
Carolina Ramirez, producer of the Limited Release #28 Coffee at Enderly
This is what is called a direct-trade relationship and, here at Enderly, we’re obsessed. We do it as much as we can! We can also bring you some pretty incredible stories straight from the farms of producers we have working relationships with; living up to our motto: People First, Coffee Always.
So, when we read the story of our producer for Limited Release #28, Carolina Ramirez, we knew we needed to tell you.
First, a bit of context. As the coffee industry has become more and more industrialized, coffee producers are being left behind. I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but guess how much that coffee farmer makes off your $6 cup of coffee? Typically, around $0.03. That’s right. 3 cents.
Enter specialty coffee. While its original intention was more about the quality of the coffee, companies all over the world have used specialty coffee as a way to push for higher wages and better working conditions for coffee farmers. And it seems to be working (just not fast enough, if you ask us).
With that being said, many coffee producers today are in their 50s, 60s, even 70s. The farms are having a difficult time attracting young, skilled workers because – honestly – it's a demanding and grueling line of work. The average age of a coffee farmer today is 63. Yikes.
Carolina and her mother. Carolina came back to the family farm during COVID and immediately jumped in to help with the coffee production
That’s why people like Carolina give us so much hope. As a practicing lawyer, Carolina is intelligent, quick-on-her-feet, and motivated. Once living the city life in Medellin, during COVID Carolina decided to come back to her family farm. She quickly began to help her mother with their coffee crop and fell in love with the industry; despite the hardships it so often brings.
Right away, Carolina’s fresh perspective gave her family farm a breath of fresh air.
Carolina’s Coffee Limited #28
In addition to helping her mother run the coffee farm, she also continues to practice law and is an avid ultra trail runner, organizing races all over Colombia. She has taken a leadership role in her partnership with Unblended, helping them source from other young producers and connecting them with a local young-person-in-coffee mentorship program.
Carolina’s coffee comes to us as a honey-processed coffee. This process is somewhat different from the typical wash process because the coffee beans are put on drying racks with some of the pulp from the fruit still on them. This makes for a MUCH more complex flavor profile and, when done right, can increase the quality and complexity of the coffee at a more efficient cost to the producer. A win, win!
Come by the shop to grab your bag of Carolina’s coffee while it lasts (or order it online!) And, as always, it’s because of people like you that we can bring you the incredible stories of people like Carolina. Thank you for always supporting our mission and being a part of our community.
