We discover how Travesía is making a good affect at the specialty-coffee trade in Colombia.
BY VASILEIA FANARIOTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT
Footage courtesy of Ana Gómez
Once I visited Bogotá, I used to be amazed through how a lot town has to provide relating to uniqueness espresso. Considered one of my favourite spots was once El Pergolero, a gorgeous espresso store within the middle of town. There, I had the risk to take a seat down and chat with probably the most house owners, Alejandro Ospina, and be told all about their corporate, Travesía.
The corporate has created many initiatives to undoubtedly affect Colombia’s specialty-coffee trade. From making a specialty-coffee logo and publishing a e-book about Colombia’s espresso farms to creating a good social and environmental affect, Travesía has labored exhausting through the years to advertise the intake of uniqueness espresso in Colombia in a accountable manner.
Alejandro advised me about those initiatives and shared his imaginative and prescient for uniqueness espresso in Colombia—learn on to find the superb paintings they’re doing!
From Thesis Analysis to a Distinctiveness-Espresso Corporate
Alejandro did a thesis for his level in economics, by which he researched tactics to extend source of revenue and welfare for espresso farmers in Colombia. He sought after to have the ability to advertise the intake of uniqueness espresso in his nation.
“Throughout my thesis analysis, I discovered about uniqueness espresso and learned that Colombia is likely one of the international’s greatest and maximum identified manufacturers of uniqueness espresso. However we didn’t eat virtually any of it. So I used to be in a position to fulfill a number of those who labored within the small trade of specialty-coffee provider in Bogotá. And as I love to mention, I had for the primary time an actual cup of Colombian espresso.”
With restricted assets, Alejandro and his brother began Travesía. They introduced a web page the place other folks may just e-book excursions with them to be told about Colombian espresso, a weblog, and a crowdfunding marketing campaign. The cash they gathered enabled them to interview espresso farmers across the nation. Carlos, Alejandro’s brother, used this subject material to jot down a nonfiction e-book about espresso farmers in Colombia, with the five hundred copies they revealed promoting out inside of six months.
Since then, the workforce has introduced a couple of initiatives. Banna is their specialty-coffee logo. EatCoffee is an organization that makes a speciality of new tactics of eating espresso. On best of that, Travesía has been providing consulting services and products for trade execs and specializing in social and environmental tasks.
Navigating Successes and Demanding situations
Banna Espresso has noticed nice luck within the trade, with its merchandise gaining reputation from each consumers and different manufacturers. They imagine in a collaborative method; sharing their perception and revel in with different companies is very important for them.
“We adore seeing new manufacturers shooting up on a daily basis and sharing our wisdom with them. This motivates us to proceed innovating within the trade,” Alejandro says. ”The luck of our merchandise introduced us reputation in order that new other folks within the trade looked for our recommendation to expand their initiatives within the trade. It is extremely rewarding having the ability to collaborate on such a lot of initiatives.”
The Sloth Snack, EatCoffee’s first product, has additionally received vital reputation for its excellent style inside the specialty-coffee sector in Colombia. What’s extra, Carlos offered the rights to his e-book, celebrating Colombian espresso farmers and their numerous tales, to a gastronomy writer, with hopes to search out an English translator quickly. This may occasionally let them proportion the tales of Colombian espresso farmers far and wide the arena.
Alejandro explains that the most important problem has been generating a majority of these initiatives with out monetary fortify. In spite of this, they’ve been making an investment all in their earnings in growing new initiatives, looking to innovate within the trade to make a good social and environmental affect.
“Any other problem is making an attempt to persuade Colombian customers that there’s higher espresso than the Colombian industrial espresso they to find within the grocery store,” Alejandro says. ”However I do know we’re competing with an overly other vary of costs. Whilst a uniqueness cup of espresso can value you round $2 USD in Bogotá, a standard (and no longer excellent) cup of espresso prices round 40 or 50 cents … (a) large distinction in the event you have in mind the extent of source of revenue within the nation.”
Plans for the Long term
One day, Travesía is having a look to extract price from all of the biomass of espresso and use it in leading edge tactics. One instance is their espresso bar, created from espresso fruit, mucilage, parchment, and beans, making it a zero-waste product. Moreover, they’re selling coffee-based merchandise with out a Co2 emissions and minimal water utilization to assist reforestation.
Travesía will pay espresso farmers 3 to 4 occasions greater than their same old source of revenue through promoting inexperienced espresso to the Colombian Espresso Growers Federation. They imagine this trade style has the possible to be scaled and replicated in different coffee-growing international locations, no longer simply Colombia, and so they hope to unfold their luck to all of the area.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vasileia Fanarioti (she/her) is a senior on-line correspondent for Barista Mag, and a contract copywriter and editor with a number one focal point at the espresso area of interest. She has additionally been a volunteer copywriter for the I’M NOT A BARISTA NPO, offering content material to assist train other folks about baristas and their paintings. You’ll apply her adventures at thewanderingbean.internet.
