Journal — June 2021

Libertario Coffee is a fantastic roaster that has cafes in Bogotá and Cartagena, Colombia. They are sort of a (in their own words) cousin brand of La Palma y el Tucan, the producers and exporters behind some of Colombia’s most incredible coffees. The world has enjoyed those coffees for years—in fact, our Cafe Box subscribers got to try one of their gesha varietals in April (in the Colombia Collection from Momos).

They’ve loved watching the rest of the world start to see how good Colombian coffee can be, but the team at Libertario set out to make sure that Colombia could experience that too. I have spent most of the last decade working overseas (84 countries so far!). Much of that time has been in coffee-producing countries, and if you’ve spent time in the coffee belt, you probably noticed that great coffee is hard to come by. There’s lots of nuanced reasons for that, but ultimately it is a consequence of colonial systems that have continued long past the colonial era. Since coffee was first brought to Colombia, it has been one of the country’s largest agricultural products; and yet almost all of that coffee gets shipped to the US and Europe. In recent years, that has led to pricing crises where farmers lose money on each pound of coffee they grow. Specialty coffee’s pricing system is much more holistic, but it only deepens the dependence on foreign markets.

I first connected with Libertario right before the Pandemic began, and felt so inspired by their mission to provide Colombia with the freedom to enjoy the best that Colombian coffee has to offer. We love supporting roasters who are carving out coffee-enjoying communities in coffee-producing regions of the world. Much like you and I each had a cup of coffee that changed everything for us, Libertario gets to share that with people every day. Between the pandemic, social unrest, and other factors, that has proven incredibly difficult this past year, but these coffees prove that they’re still finding a way. You’re gonna love them.