A story to be told - Inga Aponte, Colombia...

Some coffees get more spotlight than others, and as with every coffee there is a story and a struggle behind each one. We feel it important to tell their stories, celebrating their achievements, even if it’s not because of an award, prize or unique process/variety.   

Inga Aponte is one of these coffees, one that we added recently into our Alpha blend, and deserves such appreciation.   

The Inga community are the descendants of the ancient and widely known pre-hispanic Incas, and are the community behind Inga Aponte. The area which served this community for many years experienced great hardship in the early 90’s, through to the beginning of the 21st Century.   

Illegal plantations, violence and violations of human rights were common place, with the Inga community trapped in the middle, forcing many of them to get involved in the production of poppy and heroin.   

With the return of civil order and peace throughout Colombia, the Inga community escaped the negative influences of guerilla groups and drug traffickers, eradicated illegal crops, starting a new culture of coffee production.  

Today the community is flourishing and by producing specialty coffee they actually benefiting far beyond their reach, not as they did in the past with the drug trade. 

So in retrospect, offering the right conditions for communities to thrive in coffee production goes a long way to not only help them free the shackles of drug traffickers, but also humanity in general by offering coffee to the world and not drugs.