Part One
By Erika Koss
Un Pueblo Mágico (A magical town)
Córdoba, Veracruz is called un pueblo mágico, a magical town, in part because it’s the birthplace of coffee in Mexico and remains known worldwide for its coffee production. But last month, a special kind of magic descended upon Córdoba when this hidden gem served as the location for the 3rd annual Cumbre de Mujeres en Café, the Women-Powered Coffee Summit.
The summit was organized by non-profit organization Bean Voyage, who hosted 265 participants from dozens of countries and many regions across Mexico, including more than 75 female coffee producers primarily from Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Colombia, and more.
Bean Voyage is a feminist non-profit based in Costa Rica, so the first two years of the summit happened there. Their goals for the Women-Powered Coffee Summit are distinctive:
• To feature Women as Protagonists
• To provide Safe and Inclusive Space
• To promote Sustainability
In October 2024, the summit moved to Mexico for the first time, specifically in Córdoba’s La Ex-hacienda de San Francisco Toxpan, built in the late 17th-century as a sugar mill.
During the colonial era, Córdoba and its surroundings were considered the most important region in la Nueva España (New Spain) for la caña de azúcar, sugarcane. Recently, the former Hacienda has been renovated to become a cultural center that hosts artistic events, exhibitions, and more. The space also records a slice of Córdoba's history, through its ruins with remnants of colonial sugar machinery, as wells as "La Zafra" National Sugar Cane Museum, which displays clothing, photos, and narratives related to sugarcane production.
A New Presidenta
The magic was brewing before the official summit launched on October 2nd.
First, there was the historic moment for Mexico, when, on 1 October, Claudia Sheinbaum took her oath and assumed office as the 66th president, Mexico’s first-ever female Presidenta. With her PhD in energy engineering, her service as a member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change team, and her work as Mexico City’s former mayor, she has broken many glass ceilings during her stellar career.
It was an inspirational moment for me to hear cheers for “Presidenta!” televised as I had my first lunch in Cordoba for the Women-Powered Coffee summit, and to watch the moment when the presidential sash was placed over her shoulder with the end of her speech: “I’m a mother, grandmother, scientist, a woman of faith, and now, president!”
Later that day, I was surprised to learn that my new “Gender in Coffee” course would be hosted in the Museo del Café! The museum exhibits feature the importance of coffee to Cordoba’s history and identity, from the beginning when the first coffee plant arrived at the Hacienda de Guadalupe in the 18th century. The museum displays different varieties of coffee, and two rooms that exhibit photographs, lithographs, and tools used to process coffee.
COFFEE AS A FORCE FOR GOOD
After the summit opening ceremonies, a stellar guest list of speakers and panelists graced the stage of La Ex-hacienda de Toxpan.
From Vera Espindola, development economist who focuses on farmer resilience and livelihoods and leads Strategic Initiatives at Azahar Coffee, to Boram Um, who spoke about his experiences with processing in Brazil based on his businesses as founder of Um Coffee Co. and Fazenda Um in Brazil (and as 2023 World Barista Champion!), there were many different perspectives featured from different parts of the coffee supply chain.
What inspired me the most were the talks from female coffee producers. One of my favourites included a passionate talk by Montze Olvera, a Mexican feminist, small-scale specialty coffee producer, and activist, who is the co-fundadora (co-founder) de Las Adelitas Café Ecológico, a project dedicated to empowering women in the coffee sector. She distinctively named her coffee as a “feminist coffee,” noting the political nature of coffee, and ways that coffee can be used as a force for good.
Another example of using coffee for good was evident from the work of a marvelous leader who came to Cordoba from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Marcelline Budza. She is the leader of “Rebuild Women’s Hope,” and, during her talk, shared highlights from her transformative work with her women’s cooperative to build gender equity through education and medical services for rural women in the DRC.
Several panels featured various topics linked to sustainability and gender equity. Among the timeliest was a panel featuring Niki Lewis (BEXT360), Meghan Bodo (Nuup), and Marta Salazar (Digital Coffee Future), moderated by Kate Monteiro (Falcon Coffee), on the topic of digital access and the controversial requirements of the upcoming EU Deforestation Regulation law and its impact for buyers in Europe and coffee producers.
VISIBLE WOMEN DESPITE INVISIBLE DATA
My talk, titled “The Power of Data: Why We Need More Gendered and Intersectional-Aggregated Data in Coffee,” gave a short history of global women’s movements and the recent movement toward gender-aggregated data. But we don’t currently have globally reliable intersectional data that demonstrates who-is-doing-what in the coffee industry—a neglected challenge for our industry as we seek equity for all genders.
But even if women are invisible in the data, women are actively making their voices heard, using creativity through various art forms.
For example, during one summit workshop, we had the chance to view the new film called “Stronger than Coffee” from the Más Que Un Café Project, with the slogan “Nuestras vidas. Nuestra tierra. Nuestro café” (Our lives. Our land. Our coffee). It is unique as a documentary film told in five parts, created and narrated by five women coffee farmers in Costa Rica, told in their voices, and featuring their land and families: Ericka Mora Blanco, Arleen Jimenez, Tatiana Vargas, Maria Jimenez, and Margoth Rivera.
In addition, photographer Lucia Bawot is using her art to share women’s stories—and her own. The formal summit ended with her talk on the “power of belonging.” Lucia is the author behind the book We Belong: An Anthology of Colombian Women Coffee Farmers, based on her 18 months of travel in seven different regions of Colombia. It’s a beautiful book, weaving stories of dozens of female producers through stunning photography and inspiring interviews.
Más Que Un Café and We Belong show us that women’s artistic creations – and their coffee – can be, as Montze said on stage, powerful forces for good.
Conclusion
Beyond the fact that the summit was mostly attended by women, and that mostly women were featured on stage as speakers, panelists, moderators, and storytellers, the positive energy was palpable.
Whether during lunches or coffee breaks, I talked with many women who struggled to find the words to articulate exactly why this summit felt different than all the other conferences so many of us have attended in the past. Certainly, a key difference was the aura, the energy, the vibe of the summit – one that simply felt more supportive than competitive, more relational than corporate.
Without a doubt, part of this was due to all the dancing. In 10 years of attending coffee conferences, I’ve never attended one where dancing was such a key part of the program, both on stage and off, both spontaneous and planned. The opening ceremony showcased the traditional Mexican Jarabe Tapatio, where the steps revolve around the sombrero on the floor; the closing ceremony featured the Danza del Vanado (Deer Dance) with a full array of masks.
For me, the most powerful dance moment took place spontaneously during the opening happy hour at the Museo del Café. After a group of Mexican women finished a dance performance to welcome all the summit attendees to Córdoba, some Latina coffee producers formed a huge circle in the middle of the courtyard. Suddenly, almost all the women danced joyously, exuberantly, together. As I joined the circle, I thought of the way feminist activist and writer, Emma Goldman (1869-1940), was reprimanded for her “frivolity” while dancing at a party in New York. As another writer, Emma Dabiri, summarized, Emma Goldman reminded us to “Dance, for a revolution without dancing is not a revolution worth having.”
References:
For a glimpse of the summit, please enjoy this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPX5m9sOTy4).
Quote about Mexico’s first female Presidenta: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce3z263453lo
Final quote from Emma Dabiri’s book What White People Can Do Next on page 113.
A Magical Event in Mexico: the Third Annual Women-Powered Coffee Summit
Part Two
One of the pleasures of attending the Women-Powered Coffee Summit in October 2024 included an array of multi-faceted sensory experiences from farm to cup.
This included sensory tasting experiences with Mexican, Costa Rican, Honduran, and Colombian coffees, brewed by diverse Latina women. For me, this was a special treat: since I live in Kenya, I rarely get to taste Latin American coffees or talk deeply with Latina women in coffee.
Keep reading to meet two Mexican women, Seidy and Juana, to learn about their female-owned small businesses where “women are protagonists,” to borrow from the mission statement of Bean Voyage.
Seidy & Kafiex Roasters
Seidy Selivanow, born and raised in Mexico, has now spent the last decade in the U.S. She and her husband founded Kafiex Roasters and opened their first cafe in 2018 in Vancouver, WA. Today, they own two cafes and a roastery, featuring exquisite Mexican coffee. And, in the last two years, she’s making her mark as a Barista Competitor at the USA Nationals.
Seidy seeks to use her love for coffee as a bridge to connect with people across the globe. One of the best coffees Seidy brewed for me was a special coffee she roasted in Washington and brought with her to the summit: a natural geisha coffee from El Cuervo Coffee farm, located in Chiapas, Mexico, run by Silvia Herrera Hernandez and her family. In the last few years, this award-winning coffee has ranked in the top 7 for the Cup of Excellence competition and I could easily see why with its tasting notes of floral, peach, black tea, and citrus.
Juana & San Bartolo Farm
On the final day of the summit, we had the opportunity to visit coffee farms in Cordoba, Veracruz.
My group travelled by bus about 70 minutes from Cordoba’s city centre.
We were a group of two dozen coffee producers from Colombia and Honduras, as well as other women like me from the USA or Europe, working in various roles of the coffee industry from Austin, Texas to Nairobi.
When our bus stopped at San Bartolo Farm, Juana Guzmán Campo warmly greeted us all with joyful welcome and a wide smile.
As a 5th generation farmer who inherited this land from her family, Juana told us about her pride in her family farm, the land surrounding her home, and how coffee is a vital part of her family’s survival.
Holding a large Mexican flag, Juana shared that her goal to preserve nature while also producing quality coffee, by using organic fertilizer to address the ongoing challenge of la roya (coffee leaf rust), as well as using rest resistance varieties like Oro Azateca – a hybrid cross between Timor and Caturra that was bred in Mexico. https://varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org/varieties/oro-azteca
Juana’s desire to preserve nature was evident from the forest canopy around her home with shade-grown coffee mixed with tall indigenous trees. As we walked through her farm, I felt like I was walking in southwest Ethiopia where the wild coffee grows in forests. I learned that here, there are at least 63 different birds, as well as bees, butterflies, and dozens of flowers and plants I’d never seen before, like the beehive ginger plant that reminded me of Mexican maracas.
Aside from the challenge with la roya, Juana told our group about her concern about the next generation of coffee farmers – the lack of young people who want to stay in farming – and the lack of access to medical care for her family and neighbors: for while this is slowly changing, there is no doctor or medical facility nearby, so families often rely on plant-based and herbal medicines from their forest.
In addition to selling coffee cherries, Juana works with her daughters on other coffee-based products, from bracelets decorated with roasted coffee beans and beads, to her recipe of galletas: a crisp sugar cookie that uses coffee during the baking process. After we visited her coffee trees, Juana and her two adult daughters brewed their coffee while we all talked and enjoyed galletas.
While I didn’t have time on this trip to see any of Mexico’s famous art, I was moved by the mural painted on the wall of the outdoor dining room of San Bartolo. Juana told me that she asked a muralist to paint the mural to show “the many things we can do with coffee,” and to represent her desire to coffee from her hands to her children and her grandchildren.
As we talked together, I kept thinking about the World Economic Forum’s 2022 “Global Gender Gap,” which predicts we remain more than 100 years away from gender equity. If this is true, then “none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes; nor likely will many of our children.”
But this can change, with the determination of women like Seidy and Juana, who, even as small business owners, prioritize social sustainability and gender equity for all.
What a joy to witness and participate in coffee experiences led by women from farm to cup in Cordoba, Mexico, thanks to the Women-Powered Coffee Summit and Urnex Brands.