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BY J. MARIE CARLANBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Featured photo courtesy of Jason Burton
This Women’s History Month, Scott Conary from Carrboro Coffee Roasters in North Carolina and Caffeine Crawl and The LAB’s Jason Burton have teamed up to amplify a coffee from a longtime producer partnership. The coffee bag and matching 11-by-17-inch International Women’s Day poster were designed by Jason, with inspiration from the woman behind the beans.
The Woman Behind It All
The collab centers on Nancy Hernandez Contreras, the owner-operator of Finca El Jazmin in the Marcala region of Honduras. Nancy’s relationship with Carrboro dates back to 2007, when Nancy, as a member of all-women coffee-growing co-op COMUCAP, was chosen to visit Carrboro. After a 10-day crash course in roasting, brewing, and retail, Nancy opened a specialty-coffee shop in Marcala. Now, she and her family run a successful coffee farm and five cafés in Marcala. Nancy’s daughter Anjelica has also visited Carrboro, carrying on the family tradition of women in coffee. Carrboro has been sourcing coffees from Finca El Jazmin since 2017.
The Coffee Collaboration
The coffee is a blend of washed Catuai and Bourbon varieties, with balanced floral and fruit notes and a honey sweetness. An optional poster depicts Nancy in a cyan, yellow, and magenta offset printing technique, reflecting the multi-layer achievements of Nancy and women like her in the coffee-growing world.
Jason says of the design, “I wanted the art to really represent the genuine, approachable side of Nancy as a producer, but also the bright power in her, and … women do so much more than they get credit for. That was the decision for the offset on her picture creating three of her, basically. Then, a lot of delicate design elements and typography sprinkled in there, as coffee is super delicate with all the variables from climate to wages to long hours. That’s just a taste of the details in this piece.“
Scott says that Jason’s design “embodies what we work for in this industry over the decades: to be a truly sustainable support system for our partners, beyond simply exchanging coffee for money.”
A Longtime Friendship
This is the first coffee collab between Caffeine Crawl and Carrboro Coffee Roasters, but not their first time working together. Carrboro has been featured in a past North Carolina Caffeine Crawl and in the Virtual Crawl and Love Pouch (a February selection of coffee, tea, and chocolate).
Scott and Jason met at a coffee event around 2005. “We’re OGs in the coffee game,“ Jason says. “I’d like to say we have had an appreciation for how we both truly love coffee, in the sense of the people behind it, and how both of our companies focus on the art of highlighting those doing great things in this industry. (Scott) is very humble and brilliant. This collab also comes with the help of Lane Mitchell.“ Lane is also an accomplished woman in coffee; she manages sales and marketing for Carrboro and helps run the Women In Coffee Project, a nonprofit supporting women along the entire coffee value chain. Lane also serves as mentor and advisor for the Coffee Equity Lab at Vanderbilt University.
Grab a Bag
Jason says, “(This collab) is just another way to not just have a great coffee out there, but build more awareness of all the amazing things women are doing in coffee. And, as with all coffees Carrboro sources, they really made this coffee shine.“
You can purchase an eight-ounce bag of the Nancy Hernandez Contreras coffee and matching poster here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
J. Marie Carlan (she/they) is the online editor for Barista Magazine. She’s been a barista for 15 years and writing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. When she’s not behind the espresso bar or toiling over content, you can find her perusing record stores, writing poetry, and trying to keep the plants alive in her Denver apartment. She occasionally updates her blog.
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