Before Urban Calm made mushroom coffee, we cared about where our coffee came from. That has not changed.
Our coffee is connected to a group of 53 women producers organized around ASPROTIMANA in Timaná, Huila. The useful part of that story is not a slogan about empowerment. It is the practical coffee work behind it: farms, micro-mills, processing knowledge, quality control and a route to market.
First, what do we mean by women-led sourcing?
ASPROTIMANA is a broader producer association. Within that network, the women-focused coffee program is associated with 53 producers. Public descriptions of the lot note training in specialty-coffee production and processing, along with the use of producer-level micro-mills.
That is what we mean when we say Urban Calm sources from women-led farms. We are referring to a specific producer group and a traceable lot, not claiming that every ASPROTIMANA member is a woman.
Why producer-level control matters
Coffee quality is shaped after picking as well as during growing. Producers make decisions about sorting, depulping, fermentation, washing and drying. When those steps are handled carefully, the green coffee has a better chance of arriving stable, clean and consistent.
The Timaná coffee Urban Calm buys is fully washed and dried in covered solar dryers. It includes Castillo, Caturra and Colombia varieties grown at roughly 1,590 to 1,750 metres. Those are coffee-quality details first. The sourcing story becomes stronger when it connects people to the actual work.
What producer associations can add
For small farms, an association can provide more than a name on export paperwork. ASPROTIMANA's public profiles describe technical support, specialty-coffee commercialization, sustainability programs and social development. Fairtrade also documents the association's use of premiums for farm and community projects.
We try not to turn those programs into a claim that one coffee purchase fixes structural problems in agriculture. It does not. The more grounded reason we value the relationship is that it gives us a clearer, more accountable supply chain and gives the producer group a defined identity in the final product.
Why this belongs in the taste conversation
There is a temptation to separate ethics from flavour, as if sourcing is one story and cup quality is another. In specialty coffee they overlap. Better harvesting and processing require skill, time and attention. Traceable lots make it easier for buyers and roasters to understand what they are receiving and to buy for quality rather than anonymity.
That is also why we keep the coffee story visible in our mushroom blends. The mushrooms do not replace the origin. The coffee still comes from Timaná, and the roast still has to stand on its own.
The part we want customers to remember
You do not need to memorize the name of every organization in a coffee supply chain to care about where your coffee comes from. A few specific facts go a long way: Timaná, Huila; a 53-woman producer program connected to ASPROTIMANA; fully washed coffee; protected solar drying; Calgary roasting.
Those facts are more useful to us than vague language about changing the world one cup at a time. They tell you who is involved, where the coffee comes from and what happened before it reached your brewer.
Keep learning
- From Timaná to Calgary: The Women Behind Our Coffee
- Meet ASPROTIMANA
- What Coffee Traceability Actually Means
- Women-Led Coffee Farms
Sources and further reading
- Fairtrade Foundation - ASPROTIMANA
- Agencia de Desarrollo Rural Colombia - ASPROTIMANA profile
- ASPROTIMANA women's coffee program background
Explore Urban Calm Specialty Coffee or see how the same Colombian coffee foundation appears in our mushroom coffee.
