One of our goals for this year has been to communicate more about what we do at Steampunk and why we do it. From the smaller things like how we go about our day to the bigger questions of our values and aspirations, we want to give a candid look behind the scenes to let you see the realities of the industry and our place in it.
As a small roastery, the volume of coffee we buy makes it hard for us to purchase directly from farmers, and therefore it is crucial for us to build trustworthy partnerships with ethical importers that allow us to achieve the same transparency and traceability as a direct trade relationship. Importers play a big role in the specialty coffee industry in particular, as they stand in the middle of what’s happening at origin and what’s happening here in the UK. This series sets out to explore some of the collaborative relationships we share with importers, shining a spotlight on their perspective and seeking their opinions on the issues our industry is currently facing.
To begin our series, we wanted to shine the spotlight on Minga Coffee, a Colombia-based importer co-owned by Laura Meunier and William Ortiz Bermeo. We first met Laura when she worked at another importing company, Ensambles (from whom we have most recently sourced our Mexican Los Huehuentones). At the time of meeting we had mainly only worked with much bigger importers, and for our Head of Coffee, Ludwika, it was one of her first interactions with a smaller importer. The one thing that struck Ludwika was how personable it felt. Laura came into the roastery to cup some coffees and chat with us, and she spoke all about the time she’d spent at origin, mentioning the cupping labs that they’d set up in remote areas of the region to provide access to specialty coffee for Mexican smallholders. Although Ludwika had appreciated the transparency of bigger importers, getting information from the person that had actually been at origin and been involved in all the stories felt particularly exciting and personable.
Photo from Laura's visit to the roastery earlier this year
Laura now has her own importing company, Minga, and working with her continues to feel just as personable. Moreover, we’ve found that we share a lot of similar values across the board. Minga’s website says, “Our goal is to restore a thriving ecosystem where coffee can grow without agrochemicals…. We are working to rebuild biodiversity and cultivate coffee in harmony with nature”. Along with this, they’ve adopted a mantra of “back to washed”, looking more at the quality of different varieties and the potential within traditional processing methods as opposed to more contemporary, experimental methods. The roastery team really wants to support this idea. For us, this doesn’t necessarily mean roasting exclusively washed coffees, it’s more about appreciating different coffee varieties and the clean, bright acidity naturally present and highlighted by the washed processing method. Experimental processing can be great, but it also has the potential to create a lot of issues for farmers, and a real reduction in transparency across the board as producers are encouraged to create coffee with bigger and better flavours instead of focusing on refining the inherent flavours in the bean. Shifting the focus to good varieties and healthy soil will make coffee both delicious and sustainable in the long run.
We were fortunate enough to interview Laura and get her insight into a few different elements of her experience as an importer:
What trends do you see happening in the industry now?
Laura said:
“In Colombia: With higher prices since November 2024, many producers are opting to sell their coffee on the commercial market. They prefer to sell wet parchment or even cherries to get quicker cash flow while reducing workload and risk. This means less specialty coffee available, and buyers of specialty coffee need to increase differentials to make specialty coffee attractive to producers.
In the UK/EU: Since we started Minga, we’ve chosen to focus on washed Colombian coffees. Despite all the marketing buzz around highly processed Colombian coffees, washed coffees still make up the vast majority of what’s produced in Colombia. At first, we worried that roasters might find this positioning a bit boring. But as it turns out, and this may be a trend I see, most of the roasters we know—and those we continue to meet—are very confident in expressing their preference for washed coffees, and they’re less hesitant than before to pay a good price to acknowledge their quality and elegance. This is especially true in more mature markets, where palates tend to recognize more subtle and delicate notes.
It’s worth noting that a washed coffee is by no means boring—there’s incredible diversity and complexity in the cup, depending on the varietal, processing precision, agricultural practices, and terroir.”
What would you like to see change in the industry?
Laura said:
“I’d like to see a redefinition of quality in coffee to include the health of the soil. The specialty coffee industry often defines quality based mainly on a coffee’s sensory attributes. But sometimes, great-tasting coffees come from intensive monocultures, heavily treated with pesticides and herbicides—systems that ultimately jeopardize the future of coffee. So, as an industry, I wish we placed more emphasis on soil health to define quality. That said, I don’t expect the pressure to fall on producers. Instead, I believe the market demand for healthy soils should drive institutional changes that promote, finance and support soil-friendly farming practices.”
What’s the biggest challenge you face as an importer?
Laura said:
“As a small specialty importer not hedging on financial markets, price volatility is one of our toughest challenges. We manage this risk mainly through back-to-back contracting: a roaster commits to a coffee, and we immediately go purchase it. However, this approach relies on forward commitments, which some roasters aren’t used to. Traditionally, roasters have had the luxury of choosing coffees after they arrive in consuming countries, so committing before shipment represents a significant cultural shift.
We also face risk on the sourcing side. When we start working with a new producer, we often have to buy the coffee before having a buyer lined up. Or in some cases, a producer with an exceptional lot will only sell it to us if we take their entire production, not just the best part. That means taking on all the coffee, bringing it to the UK/EU, and hoping the market hasn’t changed much and that it sells at a price that leaves a margin.
With farmgate prices now nearly double what they were last year, that exposure has become even riskier.”
How has working at origin affected your experience of coffee?
Laura said:
“In consuming countries, you can assess coffee through sensory and physical evaluation. You also read an importer’s info sheet for assumed traceability. But the information you can gather is very limited.
When you work at origin, you see the whole chain of people and events that make a coffee possible. You see the work and risks producers take, you see how local buyers operate, how coffees are blended, how humidity in coffee is managed, how storage and internal logistics work, how dry mills preserve or ruin coffee, how the export process can be so cumbersome and old fashioned, etc… There’s an entire world of activity at origin that most roasters and consumers never get to see — all within a cultural and professional mindset that’s very different from ours.
I often define my role as a bridge between two worlds, trying to connect two worlds who don’t speak the same language. And I don’t mean language as in English vs Spanish, I mean the language of coffee. A producer is focused on things like weather, pests, yields, while a roaster is more concerned about cup profile, novelty, market trends. Everybody wants relationships but based on different criteria.
Our job is to facilitate understanding — to help both sides communicate so that everyone feels heard, respected, and valued.”
Finally, what’s the best coffee you’ve ever had?
Laura said:
“Can I say two?
One day, I found myself exploring Rio de Janeiro on my own. I was young, probably a bit naïve, and ended up wandering through empty streets, not a soul in sight. I started to feel nervous — no internet, no phone, no way to reach anyone. Eventually, I stumbled upon a small square with a little café. I sat on the terrace and ordered a coffee that tasted like safety and relief. It was delicious. Coffee is often as much about the experience and emotion as it is about the taste.
The second one is the coffee my partner and I now produce on our farm in Colombia – El Micelio. After 15 years working in coffee, we finally took the leap and bought a farm. We’ve collected microorganisms, reproduced and sprayed them, made and applied organic fungicides, walked countless times up and down 60% slopes, and harvested cherries for eight hours a day. So when you finally get to taste that coffee, it truly feels like the best you’ve ever had! And it will get better, we have so much to learn still.”
We’re so excited to have purchased our first lot from Laura this year, a washed Maracaturra from sisters Martha and Ana Albir in Nicaragua, marking Christmas at Steampunk as our 2025 Christmas coffee.