Our Betty coffee is an ode to Betty, the 1955 Probat coffee roaster we rescued from scrap and lovingly rebuilt by hand.
Gender inequality is a challenge in the coffee supply chain. Women often constitute a large proportion of the workforce on coffee farms yet are a tiny proportion of coffee farms are owned by women.
Each year, on International Women's Day, Extract Coffee Roasters releases a new espresso to highlight the female experience of coffee farming and to champion global female empowerment.
For Betty 2022 we've selected La Morena, a Guatemalan coffee produced by 25 women working together as part of an innovative project supporting women in coffee.
Celeste Fumagalli, from her farm in Jutiapa, Karin Hernandez from Ciudad Vieja, and Jovita Castillo, manager of Joya Grande in Santa Rosa won a competition to set the flavour profile for a new, all-female coffee.
These three women supporting female growers in their communities by sharing knowledge, resources and skills and hiring female staff to further promote women's financial independence in Guatemala.
Once the flavour profile was agreed, 22 female smallholders from the Huehuetenango region were tasked with growing coffee to meet the set flavour profile.
The result, a deliciously sweet-tasting coffee with notes of cashew, custard & pear drops. We are super-proud to roast this epic coffee produced by a female-led team. Another step towards gender equity in our industry.
Three of the talented female growers producing Betty 2022 in Guatemala. Big thanks to Volcafe Select for the photos.
We talk a lot about gender equality, but we should really be looking towards gender equity. While equality is the state of being equal, equity is about justness and fairness. Equity doesn't ask us to see everyone as the same or even to treat them the same. It allows us to appreciate people for their differences and accounts for those differences.
From the coffee farm to the coffee shop, there is a striking division of labour and pay. This pay gap generally increases for black, Asian, and minority ethnic women, LGBTQ+ communities generally face significant barriers in the workplace – these issues vary immensely according to the country.
In many coffee-producing countries, women struggle to access education, finance and business resources. Women are less likely to own property, run coffee farms or milling stations and are less represented in decision-making positions. Their income is lower, despite often doing more daily work than their male counterparts.
In Guatemala, the country of origin for this year's Betty, 70% of the labour in coffee production is provided by females, however only 20% of the farms are female owned.
A picker at Cauvery Peak coffee farm in India. Women here are recognised as more reliable and skilled workers.
Beyond gender inequality in the 'business' of coffee production, women in coffee growing countries are often at higher risk of gender-based violence.
Guatemala has one of the higest rates of femicide in the world. In 2021 Guatemalan women protested against domestic violence as part of the #TengoMiedo campaign following reports of 160 femicides and 20,000 reports of violence against women in the first 4 months of 2021 alone.
In Honduras, authorities and grass-roots groups are working hard to reduce the country's high levels of violence against women since 2017.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, female farm-workers are sexually-assaulted by militant groups as part of their strategy to destabilise the region.
These are some of the harsh realities faced by women in coffee growing countries, but often go unspoken about, especially in coffee-consuming countries.
Betty provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of supporting female growers. At Extract Coffee Roasters, we believe this support shouldn't be just for International Women's Day but year-round.
We have longstanding relationships with female growers, such as Delmy Regalado, from Liquidambar in Honduras. one of the coffees in our Organic Espresso and we look for female-grown lots when choosing new single origin coffees to roast. Some of our most recent female-grown coffees include Inner Strength from the Virunga National Park, Buf Naturals from Rwanda, Carmen Coca from Colombia and Chelchelie from Ethiopia.
More about how we support female coffee growers.
Delmy speaking about gender equality in coffee-growing communities
Betty 2022 is a delicious washed coffee with sweet custardy notes that make an epic flat white. The coffee, La Morena, was produced as part of an exciting initiative which saw 25 female coffee growers working in partnership to produce this delicious, all-female coffee.
REGION: HUEHUETENANGO, GUATEMALA
PROCESS: FULLY WASHED, SUN DRIED
IN THE CUP: CASHEW, CUSTARD, PEAR DROPS
Betty 2021 was a delicious honey-processed coffee, great with milk, alternative mylk or straight-up black. The coffee was from Liquidámbar, an organic farm in the San Marcos region of Honduras which Extract has supported since 2015.
The farm is co-owned by Delmy Regalado, a champion of organic coffee farming and women's rights in Honduras. Delmy was president of the International Women's Coffee Alliance Honduras Chapter for 5 years and is heavily involved in projects to train and educate Honduran women, giving them a route to financial independence.
You can read Delmy's grower story here or watch our Behind The Beans video interview where Delmy discusses organic farming, climate change and her work on gender equity for women in Honduras.
FARM: LIQUIDAMBAR, HONDURAS
PROCESS: HONEY PROCESS
IN THE CUP: REDCURRANT, MILKY WAY & CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM
2020 marked 10 years since we discovered and restored Betty the Probat roaster. We celebrated by launching a new coffee. Our first Betty Espresso launched on International Women's Day, a blend of natural and honey-process, resulting in a rich and fruity espresso with the acidity of soured cherries and the sweetness of chocolate bourbon biscuits. Delicious both black and with milk. Here are the stories of the incredible women behind this coffee.
After Epiphanie Mukashyaka was widowed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, she chose not to leave her family's small coffee farm. With help from local aid project, PEARL, Epiphanie founded Buf Café, and her incredible story is now inspiring female entrepreneurs throughout Rwanda's coffee sector. The level of care that Epiphanie takes over the processing of her coffee is impressive: the coffee we used to make Betty Espresso 2020 is a pulped natural process using 100% Red Bourbon coffee cherries and most of the cherry sorting is done by hand, by women.
FARMS: BUF CAFE, RWANDA
PROCESS: PULPED NATURAL
The second coffee in Betty 2020, Peru La Osa, meaning 'the female bear', was grown by Magdalena Lopez and Fredesvinda Granda. Their farms are nestled between the Andes' western and eastern ranges where a unique microclimate creates perfect coffee growing conditions and a haven for wildlife such as jaguars, spectacled bears, and peccaries.
Traditionally, Peru has a male-dominated coffee industry. Women have always been crucial to coffee production, whilst men held economic power. Cooperatives such as Frontera San Ignacio in Peru provide women like Magdalena and Fredesvinda resources and financial support to increase coffee quality and encourage innovation – such as this honey process.
FARM: FRONTERA SAN IGNACIO COOPERATIVE, PERU
PROCESS: HONEY, EXPERIMENTAL LOT
In 2010, we found Betty, a 1955 cast iron Probat roaster. In need of complete refurbishment, the restoration of Betty was a huge undertaking bug co-founder David lovingly restored and rebuilt her by hand. Read more about the restoration of our vintage coffee roasters.
Take a look at our latest coffees, freshly roasted and available to buy online now.