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To Maria Clara Ruiz Zapata, owner of Madison’s Estación Coffee, sharing an espresso with loved ones is an act of savoring the moment versus consuming caffeine to rush and get the day started.
The ritual also represents supporting one’s community, Ruiz Zapata said, which is the backbone of her online subscription-based coffee business that launched two years ago to financially support 45 families in Colombia with their small-scale coffee farms and the selling of their product directly to consumers.
Ruiz Zapata hails from Colombia and frequently travels back to her home, which happens to be one of the world’s top exporters of the aromatic brew. The country also has a rich and extensive history surrounding coffee but it’s a history that’s not without economic challenges for growers of the popular bean — and that’s why the business came to fruition in the first place.
The UW-Madison graduate is a veterinarian by trade, who when travelling the Colombian countryside years ago discovered just how much the coffee farmers that lived there struggled — sporadic coffee bean sales that turned up minimal profit to support high labor, production and equipment costs. In 2022, farmers also face a changing Colombian climate amid global warming.
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As many as 500,000 farmers were not getting the bang for their buck back then as they farmed coffee beans, Ruiz Zapata said she found out as she established the precursor of Estación Coffee back in 2012 — a tourism organization called ZoOming.co that dissolved amid the COVID-19 pandemic as the company’s industry experienced major financial blows.
Now, Estación Coffee is able to add 30% on top of what coffee farmers make on a regular day, but that figure is dependent on several factors — weather, environmental conditions, hands to help and more. Whereas a typical farmer could make just under a dollar per hour on a typical workday — hours can vary — Estación’s support bumps that up to roughly $5 per hour, Ruiz Zapata said.
According to 2018 data from The Borgen Project, a nonprofit in Washington, Colombia is a “poverty-stricken” coffee sector, with farmers living on less than $2 a day.
It doesn’t help that growing coffee is a complicated and time-consuming feat requiring a few harvests per year, Ruiz Zapata said.
As the business moves to commercialize, the hope is to one day be the sole purchaser of beans from the 45 families Estación works with, Ruiz Zapata said. Currently, the company makes up only a portion of that. The direct buying of coffee beans from farmers has been a trend, even among large corporations like Starbucks, to better support impoverished growers.
Maria Clara Ruiz Zapata’s online subscription-based Estación Coffee supports 45 families in Colombia with small-scale coffee farms.
Working out of Synergy Coworking on the West Side, Estación has 2,500 subscribers from across the country buying its beans. Shoppers can choose three places in Colombia from which to purchase their brew, and for prices starting at $13.90 up to $58.99. All coffee growers that work with the business have their fair trade certification, Ruiz Zapata said.
In order to market herself, Ruiz Zapata hosts what she calls “experiences” in which attendees can taste, touch and smell Estación’s product. Ruiz Zapata demonstrates how the coffee is brewed, and even has participants undergo mindfulness exercise as they sip their beverage.
Tell us more about what you observed during your travels in the Colombian countryside.
Once I met the coffee growers 10 years ago, I was completely touched by what they do. They always have a smile. It’s easy to portray them as having hard jobs. But they love their land, birds, water, forest and view. They know they are fortunate to have that. (Some farmers would carry their coffee product) down on mules every six months to sell it in nearby towns. Others would walk five hours to access their crop.
What’s so unique about how Colombian farmers cultivate their product?
Colombia is the only country where the coffee is grown by the people that own the land. The country has a lot of fresh water resources.
When you picture Estación Coffee a year from now, or even five years from now, how do you see the business operating?
I see people going to Colombia with us at least twice a year, and getting involved in the project. I see the coffee growers coming to the U.S. to see where their product is and to get a sense of what that means. There are many things that can connect us in that way, and that is our main goal.
What does coffee represent for you as a Colombia native?
It represents my family, for sure. We started drinking coffee when we were really young — a little bit of coffee with a lot of milk and panela (unrefined whole cane sugar). We don’t drink coffee alone, and take it in small cups with something sweet. It’s sharing and thinking about how you are drinking the coffee in such a beautiful place with landscapes you see every morning. It’s about slowing down.
Art of the Everyday: A recap of May in photos from Wisconsin State Journal photographers

Kayla Soren and Diego Frankel enjoy a breath of spring during a visit beneath a magnolia tree at the UW Arboretum in Madison, Wis. Monday, May 9, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Umalkher Samatar, center, plays with daughters Siham Ali, left, and Zubeida Ali during a party Saturday celebrating Eid al-Fitr at McGaw Park in Fitchburg. The holiday of Eid marks the end of Ramadan. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Lottie Stenjem arranges an assortment of flowers to put into vases that will be shipped out to retailers, at ERI Floral in Stoughton, Wis., Monday, May 2, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Chris Wallom, a facilities worker with the Wisconsin Department of Administration, harvests tulips from the grounds of the Wisconsin State Capitol as workers prepare the beds for incoming arrays of annuals in Madison, Wis. Monday, May 16, 2022. Each spring, following the short-lived growth period for the flowers, workers dig up the bulbs and make them available on a first-come, first-serve basis to residents looking to enhance their own properties for the following year. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Uri Andrews, of Middleton, holds up one of his 4-year-old twins, Benjamin, with Rafael, 2, bottom, to catch a whiff of the corpse flower, Amorphophallus titanum, that bloomed after reaching a heigh of just under 68-inches, at Olbrich Botanical Gardens’ Bolz Conservatory in Madison, Wis., Thursday, May 5, 2022. The plant, which was a donation from UW-Madison’s D.C. Smith Greenhouse in 2006, last bloomed in 2010 to a height of 6-feet. Corpse flowers bloom four to five times on average during their 40-year lifespan. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Eva Theyerl, granddaughter of library aid Roberta Ryskoski, takes a nap at the Brandon Public Library in Brandon, Wis., Tuesday, May 3, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Genevieve Bouska, left, and Lulu Jaeckel, both seniors at West High School, relax in hammocks during an afternoon visit to Vilas Park in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, May 11, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Returning to the region during a seasonal migration, several great egrets share the shoreline of Wingra Creek as a light rain shower falls in Madison, Wis. Tuesday, May 3, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Looking forward to the birth of their second child in July, Aws Albarghouthi captures photographs of his wife, Maria Zarzalejo, during an afternoon visit to Vilas Park in Madison, Wis. Tuesday, May 17, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Brynn Wozniak and Ethan Cash, at right, both UW-Madison students, sit in the grass at Lisa Link Peace Park as they listen to the band LINE during the Madison Night Market in Madison, Wis., Thursday, May 12, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Continuing an annual tradition, graduates of UW-Madison pose for photos with the statue of Abraham Lincoln on Bascom Hill as they celebrate the conferring of their degrees on the campus in Madison, Wis. Wednesday, May 4, 2022. Enjoying an up-close look at the sculpture is School of Business graduate Danielle Lacke. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

UW-Madison graduating students, from left, Michael Walsh, Michael Burns, Jeremiah Clark and Noah Prudlo play a game of beer dice outside their fraternity, Pi Lambda Phi, before attending the spring commencement ceremony at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis., Saturday, May 14, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Ke Thao and his 11-month-old son, Leo, share a fishing outing together from a pier at Vilas Park in Madison, Wis. Monday, May 23, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Students participate in a demonstration of infantry drills during Civil War Living History Days at the Milton House Museum in Milton, Wis., Friday, May 20, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Village of Lone Rock, Wis. worker Haydn Walsh organizes banners commemorating the military service careers of family members from the region as the village continues an annual tradition of honoring them with displays throughout the village from Memorial Day through July 4 Thursday, May 26, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Sisters, from left, Lydia Scovill and Charlette place flags at the gravesite of their great grandfather, who served as a Marine in World War II, at Roselawn Memorial Cemetery in Monona, Wis., Monday, May 30, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Visitors use a telescope, that was installed in 1879, to see the star Arcturus during one of the free public observing days at Washburn Observatory at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wis., Wednesday, May 18, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Cyclists make their way into a 3/4-mile-long tunnel along the Elroy-Sparta State Trail near the village of Norwalk, Wis. Wednesday, May 11, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

Madison East’s Jonathon Quattrucci competes in the boys discus throw during a WIAA Division 1 Regional track meet at DeForest High School in DeForest, Wis., Monday, May 23, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Runners compete in the 100 meter dash prelims during the Capital Conference Championships at Lodi High School in Lodi, Wis., Tuesday, May 17, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Middleton’s Finn Patenaude celebrates his win in the 110-meter hurdles during the Big 8 conference meet at Monterey Stadium in Janesville, Wis., Friday, May 13, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Sun Prairie’s Miles Adkins celebrates clearing the bar in pole vault during the WIAA Division 1 Sectional in Sun Prairie, Wis., Thursday, May 26, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Wisconsin Heights Barneveld’s Lexi Pulcine, right, wins the 100 meter hurdles as Belleville’s Alexandra Atwell falls over the finish line during the Capital Conference Championships at Lodi High School in Lodi, Wis., Tuesday, May 17, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Wisconsin catcher Christaana Angelopulos tags out Michigan’s Lexie Blair at the Goodman Softball Complex in Madison, Wis., Friday, May 6, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Madison East High School students, including senior Harnish VanOers, center, freshman Carina Caspar, right, and sophomore Oscar Mora, at left, walk on East Washington Avenue to the state Capitol from school in support of immigrant rights to drivers licenses in Madison, Wis., Monday, May 2, 2022. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Demonstrators protest outside the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, May 3, 2022. A leaked draft opinion suggests the U.S. Supreme Court intends to overturn the 1973 case Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion nationwide. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL

Volunteers, from left, Mark Thomas, Alysha Clark, Joy Morgen, Anne Habel and Jered Hoff place tombstones along Atwood Avenue at Olbrich Park signifying the U.S. military lives lost since 2001, as part of the Veterans for Peace Memorial Mile display, in Madison, Wis., Saturday, May 28, 2022. KAYLA WOLF, STATE JOURNAL

Alex Rose, left, and Jasmine Devant of Jefferson, Wis. take in the sunset from atop an historic Native American earthen platform mound at Aztalan State Park in Aztalan, Wis. Monday, May 16, 2022. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL