La Molienda
A Secret-Santa-type, care-package project
Molienda is the Spanish word for grinder. One of the last legs in the long journey of coffee, the grinder unifies. We put coffee beans of slightly different shapes and sizes in, and what comes out is a much more homogeneous whole. All the care, work, and people represented in those wee little beans—this is where it all starts coming together for the final transformation into powerful beverage.
Let's share that moment with each other. Let’s send each other coffee. Let’s send each other coffee produced by women!
How does it work?
When signing up, you commit to purchasing a bag of coffee produced by women for someone else! This is a gift exchange designed to celebrate generosity & community.
Sign up before December 25th. When the sign-up deadline ends, you will receive a message with the name and address of another participant.
Once sign-up ends, you ask you send your gift by January 6, 2025 to your exchange pal! Need help sourcing coffee produced by women? Check out our list here!
Send us the tracking information—that way we can support your gift exchange pal if they’re wondering where their gift is.
You will receive your own care package of coffee in the mail from someone else.
Drink it however you enjoy your coffee, and use our recently-created sensory form to take notes while you enjoy the coffee (see below). Extra points for contacting the roaster to share your notes as a way to connect with their good work roasting and celebrate our individual talents. Extra extra points for asking the roaster to share those notes with the producer!
As you sip, say a silent thank-you to the women who made that coffee happen!
Option: Add a donation to TWICE to support our sensory development workshop, and get a downloadable coffee tasting form we developed for our participants to work on sensory skills at home. Learn more below.
What's new:
This year through this La Molienda exchange, we are building awareness of a sensory tool we created to reduce gender-based anxiety related to developing sensory skills. While it is free to sign up to participate in the La Molienda exchange, we are inviting one-time donations of $10 to be able to receive a downloadable version of the form to see how it works for yourself.
In addition to accessing the form, which we believe can be used to develop sensory skills in any coffee lover's home, these donations will ensure the form and the subsequent professional development will be shared with producer groups in the future. The next TWICE Workshop (learn more here) is confirmed to be held in San José, Costa Rica at the 2025 Summit of the Asociación de Cafés Finos de Costa Rica. We are looking to raise $1,000 which will cover the following costs:
Two (2) in-person workshops in Costa Rica in March 2025, with the intention of reaching up to 100 individuals, including participants of the summit in San José, as well as producer groups in the Tarrazu region.
Travel costs for the workshop facilitators
Printing costs and other tangible materials for participants
Cupping tools, including bowls, spoons, scales, and kettles, to be donated to the producer group in Tarrazu.
Sign Up Form
Some tips:
You don’t have to commit to international shipping if you don’t want to! Just check that box when you’re filling out the survey.
If you DO want to commit to international shipping, don’t forget to check online if the roaster you want to support ships internationally!
Things take time to ship, especially if they’re shipped with care from across the globe. Be patient! If you really are worried your La Molienda gift is lost in the mail, feel free to reach out (we ask that all gifters send tracking to us, if possible).
If you’re purchasing from a roasting company’s online web shop, find a way to denote “La Molienda” if there’s a gift note option. That way the recipient knows where it came from!
All coffees purchased and sent under the name “La Molienda” must be produced by women! It doesn’t have to be sourced or roasted by women, just produced by women in the country where the coffee was grown.
You don’t have to be a womxn to participate, just in case it wasn’t clear! :) It’s open to all!
Don’t know what coffee to buy? Use the guide we created to find coffees produced by women and the roasters who sell them.
If you know of - or work for - a roasting company that is sourcing, roasting, and selling women-produced coffee, send us a message by email or Instagram and we will add it to that searchable database.