My name is Catalina Gutierrez Ortiz, and this is my coffee story.
Catalina Gutierrez Ortiz
I am from Colombia, living in London and Bogotá. Every Colombian is incredibly proud of being from a coffee-producing country. However, Colombian coffee consumed abroad is quite different from what Colombians are used to drink. And it is hard to find good roasters there, so I started bringing Colombian coffee roasted in London to Colombia. This made me question many aspects of coffee consumption to a point where I gave up my career as a Graphic Designer and became a full-time Barista in London.
Three years into my barista job, I was serving coffee and talking about different processing methods, which brought me back to the origin, where I fell in love with green coffee production and decided to focus more on this aspect of the coffee chain. Consequently, coffee prices and sustainability became important topics for me, which is why I started to export coffee myself.
When I am not a Barista or a coffee exporter, I enjoy one of my many hobbies – walking around the TATE modern or one of the pop-up museums in my old neighborhood in South East London. I am a product and graphic designer too, and this remains a passion of mine. My favorite chair is the Thonet No. 14!
I also love dancing, cooking (especially Asian food); I do yoga and run. I am a big Arsenal fan, and I also follow the Santafé football team from Bogotá. I listen to all kinds of music, from traditional south American folk to old and modern British stuff.
If you want to meet you in person, come around! There is always time for coffee. I rather you do it the Latin way and don’t call or make an appointment – just turn up at the door and say hi.
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Cata Export was born in April 2019, with the mission to improve green coffee prices as well as connecting roasters in Europe to those exceptional Colombian farmers that go unnoticed. Today, Cata Export runs a young-producers platform, already selling coffee in Belgium, France, the UK, and Romania. This past year has been exciting as I have met inspiring people who opened new opportunities for those of us involved at origin.
This story is edited by our volunteer content writer A.C.
