Book launch: Beber Mi Sudor

Together with photographer Jake Green, we have produced the first in an ongoing series of books that document our epic journeys with speciality coffee at origin, starting with Colombia.

Beber Mi Sudor translates literally as ‘drink my sweat’— an expression used by Colombian coffee workers to reflect the incredible effort and energy that goes in to producing their crops. It’s a fitting title for the first in a new series of books we’re producing in collaboration with photographer Jake Green that offer depth and detail to the story of our origin projects around the world.

Jake already has a close relationship to speciality coffee having produced two detailed personal series’. ‘Dialling In’ and ‘Maillard Effect’ capture some of the leading baristas and roasters across Europe and the USA, including Fabio Ferreira (Notes), James Bailey (Workshop Coffee), Celeste Wong (The Girl In The Cafe), and Dunnefrankowski.

Jake came to Oslo in 2016 to approach us about documenting our sourcing trips to origin, and then joined us on a two-week trip to Huila and Tolima in Colombia. Beber Mi Sudor is the result of that trip, an exploration of the sheer scale of endeavour that goes into producing Colombia’s most important cash crop.

The resulting images have been crafted into a beautiful book by celebrated art director Melanie Mues, who has responded to the vibrancy and movement in Jake’s images with a volume that feels transient and changeable. Bound with a red band, it is easily pulled apart into its component images to be reordered according to your tastes, or divided into stand-alone prints to decorate your walls. It also looks good on a coffee table (of course).

With accompanying texts by journalist James Cartwright, the book features interviews with farmers, roasters, and our long-time friend Tim Wendelboe, as well as essays on Colombia’s unique environmental conditions, the intricacy of cupping, and Nordic Approach’s philosophy and experience as a green coffee sourcing company.

#drinkmysweat