Terroir

Maker Series A Maker is a person who has been significantly influenced by and has made notable contributions to Ninety Plus in our journey to produce the best coffee in the world. In our Maker Series, we highlight these individuals to share how Ninety Plus has affected their lives and celebrate the impact they in turn have had on Ninety Plus. Camilo Sanchez Camilo Sanchez grew up in the Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca, an Indigenous reservation area in Panama. He began his journey with Ninety Plus in 2012 as a harvester, engaging in the grueling work of hand selecting coffee cherries up and down the steep slopes of the Ninety Plus estates. Nicknamed El Tigre for his enthusiasm and grace on the hiking trails that wind throughout the estates, Camilo now oversees all agricultural operations for Ninety Plus and has traveled the world to share Ninety Plus taste experience. Original answers were given in Spanish and live-translated. WHEN WAS YOUR FIRST SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCE WITH COFFEE? In 2015, I was invited to attend a tasting session at Ninety Plus Gesha Estates. I could not believe the taste differences from one coffee to another. There were many world-class baristas there as well, and everyone had an excitement for the different coffees and an understanding of coffee that I did not yet comprehend fully. I didn’t know how to react to the differences as everyone else, but I did know that I was experiencing something special. Before that experience I had not had the opportunity to be in such rooms and at such tables. As a child my experience with coffee was limited to visiting family members who worked on coffee farms. Later in life, around 2012, I was harvesting coffee for Ninety Plus but saw it just as work. I did not see it as something to be passionate about or as a future career. But during my time harvesting, the farm manager came across my detailed notebooks and recognized my organizational skills. He brought this to the attention of Joseph and asked me to begin managing the Red Room, where coffee is dried. Later, I also managed the area where coffee was received and processed. Even while working so closely with the coffee I did not have a passion for it. It was only when I had that first tasting experience in 2015 that I found that I had a bigger passion for coffee that I had not yet unlocked. Once I started working with Joseph I truly began to understand the world of coffee. This fueled my passion even more. I got to learn more about the values of the brand including taste, humanity, and ecology. This understanding allowed me to put more of myself into it. WHAT DOES NINETY PLUS COFFEE MEAN TO YOU? Whenever I think of Ninety Plus I think about how it is the best. Not only in coffee but also in its values. The brand is working for a better future with sustainable harvesting practices and a sustainable mission. When I speak of sustainability I mean not only environmental sustainability but also happiness in the process. It is a brand that is looking to the future for sustainability of the environment and its people. WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE WITH NINETY PLUS COFFEE? I have had many experiences with Ninety Plus and there are many more to come. But the time when I first learned to roast coffee comes to mind. When I first learned to roast I couldn’t sleep, as it was overwhelming to try to understand everything about the process. I was thinking of the coffee at all times. There were so many things to learn about fermentation, the ripeness of the cherries when picked, and so many other variables. I also remember the first time I tasted notes of strawberries in a cup of coffee. Every time something new happened it was impactful. It continues to happen now. There are new experiences and new coffees that are discovered and I am excited to share them with others. It is like exploring nature. There are new waterfalls, new trails and spaces to discover, just like coffees. The moments are endless. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE FUTURE OF COFFEE? I think the future of coffee is in the flavors. I believe that the innovations we are making at Ninety Plus are already having a positive global impact within the coffee industry and beyond. There are many opportunities to introduce new varieties and flavors and it is important to enjoy those in the present but to not stop there and look to the future and grow little by little. And to make it known that coffee should not be limited to historical standards but have room to expand. WHAT LASTING IMPACT DO YOU HOPE TO MAKE ON COFFEE? Each time I find something amazing in the coffees my instinct is to share it with everyone. At first I was hesitant to share these discoveries, but over the years my confidence has grown and I am now confident and excited to share each discovery. I want to look back on my life and think of how many people I have taught. If I have only learned for myself and not taught others it will have been for nothing. I want to share the knowledge I have learned, especially with those in my community. Indigenous communities are equal to others and I hope by sharing my knowledge there will be more presence from my community in the coffee industry. I am the only person from my community who has captured coffee in this way and I hope to pass it to the next generation.

Ninety Plus coffee lies at the intersection of innovation and veneration. Inspired by the coffee traditions of Ethiopia, we are grounded in lessons from history while simultaneously refining our farming practices and advancing our processes and methods, ethically and sustainably producing some of the best coffee in the world. ORIGINS Coffee is thought to have been discovered in the Kaffa region in southwestern Ethiopia over a thousand years ago, where heirloom coffee still grows wild in the shade of the forest canopy. From there, coffee spread first to the Arabian Peninsula and then throughout the world. Ninety Plus also originated in Ethiopia. Passionate about coffee since young adulthood, Ninety Plus founder Joseph Brodsky moved to southern Ethiopia in 2006 to hand-make coffees alongside local producers, classifying the varieties and terroir that produced the best coffee, establishing controls on post-harvest protocols, and developing innovative processing methods to achieve singular flavor profiles. It was in Ethiopia that Joseph also learned about Panama as a potential coffee growing paradise, particularly the cloud-forest highlands around Volcán Barú. EXPLORATION Benefitting from competing ocean breezes, mountainous terrain, abundant rainfall, and nutrient-dense soil, Joseph found that the mountains of Panama represent some of the best coffee-growing terroir in the world. Gesha Estates, Ninety Plus’ first Panamanian farm, is wild and in places unforgiving, with steep slopes, abundant wildlife, and turbulent waterfalls. In other places, however, it had been nearly destroyed. A former cattle ranch, hundreds of acres had been clear-cut to create grazing lands. Guided by Joseph’s passion for ecological regeneration, the Ninety Plus team spent years reforesting the land with native trees before planting shade-loving Ethiopian Gesha coffee trees beneath the forest canopy, spacing them far apart to reduce nutrient competition and to leave room for other forest species to thrive. Joseph came upon the location for the second farm, Barú Estates, while hiking in the area north of the town of Volcán. Hidden on one side by a low ridge and on the other by Volcán Barú itself, this land sat largely untouched for decades. Inspired by its large flat plain–the result of the volcano’s most recent eruption–dense jungle, and dramatic ridges, Joseph soon acquired this property to support Ninety Plus’ next phase of innovation and growth. INNOVATION We believe that the best coffee in the world can only be made by cultivating a deep understanding of nature, a communion that requires unwavering ecological respect and that ultimately sparks innovation and growth. It is through this relationship that we are able to hand-select the most prized Gesha and other Ethiopian heirloom coffee varietals, successfully apply ancient low-density farming techniques, explore the cultivation of experimental heirloom coffees, and develop boundary-pushing processing techniques. We believe we have found the secret to ethical, sustainable, and innovative coffee farming and production, and we’d love to share it with you.

At Ninety Plus, the styles of coffee we produce result not only from the varieties we grow (e.g., Gesha), but also from the actions we take on each coffee.