Bellwether Coffee
Producing a series of photographic and video assets to support the launch of a revolutionary in-store coffee roasting machines.
The Client
Bellwether Coffee is a California-based company that is revolutionizing the coffee supply chain process and empowering people across the globe to sustainably source and roast coffee. They were founded in 2013 and created the world's first all-electric, ventless coffee roasting system.
This system allows any coffee retailer to source their own sustainable green coffee and roast it in-house with no previous experience in roasting. As a result, it creates a more efficient supply chain, reduces the carbon footprint of coffee roasting, and empowers coffee retailers to be more sustainable.
Bellwether's all-electric roaster reduces the carbon footprint of roasting coffee by 87%. Typically, roasting makes up 15% of the entire carbon footprint of coffee across the globe, so this is a significant reduction that has ramifications for the long-term sustainability of the coffee industry.
A core element of Bellwether's principles is creating ongoing relationships with coffee farm partners to provide long-term stability. For this project, they wanted to showcase some of their point-of-origin partners and farms in Colombia and tell their stories.
The Partner
The project’s local partner is ASOPEP (Asociación de productores ecológicos de Planadas, or Ecological Producers Association of Planadas), a cooperative based in Planadas in Tolima region. In the past, Planadas was more known for conflict than specialty coffee. ASOPEP is working to change that perception and provide sustainable wages for coffee producers. Their coffee is purchased by Bellwether using their Verified Living Income benchmark system.
The coffee-producing town of Planadas, Tolima.
Deliverables
Our deliverables for Bellwether Coffee were 30 images and fifteen motion stills/slo-mo videos designed for the video interface of their new in-store roasting machine. They are shown on the display screen when the machine is inactive, so customers can enjoy beautiful footage of the Colombian Coffee Region while they drink their cups.
Additionally, Bellwether requested four video interviews with their local partners: one with the co-op manager and three with local coffee producers.
Production
Our first pre-production task was to source a list of producers from ASOPEP and conduct a series of interviews to select our three main characters for the shoot. After interviewing local coffee producers, we settled on three characters: Duberney Cifuentes Fajardo, Maria del Rosario Olaya, and Darwin Cometa Giraldo, along with the manager of the coffee co-op in Planadas.
Our team traveled to Planadas using our trusted local transportation partners with access to rugged 4x4s. Many of the sites we would be visiting were located in hard-to-access areas with unpaved roads, so it was vital to travel with drivers experienced in this mountainous terrain.
The mountainous terrain of Planadas, which we were able to access thanks to our trusted local transportation partners.
Over three days of shooting, we visited the local Bellwether producers, conducted interviews, filmed drone footage for the slow-motion roaster interface videos, and took photographs of the coffee production process.
The Protagonists
The three coffee producers we had selected as part of the pre-production process proved perfect for the client's brand identity as advocates of sustainable coffee production and community relationships.
Since childhood, Maria del Rosario has loved coffee, watching her father work on the plantations. So when she married her husband, Paulino, they bought a coffee farm and started their own business. Fifty years later, they have raised four children and put them through school and college, thanks to coffee. Her farm, Finca Merolindo, is perched on top of a steep hill, and she and her husband still lug heavy coffee sacks up and down the mountains every day.
Maria del Rosario, one of our local protagonists, and a coffee producer partnered with Bellwether Coffee through ASOPEP.
Duberney lost his coffee-growing parents when he was just six years old and grew up surrounded by the Colombian armed conflict in Planadas. His mother had left him a small plot of land, so he took his wife and daughter there to farm coffee when he finished school. Thanks to his dedication, he gained university qualifications using the income from his coffee farm. He has a strong passion for sustainability and reforestation.
Darwin's coffee journey was quite different. He grew up on a coffee farm in Planadas but had little interest in coffee, preferring to spend his time studying. However, after he graduated, he found himself at a crossroads: work was hard to come by, so the boy who wanted nothing to do with coffee became a coffee farmer. However, he hasn't lost his passion for education and self-improvement and is one of ASOPEP's most enthusiastic and innovative members.
Darwin is another coffee producer and local partner of Bellwether Coffee in Planadas, Tolima.
The Results
The assets produced became a core element of the launch of their new in-store roasting machines. In addition, the interviews served as the ideal vehicle for expressing the Bellwether mission to their employees, stakeholders, and consumer audiences.
Learn more about our Colombia-based Creative Studio + Film Production Company HERE.
Of Colombia’s 32 departments, coffee is grown in over 20; however, the country’s top crop is most famously produced in the area known as the Coffee Triangle, one of the most culturally and ecologically diverse parts of the country.