Henry Muñoz
Tropical, ripe and round; Henry is a member of the Monkaaba project in San Agustin, Huila.
Coffee Expression This is a ripe and fruity of the Pink Bourbon varietal, with tropical lychee and mango leading the cup.
Producer Produced by Henry Muñoz, a member of the Monkaaba project in San Agustin, Huila.
Monkaaba was founded in 2020 by Esnaider Ortega Gomez and Didier Ortega.
Esnaider formerly worked for a larger exporter, but could see that a greater level of transparency, fairness and commitment was possible in the supply chain. In collaboration with Brendan Adams of Semilla, now Monkaaba’s import partner, they set about building their vision.
San Agustin
Esnaider grew up in a household that valued support, community and collaboration. Monkaaba has been built on these values from the start. His father has always been a coffee producer, but instead of seeing others as competition, he has sought to build a community around coffee production, even helping some of his former pickers with loans to purchase their first land. Esnaider and Didier started together with a small group of 6 families, basing their operation out of the family home outside of San Agustin, in Southern Huila. Since then, Monkaaba has grown steadily; for the 2025 harvest they worked together with 80 families around San Agustin, and moved into their own bodega in town.
By producers, for producers
Transparency is a key element of Monkaaba. Producers, even those who don’t work with the project, can bring their coffee, cup it blind with the team, and get feedback on how they could improve. Those who work in the bodega are producers themselves, controlling each stage of the process from farm to export, and ensuring everything remains accessible for members of the project. As producers themselves, the Monkaaba team understands the issues and day to day challenges of this work, and aim to support in any way they can.
Henry Muñoz
Henry has a similar story to many that have joined Monkaaba. Together with his wife Tania, he works on a very small one hectare plot, at 1800 masl in the Recinas municipality close to San Agustin. He has always focussed on quality, and has been able to export his coffees on the international market before, but these relationships through large buyers have always lacked transparency on quality, pricing and the final buyer of the coffee. It is through these mechanisms that large exporters can hold onto a supply of quality coffees while making sure the producer only receives a small bonus above the market price. The relationship ends at the local buying point where they deliver their parchment. The closer relationships that Monkaaba enable mean that Henry has been able to understand where his coffee ends up, who buys it and why. He can then focus his work on the farm to better suit his partners and the market, creating a more sustainable business - through pricing and through stability.
Washed Pink Bourbon
Henry, his wife Tania and his son Harold are fully focussed on the family business. Harold, at only 18, is often to be found at the Monkaaba office in San Agustin, learning how to cup and assess coffee, and about the processes of export and sales. The transparency and focus that Monkaaba has allowed has led to a new era for the Muñoz family business, consistently producing quality and being rewarded fairly for it. This Pink Bourbon is an excellent example, ripe and fruity with tropical lychee and mango leading the cup.
