The Pulley Collective, a new project spearheaded by noted Nicaraguan producer (and former Intelligentsia East Coast retail manager) Steve Mierisch, has announced its first-ever public event: The 5 Manzana Initiative, an innovative green coffee auction program designed to connect small lot coffees from Nicaragua and Honduras with boutique North American specialty coffee roasters. Excerpted from Pulley Collective’s first press release, received just moments ago here at Sprudge Chicago Temporary HQ:
New York City-based startup Pulley Collective is pleased to announce its first ever event, a silent auction of 17 lots of coffee from Honduras and Nicaragua as part of the companyโs 5 Manzana Initiative.
The 5 Manzana Initiative is one of Pulley Collectiveโs flagship programs, created to facilitate access to small, high quality lots of coffee from a diverse range of countries to craft roasters for whom importing can present challenges. This buying event is the first in a series of farmer auctions that will evolve in collaboration with bidders and farmers to broaden access and break down barriers on all sides of the coffee supply chain. Three of the coffees in this event are 2012 Cup of Excellence (CoE) national finalists, while others are from past CoE winning producers. The program will continue to build on the work of Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE), with the aim of having all participating coffees be current-year CoE national finalists.
These first seventeen lots of coffee in the 5 Manzana Initiative have been curated by Pulley Collective and Rony Gamez, director of quality control for IHCAFE, and then imported to the United States. The coffees are currently warehoused at Continental Terminals in the New York area. They include lots from 11 different farmers, in sizes ranging from 6 to 39 150lb bags. Pulley Collectiveโs first farmer auction will be silent auction format, with open bidding accepted via email through November 9, 2012 at 6:00pm Eastern.
Roasters who would like to obtain samples of these coffees to cup themselves, or who would like to set up a cupping in their community should email info@pulleycollective.com.
Roasters who purchase coffee via The 5 Manzana Initiative auction will have their finished product featured at a week-long Pulley Collective event this December, hosted by New York City’s Joe Pro Shop. Much more information is available here via Pulley Collective online, and on Twitter @ThePulley – follow Sprudge for more updates on this and future Pulley Collective events.
