Welcome to The Sprudge Twenty Interviews offered by Pacific Barista Collection. For an entire listing of 2025 Sprudge Twenty honorees, please go to sprudge.com/twenty.
María Ingrid Gasser is the CFO of Cafeología, a Bolivian visionary chief who has labored throughout your complete espresso worth chain all through Latin America—from specialty cafes, productive espresso farms, and collector communities to roasters, exporters, and buying and selling firms, spanning nations like Chile, Bolivia, Mexico, and Costa Rica.
She combines monetary mastery with a strong feminine perspective, persistently driving excellence and innovation. Ingrid is a revered speaker on a number of platforms and occasional packages, and he or she teaches the distinguished “Finance and Espresso Economics” course for entrepreneurs and occasional ecosystem fans. She has collaborated with a few of Costa Rica’s most famous espresso farms, constructing bridges between profitability and goal. Past her skilled achievements, Ingrid conjures up as an distinctive mom, proving that keenness, management, and care can coexist and rework the business.
Nominated by Javier Carriel Peña.
What number of years whole have you ever labored within the espresso business?
Eleven.
What was your first espresso job?
Espresso store supervisor.
Did you expertise a life-changing second of espresso revelation early in your profession?
Sure. Early in my profession I skilled a life-changing realization. I began working in espresso in a non-producing nation, the place I found that espresso was not only a beverage . For years I traveled to go to farms in lots of nations, however solely this 12 months I used to be lastly in a position to step right into a espresso discipline in my very own nation, Bolivia. That second of returning to my roots reshaped my imaginative and prescient and confirmed that espresso would at all times be my career, my ardour, and my method of making well-being for the longer term.
Is there an individual or individuals who served as your mentor early in your espresso profession? How did they impression you?
Considered one of my most essential mentors has been Jesús Salazar, founding father of Cafeología. From him I’ve discovered not solely methods of working with espresso, but in addition methods of being, considering, and seeing the world. His perspective taught me to method espresso and life as inseparable—to grasp finance, technique, and each day work as instruments in service of care, group, and a deeper goal. That imaginative and prescient continues to form how I stroll my path in espresso.
What’s your present function in espresso?
I at the moment function Finance Director at Cafeología. My function is to align monetary technique with the broader mission of espresso as a system of care, information, and group. Along with main finance, I’m answerable for managing the corporate’s exports, working straight with roasters and companions world wide. I additionally train the course Financial system and Finance of Espresso, a extremely specialised and impressive program that equips producers, professionals, and college students with instruments to grasp and navigate the monetary realities of espresso. Throughout all these roles—finance, exports, and schooling—my work seeks to create constructions that maintain high quality, innovation, and long-term prosperity.
What aspect of the espresso business has modified probably the most throughout your profession?
The aspect that has modified probably the most throughout my profession is the popularity of the individuals who have at all times sustained espresso, particularly girls like Samaria. Her presence—attentive, curious, alive, full—jogs my memory that espresso is just not solely about markets or classes, however about methods of being and seeing the world. What has shifted most is the rising respect for various worldviews: understanding that we could by no means absolutely comprehend them, and that our personal views will not be superior due to it. This modification—from invisibility to recognition, from discount to complexity—has reshaped how I perceive espresso.
What nonetheless surprises you at the moment about espresso, or provides you pleasure?
Actually? A cup of espresso. Hahaha.
What nonetheless surprises me and provides me pleasure is its limitless means to attach. Each cup isn’t the identical.
What’s one thing in regards to the espresso business you’d most prefer to see change?
I’d most prefer to see a change in how worth is distributed throughout the espresso chain.
What’s your most cherished espresso reminiscence?
My most cherished espresso reminiscence is the primary time I used to be on the harvest middle in La Hilda, in Central Valley (Costa Rica). I used to be struck by its specific rhythm—a method of being that felt each distinctive and pure. The stream of individuals, the motion of cherries, the sounds and colours all carried their very own cadence. There was a lot abundance in that place, not solely of espresso however of life itself, that it was really stunning. That reminiscence stays with me as a reminder of what espresso actually is.
Do you make espresso at residence? In that case, inform us the way you brew!
Sure, I make espresso at residence on daily basis, however Saturdays have their very own identify and rhythm. They’re my ritual. I attempt to get up earlier than everybody else in the home—my husband and our two little youngsters—to organize a handbook brew on my V60, which has the identical age as my skilled life in espresso. I drink it by the window, quietly and fortunately, having fun with that straightforward second of peace.
What’s your favourite tune/music to brew espresso to?
Jorge Drexler: “Todo se Transforma”
What’s your concept of espresso happiness?
My concept of espresso happiness is straightforward: a very good cup shared in a second of connection. Typically that’s with my household on a quiet morning, generally with colleagues round a desk of cuppings, and generally with producers in the course of harvest.
When you may drink espresso with anybody, dwelling or useless, who would it not be and why?
Con mi abuelita. 🥰
What’s one piece of recommendation you’ll give somebody getting their begin within the espresso business at the moment?
My recommendation can be: when you enter espresso, it would stick with you without end. This business has a method of capturing your coronary heart and your thoughts—it challenges you, teaches you, and provides you goal.
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