| Country | Colombia |
|---|---|
| Varietal | Arabica caturra |
| Processing | Washed |
| Crop | November 2022 |
| Partnership | 1 year |
| Coffee type | Whole bean |
La Guajira Farm
is located in the Planadas region, which is the foothills of the Colombian Andes in the southern part of Tolima. The altitude of the farm is 1880 – 2100 m.a.s.l.
Edison Arias is the third generation of a coffee family and he bought this farm in 2013. At that time there was hardly any coffee on the farm. Edison planted the farm with coffee trees typical of Colombia - caturra, colombia, castillo. Coffee is grown on ¾ of the farm's area. The rest is planted with sugar cane, yucca and bananas. The farm is surrounded by a bamboo forest, which is not only useful as a building material, but also helps with water retention and regulation, thus maintaining a healthy ecosystem.
Edison lives on a farm with his wife and three children. The oldest son already helps his father with the management of the farm. Great to see another promising coffee generation growing up here. During the harvest, another 4 to 10 seasonal workers help on the farm.
Partnership with InConexus
We selected this coffee together with Jitka Ekartová Milotová, who works in Colombia for coffee exporter InConexus.
Edison's goal is to grow specialty coffee of the highest quality. He succeeds in this thanks to the partnership with this company, which they established right from the beginning. InConexus is an important partner, providing him with consultations on coffee growing, building the farm infrastructure and last but not least, they have improved the controlled coffee processing.
Program El Brasil
Edison's farm is part of the El Brasil program, which aims to improve the taste quality of coffees from Tolima. InConexus, together with the farmers, monitors the individual processes on the farm and their effect on the resulting taste of the coffee. They then modify these steps to improve the process while making it easy to replicate. The area of Tolima was for a long time one of the least accessible and coffee cultivation was at a low level. Farmers in the El Brasil program are open to change and educate each other.
Coffee Processing
Ripe coffee cherries were hand-picked and sorted in a water tank where they were then left to ferment for 13 hours. The beans were then depulped from the cherries and left to ferment for another 40 hours in a small amount of water. In the final stage, the coffee was moved to the ventilated roof where it was dried for 2 weeks.
Taste Profile
The resulting cup has the juiciness of blackcurrants, the taste of cocoa nibs and the sweetness of honey. We roast this coffee primarily for espresso.
