COLOMBIA
honeydew
∙ tropical fruits ∙ chestnut
This coffee is a microlot of 350 kg coffee beans grown in Aristobulo Muñoz’s farm near the village of Petaluma located in the Cundinamarca department of Colombia. The processing specialist team of La Palma & El Tucán has done the postharvest processing of this coffee. It’s a combination of Typica, Caturra, Castillo, Colombia and Bourbon varieties.
hile Brazil is the world’s biggest coffee producer giving about 30–35% of the world’s total coffee production, Colombia comes second supplying approximately 12% of the world’s coffee. Colombia’s coffee is of excellent quality, grown at high altitudes on small peasant holdings, and the coffee is carefully picked and is wet-processed. The Colombian Federation of Coffee Growers is a wellorganised body representing and supporting the country’s small-holder coffee farmers. Colombia has over 600 000 small, less than 5-acre-farms nestled in the hills at roughly 1200 to 2 000 meters above the sea level. The Andes run along the whole country not only splitting the country into sections, but forming diverse micro-climates as well. The coffee you are holding in your hands has been grown in Cundinamarca, which is an area located on the eastern range of the Colombian Andes, about 1750 meters above the sea level. This region has unique micro-climates with temperatures averaging 21 °C, a relative humidity of 75% and a minimum of 1600 sunny hours per year. These features make Cundinamarca a land of great biodiversity with ideal conditions for producing high-grown speciality coffee. The Colombian based processing specialist team of La Palma & El Tucán has done the post-harvest processing of this coffee.
Don Aristobulo, the producer of this coffee, spent his early years surrounded by coffee; his family owned a coffee farm in La Mesa that was replaced with other crops 10 years ago when coffee prices went down. By that time, he had decided to move to a village called Petaluma, about 20 minutes away from La Palma & El Tucán´s farm. From that moment on, he has been devoted to two things: growing flowers and coffee at an organic farm called “Granja Torrehoyos”, where he currently works as the farm administrator. He has an agreement with the owners of the farm which states that which he receives 50% of the income generated by the two crops. The coffee cherries that are not sold to the La Palma & El Tucán’s Neighbors & Crops program get roasted in Bogota and are sold by Aristobulo and his wife in Cachipay, the biggest town near his village. He says they can sell approximately 10 to 15 pounds per month, claiming that it is “a very difficult market”. Don Aristobulo is 54 years old. He and his wife have 4 children: 2 of them live in Bogota and the other 2 live in Cachipay. His wife helps him actively with all the work needed at the farm located near the village San Juanito, Anolaima. Currently, his farm named Granja Torrehoyos is planted with Castillo variety, but he has just started to plant a part of his farm with Taabi variety. 2014 harvest was his first experi-
ence with the processing plant La Palma & El Tucán. He says the co-operation went very well because he received a much higher income and enjoyed the benefits of the cherry picking team and the special organic fertilisers that the La Palma & El Tucán produces from the cherry pulp of all the coffee cherries they buy during the harvest. During the processing of the beans La Palma & El Tucán attempted to combine the benefits of the acetic and lactic fermentation, by inducing a controlled production of lactic and acetic acids allowing for a highly complex cup profile. The beans were then sun dried over 19 days to reach the optimal moisture content. Aristobulo says he has already decided that for the 2015 harvest he will be selling all his production to La Palma & El Tucán’s Neighbors & Crops program and so that he could earn another benefit: the loyalty premium. This means he will be rewarded for his loyalty by La Palma & El Tucán with higher prices per kilo.
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To achieve the best taste experience possible use soft water and freshly ground coffee. Let it rest for a week after roasting but consume it within one month. Enjoy! the Casino Mocca team
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photo by the La Palma & El Tucán
Aristobulo Muñoz
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