Heres what Falcon Speciality the importer of this coffee have to say about it.
This coffee comes from 35 small holders based in the area of Ortega, Tolima belonging to an association called Cafe Agrario.
Cafe Agario has seen some difficulties being situated in a region troubled by the civil war but also from poor leadership and coffees being sold on credit to coffee buyers that never paid for coffee delivered. The Association was started in 2014 but they didn't realise until 2017 that actually they weren't an official registered association due to the poor leadership.
In the more recent years they have been focusing on specialty coffee to add value to their product and then also being roasting and selling coffee locally. Siruma our specialty export partners in Colombia and have invested in this community and their agronomist, Pilar has been delivering workshops to this group on coffee processing and also how to organise the structure of the Association as this was highlighted as a need for them from taking baseline data. They have also been taught how to cup as well to understand the quality of their own coffee.
The association want to keep progressing and be able to have their own warehouse and buying point for their members to be able to deliver coffee straight to Siruma to become more vertically integrated in the supply chain and to have greater control. They have just delivered their first coffees themselves to Siruma which is a huge marker in their progress.
The association has been registered organic since 2020 and they also make their own organic fertiliser to distribute between producers. They have also invested in training in better waste water management to protect their environment.
In the harvest coffee is picked every 20 days with the pickers receiving a premium for ripe cherry selection. Once the coffee is picked and taken to the beneficio it is then pulped and ferments for 24 hours in a tiled tank. The coffee is then washed 3 times and taken to African beds to dry.
