Colombia - Suukala

TASTING NOTES: Clean as a whistle, this one. A very sessionable coffee here - you've got flavours of apple and raspberry keeping things light and fresh, all underpinned by a delicious milk chocolate bassline.  

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 as well as roasting and selling coffee locally. Siruma, a speciality exporter in Colombia have invested in this community and their agronomist, Pilar has been delivering workshops on coffee processing as well as rebuilding the structure of the Association. All members of Cafe Agrario have also been taught how to cup coffee to analyse the quality of their own coffee.

The association wants to keep progressing and to be able to have their own warehouse as well as buying point for their members to be able to deliver coffee straight to exporters. 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 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.