Colombia Sotara

Carmel Apple // Dark Chocolate

These coffees from Sotará highlight all we love from Colombian coffees - sweet stone fruits and Honeycrisp apples, balanced acidity, the classic Colombian complexity with a dark chocolate base. 

Grower: 10 coffee producers from Sotará

Variety: Castillo, Colombia

Region: Sotara, Cauca, Colombia

Altitude: 1750-2050 masl

Soil: Clay minerals

Process: Fully washed  

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Coffee Background

Coffee cultivation from small family owned farms is the backbone of production in Colombia. Banexport, a Colombian export company, works directly with many of these small farms where producers have a shared commitment for exquisite coffee processing and loving care for their farms and the environment. The model of collaborative effort produces traceable community blends with vibrant regional profiles.  This lot comes from 10 producers (Edgar Baos Hoyos, Omar Henry Cuaji Guevara, Pablo Emilio Duran Guerrero, Ercilia Garzón, Eudoro Garzón, Idaly Guevara Rivera, Armel Moncayo Trujillo, Mónica Ordoñez Ortiz, Ana Beatriz Ordoñez Salazar, and Dora María Isabel Portilla Ñañez) with farms in the municipality of Sotará within the department of Cauca.  Each producer has their own micro-mill where they focus on selective picking, floating the cherries to remove damaged and underdeveloped beans, macerating the cherries for 24 hours, depulping to remove the skin, and fermenting 24 to 48 hours to remove the mucilage before washing the coffee seeds.  The wet parchment is dried to 11 percent moisture over a period of 15 days on raised beds.  After processing, Banexport provides crucial logistical support for things like warehousing and milling coffee for export to the international market, which provides better income for everyone to reinvest in their farms and strengthen their families’ livelihoods.