About This Coffee
Coffee has been an integral part of Luz Estela’s life for as long as she can remember. She recalls being a child and, after finishing her schoolwork, selecting dried parchment that would be brought to town for sale on the weekend.
Today, she is motivated to focus on quality and produce specialty microlots. She is proud of the coffee she produces and the way it sustains her and her family.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Luz Estela hires 2 to 4 laborers to help her selectively handpick cherry. Cherry is pulped the same day it is picked. She ferments cherry for 15 hours and then washes it in clean water. She lays parchment to dry on marquesinas, drying shelves on the roof of her house. If the weather is poor, she uses a mechanical dryer. Flor Eunice rakes parchment frequently to ensure even drying.
Coffee in Colombia
Colombia has been producing and exporting coffee renowned for their full body, bright acidity and rich aftertaste, since the early 19th century.
Colombia boasts a wide range of climates and geographic conditions that produce their own unique flavors in coffee. This also means that harvest times can vary quite a bit. In fact, between all its different regions, Colombia produces fresh crop nearly all year round.
The increasing focus on the specialty industry is changing the way traders and farmers do business. It is becoming more common for farmers to isolate the highest quality beans in their lots to market separately. These higher-quality lots are often sold under specific brands or stories.
Besides its wide variety of cup profiles, Colombia has quickly expanded its certification options over the past 10 years. The most common certifications available are Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Organic.