Asprasar Tolima FW ROC

Located in Bilbao, the southern highlands of Saldaña, over 80 producers from the Asociación de Productores Agropecuarios de Santa Rosa (Asprasar) cultivate coffee on farms averaging 2.5 hectares. Asprasar supports them in obtaining Regenerative Organic, Fairtrade Organic and Organic certifications, ensuring their coffee reaches international buyers.

The greatest Asprasar coffee strength is its consistency, producing a cup that scores 85+ every time. Thanks to the region’s high altitude and difficult terrain, varieties like Caturra, Castillo, Tabí, Geisha, Bourbon Rosado, Bourbon Amarillo and Sidra develop a sweet profile with notes of berries, peaches and molasses.

For years, the south of Tolima was affected by Colombia’s internal conflict. Since the peace accord treaty, young producers (averaging an age of 43 to 45) have returned to these lands, making coffee production relatively recent in the region. The soil remains untouched by chemical fertilizers, providing a distinct advantage in achieving Regenerative Organic Certification.

This co-op takes a forward-thinking approach and reinvests its coffee profits. They fund honey water treatment systems and self-made organic fertilizer production, ensuring long-term environmental and economic resilience. By creating fertilization plans, they provide crops with the nutrients needed, avoiding excess use and minimizing environmental impact.

Each cherry is hand-picked at peak ripeness and processed on individual farms. Farmers pulp the cherries before allowing them to ferment. After the coffee ferments, farmers wash the parchment in clean water and lay it to sun dry.

Tolima lies deeply nestled in the Central Andes. While the climate is well suited for coffee production, Tolima has remained a less popular region due to the prevalence of armed conflict and drug trafficking. Many farming communities have been caught in the crosshairs of these conflicts.    

More recently, the region has had an opportunity to open up and reduce incidents of violence and drug production or smuggling. Despite its complicated past, Tolima is Colombia’s third-largest coffee-producing department. 

In such conditions, producer organizations play an important role in transforming their communities. Associations or cooperatives can create more jobs and make coffee appear more appealing to young people. Many groups in the region organize courses and training to develop barista skills, quality control and even business management.  

In a region where the job availability outside of coffee farming is very limited, providing new opportunities for work is essential to draw young people away from becoming involved in the endless cycle of violence and criminality. On top of all the community-wide benefits, being part of a cooperative helps producers gain much better access to support on an agronomical, commercial and economic level. 

Over the years, the term Excelso has held a few different meanings. What has not changed, however, is that only the best Colombian coffees are permitted to be exported.  

Excelso is supplied in steady volume throughout the year. In the cup, it displays a reliably distinctive combination of body and acidity.  

EP stands for European Preparation. EP beans are Screen 15+ with a low defect tolerance. 

Regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming that enhances soil health, promotes biodiversity and captures carbon to combat climate change. Rooted in six principles—keeping soil covered, maintaining living roots, minimizing soil disturbance, increasing plant diversity, integrating livestock, and reducing synthetic inputs—it reimagines farms as dynamic ecosystems. By incorporating practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping and no-till farming (among others), regenerative agriculture not only boosts yields but also builds resilience against threats like disease and soil depletion.  

According to the World Economic Forum, "Regenerative agriculture improves long-term farmer livelihood through reduced costs, improved crop yield and crop quality, and greater resilience to market volatility and extreme climate events." Beyond the positive impact on the farmers’ well-being, it also has the potential to combat deforestation and risks from monoculture, making one of the five goal areas of IMPACT, Sucafina’s Responsible Sourcing Program.  

Sustainable Harvest® is a specialty coffee trader focusing primarily on bringing coffees to market that are sourced from smallholder farmer cooperatives in the supply chain such as indigenous communities, women groups and the next generation of coffee farmers.

Their sourcing model is built on transparency, traceability and direct relationships between quality-minded coff­ee roasters and best-in-class coffee producers. Sustainable Harvest® has an on-site presence at origin with staff­ in Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru. Each office coordinates their supply including quality management, supplier relationships, source development, logistics, training and capacity building.