About This Coffee
For Astrid Bibiana Álvarez, becoming a coffee farmer was a side effect of falling in love. Her husband, Oscar Rivas, is a third-generation coffee farmer with a fierce passion for coffee production. It didn’t take long after their marriage for Astrid to begin developing a passion for coffee production as well.
Today, the couple owns Finca La Primavera and Finca La Paulita. Astrid works primarily as a veterinarian, but her heart is always in her farm in Tolima.
This coffee comes from Finca La Primavera, which is located at 1,800 to 1,900 meters above sea level. Astrid and Oscar cultivate Colombia and Castillo on the farm.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Astrid and Oscar selectively handpick ripe, red cherry and process it on their farm. Cherry is left to ferment lightly for 12 hours and is then pulped and placed in tanks to ferment for 18 hours. Following fermentation, parchment is washed in clean water and laid on patios to dry. Parchment dries on patios for 2 days before being finished at low temperature in a mechanical dryer for 40 hours.
Azahar
Azahar Colombia works directly with producers to source excellent, traceable coffee from Colombia’s best producing regions. They pride themselves on transparent relationships that improve incomes and quality.
In addition to their exporting arm, Azahar also operates a roastery in Quindío and several cafés in Bogotá that serve superb locally-produced coffees to Colombian consumers.
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.