Coffee
We Work
Thoughts
Projects
Portal
We continue to encourage long standing relationships between roasters and producers in Colombia, whilst diversifying how we support the wider coffee industry.
We focus on training courses, using our organic coffee forest El Fénix to host trainings alongside, and to, individuals from the FNC, SENA, and for producers across the country. Visitors are shown working knowledge about different varieties, the specialty market, and how selling into it can be profitable for them.
Issues
Despite good production levels, income from coffee for these families had dropped to unsustainable levels in recent years. They faced a crossroad; either find alternative means of income outside coffee, or find a more stable and sustainable market.
During these discussions we heard farmers describe their core challenges: a lack of key infrastructure; and lack of stable prices to provide certainty for investments that could improve quality. Conversations also showed a wide gap between how coffee quality is discussed and measured at the farm level, compared with the roasting end of the value chain.
High cost of production
As a producing country, Colombia’s developed coffee infrastructure means there is less need for the large scale investments that we are involved with in countries such as Timor-Leste and Burundi. The smallholders we work with in Colombia cultivate and fully process their own coffee, selling it as dry parchment.
The incurred costs of processing and drying their own coffee means a higher cost of production in Colombia, when compared to countries where producers sell cherry to a wet mill or washing station. Likewise, coffee trees are highly cultivated and farms intensively managed in Colombia, this further increases the cost of production through added cost of labour and agricultural inputs.
Colombia has a high average output per hectare, but this comes at the costs associated with mono-cropping and high-input farming techniques.
We seek to shift the power dynamic in the coffee sector; as specialty becomes a norm, there are new opportunities for women to gain higher-income and higher-powered roles.
Given the different social and cultural dynamics in the rural areas of Colombia, women have faced multiple barriers to positions of leadership in their own communities and family businesses. In spite of this, women’s work is essential to the sustainability of the coffee supply chain. And though this is commonly understood, many women struggle immensely to achieve management roles, or appreciation for their efforts.
Given the different social and cultural dynamics in the rural areas of Colombia, women have faced multiple barriers to positions of leadership in their own communities and family businesses. In spite of this, women’s work is essential to the sustainability of the coffee supply chain. And though this is commonly understood, many women struggle immensely to achieve management roles, or appreciation for their efforts.
We seek to help to shift the power dynamic in the coffee sector; as specialty becomes a norm, there are new opportunities for women to gain higher-income and higher-powered roles.
Solutions
Raising quality and shelf-life, through low-cost interventions
We do this by creating systems to ensure consistency of large lots at a community level. This in turn enables reliable, stable and improved household incomes for smallholder farmers through a connection with roasters.
- Place QC staff and equipment at parchment buying points to improve consistency.
- Build and join community associations, invest in infrastructure and training to improve quality, and take their coffee to market.
- Consult producers in-person on best practices.
- Purchase for consistent prices based on what coffee costs to produce and what roasters are willing to pay to maximise profitability for producers.
Elevate the position of female coffee producers, and QC staff
We set up cupping labs, and focus the training of staff towards women in the community. When possible and desired, we can isolate the harvests of female producers, and sell their coffees independently to the community blend.
Encouraging a shift towards sustainable farming practices
Our organic coffee forest El Fénix, serves as an example of how shade, organic inputs, encouraging biodiversity, and lack of pesticides or fungicides can work together to create a successful coffee harvest; whilst supporting the environment. We host many guests throughout the year, including a training programme Plant to Port, which funds the attendance of coffee producers alongside paying coffee roasters.
Wet mills and drying stations are uncommon in Colombia, where producers harvest, process, and dry their own harvests. A centralised washing station reduces labour for a producer, and lowers the cost of production. Our washing stations at Villamaría, as well as El Fénix seek to demonstrate the upsides of this system compared to the heavy work load and inputs required for producers to do this alone.
Tucaneta
Quindío
Pajaro Carpintero
Caldas
Cucararecho
Huila
Mariposa
Risaralda
Gallito de Roca
Risaralda
Turpial
Valle del Cauca
Get yourself some Colombian coffee
* Don’t see the coffee you’re looking for here?
Request a type sample in the form below, and we’ll let you know when it will be available to order.
Or...
Head to the full offer lists!
Head to the Roaster’s Portal