Posts Tagged ‘Huila’
20th 2011
New York Artist Brings Colombia’s Coffee Culture Home
“A New York artist is on his way from the southwest-Colombian Huila department to his home town to display a collection of paintings he made of the coffee production process in one of Colombia’s renowned coffee regions.
Steven Weinberg, a painter and fanatic coffee-drinker, went to Huila to produce watercolor paintings that will be displayed in a Brooklyn coffee shop in August.
U.S. Coffee roaster (Cafe) Grumpy sent the New-Yorker to the tiny village of Gigante, Huila to portray how the coffee was grown, picked and dried, before being sent north for roasting and consumption.”
Read the full article here and visit Steven’s show this August at our Park Slope location.
24th 2011
Desarrollo Co-op
Red grapefruit, candied apricot, peaches & cream, brown sugar, tangerine.
The Desarrollo Co-op is made up of 82 coffee growers producing a combined total of 1000 bags per year with their farm size averaging 3 hectares each. The coffee is processed employing the traditional Colombian method – each farmer fully-washes and dries their coffee before it leaves the farm. Because of the use of plantain and various other shade trees, these coffees are assured of a lengthy maturation period which results in complex and delicate cup profile.
Grown at 1600-1800 masl. Caturra, Bourbon, Typica and Común varietals. Vacuum-sealed at origin.
See images or purchase this coffee online here.
11th 2011
El Paraiso (Espresso)
Red raspberry, lemon lime, honey sparkling sweetness.
Micro-lot. Caturra varietal. Grown at 1800 masl. Washed then dried on raised beds. Vacuum-sealed at origin.
Check out images from Colleen’s trip to the Rojas family farm here.
1st 2010
Matambo
Juicy cup with flavors of cantaloupe, red raspberry & hibiscus.
Made up of 82 small hold farms, this co-op processes coffee employing the traditional Colombian method meaning that each farmer is fully-washing and drying their coffee before it leaves the farm. Each farm is comprised of an average 3.0 hectares of land producing a combined total of 1000 bags a year. Because of the use of plantain and various other shade trees, these coffees are assured a lengthy maturation period allowing for a complex and delicate cup profile. Grown at 1500-1900 masl.
Virmax Relationship Selection. Vacuum-sealed at origin.
7th 2010
Cupping coffee in Colombia
Colleen just returned from a trip to Colombia where she had the opportunity to visit and cup coffees in the beautiful community of Monserrate located in the Cordillera Central mountain range in Southwestern Huila. Here is her trip report:
Last Wednesday I flew down to Bogotá to judge a small competition put on by some of our favorite people at Atlas Coffee Importers. This entailed waking up at 4am to catch a flight to Neiva, a two hour drive to La Plata, another two hour drive to Monserrate, and a horseback ride into town.
The town of Monserrate consists of one long paved road with coffee farms on both side, and a beautiful brick church overlooking it all. We were treated like guests of honor with a huge traditional Huila lunch prepared for our visit. We walked around the town meeting people and then toured a farm. All of the plants were very new growth, and a couple of older trees had some mold damage, but in all it was a beautiful lay-out. One of the things I love about the coffee process in Colombia is that each farmer has his or her own de-pulping and fermentation set-up; this provides more control over the processing and the timing. Additionally, the set-up at Monserrate includes raised drying beds with coverings designed to still allow airflow through the coffee.
The next day, after a rough night of sleep due to revelers from the Festival de San Pedro, we got into the cupping lab where we spent most of the following days. We cupped 52 coffees over the next two days, all grown within the town of Monserrate. The profiles of the coffees were pretty similar – all showed the great quality and care they were given during growing and processing. The coolest part of the cuppings for me was really getting to know these coffees and getting to taste the very high quality cup produced in such a small town by really caring farmers. The variations shown by the coffees were amazing. I’ve never taken part in a cupping with coffees produced so closely together, and it really opened my mind to the importance of processing and elevation and their effects on the cup.
Sunday, our last day in Hulia, we re-cupped the top ten coffees and presented the farmers with the results and some cool prizes including cash! We also played the annual soccer game against the toughest 12 year olds you’ve ever met. These kids were not messing around, they were running faster and harder then I could handle. I was fully intimidated, even though they kind of only came up to my mid-thigh. It was a fun game and it felt awesome to be reminded of just how bad at sports I’ve gotten.
After landing back in the states and getting a drink with a friend I started to gain perspective on my trip. Without the hard work of these farmers and everyone along the chain, I would not be able to do my job and I would never get to taste such amazing coffees. The farmers of the Monserrate co-op work so hard to bring us these amazing coffees and I feel fully honored to be able to have taken part in such a rad experience.
-Colleen
