Colombia "Planadas"

Description

This fair trade organic coffee is grown at over 5,000 feet in the lush foothills of the Central Andes in Tolima, Colombia. Incredibly sweet and juicy with a smooth body, this coffee features notes of caramel, buttered toast and apricot that are accentuated by our gentle medium roast.

For many years, Tolima has remained hidden in plain sight cradled between other well-known coffee growing regions because armed conflict and coca leaf production isolated small coffee producers and exposed them to high rates of violence. During this time the municipality of Planadas, located in the southernmost corner of Tolima, was surrounded by thousands of small-scale producers cultivating coffee on just a few acres of land intercropped with shade trees, bananas, corn, beans and sugarcane. As conflict has subsided in recent years, locally-organized associations have taken the lead in creating market access for these producers.

This coffee is produced by Asociación de Productores Agropecuarios de Santa Rosa (ASPRASAR), a fair trade cooperative of 67 producers with small farms in the municipalities of Herrera and Rio Blanco. Each producer has their own micro-mill where they collect their carefully harvested cherries to depulp, ferment, wash and gently dry the parchment on raised beds. The average farm size among members of ASPRASAR is 6 acres and their impeccable farm management practices culminate in a wonderfully clean coffee with a deep complexity of flavors.