Feature Espresso: Adriano Pillimue | Colombia
Key Origin Info:
Producer: Adriano Pillimue (pronounce: Pee-jee-moo-e) at his family farm La Siberia
Processed at: the farm’s own wet milll and drying facility
Region: El Cabuyo village, Ulchur municipality, Cauca Department
Altitude: 1900 masl
Variety: Caturra
Process: Washed; floated to separate underripes, de-pulped, fermented for around 36h, washed and dried for 6-9 days on raised beds under a parabolic drying structure
Exporter: Siruma | Importer: Falcon Speciality
Cup profile: Jammy & sweet, blackcurrant winegums & molasses
Adriano in his coffee fields.
About Adriano and the Asorcafe association:
Adriano is a driven young coffee grower, member of the Asorcafe association in Inza, Cauca. He lives and works on this farm - La Siberia - with his young family. The farm is around 1 hectare in size, fully dedicated to coffees growing and planted predominantly with Caturra but also with some young Pink Bourbon plants that will soon produce their first harvest.
Adriano has been cultivating coffee for 18 years and has great attention to detail, takes exquisite care of his fields as well as during processing. The coffee is processed with the traditional washed method with 36 hrs fermentation and dried in a parabolic dryer. Adriano also manages one of the association collection points where other growers deliver their coffee for initial assessment and consolidation before transport to the main storage and QC facility.
We’ve had the privilege of visiting Adriano’s farm during our trip to Colombia in 2023 and speaking with Adriano his passion for coffee and the natural environment, as well as dedication to quality was palpable. One of the things that struck us most was when he mentioned that he is able to sell over 80% of his coffee harvest to the speciality market and majority of this is selected for standout microlot quality - just like this lot. With the premiums gained through the sales to the speciality market, he is able to reinvest in his farm and continue providing for his family.
About Asorcafe:
ASORCAFE association is based in the municipality of Inza within the Cauca department.
The association was set up in 2003 by producers for producers, to become more organised and able to connect growers with high quality coffee buyers. Their main headquarters is in the town of Pedregal where their laboratory with sample roasting and quality control equipment is based. It is also where they have their main warehouse and storage facility and a coffee collection point for growers from the vicinity. There is also another collection point in the town of Inza to service the growers in that area before collating all coffees in Pedregal.
With over 20 years of history the association is extremely well organised and skilled in supporting their members. It now has over 290 members and also provides further education and training, with the intention to improve living conditions of producers, and their communities.
Siruma started working with ASORCAFE in 2021 after establishing initial connection with them. During harvest after initial assessment on reception of coffees from growers, Asorcafe send samples to Siruma where they are cupped and assessed for their cup quality, making sure the physical specifications meet standards for moisture, yield and cup quality. David - Siruma’s head of quality control then decide how to build up lots from individual samples in order to match them cup score as as well as flavour profile.
After this the coffee is delivered to Siruma’s warehouse in Manizales and Asorcafe are paid immediately for the coffees. From Manizales the coffee is prepared for dry milling and export.