Feature Espresso : Veneros - Microlot from San Lorenzo | Colombia

Key origin info:

Producer: Jose Gañán
Region: Caldas, Colombia
Altitude: Around 1700 masl

Varietal: Castillo
Process: Fully washed

Exporter: Siruma Coffee | Importer: Falcon Speciality

Cup profile: Creamy body, dark plum & butterscotch

Length of partnership: 4 years with San Lorenzo - 1st year micro-lots available

More about this coffee and the supply chain:

We source all our Colombian offering with the help of our importing partner Falcon Speciality and exporting partner in Colombia - Siruma. With focus on sustainability and quality, Siruma partner with and purchase coffee from producers’ groups and cooperatives in three regions in Colombia - Caldas, Cauca and Tolima.

For over 4 years now have been purchasing a regional community lot from San Lorenzo to offer as our house espresso. Sourcing from one producing community enables us not only to understand the supply chain and be able to clearly communicate the coffee’s origin but also to establish and nurture a lasting partnership with the San Lorenzo growers’ group facilitated through Siruma and Falcon. This way we can benefit from having a reliable and delicious coffee to offer all year round as our staple espresso and in turn we commit to purchasing from the same group on long term basis, providing a stable outlet for their coffee that purchased at premium prices.

This coffee is one of the first lots selected as part of the mircolot programme Siruma has been developing within the San Lorenzo area and producing community. The programme is aimed at maximising value that producers can gain from their crop based on the cup quality of their coffee. Traditionally, growers in San Lorenzo belong to the Cooperativa de Caficultores del Alto Occidente de Caldas and deliver their coffee to the local collection point in San Lorenzo town. Here the coffee in parchment is assessed for physical quality and blended together to create various larger regional lots. Siruma have worked to create a baseline for their microlot programme project here, getting to know hundreds of producers. After cupping hundred of samples, the first round of 20 growers were selected for their potential to take part in the project. This was based on the cup scores of their coffee and ability to produce a certain volume of coffee with microdot potential (this is still very small but generally larger than a few 70kg sacks). These growers were selected and keen to take part in the project and have contributed to have improved drying facilities constructed under Siruma’s Solar Dryer Project. Upon delivery of their coffee, the local collection point manager keeps lots from these growers separate for Siruma’s quality managers to assess and decide what coffee can be marketed and sold as higher scoring microlot earning their growers further quality premiums.

About Veneros and José Gañán

Veneros is the name of the “vereda'“ - a small neighbourhood or a hamlet within the San Lorenzo area - where Jose Gañán’s farm is based. José is the producer behind this coffee and an experienced growers from the San Lorenzo group. His farm - Los Nogales - is around 1.2 hectares with 1 hectare planted with coffee with annual production of around 1,500 kg or parchment. The land sits at around 1750 masl and the variety planted is Castillo. All coffee is selectively picked every 20 days or so. Harvest time in Colombia is more and more spread out throughout the whole year, with some peaks but generally most producers here pick coffee all year around.

The picked cherry is de-pulped on the same day and left to ferment without water usually for around 15 hours depending on the weather. During this time José constantly assesses the coffee to decide when it is the right time to wash. Once ready, the coffee is washed with clear water and floaters are separated at this time and the clean coffee is moved to drying stations where it is dried until the desired moisture level is reached (10-11%). Jose has two parabolic solar dryers (as seen in this image), one of which he has recently installed with the help of Siruma’s Solar Dryers Project.

About San Lorenzo producer group:

The San Lorenzo group is part of the Cooperativa de Caficultores de Alto Occidente de Caldas which was established in 1964. It is an indigenous group of producers based in the Rio Sucio municipality of Caldas where there are 11,500 inhabitants with 1,150 farmers producing coffee within 21 communities.

Until recently, this region was heavily inhabited by paramilitary groups and guerrillas, who looked to control this central corridor in Colombia. The region has not been known for specialty coffee production but as the local tensions have eased and access improved, it is now possible to showcase the great quality of the coffees available from this area.

The whole area of San Lorenzo is an indigenous reserve. The region has a rare land distribution system and land can only be sold to other indigenous people from San Lorenzo. The indigenous inhabitants here believe in the Pacha Mama – earth goddess, and see the land as a living being. To them it is their duty to protect the natural environment and have as little impact as possible from their farming to leave it as intact as possible

Most growers have around 1 hectare of land on average spread around a few different parcels. During the harvest season, families work with their neighbours to selectively pick when cherries are fully ripe, occasionally during peak harvest times some growers hire pickers. The coffee is usually de-pulped on the same day and fermented for 16 -24 hours, depending on the weather, usually without and sometimes with a small amount of water. The coffee is then washed and put out to dry on small drying patios, usually either on the roofs of houses “Eldas” or in parabolic dryers, for between 7 – 14 days, again depending on the weather. Once dried to the right moisture content, the parchment coffee is delivered to the cooperative’s collection point in San Lorenzo town where it is assessed and allowed to rest before being milled and prepared for shipment.