COLOMBIA ORGANIC HUILA ASOPCAFA

Regional Details:
Here’s a coffee from Huila that crosses the line.  It’s a bit confusing because Santa Rita, in the department of Huila, sits right on the border of Tolima not far from the Planadas growing region.  And this community lot has a distinct, complex, clean and consistent profile that we have come to expect from the Planadas area.  The Asociación de Productores, Transformadores y Exportadores de Café del Municipio de Aipe - Huila (ASOPCAFA) was formed in 2015.  Like the producers around Planadas, decades of armed conflict and coca leaf production kept most small producers pretty isolated and at high risk to violence.  But as conflict has subsided in recent years, locally organized associations including ASOPCAFA have taken the lead in creating market access for these producers.  With 84 members, ASOPCAFA has focused on certifications and training producers in best organic practices.  The cooperative has also invested in basic infrastructure needs like road improvements and establishing a local warehouse.
Processing Details:
Producers typically cultivate coffee on just a few acres of land intercropped with shade trees, bananas, corn, beans, and sugarcane.  During the harvest they carefully handpick and sort cherries before depulping, fermenting, washing, and drying the coffee using their own micro-mills.  Drying in the sun on raised beds ranges from 10 to 15 days.  Imagine the harmony between these producers in farm management and post-harvest practices to achieve a clean and consistent blend. But also just enough differences from farm to farm to create a rich complexity of flavors.  
Exporting Details:  
ASOPCAFA partners with an export companies, which provides crucial logistical support for things like warehousing and milling coffee for export to the international market. The partnership aims to provide better income for everyone to reinvest in their farms and strengthen their families’ livelihoods.