COLOMBIA ORGANIC TOLIMA VOLCANO - 37391 - 70.0 kg Bags - SPOT RCWHSE

Regional details For many years, Tolima has remained hidden in plain sight between other well-known coffee growing regions because armed conflict and coca leaf production isolated producers and exposed them to high rates of violence.

During this time the municipality of Planadas, located in the southernmost corner of Tolima, had remained an untapped source of specialty coffee where thousands of producers have been cultivating coffee on just a few acres of land intercropped with shade trees, bananas, corn, beans and sugarcane. Cooperative Details As conflict has subsided in recent years, locally organized associations have taken the lead in creating market access for these producers.

Established in 2006 with 72 producer members, Asociación Grupo Asociativo de Oroductores De Café Especial Diferenciado de Tolima (ACEDGA) has focused on certifications and training producers in best organic practices.

The cooperative has invested in basic infrastructure needs like road improvements, establishing local warehouses, creating micro-credit for producers and investing in social programs on a larger and more impactful scale, using the collective resources generated from the sale of coffee.

Environmental training programs, healthcare initiatives, life insurance, and educational opportunities are just some of the ways the cooperative strives to improve the quality of life for coffee producers and their families. Processing Details During the harvest, producers carefully sort cherries before floating to remove damaged and less dense beans.

Next the coffee is macerated in sealed bags for up to 16 hours before depulping, fermenting, washing, and drying the coffee. At the cooperative, individual lots are combined based on cupping analysis to make a clean and consistent community blend that showcases the harmony between producers in post-harvest practices with complexity reflected from each individual farm. Exporting Details Traceability and quality control throughout the post harvest process is also ensured because Inconexus, a Colombian exporter company and trusted Royal partner, provides additional cupping analysis and prepares this coffee for export.