It is our third-year roasting coffee from this producer group, based in Pitalito in Colombia’s Huila region. Please enjoy this iteration of La Magdalena, composed of outturns from 24 producing families. The Farmers & Their Approach Coffee from 24 different families has been blended together to create this lot of La Magdalena, all of which have passed strict quality criteria. The coffee varieties being grown are typical for the region, being Caturra, Castillo and Variedad Colombia, typically planted amongst Plantain and Walnut shade trees. Last year this was one of our favourite espressos to roast so we feel very lucky to be able to work with it once again. A select few of the farmers who have contributed significant chunks of coffee to this lot include Nicomedes Benavides, Nito Arbey Molina Navia and Edgar Yony Melo Gomez, the latter two having cup of excellence awards amongst their accolades. Coffee production in Colombia has become troublesome and expensive in recent years, with less impetus for producers to undertake the special preparations that specialty quality coffee requires. This is in part due to a large increase in their own costs of production, as well as the market price for commodity coffee increasing. Thankfully due to a long-term, trusting relationship between Caravela and their producing partners we have still been able to purchase high quality coffees, albeit at a much higher price than in previous years. When we first tasted this sample of La Magdalena on the cupping table it displayed notes of raisins, peaches, cocoa, raspberries, plums, oranges, caramel and cooked apples, ultimately a coffee that we deemed very complex and very fruity, whilst still being clean and structured. The Exporter Typically, Caravela operate an 80/20 model, working with a vast majority of smallholders and a minority of farmers with large coffee estates. In their 2021 impact report 87% of their producing partners had farms of less than 5 hectares in size. More than half of the producers they worked with were visited by their PECA team, and in Colombia alone they are working with 1,746 producers across 52 communities. As regards their PECA program, they have said the below: “Coffee growers are the heart of our business model, without them we could not maintain and sustain this value chain. They are responsible for producing the best coffees that delight us every day. The Coffee Growers Education Program (PECA) has developed a symbiotic relationship between coffee growers and Caravela since we’re always learning from each other. For many years, we have accumulated experiences throughout experimentation and work that provides tools to empower and educates coffee growers, resulting in consistent high-quality coffees.” . Read more
