In recent years, we have found that with careful planning we are able to curate a line of Colombian coffee that tastes fresh and expressive thanks to this producing country having multiple harvesting and shipping periods. We're delighted to introduce our perennially available single origin espresso roast, El Nevado.
The Region
We have worked in Huila for over a decade, and in our experience the cup profiles of top lots from this region really chime with our preferences. El Nevado del Huila is Colombia’s highest volcano, named for its snowy top, and we are referencing the notion of the pinnacle of quality in our Colombian offerings through using its name for our espresso.
The Producers
We are currently featuring coffee from 15 farmers who contribute to the Los Naranjos community. A quarter of the volume comes from Gladis Chimbaco Gomez, with other producers Diego Edinson Chimbaco and Rodrigo Hernandez Anacona contributing smaller outturns to build up volume. The members grow their coffee in the municipality of San Agustín in Huila, which is one of our all-time favourite regions of Colombia, in the veredas (wards) of La Argentina, La Llanada, La Muralla and Naranjos. Dotted on their various coffee farms are shade trees including Cachingo, Guamo (Ice-cream Bean), Carbonero and various citrus and avocado trees. The farms range from just 1 up to 5 hectares in size, and are planted out with a combination of Caturra, Castillo and Variedad Colombia, spanning from around 1,700 all the way up to 2,100 metres above sea level.
Fertile soils with volcanic ash deposits coupled with the high altitudes, quality varieties and agronomical training and support from Caravela all lead to a group of coffee growers who are reliably producing clean, sweet lots that we feel make for very juicy, complex espresso. Each farmer may practice variations on fermentation, size of batches and for different periods, so we can’t be hugely specific with any fermentation details here. Some of them then use raised beds in a polytunnel to dry their coffee, whilst others use their rooftop patios which can be shaded from the sun or sheltered from the rain by sliding a corrugated iron cover over the drying coffee.
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 latest 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.”
