Colombia Cauca

The latest Grand Cru offering is from the Cauca region in Southwest Colombia. It is a blend of coffees from eight different producers in the Cauca region, and is naturally processed. What makes this particular offering unique is the micromill where it was processed. This new micromill is operated and managed by our friends at Banexport. Banexport is a local company based out of Cauca that exports specialty coffee. All of our Colombian coffee comes from Banexport, and they work with hundreds of individual farmers. We have been purchasing coffee from them for over five years and have loved working closely with them. In this case, with some strategic processing methods in place at this mill, our friends at Banexport have created a blend that is greater than the sum of its parts.

So, let’s get into the Manos Juntas Micromill. The entire concept of this micromill is based on simplifying tasks and responsibilities, for both producers and Banexport. This particular offering was first purchased in cherry form when delivered to the mill by eight local producers on the day of harvest. Upon arrival, the brix and Ph are recorded, and the cherries placed in large hermetic tanks for a five-day long anaerobic fermentation. After this, the cherries are taken to raised beds under a parabolic dryer to begin their 30 day process of slowly drying. Once dried, the coffee is cupped and samples are sent to us. Once approved they are milled and shipped.

With this new mill, Banexport is now paying farmers upfront for delivering cherries. Typically, producers won’t get paid until months after harvest, which leaves them in a very tough spot financially. Having to wait months for your paycheck is hard on anyone. With this new program, farmers are now getting their well earned money much faster. In addition, the sale of the ripe cherries is based on weight. The riper the cherry the heavier it is. This encourages better harvest practice that directly correlates to higher quality. Banexport is also guaranteeing to pay producers a fixed price well above market value for these cherries

This model also allows producers to focus on healthy production of speciality coffee, while the meticulous work of sorting, processing, drying, and storing is managed by the Banexport team. Especially during Covid 19, when it has become harder and harder to find more people to help producers process their coffee, this model has simplified all of that, and made it much easier on the producer.

The producers that are involved in this mill are all from surrounding farms, this means they need to only travel a short distance to deliver coffee as opposed to driving many kilometers into town. So this lowers the producers transportation costs as well as labor. Also, coffee infrastructure like drying beds, fermentation tanks, and depulpers can be very expensive to purchase and maintain. With this model, farmers can forgo all of this hassle and simply focus on maintaining healthy trees.

Banexport believes there are two main factors that contribute to quality. Broadly speaking, 50% is determined by crop production (fertilization, pruning, and proper harvest of cherries). The other 50% is determined by post harvest processing (fermentation, pulping, drying and storage).

Banexport has been meticulously studying the breakdown of these things for the last 5-7 years. When we first travelled to Colombia in 2016 we watched Banexport give a presentation on these exact practices. So this is the result of many, many hard years in the making.

Based on this understanding, they have decided to establish the Manos Juntas micromill, in which they purchase cherries from producers and manage the processing, drying, and storing themselves. The result is making life easier on the producers: they receive a fixed price they can rely on and they get paid much more quickly than in the past. Manos Juntas literally translates to Hands Together. There is no doubt Banexport wants to elevate the producers they work with as much as possible. We are very excited to be one of the first companies to be involved in purchasing coffee from this mill.