Description

Colombian Los Naranjos from Huila, is a fully washed coffee sourced direct from Caravela.

Colombia

Colombia is a country with many distinct coffee regions. The bulk of Colombian coffee is grown north of the Andes, where the country is flatter. Large coffee estates are typical in this region. Coffees from these estates are sold as Colombia supremo and excelso. Rather than being a quality grade these are size grades.

Further south is the Colombian Andes. The Madeline river winds between the mountains and the complexity of the coffee increases. The size of the farms or “fincas” decreases to an average of 3 hectares.

In this region coffee has a wide variety of flavours and depth. Many coffee lovers compare this range of complexity to only one other origin in the world, namely Ethiopia.

Caravela

In 2000 Alessandro and Giancarlo took a deeper interest in specialty grade coffee, specifically in their mother country Colombia. Believing quality could be sorted out and identified, they returned to Colombia, Where they?slowly built a coffee company that rewarded coffee farmers for quality product. Working with farmers they showed them how to produce better quality coffee through updating production, picking and processing methods. They call the method of sourcing coffee, relationship coffee.

Caravela is a result of this investment today. Now they are?able to offer great coffee to roasters interested in quality, direct. Also in place are programs to spread the knowledge from Colombia into their neighbours in South America, and Central America.

Colombian Los Naranjos from Huila

Near San Augustin is a collection of coffee farmers. In 2001, some of these farmers got together with the intention of sharing resources and skills in order to improve their coffee and try to gain access to the specialty coffee market. They formed an association called La Asociacion Los Naranjos de San Augustin. Today the association is composed of about 50 farmers with an average farm size of about three hectares.

Working with Caravela, they have concentrated on the little things that make a difference in ensuring coffee quality is improved. Many of these farmers often grow orange trees on their farms, and perhaps this is why the orange citrus is so apparent in the coffees from this area.

Caravela identify coffees from this region that have the distinct orange flavour characteristics and group them in lots. These lots are called Los Naranjos™. The coffee became famous when it beat Esmeralda in the best of the world competition in 2009. We started offering it the same year. Since then, we have offered this coffee, and it has developed a loyal following.

Details of the coffee:

Region:	Colombia, San Augustin, Huila Provinca
Processing:	Wet-processed, clean, sun dried on raised and covered beds
Crop Date:	We bring this coffee in twice a year, so it is always latest crop
Cultivars:	100% Arabica Caturra, Typica and Bourbon
Packaging:	Vacuum packed green in clear plastic, stored in Perdura boxes
Roast used:	Kick to start and moderate rate increase until first crack then ramp through first crack, we drop 70 seconds later.
Characteristics:	Coca, caramel and citrus orange fruit.
Our brews:	Brew Method Ratio Brew Method Ratio Espresso 1:2.5 AeroPress 15g:200g Plunger 48g:800g Pour over/filter 17g:300g
Awards:	2009, Coffees of the Year 2009 2010, Coffees of the Year 2010 2012, Carols’ lot won COE of Colombia

AeroPress Experiment

We played with Los Naranjos dosing on an AeroPress, want to read all about it. Read: AeroPress Brew Optimization…

Transparency Information

Sourced from	Caravela
FOB price	US$3.7/pound
Cupping score	84.5-85.5 (seasonal variances, this is the min and max)
Logistics	Cost ZAR19.48 / kg. Coffee was included in a consolidated seasonal order of Colombian coffees.
Producer/Organization	Caravela
Typical lot size bought	8 x 35kg boxes, twice a year
Relationship	Our relationship with Caravela goes back to 2008.