COLOMBIA — LA PALMA & EL TUCÁN
rum punch
∙ plums ∙ blue grapes
Siervo Moreno has started cultivating coffee only 3 years ago. Since 2015 he sells the whole harvest to the Colombian processing specialist La Palma & El Tucán who do the processing and achieve an exciting yet unusual taste from the blend of Typica, Caturra, Castillo, Colombia an Bourbon varieties.
W
hile Brazil is the world’s biggest coffee producer giving about 30–35% of the world’s total coffee production, Colombia comes second supplying approximately 12% of the world’s coffee. Colombia’s coffee is of excellent quality, grown at high altitudes on small peasant holdings, and the coffee is carefully picked and is wet-processed. The Colombian Federation of Coffee Growers is a well-organised body representing and supporting the country’s smallholder coffee farmers. Colombia has over 600 000 small, less than 5-acre-farms nestled in the hills at roughly 1200 to 2 000 meters above the sea level. The Andes run along the whole country not only splitting the country into sections, but forming diverse micro-climates as well. La Palma & El Tucán is without doubt an exciting project in the quality-oriented specialty coffee world. The Colombian company in the Andes approach the world of coffee with an innovative, fresh mind. They not only place special emphasis on the selection and processing of the cherries, but have also established a unique business model. They cooperate closely with more than 200 local growers who are all dedicated to produce high quality coffee. Sustainability is a popular buzzword in the world of specialty coffee, but this concept is taken really seriously at La Palma & El Tucán:
the growers are paid over 50% more than the country´s price average, they grow coffee trees in nurseries and later donate them to the local farmers. They even bear the transportation costs of the harvest. La Palma & El Tucán provides an on-going training for their partners so that they can improve the quality of the coffee. The beans are collected by pickers trained in quality harvesting methods. The first-class coffee beans are then transported to the stateof-the-art wet mill of La Palma & El Tucán, where they are processed with truly revolutionary methods. Siervo Moreno, the grower of this coffee, is a 60-year old gentleman from Anatoli who had worked in the construction industry most of his life. After retiring he moved to the countryside and started to grow coffee in 2013. He bought a 5-hectare farm and named it Laguneta. He planted 20 thousand coffee trees on 4 hectares and collected the harvest himself. He sold the crop in a nearby town, Cachipay. Don Siervo made friends with the administrator of La Palma, Mr. Onolfo and joined La Palma in 2015. As a result, now he makes enough profit to reinvest into the development of his farm, which was a decision praised by La Palma. Laguneta lies at the altitude of 1550 metres. The varieties grown here are: Typica, Caturra, Castillo, Colombia and
Bourbon. The harvest is collected and then the beans are sun-dried for 2 weeks followed by a fermentation induced by lactic-acid. A higher lactic-acid concentration is aimed for while focusing on the anaerobic processes. Lactic acid is a generated during the fermentation of the pulp and greatly contributes to the final flavour profile of the coffee. Each batch is carefully tested and undergo a rigorous quality control procedure. The coffee is cupped by highly trained technicians in the in-house laboratory. There is a meticulous data-analysis reviewing the journey of the coffee beans from the farm to the lab. This protocol helps the experts analyze the coffee to a much greater degree than it would be possible with a simple cupping, and at the same time the collected data helps to understand how picking and processing methods influence the cup.
... To achieve the best taste experience possible use soft water and freshly ground coffee. Let it rest for a week after roasting but consume it within one month. Enjoy! the Casino Mocca team
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photo by the La Palma & El Tucán
Siervo Moreno