Key origin info:

Key origin info:

Producer: Norbey Alarcón
Region: Caldas, Colombia
Altitude: Around 1700 masl

Varietal: Pink Bourbon & Colombia varieties
Process: Fully washed and dried in parabolic solar dryer

Exporter: Siruma Coffee | Importer: Falcon Speciality

Cup profile: Juicy body, stewed rhubarb & maple syrup

Length of partnership: 5 years with San Lorenzo - 2nd season of micro-lots

About this micro-lot and the San Lorenzo growing area

This lot is named after the Aguas Claras hamlet within the San Lorenzo area - an indigenous reserve where we source coffee for our house espresso. It is a single grower micro-lot produced by Norbey Alarcón and dried using his mother’s Luz’s facilities. Luz is one of the growers taking part in “Drying project” initiated by Siruma - our export partner in Colombia. The goal of the project is to build better coffee drying infrastructure and improve not only the coffee’s quality and longevity but also the farmers’ quality of life thanks to its ease of use and increased capacity. Additionally, monetary value for growers is maximised by separating high scoring lots such as this one, sold with significant premiums going directly to growers.

More about the supply chain, our export partner Siruma and the “Drying Project”:

We source all our Colombian offering with the help of our importing partner Falcon Speciality and exporting partner in Colombia - Siruma. With focus on sustainability and quality, Siruma partner with and purchase coffee from producers’ groups and cooperatives in three regions in Colombia - Caldas, Cauca and Tolima.

For over 5 years now have been purchasing a regional community lot from San Lorenzo to offer as our house espresso. Sourcing from one producing community enables us not only to understand the supply chain and be able to clearly communicate the coffee’s origin but also to establish and nurture a lasting partnership with the San Lorenzo growers’ group facilitated through Siruma and Falcon. This way we can benefit from having a reliable and delicious coffee to offer all year round as our staple espresso and in turn we commit to purchasing from the same group on long term basis, providing a stable outlet for their coffee that purchased at premium prices.

This coffee is one of the lots selected as part of the microlot programme and “drying project” Siruma has been developing within the San Lorenzo area and producing community. The programme is aimed at maximising value that producers can gain from their crop based on the cup quality of their coffee. Traditionally, growers in San Lorenzo belong to the Cooperativa de Caficultores del Alto Occidente de Caldas and deliver their coffee to the local collection point in San Lorenzo town. Here the coffee in parchment is assessed for physical quality and blended together to create various larger regional lots. Siruma have worked to create a baseline for their microlot programme project here, getting to know hundreds of producers. After cupping hundreds of samples, the first round of 20 growers were selected for their potential to take part in the project. This was based on the cup scores of their coffee and ability to produce a certain volume of coffee with micro-lot potential (this is still very small but generally larger than a few 70kg sacks). These growers were selected and keen to take part in the project and have contributed to have improved drying facilities constructed under Siruma’s Solar Dryer Project. Upon delivery of their coffee, the local collection point manager keeps lots from these growers separate for Siruma’s quality managers to assess and decide what coffee can be marketed and sold as higher scoring microlot earning their growers further quality premiums.

You can read more about the unique San Lorenzo community here.