Key origin info:

Producer: Lucrecia Maceto
Region: Tolima, Colombia
Altitude: Around 1700 masl

Varietal: Castillo & Colombia
Process: Fully washed and dried in parabolic solar dryer

Exporter: Siruma Coffee | Importer: Falcon Speciality

Cup profile: Syrupy body, maple syrup & red grapes

Purchase history: 3rd season of buying from Cafe Agrario, 1st purchase from Lucreacia

More about Lucrecia and her coffee:

Lucrecia is a second generation producer from Ortega municipality in Tolima, Colombia. She manages her family farm El Jardín together with her parents who have taught her about coffee production since an early age.

Their land spreads over 4 hectares; 3 planted with coffee and 1 left as forest. Lucrecia and her family are members of the Cafe Agrario association, working closely with our export partner Siruma, improving coffee quality as well as wellbeing and gender equity in the community. Lucrecia is very keen to develop her coffee knowledge further and is studying Agronomy in a regional university.

This micro-lot from Lucrecia is processed using the classic washed method carried out with utmost care. After picking in the optimum ripeness, the cherries are floated and left in an open tank, without water, for 12-14 hours. Afterwards the coffee is de-pulped and left to ferment for 24 hours (if weather is very hot the time is reduced to 20 hours). Finally, the coffee is washed twice and taken to the solar dryer. Drying is carried out in a parabolic dryer structure and takes around 10 to 12 days depending on the weather. Lucrecia uses a Gravimet tool to make sure the coffee is dried to the appropriate moisture.

And the result delivers a wonderful depth and clarity in the cup, syrupy round body with deep sweetness reminding us of maple syrup in texture and flavour, along with juicy red grape notes.

The story of Cafe Agrario Association:

Both Luz Maribel and Wilson are active members of the Cafe Agrario association and work closely with our export partner Siruma.

As Siruma explain, tthe association was initially set up with a political purpose by a leader with roots in the guerrilla warfare/conflict that Tolima was known for in previous years. As such, the association didn’t have any intentions to look for commercial activities or seek help from the government or other entities that work to help growers improve coffee yields and/or quality. Initially this did not pose any problems for its members, but as time passed by and more associations started to form in the region, Cafe Agrario’s members understood such associations were built to benefit their members by assessing these kinds of help.

After 6 years Cafe Agrario changed its leader and its course and started to receive help from entities from NGOs. The progress of the association and the coffee growers regarding quality and quantity was huge. As a consequence, the leader sought to increase sales exponentially and started to sell the members’ coffee on credit. Unfortunately, sales were made to companies that were were insolvent and couldn’t make their payments which resulted in the coffee growers’ not receiving their payments for coffee they had delivered.

Even though all the 35 families that are part of this association suffered hardship as a consequences of these failed sales, the growers continue to produce coffee - striving to find new ways to add value to their product. They have pivoted to specialty coffee, looking to increase their income by producing better quality coffee. And though there is certainly potential for high quality production, there is need to improve knowledge and knowhow of the processes needed to produce coffee exportable within the speciality market. And this is where Siruma can help. Not only by providing support through their sustainability and agronomy team but also by purchasing their coffee and being their direct link to the said quality focused market.

The association has now been working with Siruma for 3.5 years and their progress has been significant, where both the coffee quality and the logistical and organisational skills of the group have seen incredible development. Initially, the association’s insufficient infrastructure and knowledge on quality analysis of their coffees meant that they weren’t fully aware of the value of their product and accepted base prices from their buyers even though when appropriately assessed their coffee had the potential to benefit from a much higher price within the global marketplace. With Siruma's help they have developed the capacity to do appropriate physical analysis of their coffee and now know the different varieties their farms have in order to process separately and sell sought after single variety lots.

Furthermore, through Siruma’s connections, the association has participated in various social equity workshops led by the non-profit Bean Voyage and several of its members had the opportunity to attend (with expenses covered) the Women Powered Coffee Summit held in Mexico. As many of their members shared during our visit and meeting with the association in November 2024, both these experiences have had a transformative impact on their confidence and the role of women in general in the association and coffee production.

As we’ve witnessed first hand during out visit, the association’s members are very driven and proud to work with Siruma, thankful for the support and trust they’ve built over the last few years, making them hopeful for the future of their community.