For the second year in a row, our company was part of a very special coffee buying experience in Colombia, called ‘Huila Best Cup’. This program was established three years ago by Café Imports’ founder Andrew Miller and Banexport’s Jairo Ruiz. The purpose is to find and reward the best producers in the area, incentivizing them with a significant increase in the cash they receive for their coffee.
Jairo and the Banexport team in Colombia are amazing and talented people. It would be tough to find an export company that does more to benefit the farmer-producers in their country. Their mission is to get the best quality coffee for Colombia, and to ensure the producers get rewarded directly for this. They have an experienced team of agronomists that work hand in hand with the producers to improve their farming and milling processes. The better practices bring a higher cup quality, and more money for their harvest.
We were shown a prime example of Banexport’s work in our visit to Elgin Guzman’s experimental farm near the town of Pitalito, in the Colombian state of Huila. Elgin partners with Banexport to analyze differences in harvesting and processing techniques on specific varieties of coffee. For example, they use a Brix meter to measure the sugar content in the cherries, to determine the optimal time for picking. This goes well beyond simply picking the red, ripe-looking cherry. They have discovered that the Castillo variety is a denser bean that needs to remain on the tree longer to fully ripen (although it may appear ready). They even harvest at a specific time of day (6-10a) when the fruit is not stressed by the sun, and therefore the sugar content is highest.
Elkin Guzman discussing how they measure sugar content in the cherry, to determine the optimal time for picking each varietal
Every step of the process is handled in this manner, very scientifically, with the ultimate test being taste of a cup of coffee. Another example is using different color screens to provide shade for the drying patios. Keeping everything else the same, Banexport and Elkin have discovered that a particular blue screen provided the optimal amount of solar radiation. Keeping temperature and humidity the same, the blue screen cupped 4 points better than the other colors.
Elkin Guzman explaining his washing process for each varietal
All of this experimental work is shared with other producers in the area, with the greater benefit of elevating the coffee quality in Huila and improving the economy. They guide producers through sensorial analysis to suggest modifications to picking, pulping, fermentation, drying, and storage. The process is tailor made to each farm, generating long-term partnerships with coffee producers.
‘Best of Huila’ received green bean samples from over 600 producers in the region this year. Banexport and Café Imports had scored all of these coffees through a fair and detailed cupping process. In this manner, the submissions had been vetted and ultimately narrowed down to the top 30. Each of the 30 producers are Finalists of Huila Best Cup, and are guaranteed to receive a minimum of $3.50 per pound for their entire lot! To put this in perspective, the farmers would have previously received in the range of $1-1.50 by selling through the FNC. (Colombian Coffee Growers Federation)
After the Top 30 Finalists had been selected, we arrived in Colombia. Our group consisted of around 25 coffee professionals from all over the United States, as well as Canada, Italy, Russia, Taiwan, and Colombia – a very impressive group! Our task was to narrow this field to the top 10 or 15 that would participate in the Live Auction.
The National Learning Service (SENA), a Colombian public institution for coffee and culinary arts. Notice the buildings laid out in the shape of a coffee bean!
We drove each morning to a fantastic venue called SENA (National Learning Service), a public institution that offers a free education to Colombian students that want to pursue careers in coffee or culinary arts. This school grows their own coffee, raises livestock, produces biofuel, and has the best cupping lab and facilities I’ve ever seen. It is educating the youth of Colombia to be successful in the coffee world, or anything else they choose to do. SENA donates their space to the Best of Huila competition each year.
So for four days we would do two rounds of blind cuppings. Each of us scored every coffee, and then we would adjourn into a room and read out our scores and tasting notes. Scores were averaged in order to select the top 15 winning lots, in order from 15 to 1st place. With so many close scores, we determined that 15 of these would go to the live auction at the end of the week.
There was a secondary purpose to these cuppings, which was grading and selecting another category of coffees called Regional Select. These were the Best Cup submissions that did not quite make it into the Top 30, but that were still producing very high quality coffee. Café Imports takes 10 or so small lots from a specific village or town, with coffee that meets high standards and shares a similar microclimate and processing method. This is blended together to create a Regional Select category that is marketed under the town name, and typically scores in the 85-88 point range of specialty coffee.
We also cupped these Regional Select offerings, and had the opportunity to purchase these larger lots on a first come basis. On this trip, we secured a lot from Montanita Timana (town of Timana) which was the highest scored Regional Select of all! This is an affordable, very tasty coffee that will be in our lineup for about 6 months, beginning in March.
Dionel Chilito and Rick Evans at Finca La Pradera. We secured a small amount of Dionel's prized Geisha varietal at the silent auction.
Of course in addition to all this coffee analysis, we also visited a different producer and his farm each day. These were some of the most beautiful farms I've ever seen, with such friendly people opening their homes to us. And it is always so interesting to see the different methodologies in place with each producer, and how Banexport has helped them improve their processes.