Colombia El Placer

ROAST PROFILE // Medium-Light MILLING PROCESS // Washed, sun dried ALTITUDE // 1800 masl VARIETALS // Castillo F4 and F11 CUPPING NOTES // Balanced with good acidity and body. Notes of stone fruits (plum, apricot). WHY WE LOVE THIS COFFEE // Fun Fact: Head Roaster Michel visited this farm on his recent trip to Colombia! Ruberto and Michel roasted together on Ruberto's homemade roaster and then shared a cup. Good times! We buy all of our Colombian coffees from Juan Carlos Arango who founded and runs the Arango export/import coffee company. The Arango tag-line is “Relationship-Driven Coffee”, which we greatly appreciate. Working directly with Juan Carlos and building long term relationships helps everyone, from the farmer to the roastery, to build a more sustainable and equitable business and life. As one of ten children, Ruberto was raised growing coffee alongside his siblings. He considers coffee farming a way of life, not just a job, so it comes as no surprise that he is now continuing the tradition. El Placer is planted with 8,000 trees of the Castillo F4 and Castillo F11 varietals. Above average rainfall in both the 2021 and 2022 growing seasons has led to a considerable decrease in yields per tree. Ruberto laments that while the coffee trees flower, the excessive rain causes the flowers to fall off the tree before the nodes can develop into fruit. This leaves him, and other local farmers, with less coffee to sell. He believes that relationships are the key to making the coffee industry sustainable. Through his commitment to investing the time and effort needed to produce consistent coffee, he aims to overcome the production variables. Ruberto hopes his quality focus will help El Placer prosper and encourage generations to come to continue the family farming tradition.