Colombia La Palma y El Tucan

This coffee comes to us from Faustino Reyes via La Palma y El Tucan’s Neighbours & Crops program. LPET are known for their high quality coffee processing and they share this expertise with local farmers to elevate the specialty coffee market in the Cundinamarca area of Colombia. Thanks to the hybrid style processing this coffee is fruity yet soft.

From the importer, Forward Coffee:

The coffee trees at La Palma y El Tucan's (LPET) are surrounded by a vast ecosystem of plant life growing in harmony. This concept was designed by LPET founder, Felipe Sardi, after pursuing his Master's in Permaculture. He theorized that he could remove many of the coffee trees, rotate in other crops that would fix elements in the soil, and still have a comparable-sized harvest. He has been successful in his endeavor and has drastically changed the landscape within Cundinamarca, by sharing this program through the unbelievable Neighbours & Crops project.

This lot comes from the LPET Neighbours & Crops program, which is a community program, empowering and activating nearby coffee producing families. It's a powerful business model that positively impacts the community in many different ways. 

LPET has a team called the Elite Picker Squad. This team is constantly monitoring the progress of the coffee plants throughout their farm as well as the N&C program. They focus on pruning, fertilizing, applying compost (made organically at LPET), and harvesting the cherry. This intense level of detail ensures maximum expression of the coffees harvested and premium dollar to go back and support each of the neighboring families. They're able to also focus their efforts of other crops and projects through the security of the N&C program.

Don Faustino has been growing coffee all his life, constantly surrounded by coffee plants throughout his entire upbringing. Today, Faustino Reyes is 60 years old and his small farm, La Floresta is located very close to the La Palma y El Tucan farm, in a village called Anatoli. He, his wife, two daughters and a new grandson live and assist in the operations of the farm. Since 2014 they've worked with LPET in the Neighbours and Crops program.

This specific coffee comes from Faustino Reyes and is lot 10 of the 2021 season. It's processed in a state-of-the-art technique known as 'bio-innovation'. Through the bio-innovation process, LPET honours the main principles of organic farming, by capturing and reproducing microorganisms found within the farm, to inoculate the coffee and drive the flavours utilizing their terroir. Fermented as whole cherry for 70 hours in sealed, ceramic pots inoculated with local yeasts, then pulped and fermented an additional 24 hours with mucilage, in traditional open air ceramic tanks. Followed by 27 days in shaded raised beds which are both temperature and humidity controlled, and 79 hours in mechanical drier.

This is one of the most sustainable and impressive models we've seen to date in the coffee industry.