The El Boton Natural is in a shipping container in port in Colombia, waiting to get loaded onto a ship. Before they can, every coffee in a container must be cupped by the Coffee Quality arm of the FNC (The Federation). Yesterday they cupped the El Boton and rejected it, which means it could not be exported. Cristina asked me to write a letter to the head of the Coffee Quality institute, stating my intention to buy the El Boton based on its unique cup profile. I did that, and he accepted my letter, allowing for the export of our coffee. Whew.
It will ship out on the 22nd and arrive in Oakland on the 10th of January. We will get it on a truck at that time and it should be here by the 18th, if there are no holdups in customs or whatever.
Remember, also in this container is a coffee from a farmer named Octavio Restrepo whose farm is called La Alondra. You can see pictures of La Alondra here. This coffee will be good- chocolate, raisins, cinnamon, and a big, silky body.
I haven't mentioned the story of another coffee we'll hopefully be buying soon. Because I don't want to spread this around. I don't want to set a precedent for every situation like this, and I don't want to focus so much on a story as I do the coffee that results from it. That's my job, to worry about who gets what and how and where we get coffee. But I'm going to tell you this story anyway. While I was in Medellin, Cristina told me about an old couple named Gabriel and Orfilia Escobar. They own a very small farm called Las Animas (around 2 acres) outside Concordia. They work this farm by themselves, and Cristina told me they produce delicious coffee, but in very small quantities. Apparently Gabriel has been ill and his vision has been deteriorating until he finally fell completely blind. Orfilia has been tending to him, afraid to leave him in the house alone. So their coffee is not being harvested. Orfilia called Cristina to tell her the story and ask if Cristina could buy their farm so they could move into town and be able to support themselves. This story really bothered me and I couldn't stop thinking about it. What can I do? So one day I called Cristina and asked her if I could hire people to pick the coffee for Las Animas. She said she would find out. My one stipulation was this. I wanted them to dry-process the coffee, like Ariel is doing at El Boton. I promised her I would buy it even if it wasn't good. Cristina told me they have a marquesina, like the one Ariel built (a raised drying bed). Cristina called and talked to Orfilia about it, explaining the process over and over. Because it sounds stupid to them. But Orfilia let us pay for pickers and she laid the coffee out on the marquesina. Las Animas is planted all in Caturra, so it is a different varietal from the Maragogipe planted at El Boton. Orfilia dry-processed some coffee and sent it to Cristina. It is only a small amount, but when Cristina cupped it she said it was delicious. She seemed very excited about it. So hopefully we will have some of this coffee to buy soon.
The other thing I need to find out about is another small experiment Ariel is doing at El Boton. While we were there, he seemed distressed that all the coffee cherries weren't completely red. He talked to the farm manager, Luis, and they discussed why and what for. Luis said they have to pick coffee that is at least half-ripe because they will not be back to that area for another week, and by then those cherries would be overripe. In spanish they call the ones that are half-ripe and half green, PINTON. Ariel argued that Luis wouldn't eat an avocado if it were pinton; he would buy one that is maduro (ripe). Because when an avocado or a mango or any other fruit is ripe, it is sweet and delicious, but when it is pinton (or unripe), it is sour and bitter. Ariel argued that coffee is probably the same way. In general, coffee producers do not drink their own coffee. They export all the good coffee and drink the worst coffee or instant coffee. So they don't know. And Luis doesn't drink coffee at all. So Ariel told Luis to separate one square foot on the marquesina for ONLY pinton cherries and another square foot for ONLY maduro cherries. Cristina will cup them side-by-side and we will see the results. What effect does ripeness of cherry have on the cup?
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