El Mirador
Orange blossom, red apple and almond nougat, with a silky texture. Well structured, with great balance.
This microlot was produced by Evelio Realpe and his family, who own the three hectare farm El Mirador. The farm sits at 1,800m above sea level, and is located near the town of Pitalito, in the southwest of Colombia’s state of Huila.
El Mirador is mainly planted with Caturra, which was the most popular variety during the 1970s and 1980s when most local farms were established, along with Colombia, a hybrid variety introduced by Colombia’s Coffee Federation (FNC) in the 1980s as part of the country’s efforts to reduce the incidence of coffee leaf rust without affecting cup quality. Evelio farms his coffee with traditional techniques, applying fertilisers around three times a year after manual weeding and rarely using pesticides.
Most of Pitalito’s producers grow coffee at their primary farms, and tend to other vegetables and fruit in parcels of land in the nearby state of Caquetá. Towards the end of the coffee harvest, producers like Evelio will relocate to complete the harvest of their food crops. Recognising this is exhausting, Pergamino have focused on teaching producers they work with in the region to intercrop fruit and vegetables with coffee, thereby maximising their land and providing year-round sustenance from their primary site.
ABOUT PITALITO
Located in Huila’s southwest, nearly 200km away from capital city Neiva, Pitalito is part of the Great Colombian Massif, sitting alongside the Magdalena River. Situated in a plateau above the Valley of Laboyos, Pitalito boasts a very strong agricultural sector, with corn, legumes and passionfruit its most important food crops. The municipality is also one of Colombia’s largest coffee-producing regions, thanks to its unique topography of gentle, rolling hills, which are much easier to farm than the steep cliffs common in many of the country’s coffee regions. This allows growers to plant more trees per hectare, and makes the harvest easier to manage, as picking is less challenging.
Beyond the delicious produce and coffee the region is known for, Pitalito, and the towns that surround it, are lands of great historical significance. Prior to the Spanish invasion of Colombia, the area was the traditional home of several nations and groups, including the Guachico, Totalco, Laboyo, Lacaco, Guarapa and Totalco people. Pitalito has numerous waterways that run parallel to and eventually feed into, the Magdalena River (which runs from Huila all the way to the Caribbean Sea), making it a key location for trade and transport routes that were also used by larger indigenous nations like the Timana, Andaquí and Yalcón. Following the region’s brutal conquest and the subsequent demise of many of its indigenous peoples, vestiges of the area’s rich history can still be found at the various national parks and archeological sites that are found throughout the area, such as the Salto de Bordones waterfall, which is the origin of many local myths and stories.
Today, this corner of Huila is home to several protected indigenous reserves, made up of nations who re-settled here following colonisation. These resguardos operate under their own rule of law, independently of the Colombian government. Its communities are dedicated to sustenance farming of traditional crops like yuca, beans and corn, with families and neighbours trading amongst themselves (rather than using money) to protect their food sovereignty and independence.
ABOUT HUILA
The department of Huila is located in the southwest of Colombia. It is framed by the Central and Eastern ranges of the Andes, with most of the region sitting in the Magdalena Valley. This area is renowned for the quality of its coffee and, in 2013, it received the Denomination of Origin status. Coffee production in Huila belongs to an ecosystem of subtropical, very humid mountain forest. The year-round distribution of rainfall, rich soil and temperature allow exceptional coffee to be cultivated at elevations of up to 1,900 meters above sea level almost throughout the whole year.
Huila is one of the largest coffee-producing regions in the country, however the size of coffee farms here are overwhelmingly small-scale, with most farmers owning on average just 1.5 hectares of land. Alongside coffee they also grow rice, raise cattle, and farm fish.
Our export partners for this coffee, Pergamino, have worked hard commercialise specialty-grade coffee throughout Huila, and have uncovered some stunning coffees and very dedicated producers in the process. They work closely with the producers to give them feedback on their coffees (provided by Pergamino’s expert team of cuppers) and provide top up payments when the coffee is sold at a higher premium.
Head here to learn more about the work of Pergamino.
HOW THIS COFFEE WAS PROCESSED
This lot was selectively hand-harvested, with most labour being provided by Evelio and his family. It was then processed using the washed method at the farm’s ‘micro-beneficio’ (mill).
At the end of each day, cherries were hand-sorted and left to pre-ferment for 12 hours. This was done using permeable nylon sacks, which allow for airflow around the coffee cherry, keeping the internal temperature low and stable. Once bagged, Evelio carefully placed the cherries in a cool, dry place to protect them from the elements, as high temperatures can accelerate fermentation and introduce undesirable flavours. Fermentation times at El Mirador are not standardised, instead depending on that day’s workflow and the volume of cherry harvested. Pitalito’s cool climate allows farmers like Evelio to collect 1-2 days’ worth of pickings before they need to pulp and wash the cherries, streamlining operations without risking over-fermented flavours in the final cup.
The cherry was then pulped using a small electric pulper and then placed into a fermentation tank for another 24 hours. Because of the region’s cooler temperatures, producers like Evelio tend to ferment the coffees for longer than usual and will often blend several days’ worth of pickings over a two to three day period. Every day, freshly picked cherry is pulped and added to the mix, which lowers the pH level and – along with the cooler temperatures – allows for an extended fermentation process. This fermentation process contributes to a vibrant, winey acidity in the coffee’s cup profile.
Following fermentation, the coffee was washed and then carefully sun-dried over 10–18 days. Once dry, the coffee was delivered to Pergamino’s warehouse, where it was cupped and graded, and then rested in parchment until it was ready for export.
