Colombia - El Bombo Womens Group- Organic

Colombia has been producing and exporting coffee renowned for their full body, bright acidity and rich aftertaste, since the early 19th century.

Colombia boasts a wide range of climates and geographic conditions that, in turn, produce their own unique flavors in coffee. This also means that harvest times can vary quite a bit. In fact, between all its different regions, Colombia produces fresh crop nearly all year round.

The increasing focus on the specialty industry is changing the way traders and farmers do business. It is becoming more common for farmers to isolate the highest quality beans in their lots to market separately. These higher-quality lots are often sold under specific brands or stories.

Besides its wide variety of cup profiles, Colombia has quickly expanded its certification options over the past 10 years. The most common certifications available are Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ and Organic.

Grupo Asociativo El Bombo Pitalito Inza, Asombombo for short, was founded by Luis Alfredo Diaz to increase market access and attain fair, sustainable prices for their coffee. Today, their members are Organic certified and sell their coffees with Asobombo to garner higher prices for their hard work.

This lot was produced by 15 female members of Asobombo who live and farm in Huila. They are Organic certified and dedicated to producing high-quality specialty coffees through careful cultivation and processing. They continue to invest the premiums from their coffee into improving their farm and processing infrastructure and they’re always looking to learn new processing techniques to improve overall quality.

Cultivation

In Pitalito, farms tend to be slightly larger than other regions of Colombia. Most farms here are between 3 and 5 hectares, compared to 1 to 3 hectares in other regions.

Most of the families living in Pitalito today immigrated from Nariño in the 19th and 20th centuries. Nariño used to be much more densely populated than Huila, but many people migrated to Pitalito in search of affordable, fertile land.

In addition to coffee, many producers in Pitalito also grow sugarcane. Asobombo helped member communities build mills where farmers can process sugarcane into panela, a typical raw sugarcane product that is common in rural Colombia.

Harvest & Post-Harvest

The women contributing to this lot and their families selectively handpick ripe, red cherry and process it on their farms. They pulp cherry on small handcrank pulpers and ferment it in tanks for 12 to 36 hours. Following fermentation, parchment is washed in clean water and laid in parabolic beds, marquesinas or patios to dry. They rake parchment frequently to ensure even drying.