This Regional Select farm-specific lot comes to us courtesy of producer Arles Jair Galindez of Palestina, Huila. Arles lives and works on his farm, Finca Muchilero, with his wife Nidia and their three children. The farm is humble 3 hectares planted with 1600 trees of Castillo and Colombia. Over the past 15 year, Arles has developed the following technique to process his coffee:
All cherries are harvested upon reaching full ripeness and de-pulped the same day. Once de-pulped, the coffee is set to ferment for 24 hours in a dry state. It is then washed 3-5 times and placed in a parabolic dryer for an average of 8 to 15 days, depending on the weather. It is then sacked and stacked on wooden pallets and sent to be milled.
We are happy to introduce to you a new group, called "Aromas del Sur,” located in Palestina, Huila. We are working together with Aromas del Sur to bring to you the best coffees from Palestina.
The founding members created the group in 2013, when they discovered the potential of specialty-coffee production. Currently 73 active members compromise Aromas del Sur.
The average farm size is 6 hectares, with an altitude range going from 1400 to 1900 masl. The highest farm is located at 1970 masl. The varieties commonly found on the farms are: Caturra, Colombia, Castillo, Tipica, Red Bourbon, Pink Bourbon, and Tabi.
Harvest starts in October and peak harvest is in November; mitaca ("fly crop") is May and peak mitaca is in June. Producers harvest and mill their coffee following quality standards: They do a selective hand picking of ripe cherry, ferment the coffee to adequate level, and dry the coffee between 10–11.5% moisture content. The common practice is that the producers mill the coffee at their own farm, and once coffee is dried to the desire moisture content, it's transferred to Aromas del Sur's warehouse.
Aromas del Sur has a project called “Universidad del Café” (coffee university), the focus of which is to teach and implement quality procedures among the group's producers. The goal of the project is to train the producers in agricultural practices, commercial know-how, and cupping ability.
Aromas del Sur's warehouse functions as a storage place for parchment coffee, and has a well-equipped cupping lab for quality control. Each lot is cupped get the coffee profile and to check the quality.
Some facts about Palestina:
Palestina, located in the south of Huila, is also know as Agua Azul, ("blue water") because it's considered the main source of water for the department of Huila, having several water sources such as: Guarapas River, Suaza River, Aguas Claras River, La Quebradona River, Agua Azul River, and La Cumbre River.
