Café Imports is pleased to announce the arrival of our first container of Gran Galope; another Big Stride for us in the direction of supporting small farmers and sourcing exceptional Colombian Coffee. These are full containers of coffees changing the game of what "standard" Colombian coffees are; a new "workhorse" coffee from Colombia.
In an effort to be a better partner to our coffee-farming friends in the South of Colombia by buying more of their fine coffee and paying a premium better than they can find in the local market, we are strengthening our relationships while simultaneously introducing a product to Specialty Coffee roasters that is solid, flexibleand relatively inexpensive. This is a win-win for producers and roasters. Our goal is always to find more good homes for more of the crop from our partners.
The average coffee farmer in Cauca and Huila has about 1.5 hectares of coffee land and will produce about 50 bags of coffee per harvest. During the few months of harvest season,he or she will bring to town on a Saturday 10 or so bags of Pergamino to sell. We pay a premium based on cup scores; higher score equals higher premium. 90 points is over $4.00. Above 88 points means a micro-lot premium and 86 points equals our Regional Select premium.
Before Gran Galope, the other coffees, anything below 86 (that's where most of the coffee lies),recieved the FNC price or the posted street price. In today's market of about $1.20, this standard price is simply an unfortunate break-even price for an entire year's-worth of what we all know is hard, committed, and disciplined work.
So today we are pulling out the top lots from those still-solid but lesser cupping coffees (think 84-85 points), paying a premium to the farmer and bulking them together to make full containers of delicious, rich chocolatey Colombian coffee.
Enjoy Gran Galope, and gallop proudly in front of the herd my friends!
For more information on Colombian coffee, visit our Colombia origin page.
