Colombia
Huila
60 Smallholder Contributors to El Puente mill
Smallholder Farms
Caturra, Colombia, Castillo, Tabi
Washed
June
Sweet, Citrus, Juicy, Clean
1875 meters
N/A
70kg with liner
SOLD OUT
El Puente is named for the footbridge over the river near the new El Puente processing facility for coffee from Aromas del Sur farms in the Palestina region of southern Huila. Rodrigo Sanchez and his family produce coffee on their farms and deliver it to El Puente, which is designed to handle larger volumes of coffee than the mills on individual farms can process. El Puente is a pilot project that is supported by community investment in sustainable development of rural areas.
El Puente La Union is a washed lot from neighbouring farms grown on the slopes of the Bruselas and Palestina municipalities between 1650 and 2000 meters above sea level. La Union is the area at the crossroads between Palestina and Bruselas and was chosen as the name for the group of 60 producers who contribute to this outstanding blend.
Before El Puente micromill started receiving the cherries from the group, the producers selected for this project attended several workshops to learn the protocols to ensure the efficiency and traceability of the operation. The goal of El Puente La Union is to pay above the average price for the quality target of the blend and to reduce the risks that the majority of producers in the area face as a result of the lack of infrastructure and access to knowledge. Aromas del Sur, as a coordinator and project initiator, shares their knowledge to both rectify this lack and strengthen their relationship with the broader producing community in Palestina, Bruselas, La Union, and all of southern Huila.
The Colombian Department of Huila is located in the southern portion of the country where the Central and Eastern ranges of the Andes mountains converge. Huila’s capital city of Neiva is dry, flat, and desert-like, markedly different from the coffee regions further south.
Centered around the city of Pitalito, Huila’s coffee farms are predominately smallholder owned and over the past ten years have made consorted efforts to produce specialty coffee that reveals the full character of the region’s terroir. Selective manual harvesting, attentive processing, and careful post-harvest sorting all contribute to increasing recognition of the region.
Huila’s Departmental coffee committee, the local connection to the national Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, has invested notable resources into training producers in everything from fertilization to roasting. This, combined with producer enthusiasm, has created a regional culture of quality-focused production.
Huila holds important historic significance dating back to pre-Columbian cultures. The archeological site at San Agustin includes a large number of stone carvings, figures, and artifacts that offer a rare glimpse into the land’s past prior to colonialism.
