Aponte, Narino, Colombia

About

Produced by smallholders in rural areas in Aponte, Nariño. Most of the coffee growers we work with belong to an indigenous reserve called Aponte. Coffee farmers who are part of this Microlot program started processing honeys since 2017, these growers are pioneers processing honeys in Colombia. They have achieved great success with this method due to the low volume of coffee they process this way. Additionally, the weather conditions are perfect. Relative humidity and tempature are very low throughout the whole year, allowing coffees to dry slowly which results in complex and delicate cup profiles.

Aponte

Producers contributing to this project grow coffee above 1700 m.a.s.l and their farms range in size between 0.5-1.5 hectares. In Aponte, producers have mastered the art of Honey processing as they have been producing Honeys for 4 consecutive years now. Growers’ production is very small and relative humidity is low. This helps the process as not much space is required, and coffees dry much faster compared to other coffee-producing regions. The Aponte indigenous reserve is located within Tablon de Gomez, an area now recognized by many roasters around the world. They have their own language, politics, and rules. Only a couple of decades ago they were forced to grow illicit plants by the guerrillas and so it was a very dangerous area, almost impossible to access. Thankfully, they joined forces and decided to stop economic dependence on drug production and instead replanted traditional vegetables and coffee instead, marketing their own products of indigenous origin.