Rinaldo's Coffee: Colombia, Astotbilbao, Washed

When I took my very first consignment of green beans and wondered how to switch on my Giesen Roaster, it included a beautiful Colombian bean. We've returned to Colombia for this great bean. It's lovely to roast - very honest and could certainly go into any espresso blend, but it stands up on its own.

ASOTBILBAO - ASOCIACIÓN DE TECNÓLOGOS Y PRODUCTORES AGROPECUARIOS DE BILBAO

This producer group was established in October 2010 in the region of Planadas, South Tolima. The group currently has 38 members and was initially created with 35 who had graduated from SENA, Colombia’s Higher Education National Service. Whereas, much production in Colombia is very much dominated by small holders that band together into Co-operatives and growers' associations, Astotbilboa was established to work as bridge between growers and the government institutions to help improve quality and productivity of coffee production. In this way, it can eliminate lower grade quality beans being mixed with great coffee green.

The varying climates present challenges to small holder farmers to harvest and process their crop in stable conditions. The geography of the land creates an environment where we see multiple harvests taking place at various times across the different coffee producing regions. Our export partners use only producers with good practises and methods to produce stable and high quality cupping coffees.

During the harvest the coffee is picked and pulped before being left to ferment for 12 – 16 hours overnight. The coffee is then washed and naturally sun dried on roof tops or in parabolic driers.