Producer Info
Oporapa, Huila, Colombia | 1950 masl | Pink Bourbon – Washed
Edier and Fabian are brothers who, in 2017, bought a two-hectare plot of land peaking at 2,000 masl. They saw it as an ideal spot to grow high-quality coffee. The farm was already planted with Catimor and Pink Bourbon varieties, which they continued cultivating.
50 -hour aerobic fermentation of cherries
+ 50-hour aerobic fermentation of depulped coffee
After picking Edier and Fabian takes the cherries down to the wet mill by motorcycle.
Processing is one of the most stressful parts since they don’t have their own wet mill. They rely on neighbors or family members for equipment and drying beds. This often means moving the parchment between drying beds, as the owners can’t lend their infrastructure for the entire drying period because they need it for their own coffee. Minga is partnering with roasters to fund the brothers’ wet mill.
The high elevation was the main reason they chose this plot. A couple of decades ago, locals in Oporapa tell us it was impossible to grow coffee there. However, frost remains a significant risk, and it’s something they face every year. In 2023, they lost more than half of their crop to a severe frost. This highlights the fact that while high elevation is often sought after in the specialty coffee market, it also comes with significant risks for producers. But when the climate is favorable for coffee, the result in the cup is stunning.
When the brothers realized that the cup profile of their Pink Bourbon was fetching high prices, they began replacing all the Catimors with more Pink Bourbon, grown from seeds they picked from their own farm. They’re also nurturing a few hundred Laurina, Gesha, and Chiroso plants for upcoming trials.
The quality of this coffee is also due to the fact that all the farm workers and pickers are the four Vargas brothers. They take turns looking after each other’s farms in a practice called ‘minga‘, a traditional form of communal work.
None of this would be possible without the support of Luisa, Edier wife, who tirelessly prepare meals every day to keep everyone energized during the long, hard days of farm work, while they raise the next generation of coffee farmers.
