Christmas Brews – Week #1
Available until Wednesday 10th December 

Wilder comes from a coffee producing family (his father placed in the Cup of Excellence competition in 2012!), but Wilder himself worked in business administration because coffee didn’t interest him. But in 2010, the farm next to his father’s was put up for sale, and Wilder purchased it to have some land of his own, though his father managed the coffee on that land for a while. In 2019, Wilder decided to join his father and learn more about coffee production, and with his business development background, he was especially interested in creating a differentiated product and creating lasting business relationships. Today, he says that he’s proud of what they’ve accomplished in coffee- connecting with international buyers, and learning how to be consistent with their quality.

Wilder manages two plots with coffee- one in Buesaquito, and one in Páramo Bajo outside of Aponte- this honey processed lot comes from the Buesaquito lot. His plot starts at 1810 masl, and the high elevation keeps temperatures cool with plenty of humidity. The high elevation also keeps pests and plagues at bay. He has 28,000 trees on this plot- the varieties include castillo, caturra, gesha, SL 28 and variedad colombia. He employs between 25 – 30 workers to help manage the farm, especially during harvest season from April to July.  This year, late flowering and then subsequent rain delayed the ripening of the crop, which delayed the overall harvest season. In the last year, Wilder has made some improvements to the processing infrastructure on his farm- he covered the fermentation tank with a stainless steel sheet that maintains the tank’s temperature and allows for more efficient cleaning. Additionally, they installed a cylindrical sieve onto the pulper, which helps to remove under-ripe cherries.

PROCESSING
For this honey lot, first, the cherries are floated in plastic tanks, and the initial oxidation process begins for 48-72 hours, depending on the temperature. From there, the cherries are de-pulped, and fermented in either sealed plastic bags, or sealed plastic, food-grade barrels for an additional 24 hours. The honey processed lot goes directly to the patio for a “pre-dry” process- the initial dripping mucilage drips off and the sun begins to dry the seeds, before it’s moved to a mechanical dryer.  In the dryer, the temperature is carefully controlled so that it doesn’t go past 35C, and the drying process continues for the final process under a shade cloth until it reaches 10-11.5%.

PRICING TRANSPARENCY:
We purchase parchment coffee directly from Wilder, and pesos are transferred straight to his bank account upon receipt of parchment at our chosen mill. We pay for transport from Nariño to the dry mill. During the primary harvest in Nariño, we paid 3,081,250 pesos per carga (125 kilos of parchment coffee, this is the unit farmers sell their coffee in) for Wilder’s honey coffee.  At the time, the local price ranged between $2,356,000 and $2,553,000 pesos per carga.