We love Miller. This lovely, gentle man, when we ask what he would like to say to clients of his coffee, replies that he wants to share his pride for being in this ecosystem full of birds, water, and all the richness of nature and that he is proud to provide a healthy, safe, low chemical coffee with a good cup. Sigh … this sums up so much about Miller.

He has three farms which he manages with 50% organic practices (meaning his trees receive half their nourishment from biofertlisers he makes himself, the balance being from conventional fertilisers). He absolutely delights in the cleanness of his environment, describing his farm as having lungs of mountain air and water, and having the the goal of being at 70 or 80% organic practices within 1.5 years (“depending on how the plants adapt”).

Miller takes this great clean production and gives it huge love through the processing and drying stages: everything is deliberate, done carefully and with a sense of excitement over the outcome.

PROCESSING 

Miller picks ripe cherries, and leaves them for an initial fermentation (more commonly called “oxidation” recently) inside of sealed Grain Pro bags, in a low-oxygen environment. From there, he de-pulps the coffee, and puts the seeds into different Grain Pro bags that he seals tightly. When the coffee has finished fermenting, he washes it once, and dries the coffee, taking care to not let the coffee re-humidify in the nighttime. Once dry, Miller stores the parchment in protective plastic bags while it stabilises, targeting the magic 10.5% humidity number.

PRICING TRANSPARENCY:
We purchase parchment coffee directly from the association, and pesos are transferred straight to their bank account. We pay for transport from Pitalito  to the mill in Valle del Cauca. We paid $4,371,750.00 pesos per carga for Miller’s coffee. A carga is 125 kilos of parchment coffee. For context, here is a link to the daily carga market price:
https://www.federaciondecafeteros.org/static/files/precio_cafe.pdf.