Here’s a special treat from Nariño!

Nixon is the son of one of the first coffee producers in the indigenous reservation of Aponte, near Buesaco. Most producers in Aponte are part of the Inga community, an indigenous group that was once a part of the northern Incan Empire before the arrival of the Spanish colonizers. The town of Aponte has suffered significantly, being located almost entirely on top of a seismic fault that has slowly been sinking into the earth. Many inhabitants of the town whose homes have been destroyed have received government subsidies to move elsewhere; others continue to live and farm in the newer part of the town that has been rebuilt.

We’ve been enjoying Nixon’s coffee for a few seasons now. Here’s how he prepares it.

First, he ferments in cherry in sealed plastic barrels (canecas) for about 2 days. From there, he de-pulps the cherries and allows them to ferment just a bit for another day. He doesn’t wash the remaining mucilage off (making this a “honey”) and instead takes it straight to his raised beds in a covered dryer.

Pricing transparency: we personally paid Raul $2,500,000 pesos per carga of parchment via our Colombian entity Shared Source SAS.