• Producer Alirio Muñoz
• Attributes Pink bourbon, controlled aerobic fermentation
• Origin Bruselas, Huila, Colombia
• Flavours Round juicy orange acidity with chocolate biscuit and earl grey to follow. Dunk that bikkie…you know you want to!

Alirio and his wife Anayibe Ortiz are members of Los Guacharos, a group of friends and neighbours near Bruselas, Huila, who are working to transition away from synthetic chemical inputs in their farming.

Alirio is one of the most cheerful producers we have the pleasure of working with, and he’s super ambitious too – he has two farms, one of 6 hectares and the other 4, with some super interesting and challenging varietals planted – in addition to the pink bourbon which makes up this lot, he has Caturra Chiroso, Caturron, Bourbon Sidra, San Bernardo, and others. A long time contributor to our Los Guacharos blend product, it’s finally time to welcome Alirio to centre stage!

FARM MANAGEMENT

The members of the Los Guacharos, including Alirio, have started the conversion to fully ecological and regenerative production, close to biodynamics. The Guacharos produce a bio-fertilizing brew (called Super Magro) made up of organic minerals and waste products, molasses, bone ash and manure (among other ingredients), fermented with microorganisms collected from virgin soils and used as a fertilizer and protectant from disease. The Super Magro is edible, incredibly effective, and represents a producer-driven grassroots movement empowering producers to increase soil health, reduce costs and stop dependence on chemicals.

SOURCING

We have been working independently with the Guacharos for several years. They are forcefully self-determined. The group’s power lies in their organization as an association, committed to improving all members’ coffee, and cooperating to sell directly, without working with intermediaries. They have all voluntarily trained at the local agricultural college in specialty coffee production: everything from agronomy and accounting to roasting, cupping and latte art. They collectively pay for consultancy in organic agriculture, and they work on each other’s farms installing water filtration systems and spraying organic fertilisers.

When we decide on the lots, they hire a truck and we pay for transport to the mill whose services we contract. We then export under our own license and pay the association directly from our Colombian bank account. They are an inspiring group full of smiles and the will to constantly learn and improve as artisans and improve the livelihoods of their members, all of which are very small-scale farmers of coffee and their own food crops.

PRICING TRANSPARENCY 

We paid Alirio 1,750,000 per carga for this pink bourbon lot. To give context this is the link to the current market rate in Colombia for producers delivering parchment to their local Co-Op, it’s updated daily https://www.federaciondecafeteros.org/static/files/precio_cafe.pdf

Roasted for filter brewing.

We ship coffee as whole beans by default, if you need your coffee ground, please let us know at the checkout.