This very special coffee comes to us through one of our longest-standing relationships in Colombia, with the multi-generational Quinayas family from whom we have purchased coffee for many, many years. The Quinayas include brother and sister Miller and Edilma, Miller’s son Yamid, and Yamid’s brother-in-law, Hugo Melo. This coffee is a mix of Caturra and Colombia varieties from Hugo’s farm. Hugo and Yamid work very closely together, processing their coffee on a shared mill, and drying their coffee in a beautiful dryer that they built together using funds from a interest-free loan we extended to them several years ago. To process, Hugo first floats the cherries to remove under- and over-ripes, and then leaves cherries for an initial cherry ferment for 24 hours. From there, coffee is de-pulped and left to ferment anaerobically in drums for 12-36 hours, depending on weather conditions. Shared Source has left a pH meter with Hugo and Yamid, and they carefully measure the pH of the coffee, washing once pH measures between 4 and 4.2. From there, coffee is lightly and gently washed, before moving to a nylon bag where remaining liquid is left to drain out a bit further for just an hour or so. Next, coffee is transferred to the new two-story dryer where it’s carefully tended to on the platforms under shade for almost a month.

Pricing transparency: We purchase parchment coffee directly from Hugo at the farmgate. We pay for transport from Pitalito to the mill. We paid $2,800,000 per carga (125 pounds of parchment) for several lots we purchased from Hugo. The market price at the time was below $1,700,000 per carga.