Over nighted Saturday in Paris airport only to be bumped from the connecting air France flight the next morning – they eventually got all of us on board spread all over the plane. After an 11 hour flight we arrived in Bogota early evening only in a fit state to sip some local brew. 

The following morning was a visit to our supplier in Bogota city. “Racafe” exports about 1,000,000 bags annually, has an office in Bogota and 8 mills around the country in all the major coffee growing areas. They can supply all certifications, micro lots (including last years winning SCAA coffee) traceable, excelso and supremo grades. We started the morning with a tasting session from each of the Colombian districts such as Huila, Bucaramanga, Cauca, Sierra Nevada, Boyoca in both Supremo and Excelso levels. Its great to cup with their QA dept who can explain the nuances of each area. This was follwed up with a
visit to the mill in Bogota, which to say the least is impressive – clean, H&S conscientious, and flexible.

The following day started at 5 am going North into the coffee zone – the scenery is fantastic and it was hard to tell when you actually arrived into the coffee zones due to all the other trees in, around, and over the coffee – real shade grown ! We met with Racafe’s buying agents in the towns, to see how they bought and collected the coffee – a lot of old fashioned bartering went on, where the buying station would pre-finance with whatever the farmer needed, be it coffee orientated or domestic needs such as corn. The farmer then repaid them with coffee deliveries.

The following day we visited our Fairtrade supplier “Cosurca” in the Cauca district. Small but pioneering and passionate about what they produce. As Joel said “we sell life as well as coffee” ! Trade and and logistics in this part of the country are difficult with many big buyers competing for the coffee but they have a strong membership which works. Many are now also producing fruit to become less dependent on coffee.

        

It was interesting to see the difference and indeed the similarities of the farms certified by Fairtrade, Organic and Rainforest – particularly the beliefs of the farmers as to why they produce the coffee under certifications, sometimes for less return than you would think, but mainly because they believe it is the right thing to do.

                                

We then travelled South, South West, North, and even further North – 10 flights and many ground miles over muddy mountain roads with sheer drops into the canyon or forest – was it worth it – YES ! Colombia is an exciting and diverse country with very friendly and hospitable people – everywhere we went we were made very welcome.

 

What did we learn ? The crop is down considerably – in some areas they have had 6 weeks of
sun in the past 3 years. Add short sales by some of the bigger exporters and you end up with record high prices and lack of availability. This will inevitably lead to numerous quality claims and delays in delivery. This year from Colombia will be a tough one.

 

It’s just as well the Club Colombia beer is good – unfortunately we had to test more than one bottle at the end of a long day to ensure chonshistenchy ! Where to for the next DRW Coffee Safari ? Requests welcomed.