Pista - El Naranjo

Notes - Red apple, cherry and marmalade

Origin - Colombia

Process - Washed

Profile - Tangy and fruity

Recommendation - Discovery Filter

This coffee represents one of the Café Pista team's most cherished projects. We've been supporting the Azahar Coffee initiative in the El Naranjo community since we began roasting in 2018. Given its strong social and cultural impact, the project behind this coffee is a no-brainer for us, and we've been keen to return to it year after year.

This coffee comes from the municipality of Yacuanquer, in the Nariño department in southern Colombia. The Nariño region, bordered on one side by the Pacific Ocean and on the other by the Andes, is renowned for its exceptional coffees, cultivated for several generations on volcanic soil rich in minerals. It is there that Azahar Coffee, a coffee export company particularly invested in supporting producers, decided to launch its Proyeto Recolectores program in 2018. This program, which means “Pickers Project” in Spanish, aims to promote and consolidate the know-how of coffee pickers. This profession, too rarely honored, is nevertheless a key element in the coffee production chain. Indeed, the know-how and dedication of the pickers are essential to the success of each harvest. The precision and knowledge required to harvest only the ripe cherries from the coffee trees are crucial to ensuring superior quality production, thus guaranteeing a higher purchase price and better income for producers. Unfortunately, a constant financial and social devaluation of this profession pushes younger generations away, preventing the transmission of know-how. Through an intensive training and apprenticeship program, combined with remuneration reaching double local standards, the Azahar Coffee company, through the Recolectores Project , intends to reverse the situation and revalue this profession. What's more, this project is a huge source of pride and unity for the entire El Naranjo community, and we can only be proud and humbled to have been able to participate in it for several years now.

The producers who participated in the Proyeto Recolectores program in 2024 are: Jovanny Delacruz, Ancizar Lasso, Lauro Chaves, Diego, Lazo, Pablo Daza, Jose Salazar, Jorge Tejada, Diego Lazo, Fulgencio Lasso, Olmedo Lasso

Grown at an altitude of approximately 1,900 meters, this coffee is composed of the Caturra and Castillo varieties. It is picked at peak ripeness and sorted first by flotation, then by hand, to remove overripe or underripe cherries. It is then mechanically pulped and passed under a stream of water to remove the remaining mucilage, before being dry fermented for 18 to 30 hours. Finally, it is spread on raised beds for 18 days for a slow and even drying. Round and sweet, it can be drunk as an espresso or filter, offering a delicate espresso or a complex filter.