COE: Colombia arrives at Te Aro

Te Aro Roasted
Address: 983 Queen Street East
Neighbourhood: Leslieville
website, @twitter, Tel: 416 465 2006 or

Roasting Sept 14th.
Pre-order now!
$35 for 1/2 lbs of this #1 COE from Colombia

Farmer: Arnulfo Leguizamo

Altitude: 1841 m
Farm: Finca La Primavera

Origin: El Tabor, San Agustín, Huila
Varietal: Caturra

Earlier this year Andy went down to Colombia to participate in judging the COE. This is quite an honour to be chosen as a judge for the competition. The week long event resulted in over hundreds of cuppings and determining the best bean is always two-fold; bringing prestige and "high-fives" to the top farms. The bidding war is intense to get a hold of these prized lots, - hence the price tag, but it's worth it.

Why should you pick up this bag?
It's on limited supply, so what's it's spoken for - BAM - no more!
Prized to be a cornucopia of taste explosion should be sexy enough for you to hop over to the east.


From Te Aro:

Mr. Arnulfo Leguizamo is 46 years old, son of a coffee farmer born in the municipality of Teruel, Huila. In his youth he studied several mechanical activities and after doing a lot of work in an urban environment, he decided that his future was in the field - dedicated to work with coffee. He started by planting half of a hectare in the property of his father in Teruel. He traveled to the municipality of San Agustín 23 years ago, in order to know the mystical sculptures at the Archeological Park. Nevertheless, the climate, the warm people and mainly the wealth of earth caused him to fall in love with this municipality where he met Mrs. Aura Rita Bolaños his wife and the mother of his four children: Mayeli, Joh Edison, Diego Felipe and Hamer Duvan. He began with 1 hectare, an inheritance of his wife, and after a while he bought 3 more hectares that he planted little by little with coffee. His farm is called “Primavera” and it is located in the village “El Tabor” at the municipality of “San Agustín”. Is cultivated with Caturra varietal and is being renovated to integrate the variety Castillo.

He has been a Rainforest Alliance Certified farmer for 4 years, and he is committed to the protection to the environment. He is protecting springs and birds, he is recycling trash, and he doesn’t spray out chemical products. These principles are because of his sons - he wants to keep his place at least without contamination or pollution so they can live and eat there in the future in a healthy way.

His principals for the production of coffee are based on the quality; he says “I have to do things with love, dedication and with the support of my wife and my children. The advantages of this land where my farm is located are a secret but mainly because of the high altitude and the right temperatures we produce coffee with the best attributes for its taste. It is important for us to harvest only ripe-red cherries and process on time. We have to wash coffee well with clean water and dry it under sun and air for that we use the system: ‘Casa Elda’.”

Looks like I'll have to make a trek over to the Roastery to get some of this lot.... 
Not roasting until next week - and I'm sure it won't last for very long...

Happy Espresso Adventures!

(My weekend is filled with wedding duties. Congratulations to the happy couple. 

Your union will be magical, and it'll be a good party! We have poutine at 10PM.... exactly)