Two weeks of harvest in Huila

We arrived in Pitalito in the second week of the harvest, when the first pass through the trees is already done and the pickers know which rows will be ready next.

Three passes, one tree

A coffee tree does not ripen all at once. Edilberto sends his pickers through every row three times, and each time they take only the cherries that have turned deep red. It is slow and it is expensive, and it is the main reason the coffee tastes the way it does.

In the evening the day's cherries go into the tank. They ferment for about thirty hours before they are washed and laid out to dry under a plastic roof that can be opened when the sun is out.

What we pay, and why

We pay Edilberto a fixed price agreed before the harvest, well above the market, and we buy the whole lot. That lets him plan, hire the same pickers each year and keep the trees healthy.

The first bags from this harvest reach Bristol in late autumn. We cup every one of them before deciding how to roast it.