Colombia 2018 - Clifton Coffee

Bogata - a base for our trip.

Jonny England (Head of Coffee Development) and Lloyd Retzlaff (Coffee Development Executive) along with Clifton Coffee visited Colombia, specifically our long-term region, Huila. The purpose of the trip was not only to meet the farmers responsible for our coffee but also to understand more about the way that Colombia operates with the help of ECTP (one of our green coffee suppliers). We flew out from London Heathrow heading straight for Bogota, the capital of Colombia, which we used as our base for the entire trip.
We spent our first day walking the streets of Bogota taking in the incredible views and sampling what the Colombian cafes had to offer. After very little time searching, we came across two cafes (Azahar & Colo), both very different but both with very good quality coffees. Azahar offering a very refreshing and delicate chemex while Colo Coffee offered a very high quality and complex Geisha v60.
Our second day consisted of an early flight to Neiva, Huila where we were met by Danilo, our incredible guide for the next two days. Our first destination was to the cooperatives of Global Cafes and Occicafe. Two very well set up and slightly different co-ops. Both giving us insight into not only how they function but also into how they both have very close relationships with their members and how they both give regular feedback to all farmers to help improve the quality of their crops every year.  One thing we found surprising is that most farms within the region cover their own processing on the farms (most farmers in Colombia are only around 3-4 hectares). then after trying some of the incredible local food we piled into the 4x4 and headed to the first farm of our visit, Finca Campo Hermosa.

Our second day consisted of an early flight to Neiva, Huila where we were met by Danilo, our incredible guide for the next two days. Our first destination was to the cooperatives of Global Cafes and Occicafe. Two very well set up and slightly different co-ops. Both giving us insight into not only how they function but also into how they both have very close relationships with their members and how they both give regular feedback to all farmers to help improve the quality of their crops every year.  One thing we found surprising is that most farms within the region cover their own processing on the farms (most farmers in Colombia are only around 3-4 hectares). then after trying some of the incredible local food we piled into the 4x4 and headed to the first farm of our visit, Finca Campo Hermosa.
This farm is unlike most others in the region due to the size being 14 hectares but fundamentally still operated the same way, growing a multitude of different varieties; bourbons, Castillo, Caturra, Typica and Colombia. Most of the land the coffee was growing on was at a 45-degree angle, proving that the only way to pick this coffee was by selective hand picking. The visit to this farm with not only extremely insightful into the life of a coffee farmer but also showed the care and attention that goes into the growing and processing of the coffee.
The next destination of the trip was to our local hotel for the evening which was a very surprising coffee themed hotel, Kahve. After a night of rest, we were on our way again to the farm of our local tour guide. Finca La Granja is a very experimental farm growing an even larger collection of varietals, but also growing lots of other items on the farm such as tomato’s, oranges and plantain (this diversification seemed to be happening on every farm we visited). 

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The next day we departed El Dorado airport heading to the Colombian region of Armenia. This is the location of ECTP’s largest mill. Here we had a guided tour of the full coffee process, starting with the intake of parchment coffee all the way through to the storage and export of the finished processed green coffee. The most surprising part of the tour was the Sortex machine they were using. This machine uses cameras to spot and separate any defect coffees out. It can process numerous tonnes of coffee every hour and is very accurate at separating any ‘bad/low grade’ coffee out, which is then sent off and consumed within the country of origin.
We then all took part in a cupping of all the different levels of quality that the plantation deals with (but also the different taste profiles) ranging from the mid 70’s – 85’s. After this we were met by the brothers Octavia and Berta. They took us to their incredible farm Finca Ocaso (aptly translating to ‘sunset estate’) the farm is a very rare size in Colombia, spanning over 200 hectares. Unlike the other farms we had visited previously in this trip the farm only grew two variates in large scale; Typica and Castillo. They were very much commercialised and well established on this 3-generation old coffee farm. Having not only a very impressive on-site processing system but also a water recycling system. They also had a collection of three beautiful coffee hotels located around the farm. One of which is located near the area they grow around 50 Geisha plants. 

Later that night we drove back to the local airport ready to fly back to Bogota. The airport was incredibly remote and only consisted of 2 buildings, a small café and the terminal which was just a tiny building with a capacity of around 60 people.
The following day was our last full day in Colombia, so it was spent visiting a number of amazing locations and finished with a visit to ECTP’s offices to have a final summary presentation and discussion of everything we had seen over the past week.
From our time in Colombia we had seen and learnt a lot about how the country works as a coffee growing region. Highlighting not only how much effort it takes for the entire process but also how much care is taken throughout. One of the things that has firmly stayed in my mind since visiting is the amount of time, care and expertise there is in growing and processing the coffee at origin where there’s very small reward in comparison to that of cafes which can profit much more from the product.
Finally, we at Masteroast would like to say we are extremely grateful for all the hospitality we were shown by all that met us in Colombia. The country is not only growing some incredible coffee but is also full of some amazing people and beautiful views!

by Lloyd Retzlaff

Visit our Colombian 2018 Gallery

Colombia 2018 Gallery