Origin: El Tabor, San Agustin, Huila, Colombia

Producer: Faiver Córdoba (Pronounced "Faiber")

Farm: Los Naranjos (2 hectares)

Process: Washed

Varieties: Yellow Colombia

Elevation: 1750-1800masl

Importer: Semilla & Monkaaba

Roast: Medium-light

Notes: Apricot, Milk Tea, Orange, Butterscotch

Transparency: 

• We paid Semilla 6.63 USD per pound exportable green coffee + shipping & storage fees
• Farmgate price was $3,350,000 COP per Carga of parchment( national average was $2,900,000 COP at the time)
• FOB price was $4.59/lb.

Faiver Córdoba

We are so happy to welcome Don Faiver's coffee back for a second time! 

Don Faiver's life, like that of many smallholder producers in the San Agustin area, has always involved coffee. After completing his studies up until the 5th grade, he left school to accompany his father and grandfather doing the work on their family farm. For the rest of his life farming coffee would be his school and his livelihood. From then on he has grown coffee and managed farms, working hard to be able to purchase his own land to grow coffee to be sold under his name. 

They had some bad experiences in trying to sell to international specialty markets, losing a lot of money when one of their lots got mishandled in the system of a exporter. Experiences like this led them to look for a place where their coffee would not only be valued, but celebrated. Don Faiver and his wife Leidy were visiting the Monkaaba cupping lab where they found just that, a network of coffee producers who were there to uplift the producer and give them access to international specialty markets! He brought them samples of his coffee which were so well received that they decided to put their hopes of a positive future in the hands of Mokaaba & Semilla.

Now Faiver and Leidy, along with their children, grow varietals that are a reflection of the skill, hard work, and patience of a seasoned coffee grower. His farm now produces Yellow Colombia, Sidra, and Pink Bourbon. Don Faiver says that seeing his name on a microlot that travels abroad reminds him that dreams do come true. That all the effort—the early mornings, the setbacks, and the new beginnings—is worth it when the fruit of the family's labour becomes a coffee that tells their story.

On his farm, Los Naranjos, Faiver harvests every three weeks to ensure he’s only picking at peak ripeness. The cherries are de-pulped and left to dry ferment for 36 hours. From there, the parchment is rinsed 4 times to remove all the mucilage and left to drain in plastic bags for 15 hours. The coffee is turned out on raised beds to dry for 25 - 30 days before being brought to the bodega.

This level of effort and years of experience in post-harvest processing makes his coffee sing. Faiver received a farmgate price of COP$3,350,000 per carga, a significant jump over the national average of COP$2,900,000, thanks to Semilla and Monkaaba's dedication to paying good equitable prices for the labour involved in specialty production.

We're so happy to get to continue purchasing coffee from such dedicated farmers year over year. In the cup enjoy a silky milk tea body, with a splash of caramel and orange zest, all tied together with a juicy apricot sweetness!

Brewing Recommendations:

Pour-over: 1:16-17 ratio, easy to work with, we love the 16g-250ml in the Kalita wave.

Espresso: 18g-18.5g in / 37g-39g out / 27-30 seconds.

Monkaaba

Working together, Semilla and Monkaaba provide a rare opportunity for most producers. They run a free to use cupping lab in San Agustin, Huila that allows small producers to taste their own coffees and receive feedback from veteran producers on how to improve quality.

This is extremely contrary to how most other buying systems work, and commodity works, where buyers benefit from coffee producers NOT knowing the quality of their coffee, so they can continue offering low prices to producers, and sell for higher profits.

This project is all about empowering and educating producers to reach micro-lot status, and financial stability through coffee production.

Interested in reading more about Monkaaba? Let me guide you to our lovely friends website to read more! - https://www.semilla.ca/projects/1jq18VvLX0WoyK7hvxeeLM